A friend of Dale Moore’s offered him the use of a cabin, not far above Garden Valley, on the South Fork of the Payette River. I Was familiar with the area having traveled past the place many times on the way to Lowman to go hunting and fishing. The cabin was a rustic Looking place with a swimming pool fed by a natural spring of hot water. Much work went into building the cabin and the swimming Pool・ A pipe was installed to bring the hot water from the other side of the Payette River. The water was just that is hot. A small electric pump was installed to push the hot water to the Cabin and the pool. We planned to stay all weekend and enjoy the cabin and the swimming pool. We were very happy to have been trusted with such a fine place. Hunting season for deer was still going on so we planned to hunt most of the time. An area called Dan Skin Creek was not far away and there was usually lots of deer hiding in the brushy draws and aspen groves. Autumn was in full bl○○m with all it’s colorful splendor. The aspen Trees Were in bright yellow, making quite a contrast with their shinny white bark. The underbrush was turning reds and yellow awaiting time for the fall-off.
We left town before n○○n, on Saturday allowing us a couple of hours of travel time to get to the cabin. The weather was nice for an October day and the trip from town was very pleasant. We found the cabin just like where we had expected it to be. The pool was full of nice hot water just waiting for us to jump in. As soon as we were settled in, we headed for the pool. The natural hot water saps the strength out of the body rapidly, therefore we could not stay in very long. This was one fine way of starting out a hunting trip.
After the swim we went for a drive up Dan Skin Creek on a scouting trip. We wanted to get an idea of where to hunt the next morning. There seemed to be deer all over the place from all t he tracks in the roads. We were confident we could find a deer somewhere the next day. The afternoon went fast with the sun starting to sink in the west. Back to the cabin, we headed. Time to fix some supper. We would have steak and fried potatoes with a vegetable and a pot of coffee. The cabin was built with a master bedroom On the lower level and another bedroom in the loft. The front of the loft was open just above the living room. There was a nice kitchen bathroom and all the comforts of home. I took my sleeping bag up to the loft and spread it out on one of the cots, located there. Dale would use the master bedroom. We turned in early that night, to be well rested for the next day a hard hunt was planned. The first day started and finished in good fashion. We chatted for a while until sleep caught up with us. All was very quiet except for the gentle sounds of the river running past in the canyon below At the sound of the alarm clock, we were up at the crack of dawn.
After breakfast of bacon and eggs, we headed for Dan Skin Creek to find a deer. We only had to travel a couple of miles to be in the hunting area. To get there before daylight, was not be necessary. We would need to wait for daylight if we were so early anyway. We found some aspen groves, which looked promising to hold deer. After wandering around for a couple of hours we stopped in a thick pocket of large pine and fir trees. There were a lot of down trees, fallen from old age. We decided to rest on an old fallen pine tree when shots started echoing across the hills. Bullets were coming our way so we dove behind the log until the shooting stopped. We did not know if they were shooting at a deer between us or just us, thinking we were deer. Either way we hid out for a while not wanting to take a chance. A half an hour had passed, we hoped who fired at us was doing the shooting, had moved on.
We only walked a couple blocks when a deer came running around the bare hillside in front of me. Now a lone deer will look like a full grown animal, no matter what size it is. I was in position to take a shot at her. I held my .30-30 Winchester on the middle of her and at the kick of the rifle she went end over end but got up and went on around the hill. I knew I had hit her so around the hill I ran after her. She had not gone far because she was hurting from the fresh wound. I was close enough to shoot her in the head to finish her off. Upon examination, the first shot had hit her in both front feet, She must have been at the top of a jump as I shot.
Now I came to realize this deer was just a yearling doe, not much larger than a big dog. It was too late now to do anything about that. I dressed her out and tied all four legs together in a pack then dropped her over my shoulder for a quick trip to the truck. She would not weigh much more than fifty pounds. With the one deer in the truck, we went out Looking for another deer, hopefully larger, for Dale’s tag. All the deer seemed to be badly spooked by now or bedded down in the thick brush somewhere. We could not find another deer anywhere.
After a couple hours of hunting, we headed back to the cabin. We would need to head home soon but there was plenty of time to take another swim and clean up. This swim was very refreshing. We could go home feeling clean not smelling of the hunt. When we made it home, we hung the deer in Dale’s garage to skin and bag it. It was hanging for a few days, then split in half, each of us taking a half home to be cut into steaks for the freezer. This trip was a memorable one, We enjoyed it very much.