Thread: Idaho trip report.

A few years back A member of this forum from Idaho, @hugshe posted up his wish to do a swap Hunt for Mule deer. I(d always wanted to hunt them and had done a self hunt some years earlier, to no avail. So I jumped at the offer. Members may remember my hunt report of His Tahr and Chamois hunt here with me.

Anyway I was fortunate to get a buck tag for his home unit this year and after discussions with him, I got a general black bear tag as well.

Ill skip the travel, which I hate, and get straight into the hunting.

Hugshes family have a ranch on the snake river. It's situated in the river canyon and has a mix of irrigated fields amongst natural desert climate native vegetation. A mix of stage brush, Hackberry, black locust and juniper being the predominant easily identified species. With willow and Russian olive in places especially along the river and streams. The streams emerge straight out of springs along the canyon walls, providing a surprisingly beautiful mix of habitats and environments for a desert climate.

Up above their property on the plains is large-scale dairy and cropping. I was told to be there at the very end of the season as its approaching the rut and also the crops are being harvested which tends to move the deer out of that country and down into the permanent cover of the canyon. This was great advice!

The area across the river is littered with what can only be described as mansions, and so the area is limited to shotguns only. My first job on arrival was to check the sights and my abilities with a Remington 1100 shotgun and slugs. For me it was shooting quite high at 60 meters, and I had too carry a mental image each day of where I would need to hold low to be successful. However... after a few days we rechecked and it might have been tiredness from travel as the recheck of zero and a change in slug brand had me almost exactly shooting to point of aim at the same range. Which was a fortunate caution as If I had of held to my initial sight pic, I would have shot very low to the point of missing.

It also took me a day or two to work out how to spot these deer in the thick vegetation. Colour shape and form recognition took a bit, but once id adjusted I started to pick them up. This is where local knowledge shines as I was able to watch and learn from Both Hugshe and his father.

some examples of hunting country and typical deer presentation.



doe watching us


Spot the buck


some of the more open country along the canyon wall, and one of the springs.


However we were still too early for the mature bucks, and so we set off into the public lands for a chance at a buck or bear there.

The area we hunted was immense, and while game was present, it was a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. partly I suspect due to the hunting pressure over the last weeks. We found a smaller offshoot valley which was a hunters dream and amazing looking country with good sign, and deer wise, this was the only spot we saw game, which was a couple of bull elk, one of which carried 14 points and reasonable length. But neither of us had a tag and it would have been a mission getting him out if we did. It definitely takes some organising in this remoter country. Over the 4 days we ended up about 14ks in at camp and some further ks in on our daily hunts.



bull elk up under trees


camp


We found another brilliant Vally, close to where hugshe had seen a large boar bear a month earlier, and in this valley we found some large and fresh bear sign, but we could not extract the bear, and talking to an experienced bear guy, I think we looked too far afield, as this time of year they dont move around much and stick too the thick stuff. We were likely within a few hundred yards of him, but the wander bug had us and we carried on too far.
it was exciting hunting though in a narrow canyon with thick willow and berry and beaver dam type country where if we found him, it would be close shooting.





Id go back and hunt this area in a heartbeat. very enjoyable experience.
The last night something broke into our food stash which was 40 meters from our tent, and it was an interesting experience loading a rifle and opening the tent and kind of flopping sideways out on my side, still in sleeping bag with a head torch, just in case it was needed. I was glad it was a fox.

Back too the ranch, and deer hunting again.

We were into the tail end of the season now, and there was 7 days left. We were seeing new deer each day, and bigger prints. also the younger bucks seemed to have been kicked away from the does, which was promising. I took less photos now as really I couldnt afford to be playing with my phone, But got the odd one to show how close we were.













Then on the start of last week, Hugshes father decided to come with me on an evening hunt. We rounded an edge and just as he walked past, I looked to my side as a buck emerged from heavy cover about 40 yards away. I made a soft noise and pointed and he said, thats a shooter. The buck became aware of us and his chest was covered by a young juniper. No have material but enough to make me hesitate on shooting, and my hesitation was too long. With a step he was gone again.
At least now Id seen a shooter and had something to go off, and it was a sign things were ramping up.
Early next morning Hugshe and I headed up the canyon wall to check out a patch of cover up top. As we crested the rise, movement caught our eyes and a beast of a buck was just heading into cover following a doe. Even for my untrained eye he was in a different class, and Hugshe dropped into the sagebrush while I crawled forward hoping to intercept his travel direction. I did, and the doe he was following was broadside at 30 meters, while he was mostly concealed by brush behind her and they knew something was up. The next 10 minutes was. agama of cat and mouse. I could see his neck and nose, but not whether he was facing me or side on. I could see most of one antler which was huge, and there was a growing temptation to empty the mag into the brush, but thats not me really, and I backed myself to work this one out. At one point I lay flat and tried to get an angle under the brush, but no luck there. Finally a wiggled forward a meter. The bugger stepped back a meter! I moved forward slowly another meter and the pressure became too much and he stepped back further and then turned and ghosted off.
I had no idea how far and the doe was still there and so I pulled out and came in from another angle 50-100 meters further up. Just as I reached the edge, a buck burst from cover, pronking his way into the open. Safety off and swing through, but that pronk motion is disconcerting and luckily it slowed me enough to realise it wasn't the big boy after all.
I turned and headed back to Hugshe and we decided not to pressure him any further and come back and try again tomorrow.

That evening I headed out again with Hugshes father, and just after we reached the prime evening area, I slightly split off from him and checked out a little grass alcove to one side. As I rounded a rock I immediately spotted a form and antler. This guys was totally unaware and feeding side on at about 35 meters. I could tell he was a shooter and a few things were going through my mind. 1- he wasn't as big as the guy id seen this morning, 2- he was decent!, 3- dont leave on the first day, something you'd gladly shoot on the last! and lastly, dont hesitate and loose him like last night.
I confirmed with Hugshes father that My perception was correct and as he started to move to cover, swung up, took a bead on his chest and fired.

And thats a very convenient place to leave it now as work calls for a bit. Be back soon.

Bro thats epic

Wow, fantastic new hunting writer pops up right here!

Awesome right up alright .

Awesome write up!

Sorry about that. Got a ring to say some calves were out.

Anyway, also in my mind was the slight uncertainty of where the gun was shooting, and it's amazing how much you can process in some spilt seconds of action. I had to raise up my body to make sure I didn't hit the rock I was shooting over and also I aimed as low centre as I dared to that would still hit heart lung. The buck sprang forward at the shot and into cover. We walked forward to no sign of a deer, and Hugshe senior gave me a puzzled look, which I interpreted as a bad sign. Im a very confident shot, but none the less in situations like this I can doubt myself. We tracked on through and soon found some small sign of blood confirming a hit, but following the natural course with not much blood revealed nothing. I said id go back and start pegging out the sign. I started crawling through the cover, placing an upright stick at each drop of blood or dug in print. this soon revealed a different path than we had imagined and 30 meters later when a new avenue became clear, I looked up to spot a very dead deer 20 meters in front of me. I must say I was quite stoked, A nice representative of the area with reasonable beams and length and some outstanding pearling.



I made sure to get a decent amount of cape for a shoulder mount, as the colours and quality of his fur were awesome, and because we have had a little trouble getting my Whitetail and coyote in to Nz from last year, My taxidermist suggested bringing this one back on my luggage, so we quickly shot him up too a local taxidermist who did a nice job of boiling and bleaching the skull, and salting and drying the cape in time for my return home. I can't say enough about how quickly and well they worked for me on a limited timeframe.

The rest of the trip the guys fulfilled another dream of mine. Id always wanted to hunt north American mallard, and though the migration hadn't rally started yet, there were some resident birds, and I managed a couple of nice pairs on some well organised shoots on one of the streams. Big, bright birds.





Its discouraged to shoot hens, But you are allowed one a day in case of mistakes, and Thats what happened here, In the sun, because of its size compared to NZ birds, I picked in as a drake, and got a real surprise when the dog returned a hen to me. Nice bird all the same.

its also a worthwhile experience to hunt the coyotes. A great predator well worth respecting as a quarry. We saw plenty while deer hunting. Especially when the sun was warming the frosty mornings, they would sit up on rocks enjoying the warmth.



But once the deer hunting was over they seemed to vanish when they became a target. I got one, though I was a bit disappointed that I didn't pick it had mange before I shot and the skin wasn't worth bringing home.



And finally we spent a very enjoyable day searching for Chukar in the desert. A very different bird hunting experience and In the wind and terrain I got pantsed by one that was flying way faster than I judged and dropping into the canyon. Missing it twice!







All and all a fantastic 3 weeks with incredible hosts, and I'd like to thank Hugshe and his parents for a wonderful time, and the sharing of much knowledge and their local style of hunting.
Ive been fortunate to have spent the last two years with 2 different members of this forum, in different parts of the US who have showed me very different styles of hunting and firearms im very unfamiliar with for deer hunting, and I must say I really have to recommend these swap hunt style hunts as great ways too experience others hunting.

My final adventure for the trip was the NZ customs table when I declared the head and skin, and You might catch that at some stage on the show border patrol. The young officer I dealt with was exceedingly friendly and professional, and even though they decided to remand the skin for further treatment, due too some wet blood that had been drawn out from the bullet hole after salting, the process was well explained and seems easier than some years back when I brought in a sambar skin as well.

Thanks @whanahuia for a great report. Really enjoyed reading that and how it reminded me of a 2015 hunt in Idaho. I too would hunt there again anytime but I think Idaho recently upgraded nonresident license costs so funding a trip / hunt will be bit more spendy.

awesome write up. is it me or do mule deer have huge ears?

Yep they do, part of were the name comes from I think. And also why a proper mount is important, as their iconic shape is a big part of the animal.

makes sense

Oh shit that was a great read alright !!
You are having a cracker time over there for sure ah

Anywhere near 'hells canyon' ?
Widely regarded as one of the great whitewater trips in the states outside of the colorado

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Originally Posted by kukuwai

Oh shit that was a great read alright !!
You are having a cracker time over there for sure ah

Anywhere near 'hells canyon' ?
Widely regarded as one of the great whitewater trips in the states outside of the colorado

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Quite a way by the looks. About 4.5 hours to nearest town

Awesome mate. I bet youre planning your 2026 hunt.

Great writeup, loved the photos..well done!