9/1/04
Member Details:
Shells:
Federal 12 gauge, 1oz 8th, 7 ˝ shot
Area Hunted:
Area surrounding the junction of Highland Valley and Cobb trails in the Boise River WMA, both can be identified on the Ridge to Rivers map.
Draws downriver of Queens Campground.
Directions:
Highland Valley trail - From the Hwy 21 bridge over the Boise River turn left towards Boise, about 1 mile turn north off of Warm Springs road onto Highland road. Follow the road to the trailhead about a mile off of Warm Springs.
Queens Campground – Go north on Hwy 21 towards Idaho City, at Lucky Peak turn right onto the road following the north side of the Lucky Peak. This road will follow Lucky Peak then Arrow Rock Res. and finally along the M.F. Boise. The road is washboard and travel is slow.
Hiking Rating:
The hike is moderate but hilly to the west of Highland Valley trail. The hunt to the east of Highland Valley trail is steeper and more strenuous.
Queen’s area has steep hillsides and the hike is a moderate to strenuous.
Birds:
Highland Valley trail - Dove in good numbers. Quail and Chukar are there but not in sufficient numbers that I would attempt to hunt them before the snow falls.
Queen’s Campground/M.F. Boise – Blue Grouse
Safety Note: Highland Valley trail - This area is used by off-road cyclist, joggers, and hikers. BE EXTRA CAREFUL.
Opening Day 2004 - Morning
Where the hell are they! I had been hiking (with the gun) the same route as I did last year chasing dove. The difference was by the time I had neared the end of the loop last year I had my limit, this year there were 2 birds in the bag. The dogs were hot, even though it was still before 9 a.m., so I was watering the dogs and giving them and me a rest. The view of Boise and the foothills was great. As I sat there and scanned the area to the west I noticed that the plantings in last years burned area had taken off…and there was a lot of sunflower! With a slight nod to myself and a half-smile I was hoping I figured out the mystery of the missing birds.
I started down the hill to move over the next ridge towards the sunflower, the dogs were happy to be running again. By the time I reached the bottom of the hill they were both moving slow again because of the heat. I stopped to water them and answering my call were 3 dogs instead of 2. The funny part was it was a friends dog Pasco! The 3 dog buddies acted as if nothing was different, all of them just wanted water. A couple minutes later Justin (Pasco’s trained human) and I met up on the trail.
We were heading the same direction, beeline for the sunflower, plus Justin knew where a watering hole was a little past the sunflower patches. We headed off and no sooner had the dogs hit the sunflower the doves started to fly! Now I’m not talking one or two doves…I mean chukar or hun type coveys. The bad part of this scenario was that the dogs were not scenting or pointing the birds, just busting them up and not exactly close to the 2 trained humans with the guns. At the point of writing this I don’t remember the exact count of birds in the bag at the end of the hunt but it was up around 8 to 10 between Justin and I. The amazing thing was the large number of doves we saw while hunting. A conservative guess on my part puts the number around 200. Hunting them like other upland game birds gave us some good pass shooting and even some surprisingly good flushing shoots, a good way to start the season.
Opening Day – Afternoon
I was done chasing dove by 11. The day was warming up and the dogs were already tired. The plan was to give us all a rest and buzz up to the M.F. Boise near Queen’s campground. I had not been to the area before but friends had mentioned some decent fishing and seeing several blue grouse in the area. After a 2-3 hour drive I was near the campground and sliding into my waders for a little fishing. I did not have the same kind of luck fishing as my friends had reported. Actually after 2 hours of fishing I had only landed 2 trout, neither over 14-inches.
The dogs were getting anxious again after their long siesta. It was time to hit the hills again. At this point I had not spotted any blues on the drive in or along the river while fishing. From the description from my friends I should have been carrying my gun with me while fishing! I try to find an accessible area to do a little hiking. The area was steep and nothing looked incredibly inviting. I settled on a couple runs along 2 different small creeks dumping into the M.F. Boise.
The hunting was slow…ok, the walking was slow and the dogs were just as slow. It was 5 in the afternoon and it was still hot out. The dogs were not ranging far and neither was I. After an hour or so of hunting and not finding anything I decided to call it a day. But for the first day of the season I have to say I had a varied and good day.