Beautiful hunting grounds, very little game

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mtnGhost

mtnGhost

Member
Dec 15, 2018
3,543
416
Defected from the PNW, United States
I burned 2 days of my fall hunting trip on a gamble that didn't pay off. I was going after turkey and grouse with powder, and coyotes with air. As luck would have it, I only saw one coyote, no birds, and I saw a dozen deer and 5 bears all out of season 😭

The fog has also been pretty bad in the lowlands this week. As soon as the sun sets, it just instantly forms quite literally in front of your eyes. It is something to be seen in person. On the colder mornings, we get freezing dog this time of year..

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Despite the low vis, it makes for some cool photos. Here's Mt. Adams and what's left of Mt. St. Helens poking through...

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Then, as I'm nearing one of the spots that I know for having several game trails that funnel into a choke point towards a primary water source, I see a nice big healthy coyote dart in front of my vehicle as I'm driving uphill! It ran from me and bolted off the road down a very steep wooded embankment. I pulled off to the side and grabbed my R5 .30 to try and snipe him from an elevated spot..

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I wound up posting up there for a good couple of hours. It was about 10-12 degrees warmer in the sun than it was in the shade, so I just enjoyed the fresh air and the view until a couple of black bears in the woods right behind me decided that they were interested in me. They're usually harmless, but there was one larger one that kept pacing side to side in the brush, and I just decided to give it back its space. 

Random photos that I took ..

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Great pictures and love your equipment setup.
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Thanks! I was hauling a ton of gear for the first few days. Probably a literal TON! 😂 

beautifull pics i love that view!
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It never gets old - There's something about those stratavolcanos that's mesmerizing!

All I can say is jealous! Even with the bears over your shoulder.
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Beautiful view Brah! Thanks for sharing. PS hope you have bear spray or something...
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I'm just glad that there's no grizzlies in that part of the state. We have a pretty healthy black bear population though. They're wired to run and climb trees when threatened (which I found out is how they survived through hard times, when other species went extinct).

I used to carry it everywhere, but I don't anymore unless I'm in grizzly country. I've had canisters fail on me in not so great ways. I have also had dozens and dozens of encounters - closest if which was 25-30' face to face with a mother and her cubs in the Olympic mountains and probably 50-60' from a big stubborn ~450lb behemoth in the North Cascades. It's more complicated than this, but they always run unless they're foraging. If they attack -you'll need some stronger medicine (12ga slugs, 45-70 hard cast, but I use a G29 with 220gr). These guys are pretty harmless, but I have more concerns with cougars in habitats where deer are non-existent!

Thanks for sharing the photos, that is absolutely beautiful country you are hunting! Good luck on the rest of your hunt!
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Thats an amazing place to hunt! Beautiful pictures bud!
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Very beautiful country you live in. Absolutely beautiful. But thats hunting....never a guarantee. If it were, wouldn't lure us in the way that it does. Nor offer us the satisfaction that it does when we have a prosperous and successful hunt.

Thanks for sharing.
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Beautiful country!
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Thanks guys! I came up totally empty yesterday in the eastern part of the state, but I spent more of that time scouting and found some incredible grounds for Elk! I had to drive through the desert to get to that part of the high country, I've been to that desert numerous times - but never as far up as I had ventured yesterday..

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PS - I laughed and had to take a picture of the signs this guy posted on the gate if this property that was listed for sale..

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It is great to have all that game around to enjoy, even though there were a lack of legal shooter's on that trip out. Is the inverter and air compressor standard gear for your outings? I was thinking about the possible lack of air source delema for a future hunt.

A couple fairly important inquiries also, for those of us not so blessed with high elevation: How does elevation changes effect air pressure within the gun and tanks, and how about point of impact at long range? Does the cold effect air pressure and point of impact more up there?
 
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Wow -- beautiful county, great photography, and kick ass equipment! I have the same generator and compressor... haven't married the two up yet.

I'd luv to meet up with you someday, Ghost... target shooting and turkey hunt I'd bring my Remington 1100, Condor or Sumatra (NSA slugs) and the RedWolf for target shooting --Carl
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Thanks Carl, and come on up! I dropped the ball on turkeys this hunt, but there's a some better ground closer to the Columbia river that has a VERY healthy population of Merriam's (and I'm told some Eastern's now as well). I might try again before Xmas, depending on a few factors. Nevertheless, there's always next season and year round small game (I still need my fix for some Grouse!)

@jwrabbit123 - yeah, that was a LOT of gear, but I also brought my Hill MK4 as a backup, in case the compressor or generator gave out lol

It is great to have all that game around to enjoy, even though there were a lack of legal shooter's on that trip out. Is the inverter and air compressor standard gear for your outings? I was thinking about the possible lack of air source delema for a future hunt.

A couple fairly important inquiries also, for those of us not so blessed with high elevation: How does elevation changes effect air pressure within the gun and tanks, and how about point of impact at long range? Does the cold effect air pressure and point of impact more up there?
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This was actually the first time that I took the generator and compressor with me! I got the Honda last month, and it can fire up the compressor without overloading. I like to get it nice and warm first, but it does fire right up for me. The caveat though is if you poop down the compressor and maintain high pressure, the startup surge will overload it (it registered 15.2A when I metered it last month). It draws 14.5 - 14.6A when it's depressurized.

In terms of air pressure and POI variations, I usually fill the tank at home (~400'ASL) and I mostly shoot around ~1700', but often from 2000-4000'. Regardless of altitude, I don't really notice much differences in the summer - but often, the weather is completely different at home than in the mountains (as much as 40F on occasion). I notice more differences with temperatures than altitude for both pressure and POI. As much as 200PSI in my Great White, and never more than .2 MILs (@100 meters).. thankfully, it's not so much that I have had to spend time on!
 
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Thanks for the input on pressure and temperature. I see impact variations if going from a warm tune to a cold one too. I've been looking at doing a wolf hunt in Idaho. It's been six years since my last one here, using archery tackle, and it would be cool to use big bore air this time! Plus, getting close enough to use the bow on them out there looks like it will be a lot harder than here.
 
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Thanks for the input on pressure and temperature. I see impact variations if going from a warm tune to a cold one too. I've been looking at doing a wolf hunt in Idaho. It's been six years since my last one here, using archery tackle, and it would be cool to use big bore air this time! Plus, getting close enough to use the bow on them out there looks like it will be a lot harder than here.
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Awesome!!! What part of Idaho? My wife has family near Salmon and down towards Boise. They're all die hard hunters :) I also didn't know that you bow hunted, I'm getting back into it myself planning 2-3 hunts next year for elk, deer, and cougar (getting a Mathews Vertix or VXR built soon). 

Which big bore are you thinking about using for wolves? I've never put any thought into it, but I'm intrigued now 🤔 
 
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There's a couple spots that look promising, based on others' success statistics. All the area of the state north of Salmon was one spot and the lower East side of the state was another. That southeast area is more populated with people (more hunters in the area) and that may be why the statistics are higher though. One of my bow hunting trips is going to be to do a DIY cougar hunt, tracking then calling them into bow range! You probably have family that use dogs on them in Idaho? I have a .452 Slayer on the way for a dedicated big bore hunting and long range target rig.
 
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