Field trips 2.0

[VAfooter]

Just curious, what was the elevation and temps like? I would have thought that snakes would already be hibernating by this time that far north.

[wiiawiwb]

1 hour ago, hiflier said:

 

Hear ya on that, w. My case? Beyond seeing signs of "normal" animals, I have always come home empty. I think getting out there more would up my chances and hey, as I say every year around this time, Spring's a-comin' But there's still plenty of good days to be had this Fall. Been slowly accumulating a few items to outfit my truck for more comfortable overnights in cold weather. Ran down my list and been thinking I should upgrade my recording device. Doesn't need to be fancy and was thinking of a Tascam DR-05 fired up with some lithiums. Saw one for a good price at Adorama. Just under $75. Not bad.

 

I know a guy who has a Tascom and he likes it. Not sure of the model. I like BRB's idea of just leaving it out in the woods.  I used to do that and pick it up in the morning as I was leaving. I've gotten away from that and having it always on will help to get that scream, howl, or other audio that we're not ready for. Good luck with it.

[hiflier]

Thanks, and good luck to you, too

[BC witness]

I don't mind the giant photo dump, when it's that kind of great country! Spikes only for that area? Where I have hunted elk in the past, it has always been 5 point or better.

 

I'm also curious about the Ebikes, I've had one on my wish list for a while. When you get the time, fill us in a bit on your experience with them, good or bad.

[PNWexplorer]

I've been considering going for elk in Washington, but I'm right on the border of Idaho, and all the good public elk hunting is a couple of hundred miles away in areas I'm not familiar with.  So, $500 in license/tags to hunt with family where I grew up in Idaho, 30 miles away, or under $100 to hunt a couple of hundred miles away, alone, in unfamiliar territory?  

[NatFoot]

8 hours ago, PNWexplorer said:

I've been considering going for elk in Washington, but I'm right on the border of Idaho, and all the good public elk hunting is a couple of hundred miles away in areas I'm not familiar with.  So, $500 in license/tags to hunt with family where I grew up in Idaho, 30 miles away, or under $100 to hunt a couple of hundred miles away, alone, in unfamiliar territory?  

 

Hunt with family where you grew up 90% of the time. Do the Washington trip once.

[norseman]

Washington Eastern Tag except Selkirk here is spike only. Selkirk herd (NE Wa) is any bull. Western tag is 3 pt or better. Why that is? No idea. The boundary is the eastern edge of Rainer NP.
 

PNWexplorer- I hunted Idaho for many years. The wolves have pretty much wrecked me for paying out of state tags and licenses. It’s the same problem with the Selkirk herd. We hunt on the Idaho line. If you have a successful spot in Idaho? Great. I don’t.
 

Now I didn’t shoot a spike above Naches. But we were in Elk everyday. It’s better than any hunting I ever did in Idaho. Selway and Frank. If I were you I would start putting in for a branch antlered bull tag for the Eastern Tag. You are virtually guaranteed a dandy bull if you draw.

 

Rattlesnake.

 

We were at 5000 feet. And he was curled up when I saw him on that rock. I poked him with a stick. He hissed and rattled put wouldn’t strike. He was lethargic. It was in the 40s and raining when I left and Stevens pass got snow. So I bet he is in a den by now.

 

Ebikes.

 

Quiet Kat promised me those bikes by Sept 12 for Wyatts archery hunt. No dice. My bike didn’t come til the end of muzzleloader and Wyatt brought it over. They sent the wrong trailer axle and so I cannot pull the trailer. I’ve since heard stellar things about Bakcou bikes. Like sending out by air freight a loaner bike to save a guys hunt whose motor went TU. Quiet Kat doesn’t have their act together.

 

But the bikes themselves are impressive. We had about a 10 mile loop we were doing in steep terrain and we would have some battery life to spare. 20 percent. If it’s super steep you have to pedal and pin the throttle. If you can’t make it it has a walk feature. Where the bike walks along side you. The batteries take about 3 hours to charge on a smallish generator (2000w).

 

Im 250 lbs and I can sit on my butt and not pedal and go uphill on a FS road at about 10-12 mph. Downhill I’m going about 25 mph. The batteries will also charge in my pickup on the dash 110 inverter. The brakes are hydraulic disc. Not traditional bike brakes. And I wanted the bafang ultra mid drive. It’s the torque king. And you can run it through your 9 speed unlike hub motors.

[PNWexplorer]

2 hours ago, norseman said:

 

PNWexplorer- I hunted Idaho for many years. The wolves have pretty much wrecked me for paying out of state tags and licenses. It’s the same problem with the Selkirk herd. We hunt on the Idaho line. If you have a successful spot in Idaho? Great. I don’t.

We had a honey hole two miles out of town on private land that a herd would frequent during hunting season.  Hunted there for about a decade and got some decent bulls...

 

 

Then the elderly landowner leased out the land to a guy running cattle and he decided that we were no longer welcome.  That was two years ago and nobody has gotten an elk since.

 

Wolves have changed the elk's behavior and made them harder to hunt, along with impacting their numbers.  

[Kiwakwe]

Checked out an area that is contiguous to an assumed riverway travel corridor. Walked a mile or so down the trail last night before the storm came in. Today was a daylight recon down the atv/utv access through this fairly prime habitat. There was a sighting of an adult and a juvenile crossing a road not far from here around this time of year 2006.

 

 

 

Outside of great habitat we saw a few grouse, turkey and a pair of beaver:

Ended up at a wind turbine site with some new ones going up. Striking a pose for scale--that crane is loaded with 16 10 ton weights:

 

 

 

[BC witness]

I did get out for part of the day today, but not for mulies in the cascades, as I got a late start, so my daughter and I just went into the nearby coast mountains, above the town of Hope, where the elusive deep woods blacktails (and sasquatch) hang out. It was drizzly and cloudy from 10AM to 2PM, then the clouds really socked in, and the rain got heavy enough that it wasn't worth stay in the high country, so we headed back downhill about 5000 ft to the highway and home. At the crest of the ridge we got into light snow, on the ground, and falling, but found no tracks in it. The only sign we found was some fresh bear scat below the snow line. I hope to get out again tomorrow, as the forecast is better, but have to be back by 5:30 for Thanksgiving dinner, so can't get too far afield.

 

 

[BC witness]

The small dot of water in the centre of the second photo is Kakawa Lake, just E of Hope, and the pointy peak in the third and fourth pics is Wells Peak, about 1500m elevation (roughly 5000')

Edited October 12, 2020 by BC witness

[NatFoot]

Love the pics...and snow!

[norseman]

White mtn got snow last night. I can see Red Mtn in Rossland BC and its white too.

 

I learned to ski there.

[BC witness]

6 hours ago, NatFoot said:

Love the pics...and snow!

 

The snow typically hits the high country right around our Thanksgiving weekend (second Monday in October), and stays in the mountains till the end of May/early June. Thankfully, we only get a few weeks of it in the Fraser Valley, where I live.

 

Over the winter, the mountains will accumulate 12 to 20 feet of snow, which all melts in May, raising the rivers to scary levels.

[norseman]

Tree across the Barnaby Butte trailhead rd. Think I will go in in morning and cut it out and take off on ebike. Glassed one mulie buck bedding down on top from road. 
 

Snow was patchy on top. Suppose to get more on sunday.