We had to get a bigger trailer to haul our 6 animals this year.
Getting all the grub and supplies in the packs. We try to get an early start on our 5 to 6 mile trek up the mountain, but that doesn't always happen, but then again that is part of the fun.
Same campsite for the last few years, it's just comfortable!
We brought a chain saw up with us this year, made life easier.
A different tent, All four of us slept nice and warm. Plenty of room for our cots.
This year we got into camp with 5 or 6 inches of snow waiting for us. Had a little problem with one of the packs on the way up the mountain, Jeff and I, so it took us a little longer to get to camp.
We got another shot at a bear, I think the same bear for the last couple of years. You can see just below the rock cliff in the middle where the bear was. If fact this black bear was standing on a rock. Range finder said it was 1060 yards, the bullet hit just under the bear about a foot.
You can see the cliff in the middle and snow under it. Ryan shot his buck about a 100 yards off the ridge just as the sun was going down. We were setting here watching with biocks. He was alone and it was getting dark really fast. He decided to roll the buck off the cliffs. The cliffs are hard to see but there were a few of them. He would roll the buck off the cliff then walk around through the trees, this was now dark, he was finding his way with his head lamp. It's hard to see but there are several ridges and deep valley's to go through before you get to the bottom. These pictures don't do the mountain justice. There is so much more mountain than you can see in a picture.
You can see from this picture the many ridges and canyons. We loaded up the mules and headed down the canyon with our headlamps to try and find the bottom where Ryan was. Let me tell you that was no easy task. That was a very dark night and the brush and trees are very thick and sometimes very steep. I was happy to be on a sure footed mule. I only got off once on a brushy and steep side hill. I was to tired to walk so I let Missy B do the walking for me and she did a good job of it.
There were so many canyons it was hard to hear him yelling for us. But we finally found him. Nice buck!
Missy B wanted to get in on the picture. I was amazed that she wanted to get that close. She put her nose right on the buck to smell it. This turned out to be an long night. We got back to camp about 3:30 in the morning.
Jeff found this nice muley just off the trail on our way to one of our favorite spots. This was the last day so he lucked out.
Jeff has raised this molly from a baby. He really lucked out getting her. We put the pack saddles on her this summer with no weight and pulled her along every time we went for a ride. She has not given us a bit of problem all year. She even came right up to the deer for a smell, licked her lips, and looked like she was thinking, whats the big deal! This being her third year and a very large molly, we packed her about 75 pounds and she handled it with ease. She didn't mind at all as we put the meat in her packs and antlers on the saw bucks. She really impressed us all.
The first couple of days on the mountain the weather didn't cooperate at all. We were thankful to have had a nice warm roomy tent. We were forced to stay inside because of fog and snow with high winds. The weather finally broke and we enjoyed nice sunny warmer days. It didn't take long for the snow to melt.
We were hoping the bear would come out again before we left. We didn't see the big bucks this year like we have in the years past. We saw a good number of nice bull elk, several nice bull moose, only one bear this year stuck his head out. Normally we'll see several bear. We did hear the cry of the wolf in the far distance, But none came our way.
We always enjoy the beautiful sunsets of Idaho, nothing like it!
We always take the time to go back down the mountain after a few days and soak our bones in our favorite hot pools.
Another pic of Jeff's molly and Missy B
These next few pictures are the beautiful mountains surrounding our camp.
Another fun and exciting Muley hunt with the boys. Ten days goes by way too fast when your having a good time. The best thing about it is we only see one or two other hunters in those 10 days.
We always hate to see it come to an end. The mules I'm sure are happy for the end to come!
Until next year!
