Wayne's Reflections

Deer Hunting 2013 Every year around the middle of January, I buy a combination Hunting and Fishing License.  Not that I hunt that early in the year, I do fish.  I just like to have the license in my wallet next to my Concealed Weapons License.  I guess it makes me feel more legal as I usually have a gun of some kind in my vehicles, on my side or my .380 in my pocket. I don't go hunting as much as I used to as the game in Units 50 and 51 isn't as plentiful as it used to be. When I first began hunting, Unit 50 was an either sex, two deer tag area.  Now most of the deer I see are along the Big Lost River or in the city limits of Mackay.  There are more elk in the unit now and Shirley and I even saw a cow moose with her calf several weeks ago on Summit Creek.  Also, Shirley grew up eating wild game and isn't fond of it now; so I would have to eat what I brought home.  Since I do 80% of the cooking now that I am retired that wouldn't be a problem, ...

Fly Fishing on the Big Lost River Today started out cold (34 degrees F) with a strong, cold wind and storm clouds covering the mountain surrounding the valley.  The weather was not so good for fly fishing as I had planned.  So I went about my daily routine. I have started to build a greenhouse for next season. You need a building permit to build anything in Mackay so I went to City Hall to get one.  After lunch I went back to work setting up the railroad ties I will use for the foundation for the greenhouse.  It is hard work to move the 9 foot, tar soaked ties and I had to take off my jacket as the temperature had warmed up.  It was then I noticed that the wind had quit blowing. Needless to say, I picked up my tools and headed for the garage to get my fishing gear.  There won't be many days left for fly fishing.  The stretch of water close to home, runs too high to fish from mid May until early October because of irrigation in the valley.  ...

Camping on Summit Creek My wife Shirley and I decided we needed to take our travel trailer and make one more trip to the mountains before the snow fell and the weather got too cold.  Our favorite camping spot on Phi Kappa Creek in the Salmon/Challis National Forrest was taken when we arrived so we decided to check out the Phi Kappa Creek campground.  The campground had too many people like us, or maybe they were archery hunters, so we decided to check out other places. We found a nice spot on Summit Creek about half way between Phi Kappa and Park Creek campgrounds opposite Little Fall Creek.  It was easy to get into and we had it all to ourselves.  We were a little closer to the road (Trail Creek Road) than we wanted to be but this proved to be a non-problem. We spent 2 days camping and enjoyed every minute.  When we were leaving (got about 1/2 mile down the road from where we were camped and saw a cow and calf moose standing in the middle of the roa...

Several years ago (probably more like 8 or 9) Shirley and I went camping with friends in the Lake Creek Campground, Salmon Challis National Forest, (about 60 miles from our home in Mackay, Idaho).  Our friends went some where with their kids fishing, so we decided to check out the trail to the chain of Lake Creek lakes:  Round Lake, Long Lake, Big Lake, Rough Lake, Golden Lake, etc..  Well we got up the trail about 6 miles or so and the trail being so rocky and rough and because we were both on one 4-Wheeler, we decided to turn back to camp.  Also, no one knew where we were because we left after our friends had gone and we had been out several hours.  We never got to any of the lakes, and always wondered what the rest of the trail was like and what the various lakes looked like. Well, a few weeks ago, we got to find out!  Our son Dirk called and said that he and his family would like to go camping for the weekend.  They wanted to camp at the Lake Cr...

Remember "Tree Huggers," those misguided individuals with no meaning to their lives who needed a cause so they handcuffed themselves to trees to harass loggers trying to make a living harvesting mature trees from our national forests? Well here is a twist, "Hugging Trees."  No; the trees are not hugging people to keep them from doing anything, these two trees (one much older than the other) are hugging each other (almost like a child holding on to its parent). Hugging Trees Wayne Olsen Photo The Hugging Trees are located along the South Fork of the Boise River between its confluence with Big Smokey Creek and  the Baumgartner Campground (Baumgartner is 11 miles up river from Featherville, Idaho).  We spent the weekend (May 30 to June 2) camping on the Big Smokey with Tracy, Alex, Travis, Kristie, Kenley, and Porter to celebrate Tracy's and Travis' birthdays. Shirley and I and the Hugging Trees (like our camp attire?) Notice the siz...

Yesterday after placing flowers on my parents graves and on Shirley's dad's grave in the Mt. McCaleb Cemetery above Mackay, Idaho; we went to Challis to buy garden plants and flowers to spruce up our yard and provide us with another task to accomplish this summer (trying not to kill our tomatoes, zucchinis, and cucumbers.  We don't have much trouble raising basil, spinach, parsley, and chocolate mint; as these plants  for the most part are just glorified weeds). Any way, being that it is Memorial Day weekend and since we spent most of Friday morning with the Scouts and Cub Scouts of Troop and Pack 98 putting flags on the graves of veterans in the Mt. McCaleb Cemetery for the American Legion, we decided to stop at the Custer County Veterans Memorial located south of Challis at the Land of the Yankee Fork State Park (at the junction of US Highway 93 and Idaho Scenic Highway 75) and check it out. Custer County Veterans Memorial Wayne Olsen Photo Names of Veterans b...