After my '02 trip to the Bacon Lake area I said I would not go back to Idaho until they did something about the wolf numbers.

Well, I guess I am a liar!

September 15, 2009 I plan to be somewhere up the Stoddard trail in Unit 20A.

My last trip up the Stoddard was in '87, at the ripe old age of 30. Got into elk, even had a bugling contest with a bull in the heavy stuff down in the Placer Creek drainage. It was my first elk hunt and I still recall the thirst, sweat and frustrating blowdowns with fondness. I also remember smelling the smoke of forest fires every night, after the wind shifted.

Well, I hope to once again climb those switch backs up above the Salmon. I will no doubt have to pack lighter than I did in '87...I will be closing in on 52 next September after all.

The next 9 months will be dominated by exercise, list making, map reading and dreaming. That's half the fun, isn't it?

So if you see a lone fellow with a 20 year old Kelty Tioga trudging up the Stoddard next fall, be sure to say hey!


Tim

Good luck...and make sure to get a physical before hitting the trail. Your not 30 anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodrow S:
Good luck...and make sure to get a physical before hitting the trail. Your not 30 anymore.

My cardiologist has given me the green light, if that counts!

went on my first elk hunting trip to Idaho this past fall at age 50 and if that's not enough I had just had hip resurfacing surgery the prior May
I did try to get training but probably not as good as I could have but still out climbed my younger counter part
I think I have finally recovered from that trip
So do your best at training and have fun
It sure seems as though everything in Idaho is uphill

Way to go White Eagle!

We have a large flood control bayou running through my neighborhood.

It has about a 35 degree slope going down to the creek and I hump up and down that sucker with my pack on.

I have been backpacking in the Rockies since about '73 (and did just a little when I was in the Marines) and find nothing works quite as well for preparation as putting weight on your back and going up and down grades (with some sidehill mixed in too).

Just wish I could prepare for the thinner air. I don't think my wife would let me buy one of those low pressure training chambers!

I am overdue for this trip. It has been going on 6 years since I have been hunting in the west. Getting excited!

As of tonight I have put in 280 miles of training, mostly on a 30 degree slope (flood control bayou) with weight varying from 25 to 55 pounds. Also a fair bit of weight lifting and 8-count bends and thrusts (Marines and SEALS know what those are!).

I have lost 21 pounds and have 10 to go to get to my goal of 180. Virtually all of the weight loss is due to exercise...I hate diets!

Other than knee pain (broke my knee cap in the Marines and it has never been the same since) everything is going great. Doc says the pain does not represent further damage, so I just ignore it best I can.

I have not felt this good in years. BP was 117/68 and resting pulse of 52 during my cardiologist visit last week. I hope the next three months go as well as the last two! I will be ready!

Now as soon as Frank gets my FFL and sends me that No 1 in 45-70, I can start working on my elk load! 400gr Woodleigh FP and either H4198 or Re7...maybe IMR 3031.


Tim

400 gr bullet , you may want to try Accurate 2230 .It is the 400 gr powder imo in the 458 Win .... wtg on getting in shape .. What type of sight are you going to use ??

For sights, I put a NECG peep on. Looks like the factory front sight will work (I have read where some folks had to replace the FS to get a zero).

Thanks for the tip on the powder. Had it to the range yesterday for the trial run w/350gr Hornady at 1,750. Heck, I could kill my elk with that load! But I already have the Woodleigh bullets. If my H4198 or RE7 don't make me happy, I will look into the AA2230.

I will be mostly in the thick stuff on the north slopes in September, so generally a very short range proposition. Max velocity is not needed (looking for 2000), and 2 MOA is also sufficient (and the best I will do with these sights)!

101 miles since the last post on June 1. I am not doing much besides working and exercising!


Tim

214.5 miles in June!

No major issues...73 days to go!

I've been preparing for a goat hunt this Oct in AK. Last week I was out in WY with my family. Got in a little high altitude work that is hard to come by here in Iowa.

We hiked a 1.5 miles each way to see the "Medicine Wheel" at about 9500 ft elevation. My son didn't want to walk so I carried him. He weighs 52 lbs plus my pack was about 15 lbs. I wasn't as winded as I thought I would be so that made me feel good. Still have a solid two months keep improving.

I've carried that same type of load several times. It just gets to a point where the whining pain excedes the shoulder pain! It's fun to have the kids out there, though.
Don

Here's more what a goat hunt in Alaska in October will look like! Good luck, I can't wait to go back.
Don

Thanks Don, normally he's a go getter but I cut him some slack on this day as he spent 15 hours in the truck the day prior.

I've seen some of your posts on your goat hunt and it looks like a blast. I can't wait for mine!

The 400gr Woodleigh Weldcores are smoking along at 2,000 fps and printing where I want them (recoil is a little rough off the bench in a 7.25lb No. 1, but I am cheating a bit with some closed-cell foam sleeping pad between the butt and my shoulder!).

650 miles (and counting) of running and pack lugging on the incline since 3/24. Down to 183 lbs from 211. Probably in the best shape I've been in since getting out of the Marines 29 years ago.

Hoping the body will hold up to one last month of training!

Tim

Good on you, man for all your hard work. After awhile, it may become a habit/obsession. The last time I worked up a big boomer was back in the summer of '04 prior to my first and likely only moose hunt. The rifle was in .330 Dakota, and I fired hundred of rounds through that rifle with a sandbag between me and the butt. I don't know if it was coincidence or not but about a month after I got back, I had surgery for a herniated disk in my neck! Oh, and there was a packer for all that meat, so my knees survived.
Good luck and keep us informed,
Don

Tim,

Good job on the training and good luck on your hunt. I will be hunting 27 in Idaho on a "B" tag, too. If you are going solo, you might want to see if one of the guide outfits in your area would be willing to pack out your animal. Hauling out an elk and all your gear is not a lot of fun at any age.
Good luck,
Dave

Sierra_Dave

Now why would I want to miss out on the fun of lugging out the meat?

Seriously, I have done it (in Idaho no less) and I relish the thought. There will be two of us on this trip (my wife put her foot down...no more solo trips for me) so even if we drop one at the extreme outer edge of our planned hunting area, it will only be 11 miles to the trailhead (and mostly down hill).

I will be boning the meat, and won't carry any hide out unless the bull goes over 350" (we all know how likely that is). So should be managable.

At this point, I just want to see the Bighorn Crags again!

Tim

Finally chronographed the load I have been planning to hunt with:

405gr Woodleigh Weldcore
52gr Re7
CC1 200 primer
Remington case
2.54" OAL
2040 fps

At 7.25 lbs, the No 1's recoil energy is just shy of 47 ft lbs.

The case is important in this load...there is a fair bit of variation in thickness and hence capacity between the various brands of 45-70 cases. W-W cases are thinner and will not give as high velocity with the same load, all else being equal. I have not used Starline yet, but I understand they are quite thick and more like the Remington in capacity. I know their 45LC cases are stout!

I started my work with H4198, but I found my Re7 loads grouped better. Not that my old eyes will be tack-driving with metallic sights...but why cmpromise?

I have a pair of glasses being made with a slightly weaker prescription in the right lense so I can focus better on the front sight. With my current contact lense set-up, the front sight is pretty blurry, even using both eyes and trying to focus back and forth. Reading glasses don't help at that distance. Even still, I can keep my shots within an inch of each other at 50 yards off the bench. 100 yard shooting will wait until the new glasses are in!

I love shooting this rifle offhand...just a blast (more comfortable too!). I am easily able to shoot minute of elk thus far...should get better with the vision correction coming.

sounds as though you are coming rite along on your training and shooting
best of luck to ya and kill a big wolf too

quote:

Originally posted by white eagle:
sounds as though you are coming rite along on your training and shooting
best of luck to ya and kill a big wolf too

I was quite close to wolves twice on a trip in the Panhandle back about '02. Left them alone...something about wanting to be able to remain free!

According to a map of known packs on the IDFG website, there are no known packs in the immediate area I will be hunting in the Frank Church Wilderness. I will be watching....

I wonder how many wolves one of those Woodleighs would penetrate?

T minus 17 days and counting.

785 miles of road/pack work. Goal was 600.

32.2 lbs lost...now just below my goal of 180lbs.

Very difficult remaining focused at work!

T minus 6 days......

855 miles of grunt work.

35 lbs have gone AWOL.

Chomping at the bit......

Shot both rifles for the "last" time today (my partner is using my 270 WSM). Both have held zero perfectly the last month/4 range sessions.

This time next week I should be somewhere in Colorado, on the way to Idaho.

Tim

Tarbe,

I just checked the description of Stoddard Lake trail. Is that the trail you are planning? 11.25 miles one way and 5400 feet gain in elevation in the first day? That will hurt and returning with meat loads? You could fly into chamberlain basin a lot easier. Good luck.
Dave

Tarbe,

Are you headed toward Stoddard Creek Point area? If so, I will share some info I got from the wildlife biologist for that area: " I actually just chatted with a guy this morning who had been
into the Kitchen Creek area (NE of Cold Meadows) in late July. He noted
that there had been little green-up in that 2007 burn and was asking
about other areas to hunt. Perhaps some of these fires burned so hot
that it will be a couple more years before we see green-up that will
draw in elk."
I flew over Papoose Peak area in 2007 and the fire left the landscape like a nuclear winter. It may have greened up in some spots near the lakes, but the slopes are so steep that topsoil would tend to wash-off before greening up.
Old burns usually are great for feeding cows and where there's cows, there will be bulls in Sept.
Oh well, good luck.
Dave

quote:

Originally posted by Sierra_Dave:
Tarbe,

I just checked the description of Stoddard Lake trail. Is that the trail you are planning? 11.25 miles one way and 5400 feet gain in elevation in the first day? That will hurt and returning with meat loads? You could fly into chamberlain basin a lot easier. Good luck.
Dave

Yes, that's the trail.

My brother in law was not physically up to making it to the 8,200 foot level (Nolan Lookout) on the first day as planned, so we stopped at 6,400...hoping he would be able to make the rest of the climb on day two.

He never slept that night...something got into his head and he was so overcome with anxiety about being eaten by a carnivore that he became physically ill. He was yelling into the dark for the bears to go away. I never heard a thing.

I stayed up with him until 0200, at which time he insisted I go to sleep (which I promtly did). The next morning I let him hang in camp and I grabbed my hunting pack and rifle and made the rest of the trail in and did some scouting, returning to our impromtu camp about 5 hours and 4,000 vertical feet later.

He was still pretty wiped out. I asked him if he thought he had become comfortable enough with the area to be able to sleep if we stayed another night. He said no.

Given the narrow, steep trail and his condition (and the assumption that his condition would deteriorate without sleep) I decided to get him out that afternoon.

By the time I got him back out to the trail head he was pretty wasted. We were lucky to not have a wipeout on the way out.

Some trips turn out way different than you imagine...this was one of them. I just had to get him out while the getting was good.

It has taken me a week to get to the point where I can even write this...

quote:

Originally posted by Sierra_Dave:
Tarbe,

Are you headed toward Stoddard Creek Point area? If so, I will share some info I got from the wildlife biologist for that area: " I actually just chatted with a guy this morning who had been
into the Kitchen Creek area (NE of Cold Meadows) in late July. He noted
that there had been little green-up in that 2007 burn and was asking
about other areas to hunt. Perhaps some of these fires burned so hot
that it will be a couple more years before we see green-up that will
draw in elk."
I flew over Papoose Peak area in 2007 and the fire left the landscape like a nuclear winter. It may have greened up in some spots near the lakes, but the slopes are so steep that topsoil would tend to wash-off before greening up.
Old burns usually are great for feeding cows and where there's cows, there will be bulls in Sept.
Oh well, good luck.
Dave

I cut sign sporadically on the way in, and also on day two between 6,400 and 8,200 feet. Saw some tracks up near Nolan Lookout that were almost the size of my whole hand.

I bugled and cow-called into about 6 different drainages on the 15th and did not get a single response of any kind.

I did see a fair bit of wolf sign, all on the trail (I did a fair bit of bushwacking on my solo jaunt - did not see wolf sign up high).

The fires really took out a lot of the trees. There was quite a bit of grass and forbes though. It appears to have been a fairly wet summer where we were, very green and lush compared to the last time I was there. Just a lot of trees missing! The ridge at the heads of Color and Placer creek drainages, heading up to Nolan Creek is like a lunar landscape.


Tim

Tarbe,

You are a stand up guy for taking such good care of your brother in law. I have four of them, and I must admit that three of those four would have been left behind. Sorry for your ruined trip. He owes you for a lifetime as far as I'm concerned.

quote:

Originally posted by daniel77:
Tarbe,

He owes you for a lifetime as far as I'm concerned.

I understand why you might say that.

My dad was not a hunter. My brother-in-law took me on my first hunt about 37 years ago...a squirrel expedition near Bark Lake, Wisconsin.

I figure I still owe him....

Tarbe,

Man, I'm sorry to hear about your hunt. Was looking forward to a better outcome for you.
Are you going to try for something else since you've got the conditioning part done? You can do a mountain goat hunt in AK fairly reasonably but this time of year will look a lot like Don B's photo. If you can get up the mountain you'll get your goat.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefin:
Tarbe,

Man, I'm sorry to hear about your hunt. Was looking forward to a better outcome for you.
Are you going to try for something else since you've got the conditioning part done? You can do a mountain goat hunt in AK fairly reasonably but this time of year will look a lot like Don B's photo. If you can get up the mountain you'll get your goat.

Darn, I sent that $6,000 check to A&M last month! That probably would have covered a nice hunt up in AK!

Nothing in the budget for another trip, unfortunately.

Thanks for the kind regards,


Tim