In October 1951, Dad planned a day hunt to the Boise Front. Dad always liked to hunt that area because he grew up hunting the upper part of Dry Creek and the Boise Front. As a young man he would ride his horse from his father’s large ranch, which was the last one at the top end of the Dry Creek Valley. The ranch was several hundred acres, mostly hay and grain. It was not very far to ride round trip by following the creek all the way.
Our family had moved from the large ranch at Star to a smaller place north of Eagle, Idaho. Dad’s health was going downhill from working so hard a11 his life. He had been plagued with injury and bad health for the last few years and was not getting any better. Once in a while we could get away with doing the milking early in the morning and late in the evening, if necessary.
There was a family living in the Willow Creek area that were real good friends by the name of Bil1 and Bertha Ayres with a son named Leland. Dad invited Bill and Leland to go hunting with us. Bertha was not a hunting person so she stayed at home. They would meet us at our farm before daylight on the coming Saturday morning.
As Pre-arranged Dad and Bill would take horses along to ride and for packing out. Any deer we might be lucky enough to find. Dad had an old bay mare that he took on most hunting trips as his health was not that good any more. Bill had a young horse that was very Smart and we|| broke to ride. Bill left his truck and trailer at our place, then they loaded both horses in Dad’s trailer and we all piled into the back of the pickup, for the trip to the Boise Front. Mom loved the hills she would not stay home for anything. Harry was old enough to hunt now, as was Leland.
That fall I bought my first .30-30 rifle, a Winchester Model 94. The cost was $50.00 from an ad in the newspaper. I felt I would probably keep it forever since this was my first rifle. Fifty years later, it is still in my possession and in top condition. I carried it a lot of miles before getting larger caliber that would be better for elk. Dad borrowed Harry a .30-30 rifle to use for the day also. Leland and Bill had their own rifles, which were also .30-30’s.
When everything was ready, we headed for the hills above Boise. The best way to get there was to go up the Bogus Basin road to about where Dry Creek runs under it. There, Dad and Bill unloaded the horses then put the saddles on them to get ready to head out hunting. Harry, Leland, and I would go on foot. When we were ready to start out, Mom would take the truck and trailer to the top of the ridge, where we would come out if all went. Well, we crossed over the Dry Creek area into some draws to the east at the head of Stewart Gulch. Dad and Bill would ride the ridges, while we cut through the valleys′ draws and brush patches that might have some deer hiding in them.
We were to a place where the hill had slid off, making a large scar on the hillside. Dad and Bill were coming around the hill near the top of the slides, when they spooked out a couple of large bucks. They did not know we were anywhere around when they came down the hill as hard as they could run. They were coming straight to us when we saw them. They split off with one coming my way and the other went at Harry and Leland. By some freak of chance, I hit the buck in front of me square between the eyes, on the first shot. On the dead run, he folded up like a wet rag and rolled down the hill end over end. Leland was firing away at the other buck in the meantime. Harry took a couple shots at him also but missed. Finally, Leland hit him and stopped him. He was just about out of sight and moving away, fast.
We surveyed the situation, having two large bucks down, one four pointer, and one three pointer, laying on the hillside. We were in the process of dressing them out when Dad and Bill showed up on the horses. The deer were loaded on the horses for a quick trip to the top of the ridge where Mom had brought the truck and trailer. In the meantime, we were about a quarter of a mile from the top, not much more than that. We had done well, for a bunch of kids.
By this time, it was after lunch time. We had a good lunch. Mom always saw to that. Dad and Bill wanted to go back through the area again with the horses, instead of hauling them back to the Bogus Basin Road in the trailer. Besides they wanted to try for a deer for themselves. They did not want some teenagers out doing them.
Dad and Bill went down the ridge, the way they had come. We decided to stay with Mom as it was getting |ate in the afternoon. She had to drive the truck and trailer back to where we had parked the first time. To get there would take an hour or more at best. We wanted to be
with her, if she should have some problems. We were back to the parking place before the guys arrived with the horses. However, this wasn’t the same place we missed the right spot and drove to a similar p|ace on down the road the road. There we would wait for the guys to come out on the main road. Fina|1y just about dark, here they came but with just one horse, both guys were walking and the horse was dragging a very large buck. Its antler looked like a brush pile on its head. The buck was so large, they could not load it on the horse. The only way to get it out was to drag it. To do this, both men had to walk along the trail to keep it from hanging up on the brush.
They turned the young horse loose to follow on it’s own. It got to 1agging back and missed the trail the other horse had taken. They would find him later somewhere. As fate sometimes happens, Mom had parked where Dad and Bill came out unknowingly. They were just as surprised as we were but where was the other horse. We started to look for him but he was nowhere to be found. We al| met back at the truck to figure out what to do. The sun was going down fast so something had to be done and soon. About this time, Dad realized we were not parked at the same place where we had unloaded the horses that morning. we should try driving up there to see if the young horse was smart enough to find it’s way to where we had started out. Sure enough, there he was. Standing there waiting for us to come and get him. This was a great finish to a very successful day. Three large bucks to take home to show for all the hard work. After we had thought about it for awhile, we realized the young horse had not missed the trail at all, but knew where he had to go to get to the road. Somehow, he knew we were at the wrong place and we would come looking for him.
Everything was loaded into the truck and trailer for the trip back home. We would have to milk the cows, when we got home so we hurried as fast as possible. Darkness had set in badly by the time we arrived back at the ranch. Bill and Leland reloaded their horse into their trailer along with Leland’s nice buck. They were very happy to have gotten a deer and also they had had a great time with us. This was Leland’s first deer so he learned a lot that day. Mom fixed supper, while we hurried through the chores. It had been a long day, and everyone was ready for bed early that night.