This past deer season found my son and I showing a couple of my nephews an area we like to hunt. We tried to show them where the biggest bucks in the area like to hang out and the trails they use to move through the area.
Once the nephews had returned to Idaho Falls and my son had to get back to his job in another state, I ended up giving the same tour of the area to a friend who lives closer to the area than I do.
Finally, I found myself hunting the area alone, so I got up early and was waiting about 150 yards above a well-used game trail that at least one of the larger bucks in the area uses to come down off the mountain to feed and get water every couple of days.
I had chosen this particular location because the exit trail the deer take in this area when spooked, such as a high-powered rifle going off close by, is also visible from my location, although it is about 300 yards away.
I was there early and figured I had about two hours before finding out if I had picked the right game trail and would harvest a buck just as he came up a steep incline and turned right to continue up to the top of the ridge. With my binoculars I was able to see fresh tracks and scat the day before, so I was hopeful I was in the right place.
The temperature while I was waiting in the dark was in the high twenties. When 8 a.m. arrived, it was still in the mid-30s. So I figured that I might have to wait until 10 a.m. for the deer to move enough to use the game trail I was watching. At 10 a.m. the temperature was in the lower 50s, but had only been so for half an hour. I decided to wait a bit longer.
When 11 a.m. rolled around and I hadn’t seen any deer, I decided that this was not my day on this game trail. At 11:05 a.m. several high-powered rifle shots broke the silence from up above the ridge.
I decided to wait a little while longer to see if any bucks would use the trail I was sitting above or the exit trail I had seen them use in the past to leave the area on the ridge.
I had learned from my father and uncles as a young boy that rifle fire from other hunters will usually send bucks to their area escape routes. If I am sitting close to one of those hard-to-find escape routes, those other hunters may do me the favor of pushing bucks to me.
An hour later and still no bucks sighted, I moved to an area my son and I call “The Tunnel” to see if I would have better luck there, and to eat a sandwich while watching the area.
By 6 p.m. I was home without having seen anything except a bull moose in the deep scrub. However, I didn’t have a moose tag so I only got to look at him until he decided to go further into the scrub where I couldn’t see him any more.
I usually hunt three different areas for a few days each October. But I decided to hunt just one of them every day this year with the exception of a dental appointment one day. It turns out that was a mistake, and I probably would have seen more bucks if I had stuck to hunting all three areas for a few days during the season.
The good news is that there may be some additional opportunities for hunting this year if I want to go into Northern Idaho. I’m not sure I will do that this year unless my son can get away from work for a few days. I will be thinking about it for next year though.
If you are interested in the hunting opportunities in Idaho for the rest of the year, get a current Big Game rules book from Fish and Game and see if any of the hunts fits your schedule.
Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years. There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.
