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Elk, Mule Deer, Bear & Wolf Hunting Blog

Here you will find information about our hunts, our area as well as special offers and issues that affect us or are important to us.

To Celebrate our 15th Anniversary we are offering 15% off 2020 Hunts!

As I came off the mountain from our final hunt this year, I began reflecting on the past 15 seasons here in Idaho and realized a few things: 1) this was by far our most successful season to date, and 2) we have been outfitting here now for 15 seasons! That must be some sort of celebratory milestone, right? As I hit the “reality zone” where I get to see the mail that has piled up, the emails I have missed for the past 2 months and that fuel jumped 50 cents per gallon, I got to see all the ways you and I get to pay more for so many things next year including Idaho nonresident hunting licenses and tags, property taxes, fuel, etc. I thought to myself, “Something has to give and maybe it can start with me.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the gang here at Wild Idaho Outfitters and Castle Creek Outfitters. We just finished bringing out our last camp, pulling the shoes on the horses and kicking them out to pasture, drying out the tents, stacking the camp gear and are now settling in for what everyone thinks of as our “off season”. We will certainly take this day, November 28, 2019, off to spend time with family and friends, to embrace and to reflect on the many blessings that have been bestowed upon us and we certainly hope that you all are doing the same. We are truly grateful for the people, many who have become friends, that we have met over the last 15 years.

Trail Clearing Season

It seems an outfitter’s life is defined by “seasons”… as are most people’s lives, but our seasons seem to revolve around seasons determined by others; meaning the Idaho Department of Fish and Game determines what seasons we can hunt and therefore that is two of our “seasons”. The only season that we get to determine is trail clearing season.

Not too soon to start thinking about next year

Well, it appears that Idaho has been rediscovered. That can be a good or a bad thing, depending which side of the fence you are standing on. This year’s nonresident tags in the units we guide, Area 27 and 28, sold out in record time and according to the fish and game commission, they seem pretty bent on reducing the amount of nonresident tags available in the future further exacerbating the tag acquisition process. Thankfully and gratefully, we as a licensed Idaho hunting outfitter are allotted a certain amount of guaranteed elk tags and outfitters in general have access to deer tag set asides.

Four Generations Bear Hunt

Well, the sun finally set on the last day of our 2019 Idaho spring bear hunting season and it ended on a very high note! We had 2 hunters in camp, and each scored on a bear and as all who were involved would tell you, it was the youth hunter harvesting his bear that managed to make the whole week so enjoyable. The weather was unseasonably comfortable, baits were incredibly active and as the last night came about for this young man to sit, our decision came down to which bait, of the several that were active, to sit that night. Well, as you can imagine, we guessed correctly, and this young man scored on a very respectable cinnamon boar.

NO MORE WILDERNESS!

Wilderness is beautiful, we can all agree on that, but not being able to access that beauty is one of the problems with creating MORE wilderness. The current wilderness in Idaho is not being managed properly to allow access so how do they think they can create more and keep up with its management? If you are reading this, I can only assume you either hunt and/or fish or at least condone those acts and if you do participate, you probably use public lands. The Salmon-Challis National Forest is in the midst of a forest plan revision.

Merry Christmas from the gang here at Wild Idaho Outfitters

From the gang here at Wild Idaho Outfitters, we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and safe Holiday season! As I write this on Christmas eve morning, it has just begun to snow the type of snow fall and in the surroundings that I live in, that makes it look just like something out of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018 from Wild Idaho Outfitters

As the sun just set on the final day of our 2018 Idaho elk and deer hunting season, it turns out we drop right back into another “season”: The Holiday Season! With the first, of course, being Thanksgiving. I personally am glad that Thanksgiving falls when it does this year as it leaves no time for PHD (post hunting depression) to set in. Instead, it is a time to reflect on this past year and all the many incredible blessings we have in our lives. I have said it before and it bears repeating, the best part of our job is the people we get to meet.

Legacy makers (builders)

Today was the beginning of a new legacy. Bold words you say? Let me explain. It seems like an outfitter’s life is ruled by seasons. Now you would recognize the easy ones like spring bear, spring turkey, fall bear, elk, deer, etc. The seasons that most people don’t recognize are all of the “behind the scene” seasons.