Scouting and elk, And elk scouting.

[Lefty]

Tuesday evening We took the Boy scouts for an overnight camp and a 50 mile bicycle ride. 5:01 the last scout was on his way. 7:00 AM the boys had reached the summit of the pass for a mostly 3000 foot elevation downhill for the next 11 miles. A short distance off the summit were 14 elk feeding in a wheat field. One spike the rest cows and calves. A handfull of deer and couple of coyotes were also spotted.

3:00 Pm I'm on my way to scout where I plan to hunt this season.
I hit this nasty rainstorm I don't think my pickup has ever been so clean. Once to the desert it was interesting to see how the desert had changed with all the record rainfall the past 10 days.

Ducks in the desert green-wing-teal

ducks in the desert

IMG_5502 (Small).JPG (36.24 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

While glassing at sunset I see a bull trotting somewhat my direction,.. Made the trip worth while. Only elk I saw
Wednesday night I was driven into my pickup by lightening. Its been a very long time since Ive slept in the cab of a pick up The wind drove rain through the truck doors , as soon as the rain let up I was back in the tent to sleep.

This dugout should be 8 feet deep, water will still be in it for the opener.

water in dug out

IMG_5499 (Small).JPG (102.18 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

A big disappointment. After the fires the sage is gone, the antelope are back, Maybe my voice to a couple government agencies was successful, Water was hauled to the tank the first time in at least 5 years
Now there are antelope hunters
Three cameras. Since today was the opener, My camp was on the way to the location , I made a point to glass near camp, An archer showed up and we had a cordial visit. He wasnt real happy about the other guys messing with his camera.

watertank

IMG_5495 (Small).JPG (108.93 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

[Lefty]

Biggest mineral lick Ive ever found about 200 x 75 feet on a steep hill side

[zpd307]

I was really amazed as how much desert Idaho has. lots of sage flats with just the mtn tops to break up the view.....

[Lefty]

I was really amazed as how much desert Idaho has. lots of sage flats with just the mtn tops to break up the view.....

Desert from the east to the wast side, Forty to one-hundred and fifty miles wide.
sort of an interesting side note, when people hear i hunt the desert they often make a generalization that I hunt the "Big dessert Unit" if they know the name of that hunting unit or one of the local desert names
The easiest way to see how much dessert there is in southern Idaho is to look at a land administration map; lots of yellow BLM, or maybe the number of unlimited draw antelope hunting units
Just a comparison because INL is close to us and closed to hunting

I Idaho National Laboratory is a government reservation located in the southeastern Idaho desert. At 890 square miles (569,135 acres), the INL Site is roughly 85 percent the size of Rhode Island.

Then there is Crater Monument another 1/2 million acres and on an Idaho map those are both just small spots The Owahee does take up a bit more room but if you don't know about it , it is nearly forgotten by most. And all these famous Idaho potatoes is just irrigated desert

[zpd307]

I saw a bunch of signs for inl and was wondering what that was..... hahaha, I saw some of those irrigated potato fields and I laughed a little! kind of like seeing corn fields in the Arizona desert.... I will say it again, I had a way different picture in my mind when it came to Idaho, which was greener.

[Lefty]

,...I saw some of those irrigated potato fields and I laughed a little! kind of like seeing corn fields in the Arizona desert.... I will say it again, I had a way different picture in my mind when it came to Idaho, which was greener.

The whole irrigation thing had me puzzled and intrigued when I first visited Idaho,. I didnt realize how different Minnesota was from the rest of the US
OK Mn has 10,000 lakes and a gazillion swamps. Idaho anything that holds water some years no matter how small is a lake!
Idaho tourism brags how Idaho has the most river miles Im not sure of the math but Minnesota has way more river miles.
And going out of Minnesota when I was younger I often heard how cold Minnesota was, I was even asked seriously in July if the lakes had thawed from the winter
While Idaho does get some cold its not at all like Minnesota. First thing I realized is in Idaho you never see a car or truck on the lakes
And while people brag about fishing in Idaho, it doesnt compare to MN at all
And no matter how good tasting the trout they are never as good as perch, crappie, sunfish or walleye
What Mn has in lakes Idaho has in good public lands

[ishy]

You have to realize there are two Idahos, if you want green you have to try the panhandle if sage brush is what you are after stay south.

[zpd307]

I am not a farmer, but I cant see how they can make money on crops with having to spend money on irrigating. I haven't been to nw Montana yet, we headed south from Bozeman, but I suppose the panhandle looks like what I think nw Montana does. and Bozeman was just starting to look like actual mtns....

[timberland]

And going out of Minnesota when I was younger I often heard how cold Minnesota was, I was even asked seriously in July if the lakes had thawed from the winter

I heard the snow piles in Duluth finally melted on July 10th this year.

[zpd307]

yeah, Duluth got pounded with snow last winter.......

[Lefty]

Seemed like Evey few years the days after thanksgiving In Minnesota we were able to walk or skate on the lakes. In 88 I took my wife out to the lake the day after Thanksgiving and just drove right off the boat launch,.. she totally freaked, good solid new ice 8" thick

I was in southern Mn in April a couple times this year, The first week of April we walked on a lot of the rivers( still frozen)
Other than the Dakotas I dont know if anyone really knows what a real blizzard is.

However Idaho and the inter mt area has some strange weather too. I have a pic of 8" of snow on my deck June 10th. (4500 ft)
Been stuck in the mts on the 4th of July in snow (7500 ft)