Mule-Deer a’ ways beyond Mountain Home

Idaho’s Super Combination Winner

By Jim Banholzer

Itinerant Idaho newspaper columnist

In the spring of 2007, I received an astounding phone call from Mark Thornock. He hollered out that he had won some sort of lottery regarding animals. His enthusiasm had ratcheted up to such a high roaring level; that it took me a minute to fathom exactly what he meant. Turns out, he had drawn the winning lottery ticket for an Idaho Super-Combo hunt, making him eligible to go after a moose, an elk, a deer and an antelope in any corresponding open hunt area in the State!

Mark also drew a tag for spring bear –this sow treed near Mackay in late May, before the decision was made to turn her free

Knowing Mark and his positive mind-set towards hunting, gaining the right to do this, was better than winning money. Destiny had chosen a highly qualified man to chase the prizes, too. His friends often remarked, what an amazing phenomena it was to see Mark’s broad frame, bream full of life and chug almost effortlessly up and over steep highland ridges with his infectiously affirmative attitude, especially when it came to anything regarding hunting.

Mark invested his time wisely in the months preceding the hunts. He prepared needed equipment and inspected the conditions of backpacks and insulated clothing; sharpened dull knife blades, placed calls to check on butchers availability and consulted with conservation experts around the state for advice and conditions, keeping in mind where the dozens of fires that befell Idaho that summer, might have driven the game.

Finally, the plans were laid out, and pertinent maps pinpointed with the prospective hunt units. Moose around Island Park, Arco for antelope, an area near Mountain Home for deer and a “wolfy” territory high in the Lost River Range for elk.

He figured that moose were abundant enough around Island Park, Idaho, where he had drawn and shot one before. In fact, Mark had impressed me with his help and multi-faceted outdoor knowledge; during my lucky ‘98 antlered moose draw, pursued in the same vicinity. That quest was a classic example of how meticulous hunting preplanning can help make for a satisfyingly successful outcome.

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Grizzly prevalence created Moose scarceness

A sparrow flew into my house the afternoon before we embarked on our hunting trip. She went upstairs where I captured her in my left hand at the windowsill by the turning fan. She remained calm in my hand until we went outside where the sprinklers flushed against us. Once, beyond the sprinklers, I tossed her gently into the air, where she lost three feathers in the excitement, before continuing her winged journey.

Mark's fliight into Hailey showed up that evening on time. His old hunting rifle appeared intact on the luggage rack. When he later sighted it in on a makeshift range, we determined that it had not been jostled in freight during its flight.

The next morning we arose at five, encountering little traffic on the way over to

Island Park, Idaho. We nearly slid into a mule deer buck crossing Craters of the Moon National Monument , but besides that and a (seldom seen, anymore it seems) porcupine, saw little else that daybreak in way of wildlife. We were thoroughly entertained by early conversations at an Arco breakfast establishment; long-time ranchers still full of life, discussing young gals wearing slinky fur pelts. Their light chuckles helped us better digest the big meal we were rushing upon ourselves, to reach more quickly the destination of our season’s first big mammal chase.

When we pulled into Island Park, the first thing noticeable was that there were at least six Fish & Game and Forest Service vehicles grouped together at the roadside. Turns out that only that morning a Grizzly bear had attacked a hunter near Big Springs, where he had been dressing the Elk he shot. This was the second local bear / hunter confrontation in recent weeks; the previous one gathering national attention, due to speculation over large gut piles shallowly buried in the ground outside a nearby Elk private hunting preserve.

With a wounded Griz, limping around the popular summer cabin community, along with a reportedly additional 15 to 20 more grazing in the immediate area, there was now concern that Fish & Game would deem hunting unsafe and shut down the whole region. Although this clampdown did not occur, the actual witnessing of a Grizzly later that evening, awakened Mark and I to the severity of the situation -about what could actually happen once we zoned in on that moose! We knew there were wolves in the area too, after seeing one lurking near the highway by Ponds Lodge earlier that summer.

We saw this Griz in an area within ½ mile of where we had both filled our moose tags in recent years.

Most of the good information about recent bear activity came from chatting with the locals. At the General Store, pepper spray was selling like hotcakes. We were reminded that in Alaska, bears learned to approach hunting areas once they hear gunshot, knowing it as signal for fresh meat. Bears can scent moose blood and meat for miles, depending on the wind. Sometimes, after swatting away hunters from their downed game, Ursa Horribilas will sit upon large mammal carcasses, perched in order to speed up the tendering process of the meat.

On that first day, we were fortunate enough to have three young and agile experienced hunters helping us search for the moose. Dalin, his sister Dakri, and her boyfriend, Brock. We walked along and drove by mossy creek drainages –prime habitat, which has been overflowing with moose for millennia. However, even with five sets of enthusiastic eyes perpetually glued to Island Park’s stunning autumn scenery, we did not spot much game, until the grizzly that evening. We determined that the bears known presence was probably making the moose overly skittish. This combined with our midday search timing and perhaps driving too rapidly through the brilliant quaking aspen for efficient wildlife spotting, likely contributed to our being skunked by the moose.

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A constant rain augmented our first sleepy night in the rustic cabin, drizzling intermittently through days two and three. As we sent off our youthful eager hunter friends with a meal before they returned to school, another experienced hunter, Jon, called to say that he would be heading up with his longtime hunting companion Gary. It would be nice to bask in the presence of these qualified hunting experts, considering Mark’s recent knee surgery and my green hunting aptitude. Gary spied a grouse for us his second day in, and with some delicious spices, fried it up that evening to everyone’s delight.

Hunting ran thickest through Jon’s blood. He was a Special Forces sharpshooter back in Vietnam and recently had been to Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the Blackwater private army in our current world confrontations. I must have looked laughable to any passerby seeing me donning my laidback Ketchum threads, seemingly imbedded with these camouflaged hunting pros.

Professionalism notwithstanding, we were soon reminded that hunting as with fishing (or girlfriends or jobs), does require a certain measure of luck. The only moose we spied in 400 miles of deliberate driving were on a high hill above private land. It seemed that everyone we encountered in Island Park had seen an antlered moose, yet not us. Our confident joke about this hunt being as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, soon wore thin.

Most of our conversations focused around hunting, encompassing this chase and others; about what large mammals and birds they had stalked through the years and the adventures they might like to join for in the future. I began to wonder what rugged individuals like these must think whenever they take up and read some of the candified fluffy dog stories from my overinsulated heart of Idaho.

However, while they were hunting for large mammals, at least I was trying to broaden my horizons by pursuing stories about hunting. I headed home for a week leaving Mark with the truck. After battening down the hatches of the cabin for the season, he drove over to Ririe for a few days, and then onto a solo journey near Arco, where he longshot zinged an antelope at 200 yards, from a thick herd Brock had told him about.

September Twentieth – the Antelope from near Arco

It sounded like this was a struggle though; due to the fact, he was alone, coupled with the recent knee surgery, so he decided to hunt with other people for the remainder of his journey. He headed over to a wolfy area, way up in the Lost River Range, where his friends Al and Ken were setting up a comfortable wall tent at ‘S’-camp.

I could tell from the valley below that they were encountering some snow, but it was difficult to gauge how much. Steve and I headed over on Saturday, to our pleasant surprise of seeing the recently graded Trail Creek Road in its best shape ever. No more rattled washboards. Well, at least ‘til we got to the bumpy Custer County side, right over the saddle.

We discovered their camp, after a brief mud traverse challenge. This was a territory, where ten years before, while quietly changing a flat tire, I had seen the largest elk herd of my life. At least eighty head. The question now was, “How many elk had the wolves taken down?” Had the prime Idaho area, once teeming with Wapiti now become an “acme of barrenness?”

Few hunters were out in the hardscrabble upland. On the road, we unexpectedly encountered a covey of about eight chuckers. We speculated that the mild climate of the last eighteen months, combined with recent fires might have lead to the small bird migration here. On the other hand, they might have hopped the hill from a nearby Salmon River fork with its lower elevation and slightly warmer clime.

When we arrived at camp, we found some acquaintances had just pulled in with their horse trailer. We started a campfire around eight inches of new snow and asked “Didjagityerelkyit?” They pointed to a spot in the wide branches, where Mark had already laid out his Elk and we took a gander.

While admiring the Bull Elk’s attractive dark reddish hue, we noticed that it was a five by five point

While up tracking in the fresh snow, Mark had closely encountered an alpha wolf that morning and had the wolf showed any more aggressive intentions than it did towards Mark, and not turned tail and wisped off, it might have turned out as a most unpleasant situation on the high terrain.

Some of the group was going to remain at camp for a week, while Ken and Al headed over to Boise for a few days. We took photos and a few celebratory nippers, then helped pack up part of the camp. Ken had ruined a tire on his trailer and then got a lug nut stuck tight in his wrench. Fortunately, I carried an extra for such occasions and handed it over. They were taking the Elk to the butcher and wanted to tuck it down in the truck bed a bit lower on account it was the rig from their other home in Northern California. It was all legit and everything, it’s just that sometimes a stigma becomes attached, while riding around in Idaho small towns with flashy out of area plates -even if you have actually lived in Idaho for decades and contributed to the community in countless positive ways!

In the midst of following our hunting bliss

During the course of our packing up, I sensed a deep empathetic feeling, running tacitly between these longtime respected hunting companions. It’s incredible how some people are so keen on hunting. Some folks live for the thrill of the great outdoor chase, while their enthusiasm grows increasingly infectious. Some are fortunate enough to bring souvenirs and photographs of their great hunting adventures back to the drudge of the office, prompting healthy daydreams and admiring questions from colleagues around the coffee urn, which often helps dreary workweeks to become a little fuller. Standing there in the snow, while these warm feelings came over me, I began remembering similar valuable experiences in the same camp from bygone years. Once, my own father had even traveled out here with me to this same camp to receive a wild taste of the real west.

Seeing the wall tent's fanciness, I put in order for some poached Fabrege eggs

While we wheeled back down the road to the valley below, Mark said that he had swung over towards Custer County that sun-break. He was pushing two feet of snow with the truck that early October morning. For now, we were content Trail Creek was open and considered ourselves lucky that we had a warm sheltered home for which to look forward.

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Mark’s Moose Narrative with a handful of questions answered

Saddled with the flu, I missed the second part of Mark’s Island Park moose quest. Curious to know how it went; I posed him a few detailed questions while bedridden. Here is his brief narrative of his moose hunt, along with those questions answered:

“Moose details: Well, we were on our second marathon looking for moose near the cabin. We saw six or eight cows with calves but no mature bulls. We did see a few smaller elk around on their annual migration from Idaho. This would make the 8th day total of hunting moose 10 hours each day with nothing to show. Then, with only 2 hours daylight remaining we made a radical decision with my friend "Spike" and headed down the mountain 30 miles toward the river below. We thought "why not?" and maybe we would catch one-stepping out for an evening meal or drink, between the river and the mountain and its various habitats. Then, as with so many things on this trip, things happened quickly: On a sharp corner, two huge cow moose suddenly appeared in range. It took a moment or two to see the third one, a dandy mature male with an approximate 35-inch rack spread. Its body was enormous -as we walked up on it to begin the real work.

Lessons learned: Don’t have knee surgery 21 days before a Rocky Mountain hunt, and secondly, be prepared to change flat tires in the Idaho backcountry, as we had at least three!”

Stick-to-it-ness and superior stalking skills combined with more luck, to finally prevail in the end

Q & A

1. In open hunting areas, was the supertag always good for either sex animals or were some areas open only for antlered / or cows? The tag was good for either, and the rules of the actual hunt that was in season in each unit applied.

2. Remind me what the weather conditions were in the rugged area, way below Mountain Home and some of your other observations while there. How many boulders you had to leap across to get to the mule deer, etc. The weather was nice, chilled nights and mornings w/ 65-70 degree days. The boulders were the size of dining room tables.

3. Was the deer tag good for whitetail deer and/or mule deer? What are some essential differences between these two types of deer? The regulations show the differences between the two deer (or a web search) but yes, it was good for either, again, depending on the season, unit, and date I was in the area. Generally, whitetails live along river bottoms and mule deer up higher elevations. Mule deer can also get bigger bodies and racks (generally) their meat tastes different as well. Mule deer have larger ears, hence the name.

4. Tell me more about the second bear encounter you mentioned. I was going up a snow covered ridge to butcher up the elk when I noticed fresh bear tracks (around a 200 pounder) heading directly for the carcass. It made the stalk a bit more exciting. After coming unto the carcass, it was hard to tell if coyotes or wolves had been near it, as the tracks where everywhere and on top of each other. Running into a large alpha male wolf on a deer trail was also intense, with elk bugling frequently.












5. Anything else you can think of pertaining to special preparations? Like calling butchers ahead of time, actively seeking conservationalists’ expert advice, weaning out what not to bring while stuffing all of your equipment into one bag, preparing for snow, things like that?

Planning was essential. Airline rules also come into play, e.g. gun, ammo, etc and WEIGHT restrictions per bag. The hard part was taking all the gear you needed for hot AND cold weather and yet be mobile. Maps were also important and making reservations in advance for truck, hotels, etc... Local experts offered valuable advice but also aligning them all back to back was challenging, as one never knows how a hunt will turn out. Yes, knowing where reputable clean butchers, taxidermists and game checkers was important as it saved time and avoided potential spoilage of a trophy.

In addition, many in ID knew what a super tag draw was, but even the game wardens did not know the COMBO super draw well and I thought it was fun when they asked to see what the actual tag looked like....