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Idaho 2020

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Idaho 2020

Postby 7mmfan » 10 21, 2020 •  [Post 1]

This is QUITE long, so it's probably best read with a glass of your favorite evening beverage. I find that I have a hard time leaving out details, so you'll just have to carve out some time if you see fit.

Idaho 2020

In 2019, we added my uncle, Dad’s youngest brother, to our Idaho group. He is an experienced hunter, triathlete, Ironman competitor, and most importantly a good man that is fun to hang out with. While we hunted last year, he took it upon himself to scout an area that we had been discussing for a while, but none of us had ever taken the steps to hike the 6ish miles into this place. He rode his bike up and the first animal he saw was a mule deer he estimated at close to 30” wide. He also saw a herd of elk with a 6 pt bull in it. I took his findings and applied my own e-scouting efforts and over the winter we developed a plan of attack that would put our group in there for at least a few days during deer/elk season 2020.

Elk tags sold out much faster than expected for the 2020 season. Instead of selling out in a month, they sold in 12 hours. We were left with a conundrum. Our group waffled around on what to do and ultimately decided that hunting deer was better than not hunting at all, so we all purchased general deer tags. However throughout the summer, Idaho offered returned tag sales multiple times and I was lucky enough to score a returned general elk tag. I would be the only one in our group that had one this year.

Soon enough, we were on the cusp of the October 10 deer opener, and my Dad, Uncle Bob and friend Alex had departed for Idaho. I was left at home for another 5 days as I didn’t have enough vacation time available to take the full 2 weeks off. I intended to show up the afternoon before elk season opened and we would head into spike camp. Reports began filtering back to me that deer numbers were way down, and elk were not being seen in our traditional hunt areas. I talked with other people I knew in the area and they mirrored those reports. Some had hunted days in traditionally good areas without seeing an animal. Worry began to set in. Were we going to put a ton of effort into getting into our spike camp to not see anything? Filling tags isn’t everything, but it sure stings a little to put so much planning and effort into a trip to come up short.

Wednesday morning, I climbed into my truck at 2:00 am and hit the road, bound for our base camp. I pulled in 10 hours later, unloaded all my base camp gear, reloaded our spike gear and bikes and we headed to the trailhead. There was snow on the ground, and it was obvious no one had been in ahead of us. Things were looking up. 3 hours later, just as darkness was beginning to fall, we arrived at the area we had planned on setting camp up. As is usually the case though, nothing looks the same in real life as it does on Google Earth, and we were struggling to find a spot large and flat enough for our tents that was also protected from the strong west wind that was blowing. Eventually, we settled on the only 30’ long flat spot on this old closed grade and set up our tents. Just as we finished dinner and retired to our respective sleeping quarters, it began to snow.

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5:30 came awful early. We didn’t have far to hike, but we didn’t want to be rushed either. The fire was stirred, water was boiled, and we all sat and discussed our morning plans over steaming coffee and oatmeal. The snow had ceased falling but the strong west wind had not. It was packing quite a sting in the pre morning darkness. My uncle and I decided we would walk to a glassing point for daylight and then go our separate ways. We bumped deer in the darkness while walking there. Not ideal, but a good sign. There were animals around.

Shortly after light, he headed his direction and I went another 100 yards or so the other way, offering a view of a new draw. Immediately I spotted 3 cows feeding away from me roughly 600 yards away. They were in an open grassy burned area, so it was quite obvious there were no other elk with them. I watched them off an on for the next 20 minutes as they fed over the ridge and out of sight. As I continued on my chosen route, stopping and glassing for extended periods of time, I kept checking back to where those cows had been. About 40 minutes after I lost sight of them, suddenly, there were elk there again. Lots of elk. They were filtering back over the ridge into the burned timber a couple of draws over. I sat and watched as cow after cow walked through the opening where they were clearly visible. No antlers. Finally after 20 some odd cows, the only bull in the group stepped into view. What a bull he was. His body dwarfed the cows in his vicinity. His antlers were black as the burned trees around him. They stood tall, one side a typical 6 point, the other with a large crown. I couldn’t ID exactly what he had there, but I didn’t care, he was the largest bull I’d ever seen in the field, and I had an elk tag in my pocket. I developed a plan and was on my way.

I quickly dropped a couple of hundred feet in elevation and caught a well used trail that was headed the direction I needed to go. With about 400 yards left to get to where I wanted to set up to shoot, I came around the corner and bumped 5 mule deer. A doe with 2 fawns stood close by observing me, and two small 2 points watched cautiously from about 75 yards away. I watched briefly but I had a mission so I kept moving. I hadn’t walked another 20 feet and 2 bucks I had not seen jumped up and bounded up the hill. The larger of the two, a heavy, wide typical 4 point continued up and over the ridge and out of sight. His companion, a younger buck, stopped at about 125 yards and stood broadside looking at me. He was clearly young, but graced with exceptional genetics. His antlers were ear width, but not equally tall. He had a typical 4 point frame but nice eye guards and multiple non typical kickers of each side. Now I was in a pickle.

Any other time, I would have not hesitated to shoot this deer. But I was only a few hundred yards from the biggest bull I’d ever seen. An internal battle began to rage inside me. Two in the bush or one in the hand was repeated over and over in my mind. Finally I decided that if this buck would give me time to set up, I would shoot him. I quickly deployed my shooting sticks, and began to get settled in on him. This was to much for him though and he bounded another 50 yards to the top of the ridge where he stood sky lined for another full minute. I could not safely or ethically take this shot though, and watched as he disappeared over the ridge. My decision made for me now, I continued down the trail towards the elk.

I slowly approached the point of the ridge across from where I had watched the elk enter the burned timber. One by one, I glassed up cows bedded down anywhere from 150-250 yards away from me. I knew the bull would be close by, so I got settled into a good shooting location and began picking the timber apart with the binos. After about 20 minutes I had accounted for close to 20 cows, but no bull. I had no real way to move around these animals where they were without being exposed and the wind was beginning to swirl. I really only had 3 choices.

1. I could stay put and wait it out, hoping they didn’t wind me.
2. Back out to an observation point and watch them from afar and wait for a better opportunity.
3. Try to call this bull into the open.

I had seen the bull raking trees shortly before I started my stalk, so I decided that I may be able to get him fired up. I started with cow calls, and after about 10 minutes, I let out a weak bugle. Over the following 10 minutes I increased intensity and tried to sound like a bull pulling cows away from the herd. Suddenly, all the cows stood up, and retreated to the top of the ridge, and then shortly after headed down the back side. I never saw or heard the bull, but it was obvious that he didn’t like this other bull this close and herded his cows up and pushed them out of the area. I tried to find a lookout point where I could see them from, but their trail was obvious in the new fallen snow, and where they were going, I was not following.

I stood there kicking myself now. Not only had I not shot the bull, but I also had not shot the beautiful buck that I’d seen either. Now in a funk, I began slinking up the trail towards our camp. I was in my own head and not paying attention and ran right into a nice 3 point mule deer. He bounded over the rise next to me and I thought I’d be able to get a view of him if I hustled. However, in my funk and not paying attention, not only had I walked right into him, but I hadn’t noticed the 3 other bucks bedded nearby. These were 3 very mature, heavy 4 point bucks. They knew the drill and they left town immediately. Over the edge and into the steep dark canyon they went. Things were going from bad to worse and I was really beating myself up now.

I took a break, ate a Snickers, and did my best to reset my mind. I then headed off to camp to get some lunch and try to coordinate with my group. I ran into my Dad a couple hundred yards from camp, and we talked about the morning’s happenings. He had not seen much or heard anything from the other guys. There was a lot of sign in the snow in the draw we were standing above so he was going to stay close to there for the remainder of the afternoon. My uncle had gone on a long walk about and was miles from camp exploring. No one had heard from Alex. We parted ways and I headed up the trail to camp.

I had nearly made it when I heard a whistle. I stopped to look around, and there was Alex standing on the hill 50 yards above me. He motioned the universal hand signal for antlers above his head, and I shrugged, and waved my arms over my head signaling giant antlers, and then another big shoulder shrug. He then pointed at his hands and after looking through my binos, realized they were bloody. Alex had scored! I got up to him and he told me about his morning and how he had travelled a few miles, and as he approached the ridge above our camp he had jumped two bucks and was able to make a great shot on a very nice 4 point. I helped him move the last couple quarters to camp and get them hung up. I was thrilled that he had found success, as Idaho has not been as giving to him as it had been to me. It also meant that he would cook dinner while the rest of us were out hunting that evening. What a treat. That evening was uneventful for myself, but my Dad was lucky enough to shoot a 2 point below camp, putting us at 2 of 5 tags filled at the end of day 1.

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Day 2 found me in the same spot as day 1 at daylight. My uncle had taken off on another long hike in the dark to get to an area he was interested in. As I sat glassing the early morning light, deer were appearing in front of me almost out of thin air. I could see no less than 25 deer within a 400 yard radius of me. All were does and small bucks though. I continued prowling this canyon edge glassing deer and eventually ended up on a point high over the big canyon the elk had disappeared into the day before. Suddenly, I heard it. Distant, but obvious. A raspy old bull bugle. Then I heard it again, much clearer this time. They sounded like they were about 500 yards down the ridge below me. I checked the wind and my map and took off down the ridge to cut the distance.

I hit an old grade and began traveling down it without caution as the elk were still a long ways away. Suddenly, below the road animals were thundering away. It sounded like a herd of elk. When I got to the edge to look though, I was amazed to see a herd of 25-30 deer bounding down the hill away from me. I caught a glimpse of a decently framed buck as it entered the timber patch below me. Luckily, the deer did not seem to know what I was, and quickly settled down. Soon enough, I had the whole herd scattered on the hillside and draw below me feeding. I kept my eyes on the patch of timber the buck had went into. I was not going to make the same mistake I’d made the day before. If I could get a shot at this buck, I was going to take it.

A spike stepped into view, then a 2 point. Deer began feeding down the draw and out of sight, and I had still not seen the buck that I’d glimpsed now almost a half hour before. Had he left a different way? Was he ever really there? Then as I glassed over the same tangled mess of dead fallen burned trees that I’d looked through a hundred times already, I saw a tail twitch. And then an ear. One step forward and there was a 4 point frame through the tree branches. He began following the same path as the rest of the deer and I knew I would only have a couple of shooting lanes to work with. I setup on the first one, 200 yards away. He walked right through it, never slowed down. By the time I’d adjusted to the next one, he was halfway through it and walking steadily. I committed to the last shooting lane, which was the largest one, 260 yards away. I waited patiently as he meandered towards it. Head out, one leg out, one more step…. And he stops to nibble on some browse. I can see his shoulder, but I don’t really want a shoulder shot. I like shoulder meat. As I watched him through my scope though, I made the decision that I should take the shot I have and not risk missing the opportunity completely. I flicked the safety off and squeezed through the break. With my ear plugs in, I couldn’t hear the thwack usually associated with a solid hit, so I was nervous. The recoil had taken me off target. I was confident in my shot though and pulled up my binos. The only thing in view were 4 legs slowly kicking in the air. He was down.

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I always feel a little somber when walking up on animals that I’ve shot. None of them wanted to die that day, and I have an immense amount of respect for them as autonomous creatures. I sat quietly with him, soaking in the silence that follows a shot and resulting death of an animal in the woods. Soon though, birds began chirping and the woods began to move again. The cycle of life continued, and I got to work turning this buck into meat that would sustain my family over the coming months. As I finished up, my radio beeped and Dad and Alex were on their way. They had been in camp enjoying a breakfast only those with filled tags get to enjoy, when they had heard my shot. I was happy to share the load with them, and shortly thereafter, all the meat was hung safely in trees back at camp.

We were reliving the hunt and eating a snack when my uncle radioed us. He had not seen anything that morning and was beginning his trek back towards camp. We told him there had been a lot of deer that headed towards his ridge after I shot, so keep an eye out. Not 10 minutes later, one rifle shot rang out from his direction. A few minutes later, a radio call came through, “Buck Down!” We all celebrated, grabbed empty packs and headed his direction. He had killed the 2 point that was in the group of bucks I’d been watching. We were now 4 for 4 on deer in two days! We got him and his meat back to camp shortly before dark as a wind storm began raging. We sat in our tiny protected timber patch listening to tree after tree down in the burn below us crash to the ground. It was a long night with little sleep. I probably heard 50+ trees fall within a couple hundred yards of camp.

We were up and at them at daylight Saturday morning. We had a long way to go, and a lot of meat to transport. Three of the four us had ridden bikes, and two of us had trailers. Camp was broken and distributed amongst the crew, and we then loaded the trailers down with two quartered deer each. Small camp articles were then added on top of the meat to ensure we could do this in one trip. The trailers were certainly loaded beyond their weight ratings, but we had all day and could take our time traveling the 9 or so miles out to the vehicles waiting below.

As we began our descent, we saw many deer, including a couple of nice bucks that made us all wish we still had unpunched deer tags in our pockets. The bugling bull that I had left the day before to kill my buck was lingering in the back of my mind. As we approached the last canyon before starting the real descent down to the truck, I casually walked to the edge and pulled up my binos. I immediately saw elk. Lots of elk. Then the obvious tall black antlers of the bull from two days before. They were in a very stalkable spot, and I had a plan of attack settled in one minute and began lightening my pack. Alex set up the spotter and noted that there were 2 raghorns and a couple of spikes in the group now. It was 12:08 when I dropped off the edge and started the 1200’ drop down to where the elk were a mile away.

An hour and a half later I crawled out on the last ridge between me and the elk. I could see cows bedded below me, one spike bedded in the open, but no bulls. I had seen them about 20 minutes before and knew they were close to where the spike was currently laying. I could see that there was a depression in the land just uphill of the spike, and I couldn’t see into it from my location. I didn’t really have many options for moving around to get better views either. I was stuck again. I knew I had bulls in range, but I couldn’t see them. Once again, I had but a few choices.

1. Wait it out and hope the bull stands soon.
2. Try to move uphill further to see into the depression but risk being spotted.
3. Shoot the spike.

I laid prone in a flat spot I’d kicked/dug out for about 20 minutes, contemplating my options. Multiple times during this wait the steady uphill wind switched and swirled. Each time I was convinced they would wind me and it would be over. Finally, as I laid there looking at the spike in my scope 262 yards away, I decided that I would much rather bring home 150# of elk meat, than watch antlers run away through the trees. The decision was made to shoot the spike. He was bedded facing straight away from me, so my only option was his neck. I had complete confidence in my weapon and my shot hitting exactly where I aimed it at this distance, so I got comfortable, and with my rifle on a bipod, and the butt resting on my binoculars, the crosshairs of my scope rested unmoving on his neck, just below his head. I waited patiently for the wind to subside, watching him doze in the sunlight. It was quite warm, and I’m sure he was enjoying the rest. The wind died, and everything was quiet. I slowly let out my breath, squeezing through the trigger break.

My scope dropped right back to the spike after the shot, and the only difference in the sight picture was that his head was now laying down. No movement. Elk began standing up and congregating behind him on the next spine over. None of the bulls ever came into view. They all slowly sauntered over the spine through the timber and out of sight. Once again, I was walking through quiet woods down to my animal. He appeared to be asleep, with his head laid out on the ground in front of him. The shot had entered 2” below his head, completely severing the spine. He never heard the boom. It was the perfect death for such a beautiful animal and I took solace in that. I shared a moment of silence with him, paying his respects, and then put the batteries back in my radio to rally my crew. “I hope you’ve been stretching and hydrating, we have a lot of work ahead of us!” It was now 2:10, almost exactly 2 hours after I’d left the trail to start after these elk. By 4:30 we were all loaded up and headed back up to the trail. It took 2 hours to travel that 1 mile through blowdown and buck brush.

Once back at the bikes, we decided that we couldn’t add this much weight to our setups. There were no trees to hang meat in, so we built a little platform of logs and sticks, and rested the quarters on it, covering it with a tarp. We would have to come back the next day to get it. Darkness fell quickly and we rode our bikes down the 6 mile descent to the vehicles at the bottom. It was bumpy, and rocky, and at times somewhat scary knowing that the darkness on the edge of my headlamp was a 500’ vertical drop. Our gear held though, and so did our brakes and we rolled up to the trucks 2 hours later none the worse for wear. We drove to basecamp that night, hung our meat, slept a short few hours, and then were back up at 5 am. Alex had to drive home that day, so my Dad, Uncle Bob and I headed back for the elk. We drug a game cart the 6 miles back up and wheeled him out in the rain and wind. The meat was beautifully cold and dry under the tarp we had covered it with.

As we loaded the meat into the truck, it was a sad realization that our trip was over, hardly before it had begun. In 2.5 days we had filled all 5 tags in camp. I wait all year for this trip and 10 days in Idaho, but there’s no way I could rationalize staying there for another week knowing my wife was home with my 3 year old boy, so after spending one day cleaning and organizing gear and meat, we hit the road for home Tuesday morning. Plans have already been made for next years trip, as well as a list of things we need to acquire before next season and changes we will make.
I hunt therefore I am. I fish therefore I lie.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby 7mmfan » 10 21, 2020 •  [Post 2]

A few more.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby 7mmfan » 10 21, 2020 •  [Post 3]

Last one.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Swede » 10 21, 2020 •  [Post 4]

Excellent story 7MM. You kept it very interesting for sure. Congrats on a very successful hunt.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Billy Goat » 10 21, 2020 •  [Post 5]

great hunt, great team and great harvest.

congrats on documenting all of that in a great writeup! well worth the read!
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and by the time they reach their teens, no dope peddler under the sun will ever teach them anything".

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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Old school » 10 21, 2020 •  [Post 6]

Thanks for posting a recap of your hunt. Sounds like you all had a great experience and a great hunt.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 10 22, 2020 •  [Post 7]

EXCELLENT write up Rory, really enjoyed it! You definitely have a flare for writing. You really should consider packaging your 2020 Idaho hunt story and pics up and sending it in to the Western Hunter mag for possible publishing. I can give you the publishing editor's name if you are interested. r/Rory
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Tigger » 10 22, 2020 •  [Post 8]

Nicely done! It goes too fast doesn't it? I am so confused how clocks can speed up during the fall.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby 7mmfan » 10 22, 2020 •  [Post 9]

Thanks for the vote of confidence RJ, someday maybe I'll have an urge to be published, but at this time I'm happy sharing with the minions on this humble site.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Elkhunttoo » 10 22, 2020 •  [Post 10]

Congrats on the fun hunt. Great write up!!
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Lefty » 10 22, 2020 •  [Post 11]

Great story, Well done


I always feel a little somber when walking up on animals that I’ve shot. None of them wanted to die that day, and I have an immense amount of respect for them as autonomous creatures. I sat quietly with him, soaking in the silence that follows a shot and resulting death of an animal in the woods. Soon though, birds began chirping and the woods began to move again. The cycle of life continued, and I got to work ,,,,


This paragraph says a lot about you!
thanks

For some reason I have lost some of that over the years. However and maybe for different reasons I can sit on a mountain side and not kill a thing and still feel a reverence.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby 7mmfan » 10 23, 2020 •  [Post 12]

Thanks Lefty. It's changed for me over the years as well. As a younger man I hooped and hollered and celebrated a few times when I killed an animal, but it always felt weird. There was always a huge amount of excitement, as there should be. It usually crashed down to remorse at some point. Over the years, I've become more aware of what a hunter's place in the world is, and I no longer regret or feel bad for killing an animal, but do feel a bit somber and definitely feel a sense of responsibility once it's done. It is a very difficult set of emotions and feelings to describe, even to those that understand it. The more I kill, the more all of that is moderated, but I still continue to sit with the animals I've killed for a bit and let the woods come back to life before I do much. I feel like its the acceptance of the natural world giving me it's good graces to harvest that animal and continue the cycle.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Swede » 10 23, 2020 •  [Post 13]

7mm, you and Lefty bring up a good point. I think we do change over time. There is nothing wrong with celebrating success, but we see more than that after enough experience.
You have got me to thinking about my own evolution in this hunting journey. The first two times I killed a bull from a tree stand I raised my bow up in triumph as though I was some conquering hero. I was so excited I could hardly contain my jubilation. Now I am more subdued and just take time to thank God for what He has provided. I reflect on His goodness in letting me be out, and to still harvest game and get it cleanly out of the forest. I just feel blessed.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby 7mmfan » 10 23, 2020 •  [Post 14]

Subdued is a good way to put it. I look back on past shots and animals killed and can clearly see differences. Even just 5 years ago I remember shooting an elk and literally running up the hill to it, as if I was afraid it would get away. Those shots were also always somewhat frantic, nervous that my opportunity would be missed. This year, both animals I killed I laid prone for over half an hour waiting for the right shot to present itself. Once the shot was taken, I continued to lay there watching not just my animals to ensure it was down, but also to watch the other animals around and see how they responded. Once content with the situation, I calmly walked down to my animals. It's age, maturity, and experience.

I can only imagine how much experience I'll have when I get as old as you Swede!
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Swede » 10 23, 2020 •  [Post 15]

Enjoy the journey to old age. It will come too soon. I have to marvel at the accuracy you have in shooting. That was quite a shot you took at the bull. Some guys (rifle and bow) are dead on at long ranges. I suspect the deer and elk in your hunting area would like you to hurry up and retire from hunting real soon.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby 7mmfan » 10 23, 2020 •  [Post 16]

I certainly have not always been accurate. There's many stories circulating through our hunting group of unexplained occurrences of military exercises in our area using fully automatic weapons in 4 shot bursts. For some reason, they usually happen in the areas I'm hunting.

In the last 5 or 6 years I've spent a lot of time practicing with my weapon, fine tuning my load for it and practicing at long ranges. The 400 and 500 yard practice makes the 200 yard shots seem easy. This was the first time that I've ever taken a shot at the neck of a bedded animal though, and I had my reservations about it. My practice leading up to the season gave me the confidence to take that shot and I'm happy that it went exactly as planned.
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Re: Idaho 2020

Postby Roosiebull » 10 24, 2020 •  [Post 17]

excellent read! best hunting story i have read in awhile, and so much of it is so relatable. awesome season you guys had, though i understand it being bittersweet getting done that fast.... hard to know what to feel when such an anticipated journey ends fast.... also have to take in how awesome those few short days were... sounds like a season your party will never forget.

thanks for taking the time to write that up!
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