25 August Wild Fires Cause Road Closure August 25, 2006By George McQuiston Announcements 0 We are We are now faced with some hard decisions that involvefacing a very unique challenge this year in our hunting area. On August 23, 2006 access to more than half of our operating area was shut down by the Forest Service do to fire hazards. If you have followed the situation up in the Challis area at all you know there are several fires burning, none of which, however, were in our permitted area. We believed the hunts would still be feasible until the Sheldon Peak fire broke out on August 23. hunts taking place prior to September 17, 2006. Technically, we could still go on with the hunt as planned and just adjust the area in which we use, however, we would be facing the very real possibility of being rattled out of our cots in the middle of the night and told to evacuate the area immediately. Two of our main goals at Wild Idaho Outfitters are your safety and your enjoyment. We don’t believe it would be safe or enjoyable under the current situation. The Forest Service is managing the fires in the area as Wild Land Fires, which basically means they are simply going to let them run their course. The projected time for containment is mid-September with the arrival of fire-season ending storms. Based on our past experience mid-September is when the first storm of the season occurs. We will be contacting all hunters who will be affected by these fires. Larry & George Related Posts 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. Wild Idaho Outfitters Welcomes Joe Cavanaugh: Our New Blog Writer If you hadn’t already noticed, Joe’s been writing our blogs since the January 31st post. Cavanaugh comes to us with a wide range of experience in the outdoors, and he’s also a graduate of Boise State University, with a BA in English/writing. He worked professionally as a copywriter for Bass Pro Shops before joining us, and his book “The Jungle Hunter” was published by Safari Press in 2000 (now out of print). Cavanaugh started guiding for Wild Idaho Outfitters in 2013, and he will be guiding for us again this year, full time. Wild Idaho Outfitters expands size of hunting area. The past two seasons the guides at Wild Idaho Outfitters had to instruct there hunters to only look out the left side of the vehicle when traveling to hunting areas…but no more. As of October 2006 Wild Idaho Outfitters purchased the hunting rights to “the other side of the road”. Our hunting area now encompasses over 150 square miles of area 27 in Idaho with Sleeping Deer Road pretty much dividing our area in half. Sun Sets on 2015 Wild Idaho Hunting Seasons 2015 will go down as one of Wild Idaho Outfitters most successful hunting seasons of our career. Beginning with spring Bear hunting where we enjoyed a full 75% opportunity rate to our fall hunting seasons where we went just under 100% opportunity rate on an animal. And most importantly, almost everyone who hunted with us this year lived. Those few exceptions were probably a little ill anyway. Yes folks that is one of my corny outfitter jokes. 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. Wild Idaho’s Spring Bear Season OFFICIALLY Arrives! It can only mean one thing when we are hauling hay, chained up in the old Dodge over high mountain passes, shoeing horses at the trailhead and crossing rising rivers, all in the same day! Comment (0) Comments are closed.