Idaho Outdoors

Mid summer scouting on the Praire

2009-07-08T11:25:00.001-07:00

Horns are really growing...

Sunset over the Prairie

Early July Cutthroat fishing on the Lochsa

2009-07-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Friends Floating the Lochsa

2009-06-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends floating the Lochsa 6/28/2009. I had a wedding to attend the night before, so was uanble to go on the trip, had to settle for following with the camera.

Lochsa at Wilderness Gateway, Boulder Creek

Lochsa Falls

June 2009

2009-06-22T12:28:00.001-07:00

Pilot Knob from Elk City Wagon Road

Cousins and their kids fishing Fenn Pond, Selway

Morel Mushroom

Grouse

Spring trip with the kids up the Lochsa.

2009-06-18T10:58:00.001-07:00

Rafters Enjoying the Natural Roller Coaster Ride

Kayaker Being Buried by the Lochsa

Kids playing in the sand along the Banks of the Lochsa

Blooming Bear Grass

Spring Wildflowers in Bloom on the Lochsa

Still a little snow in the High Country.

Whitetail Hiding in the Wild Roses

Spring Drive Near Pierce Idaho

2009-06-03T15:46:00.001-07:00

A scruffy Moose enjoying the Spring Green....

A sea of Camas in the Mountain Meadows around Pierce, a dedicated gardner could not produce a more brilliant show of nature.

Camping with my boys, the next generation in training

2009-06-01T13:18:00.001-07:00

William and Quentin bear hunting.......

Hiking with dad.

Hanging with Timber Dog.

Mcomas Meadows with the Gospel Hump covered in snow beyond....

Garret's first Bear.

2009-06-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

My cousin Darren's son Garret, and his first bear, a nice 7+ footer.

Spring Trip to South Idaho 2009, Dustin's Bachelor weekend/Varmint Safari

2009-05-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

Black Bird

Jerry and Dustin Looking over some Elk Hunting ground. Jerry spotted a bear in the little opening to the right of Dustin's shoulder, it made for a day long hike down into that hole in pursuit.

Blond bear, long ways out so a little blurry. They earned an A+ for effort going after it but were unable to close the deal.

A shed I drug up from a deep dark hole.

Waiting by a fire for Dustin and Jerry to return from chasing the blond bear.

Some desert Muley's

Sunset over our varmint camp outside of Jordan Valley

Doing some long range varmint hunting on the National Guard range.

Blackhawks flying over ahead of a thunderstorm.

Getting hits out to 300 yards on some 4 inch tall by 1 inch wide targets. A good spotter is a must.

The gang of varmint hunters with Clyde's badger, left to right, Dustin, Myself, Clyde, Jerry, and Donny.

Sunset over the Boise Valley from the Mountains above.

Jason and Landon's Turkey Hunt

2009-04-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

Jason and Landon went hunting for turkey today. They found two jakes with a hen and even though it wasn't a big tom Landon convinced Jason he wanted him to get this jake. :) He wouldn't let Jason pack it out to the pickup either. I had to get his bloody pants to show who did the grunt work! :)

Spring Pics on the Breaks of the South Fork of the Clearwater

2009-04-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

The grouse had Love on the brain and were out and about strutting their stuff.

Gospels still covered in snow.

Steelhead Running Selway Falls, April 2009

2009-04-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Click on images to see full size

Strutting for the Lady's

2009-04-16T10:14:00.001-07:00

Jim's Coyote

2009-04-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

Jim took a nice coyote while out to fill his depredation deer tag.

Badger Encounter

2009-04-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

While out horn hunting I had a run in with a badger with an attitude problem. I at first could not tell what was moving in the grass at my feet, then it turned and raised its head. I did not have a gun with me, but my buddy who was about 100 yards away had his little .380 Beretta pocket pistol. I yelled for him to hurry over as all I had between myself and a badger was my hiking pole. I managed to get the gun from my buddy and connect on my 3rd shot from about 25 feet.

I have always wanted to get a badger, as they make a really fine rug for the wall, and are impressive with the colors on their coat and their long claws and teeth.

While skinning the badger out my buddy went for a little hike and found an old rusted bucket that I used to pack the badger out. They have a strong musk smell, and I was thankful I would not have to strap it to my pack.

Some Early Spring Pics

2009-04-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Steelhead trying to make their way upstream at Selway Falls.

Waterfowl on the Selway

Uneatin Wolf Kill

2009-04-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

A dead cow elk, aparant victim of wolves, left largley un-eatin. I have found several like this during the last couple of years. This one was on the Selway and judging by the smell was at least a week old.

This has been one of the reasons I believe the wolves have been so devestating on our elk herds in some areas, they don't just kill to eat, when elk are in a weakend state they seem to kill for sport and eat very little from each animal.

Pics for framed prints.

2009-02-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

I have given in to peer pressure and am having these pics printed and building frames for them. They are looking better than expected so far. I changed most to Black and White since I like that look along with a rustic frame.

Shed Hunting

2009-02-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

Pics from a nice Saturday of shed horn hunting.
Timber cooling off in a snow bank after working for a shed.

Timber prancing proudly with a nice 5 point shed.

A close encounter with a cow elk. Lots of game on the river breaks durring late winter.

Some Recent Winter Pics.

2009-01-26T10:59:00.001-08:00

Results from another day of shed hunting. Heavy 3x3 set, last years 5 point, and a little 4.

Scruffy Mule deer buck enjoying the late winter sun. Photo by my Mother Connie Cox

Six point shed. A deer was watching me when I found this shed, you can see it between the forks.

The deer were everywhere while I was shed hunting last Sunday. This whitetail was in no hurry to get out of my way, and slinked around in the brush as I passed by.

Elk, Deer, and Turkey's sharing the field in front of my Mother's house. Kamiah valley in the background, a rough place to have to live.

Turkey's in the Fog, Kamiah Valley.

My Cousin Joes kids and their shed horn they found.

Whitetail on the Southfork

Elk on the Southfork

A nice winter day of Firewood cutting, Red River.

Ice crystals growing out of the Snow near Red River

Eagle on the Southfork.

Shed Horn

Donny and his coyote.

Old Photos of my Grandpa, Bob Taylor.

2009-01-07T10:02:00.001-08:00

My grandfather Bob Taylor was born in 1904 in Shouns Tennesse. He came to Idaho at the age of 14 to work in the woods as an equipment operator for logging companies. He was an avid outdoorsman, and here are a few pictures of his that I thought I might share.

Early picture in TN with what was most likely moonshine and pistols, Bob on the right, may explain why he had to head west shortly there after.

Fishing North Central Idaho's trout streams 1937.

Camping In Idaho 1930's

Making a hard living working in the woods in the 1920's.

A creel full of trout in the 1940's

Bob and his dog with a bird for the pot. His 1897 Winchester 12 gauge in his right hand that I now proudly own.

His nice camping setup late 50's early 60's.

Another creel full of trout.

Bob with pheasants and his 1897 12 gauge. I have taken the old Winchester out for a couple of pheasant hunts, as much as I like to protect it, I figure he would like the fact that it still takes a bird every now and then.

Bob became a pilot and used his plane to access back country areas such as this picture at Fish Lake in the Selway Bitteroot Wilderness 1960's.

Another pic of the 1897 Winchester, his Jeep, Pheasants, and the Kamiah valley in the background.

Bob with a steelhead in the 1980's before his passing in 1988.

Pics of Quail my mother took outside her house.

2008-12-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

My first Steelhead of the Fall 2008 Season

2008-12-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

I finaly made it out to try and catch a Metal head this fall and was rewarded with this really nice male and a 25 minute plus fight. When you haven't caught one in a few months you forget how tough they can fight.

Thanksgiving Day Buck

2008-12-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

2008 Whitetail, Thanksgiving Day Buck.
I started this rifle season like many before, with a focus on filling my Elk and Mule deer tags during the month of October, and waiting to focus on my mountain whitetail during the rut of November. This year was going to be different due to a new extended season for the unit I hunt, instead of the season ending on the 20th of November, I would have until December 1st. The extra days at the end, during the peak and post rut, had me excited for the better odds of crossing paths with a bruiser buck. The other change would be that since the season continued through Thanksgiving we would be bringing up friends and family and have our Turkey Dinner in the wall tents, which sounded like a better way to get to spend quality time without the distractions of TV, phones, etc…..

We set up our camp the weekend of the 15th and I planned on hunting a few days here and there and then taking off the week around Thanksgiving. Most years we have had a lot of success around the 17th of November, but this year we had the misfortune of having clear skys and a near full moon which sent the deer into their nocturnal mode, making hunting difficult. I did manage to call in several decent bucks but none that were worthy of my tag this early in the season. I had one 5×5 in particular that was kind enough to pose for my camera as I debated taking him with my revolver since he was only 20 yards away. I decided to let him walk since he had a couple of broken points, and I was looking foward to having the extra days of the extended season to hunt. Here is a photo of this buck over the sights of my S&W 686.
I hit the deer hunting hard the week of Thanksgiving. There seemed to be more hunting pressure this year than in years past so hunting was tough. With the terrible economy, more people were out to put meat in the freezer. Some of our local sawmill workers and loggers were laid off from work, and the majority of these guys are die hard hunters, so they had more time than normal to head for the hills. Most years we can count on a good dusting of snow in mid to late November which seems to get the deer moving and concentrate them at lower elevations, but this year the weather never did us any favors and we were not blessed with getting to chase these mountain bucks in the snow. The evening before Thanksgiving I ventured out of my normal grounds to a higher elevation in an attempt to get away from areas hit by other hunters. I was walking down an old logging road, making my way back from some clearcuts before dark, when I heard a deer blow and start running towards the road thru the timber. Like an idiot I waited to pull up my rifle until I could see what the deer looked like, and by the time it registered that it was a very large buck, he was already across the road and headed out thru the dark timber. After messing up on this buck due to my picky ways, I decided it was getting late enough in the season that I needed to stop looking and maybe start thinking about actually tagging.

The morning of Thanksgiving I returned to the same spot where I saw the buck the night before. As I was approaching the exact same spot from the day before I once again heard deer blow and start running towards the road. I back peddled a couple of steps to where I had a nice clear shooting lane and put my cross hairs where I thought the deer would go. While looking thru my Burris rifle scope I saw doe, doe, doe, horns, and let a shot go from my Tikka .243. I thought for a minute I may have shot low, and began the look for blood, hair, and the signs of a connecting shot. I didn’t spot any blood but could clearly see the bucks tracks so I followed them. After about 45 yards I could see the buck ahead of me piled up over a downed cedar. Upon approach I could see he was not the large buck from the night before, and that he was a smaller horned 4×4 with a couple of broken points. He was an older deer, and I could tell he was on his downhill slide as far as antlers go, but he definitely was the scrapper of the area with his broken tines, tore up hide, and other signs of battle.
In short order I had the buck back to my vehicle and loaded up. I was a little disappointed that he was not the buck I had seen previous, and I also have a problem with shooters remorse, I love the hunt so much I hate to see it end. My mood changed however on the way back to camp and upon getting to share the experience with friends over our wonderfull turkey dinner. This has been a tough year for a lot of people in our area, but I at least had one thing to be thankful for on this day, and it was hanging on the meat pole at the edge of camp.

5x5 Mountain Whitetail I called in

2008-11-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

Looking for the fighting bucks he had heard.

Debating taking him with my pistol.

Decided he was not quite what I was after, he had some broken points.

Getting close to a nice healthy buck in full rut always makes for a great day in the woods.

I keep forgetting my camera takes video, here is a short clip as he tried to walk away.