Well I finally got the top off the little Suzuki and my son and I took a ride up the grade to the top in hopes of running across a coyote or two. We didn't get started til about noon, but the weather was beautiful and the temps around 75 degrees.

Here's what it looked like up on top. I live down at 1300 feet and it's 2800 or so feet here on the Camas prairie. This is about six miles from the house.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/SpringbearonMelrose-69.jpg

As we got near the top of the grade my son spotted something across the canyon so we stopped and got out the binocs to see what it was. It was a bear cub digging on the hillside across from us. We watched it and took pix for near a half an hour before moving on. It just didn't seem to have any interest in us at all.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Animals/SpringbearonMelrose-62.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Animals/BearonMelrose1.jpg

It sure was a fun ride though we didn't see one coyote it was still great. We did see a bunch of deer though. Even the magpies wouldn't sit still long enough for us to get a shot and a big wind storm blue thru last week and dropped a two food diameter pine tree on one of the roads we usually drive.

My house is down in the bottom of this canyon.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/SpringbearonMelrose-77.jpg

Here's a pix of Dwarshak Dam from the top of Angle Ridge grade taken with a telephoto four miles above my house.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/SpringbearonMelrose-73.jpg

I want to be there. Thanks for the great pics.

looking for a displaced New Jerseyian neighbor??? :D

Great pics. Looks to be a yote callers dream.

I miss the times calling yotes in Maine. Sittin' above a large clear cut or in the back of a 70A farmers hay field allows a person to ponder all kinds of things. The anticipation,the sighting,the shot,walking out to the 50+ pounder laying on the ground is as good as winning the lottery.

Would suggest that you engauge in the relentless persuit of the coyote as often as possible,especially with your son, a good friend,or better still,both.

Again.....great country,great pics. -----pruhdlr

looking for a displaced New Jerseyian neighbor??? :D

Given up on your dreams of moving to New Hampshire, Chris?

The Old Guy

(Great pictures, Bob!)

Given up on your dreams of moving to New Hampshire, Chris?

The Old Guy

(Great pictures, Bob!)


no, not at all.

Just right now, ANY place that thar pretty is better than NJ.

Darn I hate this state....

Send us your bears!!!!

Here's a little different country about 40 miles from the house. This is the Salmon River breaks abut 40 miles above where it flows into the Snake river.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/GravesCreekfromtopofDumaq.jpg

This is what folks do in our spring runoff.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/RaftingtheSelway4.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/LochsawRiver2.jpg

Our high country still has a lot of snow.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/3-28-05TriptoNorthFork021.jpg

Send us your bears!!!!

From what I understand, you have plenty of bears, and way too many stupid politicians.:D Get the two groups together and you might have something!

Nice pics Bob. Our bear season closed on the 15th and a friend at work had a small one at his bait barrel. Twice he ran it up a tree checking the setup, and checking the trail cam. The cheeky little bear popped his jaws and sat on a big branch shaking a branch above him to try to scare off my friend. He got a good laugh out of it.

I like to see those pics of the mountains in the distance with quite a lot of snow still on them.

What does it cost to ride in the cable cars?

Great pictures, really enjoy them, might even consider trading some of them for some equally great corn field pictures?

Dan

We've seen more bears and cougars around here in the past few years than ever before. I've a feeling it's because of a couple of reasons. One is that there are fewer hound hunters just because of the cost of running hounds in this day and age and two that the wolves have decimated the bear and cat hounds in the Clearwater drainage. I've had cougars and bears in my back yard now for two years in a row. It doesn't help that we have a town deer population near 80 head now that stay on permantly year round. It's to the point now that unless you put an electric fence around your garden it's useless to try to raise one.

BOb...great photos. Makes me homesick for E. Wash and N Idaho.

My buddy was hunting bear a few weeks ago around Avery from a ground stand. He got a weird feelilng and turned around to see a cougar 4 yards from him crouched to pounce. He's a very big guy and when he jumped up the coug got gone before he could raise his rifle.

Interesting times we're living in...

Bob, those are some great pics. Could you box up some of that cool air and send it on down her to LA. It is already 98 here. To danged hot to shoot. The bench gets as hot as the gun barrel. I don't mind working and sweating, but I hate to stand still and sweat.

BOb...great photos. Makes me homesick for E. Wash and N Idaho.

My buddy was hunting bear a few weeks ago around Avery from a ground stand. He got a weird feelilng and turned around to see a cougar 4 yards from him crouched to pounce. He's a very big guy and when he jumped up the coug got gone before he could raise his rifle.

Interesting times we're living in...

For all you folks that haven't had the chance to see where leverite is talking about it's some of the steepest country in Idaho. Between Avery and Red Ives on the St. Joe river is some tough country to hunt. I don't have any pix of there handy as it's somewhat above my stomping grounds, but boy is that some rugged beautiful country. I'll try to dig some of my slide file.

I had a friend whom just emailed me some pix of a cougar him and a friend ran into bear hunting on Fish creek here in the Clearwater drainage. It got between him and his friend and was only about 15 feet from him when he fired a couple of rounds into the bank over it's head and it ran off. I'll post them when I get them loaded into photobucket.

Dan it sounds like your corn fields are becoming swimming pools by the news reports. Their saying that up to 40 percent of the corn crop is in danger. That ought to get the price of everything corn is used in up along with the gas.

Definately some cool country Bob. I've always liked the view from up high, jusy not the trek required to get there. The bear cub made it all the more rewarding. As for the day being "unbearable" I'd say you misnamed this thread:D

RJ

faucettb, ya'll simply gotta keep them wolves in check if you want to have any other game to hunt. In MN.,WI.,and MI.,thay are really raising heck with the other animals. Wolves simply don't play nice.

The guides in that part of the country are doing their share with baiting and night calling.

Good luck with that. -----pruhdlr

For all you folks that haven't had the chance to see where leverite is talking about it's some of the steepest country in Idaho. Between Avery and Red Ives on the St. Joe river is some tough country to hunt. I don't have any pix of there handy as it's somewhat above my stomping grounds, but boy is that some rugged beautiful country. I'll try to dig some of my slide file.


Bob,

glad to hear you consider it tough hunting in that area...you've been around enough to know. I sure thought it was tough last fall, but also considered that I'm way outa shape. Had to dip into my nitro pills to get out of one deep canyon...took 1/2 a day to climb out.

A buddy killed an elk and as we were gutting it out, he dropped the heart and it bounced about 1000 yards down the slope until it vanished in the timber. Just like a rubber ball. Very funny at the time...

lever

no, not at all.

Just right now, ANY place that thar pretty is better than NJ.

Darn I hate this state....

Send us your bears!!!!


Steer clear of MN, the state with 10,000 lakes and 3 million liberals.

I'd love to live anywhere west of the Mississippi where you have enough room to swing a cat. Economics prevents that, for the moment.

GReat pics, thanks for sharing.

Great pics. Looks to be a yote callers dream.

I miss the times calling yotes in Maine. Sittin' above a large clear cut or in the back of a 70A farmers hay field allows a person to ponder all kinds of things. The anticipation,the sighting,the shot,walking out to the 50+ pounder laying on the ground is as good as winning the lottery.

Would suggest that you engauge in the relentless persuit of the coyote as often as possible,especially with your son, a good friend,or better still,both.

Again.....great country,great pics. -----pruhdlr

Like Leverite I rely on nitro for tough situations. 9 heart attacks, 20 plus stints and some other problems have crippled me enough that I can't go far so I hunt the edges, canyon edges and draw edges where I can park near and set up and call close to the rig. This country offers lots of places to call from for an old disabled fella.

Places like these shallow draws offer excellent coyote and bobcat calling areas.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/Timmonsdrawinthespring.jpg

Wheat fields drop off into deep steep canyons and provide excellent cover for preditors. Calling them just means sitting on the edge and making that call sing.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/yotehnt03-06.jpg

This is the canyon I live in above my house. The pix above is on the edge if it.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Around%20Home/BigCanyonabovePeck.jpg

pruhdlr your absolutly right, but our fish and game is going to put the wolves on a tag system and I don't believe that's going to control the wolf population. I'll buy a tag and do my share of control, but one wolf a year won't do much.

Simply beautiful country there,Bob.

Those shallow draws hold alot of yotes. I called alot of those in Maine. Our mountains were not as high and the draws were thicker, with the thick alders, but basically same-o,same-o. They hold the critters that the yotes are after plus offer shelter and a path to sneek up and down. I've seen yotes disappear into one of them shallow draws and reappear a half mile away.

The fields.....don't know if you have done this yet but while in Maine,part of my hunting stratagy was to have the farmer call me just before he was gonna cut his field. I would set up on the edge,in the shade,with my thermos of iced tea,and wait for the yotes to appear for a free meal of mice,baby birds or eggs,snakes,and other critters that the farmer would expose by his cutting. When you start killing the yotes within sight of the farmer,the visual impact to the farmer is tremendous. You are always welcomed back to hunt. Most times,to hunt deer,birds,etc.

The sound of the hay combine draws yotes like a magnet. If you kill one.....don't leave.....get ready for the next shot. I have killed as many as 6 in one 50A field. You could have to repo down the field by a hundred or so yards,but stay in the shadows(if there is a bright sun), and they will never see you.

I have a buddy that lives up in your neck of the woods. He has somewhat limited mobility. He drives the back roads in his old Jeep J20 p/u, armed with his 50BMG. He glasses the hill sides in the morning sun for yotes out sunnin' themselves. He sez that if they are over 700(or so) yards away they do not consider you a threat. They simply stand,stretch,and keep a eye on you. He breaks out his 50,puts the bipod on the hood,covers the windshield with an old movers pad,and sends a 750gr A-Max on its way. He kills 40+ a year like this. Sounds like tons o' fun to me.

Your ab-so-tootlie right about the wolf tags. For every 100 tags sold/given,how many wolves will be taken ?? Maybe 10,and that number could be somewhat high.

I do not consider myself a law breaker.....but.....when it comes to protecting the wildlife in my state,especially if I make a living as a registered guide,I will do just that.

I had a Canadian wildlife biologist tell me that they did a study of Gray/Red wolves somewhere in central Quebec. They trapped and collared a pair. They found out that the two wolves killed 11 deer in 3 days. This,in the deep snow.

His point was that, wolves don't simply kill to eat(as the pro wolf,bunnie huggers want you to believe)they kill just for the fun if it.

Seeing a wolf every now and then is great but we gotta keep them in check. Just like the yotes.

Have fun up there. -----pruhdlr

Great pictures Bob evey once in a while I see something I guess I should begin to carry the camera along. You sure get great shots.

Here's the pix of my friends bear hunting trip. No bear, but they ran into a cougar on the trail up Fish creek. It's hard to see, but there is lots of snow on those mountains in the background.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Guns/IMG_1588.jpg

Here's a couple of pix of the cougar they ran into.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Guns/IMG_1614.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Guns/IMG_1616.jpg

After my friend shouted at the cat to get it to "pose" for the pix it came right down the trail at him. He finally put two shots from his revolver into the bank near it after getting within four or five yards from him. At that point it decided to leave. Plenty heady stuff for a walk in the woods.

That don't sound real normal does it? I did not know they were that bold when out in the open. I have seen bobcat act indignant like that but they were in an industrial area setting where there was a lot of human activity. Always just a stand off with me backing off first and them giving a "I ain't scared of nothing" look as they turn there back and walk off. If one approached me like that cat I would have had a fight on my hands because I am unarmed.

Here's a nice area I like to backpack in.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003613&l=e699b&id=148900708

Here's a nice area I like to backpack in.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003613&l=e699b&id=148900708


Ah yes, looks just lke NJ...



http://www.cleanstation.net/images/nj_tankfarm350.jpg

Chris I've been to New Jersey, used to haul 53 foot trailer loads of catheters from Laredo Texas into there and haul alcohol out. Seems I was always glad to head West again though there looked to be some interesting animals to hunt there. Chris your going to have to move out West, that smog will kill you.

Really pretty country Matt. I lived over in Swan Lake when I was just a kid. Still got relates over there if I haven't outlived all of them. Thats over near Bigfork MT.

Years ago I had a friend whom worked in Hollywood and he tried to talk me into going down there and work for him. I tried it out for about a month and finally decided that I really belonged back in Idaho. When I told him that I was planning on going home he offered me more money to stay. I told him that money couldn't buy everything and he informed me that I just didn't know the right places to shop.