Weather was not good on Wednesday so I waited till early Thursday morning to leave. It was a beautiful morning with clouds low in the valleys.

Arriving at Chamberlain



I had a learning experience here with my landing that I will tell/ask about tin another post.

After dropping off my gear I headed for Salmon to shuttle in my Dad and brother. To help keep weight down I only filled one tank in Salmon before I flew my bro in. I dropped him off to set up camp while I went to pick up Dad.
<a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=20147455">Departing Chamberlain</a><br><embed src="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" flashvars="m=20147455&v=2&type=video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430" height="346"></embed><br>

My Dad flew back to Chamberlain with me riding a long. His landing was much smoother than mine.

We set up camp as quick as possible.


We then took a hike to decide where to go the next day. The Ranger Station just across the runway was pretty cool.


The next day was spent hunting and hiking. I should have just bought beef at the store...it would have been cheaper and I would have got something

The next day we went a different direction, while we didn't see any sign here either Stonebraker Ranch was really cool.

Stonebraker in the far distance.


The runway there looks really fun, too bad it is private.

Well we aren't diehard hunters and this trip was mostly to just get away so after two days of not seeing even a sign we decided to pack things up. The outfitter who keep this base camp on the field was packing a long ways downstream so the elk must have been out of range for us on foot.

I shuttled out my brother and Dad then came back to Chamberlain to pickup my gear.

<a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=20148116">Landing Chanberlain</a><br><embed src="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" flashvars="m=20148116&v=2&type=video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430" height="346"></embed><br>

<a href="http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=20152042">takeoff Chamberlain</a><br><embed src="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" flashvars="m=20152042&v=2&type=video" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430" height="346"></embed><br>

On the flight home I crossed over Big Creek airstrip which looked good. I also passed Johnson Creek which didn't look burned, it was the first time I ever saw it.


I looked up and saw the most beautiful blue ever.

The pic doesn't really do it justice.

Trying to get home before dark I was unable to stop off in McCall as say hi to Low&Slow. I squeezed in to Nampa just as the sun went down.


Even though it was shorter than planned and we didn't see any elk it was a fun trip. Chamberlain has my vote as a fly-in destination in the future.

I do have to apologize to Matt; he came and said hi just after I landed. After 3 days of no showers and 5 hours in the plane that day I was smelly and grouchy. So it was good to meet you face to face Matt and I promise I really do shower.

nice video's WHee,,, I love it when you make your prop go backwards. Surprised you didn't see Elk there. THere were all kinds of sign last time I was there a couple years ago. There is also a pack of wolves in the chamberlain basin...

iceman wrote:There is also a pack of wolves in the chamberlain basin..

Tell me about it...their sign was everywhere. I even heard them barking while I was alone in a canyon...it made me turn right around.3

Heard coyotes too.

Jon

Nice TR, Whee! Thanks for sharing.

One year I landed there to fish the stream and a guy was there in a strutted 210. He had a wildlife photog with him and they were camping for the weekend and hoping to capture the wolves on film. THey heard them howling at night but never saw them. He said the howling raised the hair on his neck.... I fished but kept looking over my shoulder. Left late in the evening... Always got a lonely feeling when in Chamberlain..

whee wrote:

iceman wrote:There is also a pack of wolves in the chamberlain basin..

Tell me about it...their sign was everywhere. I even heard them barking while I was alone in a canyon...it made me turn right around.3

Heard coyotes too.

Jon

Great photos. Thanks for posting these and the account. At least the fires of 2000 left some of the forest around Chamberlain untouched. It does kind of look like a dog with a skin condition from the air, though.

The wolf reference reminds me of something that happened a couple of summers ago there when I went fishing down Chamberlain Creek. It was hot and I was tired, so I sat down in the shade and fell asleep. I woke a few minutes later and saw movement across the creek up near the trees above the trail. There was the Biggest, nicest looking coyote I'd ever seen, standing on the opposite side of the creek up the bank, looking at me. As I woke up, I realized--Ole Schmidt!--that's no coyote! It ran away as soon as I moved.

I didn't catch any fish worth mentioning, but that was one of the more memorable naps I've ever had. I guess those wolves must be doing well and multiplying.

CAVU

One thing you can do with your video camera is get into the settings and choose a slower shutter speed. That will eliminate the prop in your field of view.

CAVU wrote: I guess those wolves must be doing well and multiplying.

CAVU

Lets just say they reached their 20 year projection in only 5 years.... so I would say yep..

Plenty of wolves here in Minnesota. If I remember correctly the "state said they would open season once their numbers reached 2500...well, I believe their numbers are well over 3500 in state now.
I was bowhunting in a treestand a couple of hundred yards from my house a couple of years ago and had 2 wolves walk under me within 15 yards. It was awesome having them so close. They are wandering around my house every now and then.
Also while out bear hunting last fall their were two howling for over twenty minutes. When I got to my truck they walked right by it. Took pictures of the tracks and they were wider than my size 10 hunting boot.

Keith

The ranger that stays there during the summer left the day we arrived. He said he caught a 24" bull trout out of chamberlain creek, I think that is a fish worth mentioning.

I forgot to mention the runway conditions. I only used 7-25. The east end was pretty good but the west end was really rough. I might not know what rough is but if you watch the takeoff video that was taken from inside you can see the plane was forced into the air by a bump, it did not leave the ground on its own and on that takeoff I didn't go all the way to the west end because it was so rough.

Jon

Well folks,

Hear em', smell em', see em', shoot em'. Me and the kid both got bulls. Abeit a forked horn and a spike. Good elk season. Roast, steaks, and burger a plenty this year. Good thing because it's been famin the last three years. His first one at 14, and his first year to hunt. Will post pics when I have time. Back to camp!

See ya, Bub

Skylane wrote:Well folks,

Hear em', smell em', see em', shoot em'. Me and the kid both got bulls. Abeit a forked horn and a spike. Good elk season. Roast, steaks, and burger a plenty this year. Good thing because it's been famin the last three years. His first one at 14, and his first year to hunt. Will post pics when I have time. Back to camp!

See ya, Bub

Congrats to you and your son!!

Me, Dad, Uncle & Brother just got back from Grangeville, Id(Elk City Zone) for elk and deer. Did good on the deer but every time we found sign of elk the wolves were not to far away. Even found a fresh calf killed by a wolf hours old. Calf looked like it was hit by a Mack truck. If anyone wants to see pics send me your address. Wolves are definitely killing machines.

Dave

Well posted 2 pictures in my album.

Someday I'll have Zane show me how to embed in the post.

All in all a good hunt. I'm real proud of my son getting it done on his own, without the old man watching. Would have liked to have watched it though. Me a Browning A-bolt chambered in .338 Win Mag, Son a Browning 30.06 BAR. Good eats this winter.

Fly safe, Bub

Hey Bub, click the EDIT button your post above and look at the syntax for embedding the photo. The hard part is figuring out what goes between the tags. It's pretty easy after you get that. Give me a call sometime and I'll show ya. The chili is going in the pot tomorrow morning....thanks for the recipe.

Hey I'll do some tinkering and experiment with a couple of pictures to see if I can do that.

Glad to hear the Chili is on. Let me know how it turns out. I know that slow cooking makes it even better.

I did a kick a** apple cobbler in the dutch oven during elk season. 12" Dutch oven, and the whole cobbler was eaten at one sitting. That's a bad thing about dutch ovens. Cast iron weighs a lot and fills up the useful load in a hurry. Leaving the question. Beer or eats?

See ya, Bub

There will be elk on the table in our house this year also. I posted a couple pictures of my bull in my gallery, but have no idea how to insert them in this post. Wish I could have found a way to work the plane into the hunt though.

Joe.

mtbowhunter wrote:There will be elk on the table in our house this year also. I posted a couple pictures of my bull in my gallery, but have no idea how to insert them in this post. Wish I could have found a way to work the plane into the hunt though.

Joe.

Here's a couple of pics from a friends land just outside of Park City, MT. All the elk are standing on one of his 17 runways on the property. His kid shot this elk during bow season this year.

mtbowhunter wrote:There will be elk on the table in our house this year also. I posted a couple pictures of my bull in my gallery, but have no idea how to insert them in this post. Wish I could have found a way to work the plane into the hunt though.

Joe.

Nice bull. I had an opportunity to shoot a bigger bull, not as big as yours. But there were cows between me and him, and cows on the other side of him. So I chose to wack the smaller Bull who stood away from the rest of the herd. Bad news for him, good news for me.

Man that Bull that Bonanza Man posted is a monster too. One of these days after I get rich and not so famous I want to do one of those New Mexico or Colorado guided ranch hunts. They bring some pigs out of those hills.

Just got a call today that the meat is ready. Gonna be roast in the oven on Sunday!

Not a big scotch or burbon drinker, however I did have some Captain Morgan Spiced rum in camp, that Tom brought. I could get used to that

Fly safe, Bub

Yea, yea, I know, this is an aviation forum.

Bonanza Man wrote: Here's a couple of pics from a friends land just outside of Park City, MT. All the elk are standing on one of his 17 runways on the property. His kid shot this elk during bow season this year.

Those are both very nice bulls!!

Skylane wrote:Yea, yea, I know, this is an aviation forum.

We're allowed to have more than one passion in life, I think.

Joe.