Last year’s hunting trip turned out to be a total bust. The elk were not in the area at all, and the weather was one snowstorm after another. None of us fired a shot during three separate trips to the Donnelly area. However, the trip for 1997 may be a whole different ball game. We would plan on going back there again around October 15th, hoping the hunting would be back to normal. Usually, the weather is mild with only heavy frost at night. Snow has fallen on us several times before but only enough to make the ground white for a few days and it improved the hunting. In the middle of the summer, we decided to make a quick run to Donnelly to find another place to camp. The camp we used last year was a great place, isolated and all that, but it was too far back in a basin making it hard to get to. Harry had seen a place years ago where a logging crew had a base camp set up, while working in the area. He remembered it being down a dead-end road less than two miles inside the main gate to the open area. We wanted to check it out for a campsite for the coming fall. Harry, Bud, and I loaded some lunch things in Bud’s truck then hooked onto the small trailer to take along Harry’s ATV. Bud had his Honda motorcycle tied in the back of the truck. We wanted to do some scouting on them during the day. It did not take long to get to Donnelly, with the roads being in good condition. The time of year was late summer, and the weather was great. The temperature was in the eighties, shirt sleeve weather for sure. The road to the future camp was not hard to find, but it had a lot of water checks on it. They were not deep, so we could go over them without doing any shoveling. As we go over strange roads, we always keep in mind that we would be pulling several trailers down it in the fall. The main road split with one fork going on around the hill ending at a fence line. The other fork went down to a large flat with trees around it. There were a few logs and limbs to be moved, but it was mostly open. There was plenty of room to park the trailer house with the lean-to. Dennis would bring along his tent trailer and Harry would have his ATV in the small trailer. While sitting around talking and enjoying the sunshine, we mentally planned where to put everything, even the potty chair had its place. Some large trees in a grove would be a good place for a meat rack. We had not been there awfully long when the little chipmunks living in the logs came out, looking for something to eat. No matter where we camp, chipmunks’ sense we are an easy group for a handout. Gray Jays were flying around in the trees squawking wildly about our presence in their forest. Overhead we spotted large birds circling on the wind currents. They were Golden Eagles looking for a dead critter somewhere. Lunch time was coming on, we sat out the ice chest with the lunch fixings. Everyone fixed what they wanted to eat and dug into the bag of potato chips. I always have along a six pack of Pepsi; in case I have a Pepsi attack while sitting around doing nothing. Harry and Bud bring whatever they want to drink, neither of them drinks Pepsi. We found out what we wanted to know; this would make a good camp in the fall. The area was left pretty much as we had found it in case someone else had the same idea of camping there. We really did not have much to worry about because very few hunters ever camp out while hunting in that area. Most of the hunters are local people anyway. After lunch we unloaded the ATV and motorcycles to go for a ride to look over the Island Ridge. We t○○k an old logging road up a long valley to the ridge top. There were two reasons for Climbing to the top, First, we wanted to see if Harry’s ATV could take twoof us uphill, where we wanted to go and second, we wanted to look for elk signs.The area had been logged off and was one big mess.Most of the mature trees were gone but the loggers used a selective cutting method and did not clear cut the unit. There were some elk tracks crossing over both ways on the ridge and the back roads.We had good thoughts of getting an elk in the fall.
Now that we had located a suitable camp and found some elk tracks, it was time to head for home and start working on the fall hunting trip. As time neared to really get into planning the hunting trip, the first thing we wanted to know was who was going on it this year. Dennis was going for sure and would bring his tent trailer for sleeping in. We would not be doing much cooking in it except making some coffee now and then. Brent had his vacation time set up to stay about a week, and Howard would come up Saturday morning to hunt for the weekend. Howard has an ATV with four-wheel drive to bring along. If we should shoot an elk, getting it out would be pretty easy.
Fall finally arrived, it was time to go hunting at last. The season would open on October 15th and as usual we wanted to go a couple of days in advance to get camp set up and get accustomed to the different bed. Harry, Bud, and I would get up on Monday morning, while the other guys would come in at different times as they could. Everything was loaded up Sunday evening so we could get an early start Monday morning. Bud would pull the trailer house and have his motorcycle in the back as well as ice Chests and things we would need. Harry would pull the small trailer with his ATV and had the truck loaded with Water cans and extra gas cans. He also had the two generators with him. Dennis was loaded with the extra items we always take along. Monday morning, we headed for Donnelly like a mini convoy of two trucks and trailers loaded down completely. The roads were in good shape, so the trip only took a couple of hours. The campsite was the same as when we had left it during the summer. Getting the trailers to it was no problem at all. Camp was all set up in about three hours. We put the trailer house next to some large trees so we could tie ropes to them to support the lean-to. The small trailer was parked back out of the way after unloading the ATV. We fixed up a place for the potty chair and put up a meat rack just in case we found an elk. Now that camp was all in order, we went down to visit Joe to let him know we were up and where we were camped. He was harvesting grain and busy, but he took the time to chat with us. We went over to the house to see Vicki for a few minutes. She was getting ready to go to town so we did not stay awfully long. Joe knew exactly where the camp was located because we were not far from his property line where we could hunt if we wanted to. We headed back to camp to rest for the rest of the day. Dennis could not leave home until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest. We were sitting in a camp when we heard him coming down the road with the water checks in it. The trailer was going thump, thump, over each one and we could hear it for quite a ways. He brought his tent trailer for us to sleep in. It has a furnace to keep it warm at night. Brent came in late Tuesday evening in his Bronco and planned to stay until sometime next week. He put his sleeping bag in the tent trailer, where there was plenty of room. We were happy he could make it up to hunt with us. Howard was not going to be able to make the trip, the last we heard. However, Brent informed us that Howard would be here Saturday morning to hunt the weekend.
Everyone was up early on the opening day of hunting season. I fixed a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs while the others made a stack of sandwiches for the backpacks. Each pack has a canteen of water, a flashlight, and some rubber gloves. Everything needed to take care of an elk if we could shoot one. The five of us headed for the Island Ridge to see what we could find to shoot. Dennis and I drove to the top of the island, while the other guys parked at the lower end. We would get together somewhere in the middle. Dennis and I worked down the ridge, checking both sides and all the finger ridges along the way. There just were not any elk around nor were there any tracks. Normally the elk cross through there on the way to the fields. We met up with the other guys and they had the same story to tell. However, we did find that the Island Ridge was a big mess now. When we were there during late summer, we noticed the area had been logged off, but later on in the fall Boise Cascade workers were in the area with heavy tractors and had gouged the hill up with scratch marks everywhere, even the grassy meadows were torn up. The reason for tearing up the ridge was to plant seedlings, which could have been done without making a mess. This may have caused the elk to move away from the area. There was no use hunting the ridge anymore that day, so we drove up to Grouse Knob. Elk had been in the road recently and had left lots of tracks. They should still be around somewhere if we can find them. The plan was to hunt in teams, Dennis and I Went down in the brush around the knob, while Harry, Bud and Brent would check the road for more tracks then find a g○○d place to sit for an hour or so until we were out of the brush. They hoped we would run something up to them. We did push some elk up into the road, but the guys were too far around the road to see them. The guys found the fresh tracks in the road on the way back to the trucks. Dennis and I could not find any elk in all our travels. We checked below the road, then went a mile or so up the road and walked out the hill above the road. We found very few tracks in all that time. We finally went back to the trucks where the guys were waiting for us.
The afternoon was about gone, time to head back to camp. Suppertime was coming and we were getting hungry. We had brought along five nice rib eye steaks for our supper. I cooked up some pan-fried potatoes and heated up some canned beets. Dennis cannot eat mushrooms, so we brought along brown gravy mix instead. The steaks were done to a medium well and were tender and tasty. We had a meal fit for royalty. We stuffed ourselves with all we could hold then relaxed playing Pinochle the rest of the evening. We discussed going back to Grouse Knob first thing in the morning to look for the elk again. After cookies and milk, we went to bed with visions of finding an elk somewhere in the morning.
The alarm clock in the trailer house started ringing at 5:30 as it was set, time to get up. Harry came over to wake us up, but we were already awake and ready to get up. We wanted to get up on the mountain early. While the others fixed lunches and filled all the canteens, I cooked a quick breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. We were headed out at first light; elk can sometimes be spotted on the way to where we wanted to hunt. We checked Grouse Knob first, but the elk were not around. They seemed to have moved out during the night. We went back to the Island Ridge to check it out. The elk had not been in there during the night, either. Harry, Bud, and Brent went back up to Grouse Knob again. They planned to sit on the hill until dark hoping some elk would come up out of the brush where they could see them. Dennis and I decided to drive over into the Patty Flats Valley to look it over. First, we drove a back road to the Summit and went out to the end of it. I had been on the road before but forgot that there was not any place to turn around at the end of it. We had to back up for several blocks to find a spot wide enough to turn around in. There are not any tracks in the road that we could see. We went back to the main road and walked out to some other places.
As we were driving down the road, we went around a sharp bend. Suddenly, three cows jumped off steep bank, hit the road once then bounded into the brush below. We stopped to look for them, but they were gone without making a sound. The brush and trees were so thick we could not even get through it. I walked down the road to where I could look up the hill they had come from. I was hoping a bull elk was hanging back waiting for us to move on before crossing the road. The cows must have been alone, I could not spot anything above the road. We drove on around the road looking for a place to walk up towards the Basin Hole as we call it. Bud had wounded a large bull elk with an arrow a few years ago that came down across the road. I was Sure I could recognize the Place again. Since I could not remember which creek to take, we just picked out one with running water that was easy to walk up. It was the wrong one, but we found some fresh elk track in the creek bottom. The elk were not there but had been the day before. We missed the right place by about a mile, so I figured it out later. Back at the truck we decided to go on around the road to where it goes below Grouse Knob. The road was in pretty bad shape, deep ruts full of mud and water. We had to go down in four-wheel drive just to get through. This road was crossed off our list of roads to travel, it was a real hazard and there was a good chance of getting stuck badly. We made it through all right without any problems. This road joins up with several other roads at the top of the Island Ridge. This is the major intersection of all the roads in that area. One road goes up to Grouse Knob, another goes up hill to where we camped several times, two roads split around each side of the Island Ridge, one goes down towards the fields and the last road comes in from Willow Creek Road. ln the past we have traveled them all to see where they end up. Dennis and I stopped there for a while pondering on what to do next. I was running out of ideas of where to go to find an elk. It was late afternoon by now, so we headed back to camp to play some cribbage and take a nap. We ended up doing both. The rest of the guys came into camp about dark. They had been up on Grouse Knob mostly waiting for the elk to show up, but they never did. They drove around some of the back roads looking for tracks but came up empty. They went down around the Tulle Patch and some of the places where we have found elk before. There were not any elk around at all.
Time to fix supper again. I have never seen such a hungry bunch of guys. Tonight, we will have pork chops, hash browns and steamed cauliflower. I brought a large pan as a steamer screen to go in it for cooking the cauliflower. Everything turned out exactly right and I thought we were going to burst from eating so much. There was not a thing left over at all. When everything was cleaned up, we retired to the comforts of the trailer house to play some pinochle and rest for the evening. This is always the high point of the day. Each of us took turns trying to be the champions but no one ‘s really a loser. We talked about where to go in the morning with nothing ever decided for sure. It was time to go to bed and everyone was still too full to have cookies and milk. The cook must have done a good job. We did not know where to go hunting next, but we would check out Grouse Knob and the Island Ridge again. Some elk should move into that area pretty soon out of the high country. With that in mind we went to bed to try for some sleep. Sometimes it is hard to sleep when it is so quiet, no barking dogs or cars roaring by. Everyone was up early again to find an elk. I fixed pancakes, bacon, and eggs while the others made some sandwiches and filled the canteens with fresh water. Each pack gets a candy bar and a can of fruit also. We always take along a good lunch since we will be out all day. Up to the Island Ridge we headed. We covered it from end to end but the elk were not using the ridge at all this year. The activity during the summer and early fall caused the elk to avoid the area completely. We spent a good part of the day on the Island Ridge and Grouse Knob all in vain. This was the third day of hunting the area, and the elk were not around. We were trying to be patient, but we were starting to run out of patience. We should have found an elk by now. Harry, Bud, and Brent took the ATV and motorcycle for a ride to check out some of the upper roads. Brent rode on the ATV with Harry doing the driving. They checked the main ridge road and the road we used to get to a campsite we used for several years. The road crews had plowed up the side road so badly that it will never again be used to get to the old camp. In all their travels they never found a fresh elk track. Back at camp again and time to fix supper. We brought a large roast to be sliced into steaks. This would be g○○d for tonight. Steak, hash browns, and green beans would make up the menu for the meal this evening. I cooked the whole roast so we could use it up. Once the meat thaws out, we want to use it up as soon as possible. Everyone was stuffing themselves when a truck came into camp. It was Joe wanting to see how we were hunting. I fixed him a steak sandwich, which he went through in a hurry. It surprised him how well we eat while in the hills. He stayed for quite a while visiting and admiring the way we were set up. He did not know where the elk had gone either. He said it was rare to see just a couple late in the evening while out harvesting the grain. We were glad he took the time to come up for a visit. Usually, he is too busy to take the time for a break. Vicki and Joe are always welcome at our camp anytime. After Joe left, We Cleaned up the pans and straightened up the camp. We then retired to the trailer house to have our usual games of Pinochle the rest of the evening. The main topic of the chatting was where to go the next day. All the area we have been checking were not being used by the elk as of yet. Pretty soon they will be moving out of the high country and come down into our area. We would check out the Island Ridge and Grouse Knob again to see if the elk were there yet. Tomorrow will be Saturday; Howard should be roaring into camp sometime early in the morning. Brent planned to wait at camp for him, if he was not there by the time, we were ready to head out. Howard had a map of how to find the camp with the exact mileage so he would not get lost.
Morning dawned bright and sunny, but there was frost on the ground. It was pretty cool at night. I fixed a g○○d breakfast of bacon and egg, with toast. Sandwiches were made for everyone, including Howard. We were sure he would be in soon. He would sleep in the tent trailer with Dennis, Brent and I, there was plenty of room. The rest of us loaded into the trucks for a quick run to the Island Ridge first. Brent knew where we would be and would find us as soon as Howard arrived. Dennis and l parked about halfway around the west side of the ridge at a place where we could climb to the top really easily. There was a long finger ridge right to the top. The elk often hangs out where the ridges join at the top of the main ridge. We would hunt from there to where Harry and Bud were waiting for us. Howard made it to camp, shortly after we left. They jumped into Brent’s Bronco and headed up to the Island Ridge. Brent knew where Bud would park, and it was not long before they joined Harry and Bud up by the rocks. There was not any elk around the rocks, nor had they been there at all. Dennis and I Checked all the places an elk might be hiding as we went through. The elk still had not moved in there and there was not any tracks of any crossing over to the fields. We met up with the other guys about midway on the ridge and decided to go back to the trucks to Check out Grouse Knob. With the boys along, we hunted in pairs so we could cover the area better. If there were any elk all, someone should See them. Brent and Howard went down in the thick brush and trees, Harry and Bud stayed up on the main road, while Dennis and l checked out the backside of the Knob. We would get together somewhere around noon. The trees and brush Were Very thick down below the road, where we went. It was prime elk hiding terrain. However, there were not any elk anywhere to be found. There were not even any fresher tracks in the road, where they were a couple of days ago. Dennis and I wanted to go over into the Patty Flats area again to look around and the other guys went back to get their ATVs and Bud’s motorcycle just to go for a ride for something different to do. Howard’s ATV was a large four-wheel drive, a powerful machine. Brent rode on the back of it and Howard put it places you would not believe. Scared the heck out of Brent. They rode the back roads the rest of the day, but still the elk were not around and had not even crossed any roads. Dennis and I drove around the roads in the Patty Flats Valley, but we stayed off the muddy roads this time.There was not any signs of elk moving in the area so headed back to camp.
We were at camp only a short time, when the rest of the crew came tearing in on the machines. The same old story, the elk were not anywhere around. We should have seen something even at a distance. Seems like I fixed a supper, and everyone was wanting to know what I was going to have for supper. Bud had some elk steak left from our hunt of two years ago, so he brought it all along to use it up. I opened up several packages, enough for a g○○d meal tonight. I fried up an extra-large pan of steak and boiled the potatoes. I also warmed up a couple cans of green beans for a vegetable. I made a small saucepan of brown gravy to go with everything. I Wanted to fix something nice tonight since this was Howard’s first camping trip with us. He planned to head for home sometime tomorrow afternoon. The guys made a short work of the large pile of steaks and the pot of potatoes. This makes the cook happy to know the meal was satisfactory. We cleaned up the pans and threw away the plates, then put the silverware in a dishpan of water to soak. The plates were just paper for the record. This job took all of ten minutes. Now it was time to retire to the trailer house to rest and play Pinochle for a while. Howard plays Pinochle also, so we took turns trying to beat the winners of each game. We played quite late in the evening. This was the first time to get all these guys together and we wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. Besides, there did not seem to be much reason to get up early in the morning. When the final hoop was over, we broke out the cookies and milk as a night cap. After visiting for a while everyone retired to their assigned sleeping spot. We planned to go out hunting sometime in the morning after breakfast. We did not want to give up, without a fight.
Morning came with the sun shining brightly through the trees. We slept in a bit late. As everyone was getting up, Howard seemed to have come down with a sore throat. He looked in a mirror to check it out and he had a bad case of strep throat. He wasn’t feeling good at all and decide to head for Boise right after breakfast. He needed to see a doctor and get some medicine right away. Brent was not about to let him go that far alone so he packed up his gear to leave also. I did not want them to go without something to eat and a good hot cup of coffee. The coffee eased the soreness, so I made up a large mug for him to take with him. It did not take long to have some bacon and eggs c○○ked up with toast and jelly. As soon as breakfast was over, they headed for home. They would stay close together and stop for a break now and then. They made it to Boise in good shape and Howard found a doctor to look him over. He had a bad case of strep throat, so he went to bed for the rest of the day. He could drive back to Pocatello the next day. As they were leaving, their last words were, “We will be back next year for a week.” Both of them would put in for their vacation early enough to make next year’s trip. They are welcome to come along, and we have tried for years to get them to come with us.
Now the crew was back to four and we still wanted to find an elk, but where were they? We decided to run up to the Island Ridge for the rest of the day. With canteens full of water and sandwiches in packs, away we went. As per normal, Dennis and I started at the upper end with Harry and Bud meeting us somewhere in the middle. There were a few tracks where a cow and calf had passed through during the night, but they were long gone now. We covered the area as well as possible, then went on up to Grouse Knob. Harry and Bud checked the road area for a couple of miles while Dennis and I Went down around the knob to check the thick brush and timber pockets. The elk were not anywhere around again today. We caught up with Harry and Bud sitting on a small ridge where they could see a large area around them. The elk had not moved through there and it looked like they were not going to for a while. After lunch, we made the decision to pack up the camp in the morning and head for home ourselves. It was apparent that the elk were not going to come out of the high country, until some snow fell, to push them out. We spent the rest of the day walking and driving, just enjoying the last day of vacation. About dark everyone was back at camp and hungry as usual. For supper I cooked the rest of the elk steak to use it up. There was a lot more than we could eat, so we put the leftovers in a bag for sandwiches on the way home. AIong with the steak I boiled up a large pot of potatoes and made a pan of gravy. I finally fixed more than we could eat. The evening was spent playing Pinochle and enjoying the last night. We tried to figure out what had happened to all the elk. Of course, nothing ever comes out of these discussions that makes any sense. We turned in, knowing we had to leave in the morning. The trip was relaxing, and everyone had a great time.
Morning arrived as usual, time to get up and fix the last breakfast. After bacon and scrambled eggs with toast, we began to clean up all the dirty pans and silverware. I washed everything up, while Harry and Bud started taking down the lean-to. This is always the sad part of the trip, knowing that it is over, and it is time to head back home. Dennis worked on folding up his tent trailer and helped us with our camper trailer. Getting the camp taken apart is a big job and takes several hours of working hard. The camp was packed up and we were soon on our way home. We made plans to return the next weekend hoping the elk would finally move in.
The coming weekend we headed back to Donnelly to look for an elk. Harry, Bud, and Brent did not want to stay overnight, but Dennis and I had plans of our own. If the hunting were not any good at all, we would head for the Payette River to fish and stay overnight. We were not too surprised the elk had not moved in yet. The Island Ridge and Grouse Knob were checked for elk, but not a track was found.
Harry, Bud, and Brent planned to stay on the hill somewhere most of the day while Dennis and I headed for the river. We would park near the old Fern croft area and fish for the holes nearby. On the way through Cascade, we stopped at a store for a box of night crawlers. The river was extra low even for October. It was afternoon by the time we stopped at a good Place to set up the trailer for the night. We quickly set up camp and looked at the river running by. The sun was shining bright, and the inside of the camper started warming up inviting us to flop down on our sleeping bags for a quick nap. Several hours later we were awoken by a truck pulling in beside us. The other guys left the Donnelly area shortly after we had. They went from Donnelly to Cascade by way of the Gold Fork road. In all their traveling they could not find an elk nor even any fresh tracks. They commented on how beautiful the country was back in the sticks away from the populated areas. None of us have been back into that country before so it is on the list of places to go in the future. The guys only stopped long enough to let us know they were on the way home. They had seen the truck and camper and was curious how the fishing was. We had not been out yet but now that we were awake, we would try some of the holes nearby. We could walk to some of the good holes, so we would not be far from the camper. We fished several holes up the river a short ways in sight of the camp. I Caught one nice sized trout, but Dennis could not catch anything but trash fish for his efforts. Darkness was starting to set in, and it also was getting chilly. It did not take us long to head back to the warm camper. Suppertime was upon us, and we were getting hungry. Since we planned to. stay overnight, we brought along a nice steak for each of us and some frozen hash browns. We made a meal of the steak and potatoes without fixing a Vegetable. It was a peaceful supper, and we enjoyed the evening. The trailer uses a battery for the lights and to run the furnace. We did not want to run it down, so we went to bed a little earlier than normal. The sleeping bags quickly warmed up to be really comfortable. We were so comfortable that we stayed in bed for about twelve hours before getting up. Except for the traffic going past now and then, the only sounds of the river could be heard. It was a very peaceful night to say the least. We finally could not lay there any longer and had to get up. The sun was already shining on the river, about time to go out fishing. We fixed some sausage and eggs with a pot of coffee, everything tasted really good. The trailer was folded up so we could take it with us as we headed out fishing. We did not want to leave it alone while we were gone. Some of the holes we wanted to fish were down river towards home, anyway. For some reason, the fishing was not particularly good. The low Water may have been the reason, but we have done well in the past when it was low. Dennis still could not catch a decent fish all day, just trash fish. I Caught one more nice sized trout to add to the other one so there was enough to make a meal. We even caught grasshoppers for bait, in hopes the fish wanted something different. Grasshoppers did not work any better than the worms.
After fishing all the good holes going down the river, we gave up and headed for home. We enjoyed the weekend outing by ourselves. Harry’s cow tag was still good for one more weekend in the Donnelly area. Bud and Brent would go with him on a quick trip to help him find an elk. I was invited to go along, but four people in the front of one truck is too crowded. He had plenty of help anyway. They gave me a complete rundown of the trip when they returned.
First, they checked the Island Ridge, then went up to Grouse Knob, Still the elk were not there. There were no fresh tracks of any elk going through at all. Next, they drove over to Patty Flats Road to drive out some of the back roads we had seen before. They found some places that looked really good for having elk in them. However, there were not any elk anywhere this year. Some of the roads went back into very remote country. There were plenty of places to campsites back there. This brought up the subject of taking a summer drive to really look that area over. We may want to think about trying a different place to camp and hunt next fall. Summertime is the best time to drive around in the mountains doing nothing important for the day. Even though we did not get an elk this year, we did have a good time. We plan to put in for cow permits again next year and hope someone draws out. Trying to hunt only bulls only reduces our success chances. Now we can only hope everyone stays healthy during the coming year so we can all have another good trip together.