Five-Day Drop Camp with Kennedy Meadows Pack Station

MDF Livermore-Pleasanton will offer a five-day drop camp with Kennedy Meadows Pack Station at it’s March 15, 2013 banquet. Kennedy Meadows Pack Station has contributed this trip to all 21 MDF banquets held in Livermore. Thanks to Matt Bloom and his crew for this super support.

For information about the banquet: Livermore 2013 flyer.

This trip for two includes a packer to guide you to your camp site with one riding horse and one pack mule per person. You can use this service to get to a fishing spot, hunting spot for deer and bear or just to camp out in the beautiful mountain wilderness.

I have purchased this trip and used it for both fishing and deer hunting. Come enjoy the March 15  banquet and bid on this trip.

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Kennedy Meadows Pack Station adds Pack Trip to the Livermore-Pleasanton MDF Auction

A five-day drop-camp trip for two people will be offered at the Livermore Pleasanton Mule Deer Foundation banquet on March 10, 2011. Each person will be provided with a riding horse and pack mule along with a packer to load the animals  and guide them to camp.

On day one the packer will deliver the riders to their camp site and on day five he will return to pick them up.

Kennedy Meadows pack station is known for its excellent riding stock and experienced wranglers.

A drop-camp can be arranged in the immigrant Wilderness adjacent to Yosemite National Park or in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness along the Clark Fork of the Stanislaus River.

We’ve hunted with Kennedy Meadows several times and had great service. We’ve hunted deer in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness serveral times in the both archery and rifle deer seasons. These packers will get you where you want to go.

Here's a nice buck taken in the D6 deer zone.

If you’re interested in bear, you’ll probably find one.

I photographed this bruin during the D6 archery season a few years ago.

If fishing is your thing, then Kennedy Meadows pack station can take you to one many lakes with excellent fishing. And, the scenery is impressive.

Daughter Betsy and I spent a few days fishing out of Kennedy Meadows a few years ago.

 The fair market value of this trip is $920. For more information, send me an email. To order tickets, call Bob Holm at (925)447-2044.

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2010 D6 Hunt Mostly a Bust

We were there. On the ridge top at 9850 ft elevation, spotting scopes poised as the sun rose last Friday morning, one day before the D6 opener.

The wind howled as it became light enough to catch the image of deer within 200 yards of us, then 500, then clear across the basin to the next ridge. Nothing.

As the sun began to peak over the eastern horizon, it caught to tips of the peaks to the west and the curtain of light gradually worked it’s way into the basin. Surely a deer would appear before long.

No to be.

Saturday, opening day, was more windy yet. As we climbed to our lookout, a light shined down on us from the ridge above. A hunter was camped on the ridge at about 10,500 and he was shinning his light at us to let us know he was there. A few minutes after first light, we heard a couple shots from his location and we guessed that he’d downed a buck.

However, no legal bucks did we see on Saturday, or Sunday. On Monday I spied the only legal buck of the trip, but he was so small that I could not shoot him. The small fork on one of his eight inch antlers made him a potential target. The fork was so small that I didn’t notice it until he stood in the sun sixty yards down hill from me. After centering him in my rifle scope, I pretended to take him and then watched as he disappeared in the williows.

That’s the way it was. Fierce winds for three of the four days.

I had good company and we ate well with excellent views. 

If I could figure out a way to leave today, I’d head back up there and be hunting tomorrow – I know there’s a buck up there somewhere.

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D6 Drop Camp Rifle Deer Hunt 2009

On the last day of the D6 hunt, I took a long shot at a small buck feeding on a ridge overlooking the Clarke Fork of the Stanislaus River. Each day produced excitement of one type or another.

On the second day of the hunt, I passed on a young buck, but he just didn’t have what it took to get me excited. He and his spike buddy passed at about 20 yards.

I got a few other photos of interest.

On our previous hunt during the archery season, Wes and I had watched a big bear mark a tree and use it as a back scratcher. When we passed by that area on this trip we decided to look for the tree to see if it had any defining marks. Sure enough, the big bear had been leaving his claw marks and we also found a bit of hair.

Here’s a bit more evidence.

On day two of the hunt, I sat near the bear tree while waiting for a buck to show. Mountain quail had a good hatch this year and they were constantly calling in the area. These quail are extremely shy and difficult to photograph, but I did manage to get a couple decent shots of them.

It was a great hunt which included  the success and failure that make hunting worthwhile. Although none of us bagged a buck, we each had our chances and for one reason or another failed or elected not to kill.

Once again we received great service from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station owned and operated by Matt Bloom.

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2009 Kenndy Meadows D6 Pack in Archery Hunt

Fernando was one of our two packers.

Randy was the other. They work for Kennedy Meadows Pack Station. The owner, Matt Bloom, is very accommodating.

This was a very large bear and we saw him two days in a row. We observed about six bears in all.

One bruin left his track near camp, but we didn’t have any trouble with our food.

This Cooper’s hawk landed about fifty yards away while Wes and I alternated glassing and nodding. Shortly thereafter, a cinnamon colored bear walked up to within 20 yards of us before attempting to leap out of his hide.

On the second day of hunting, this three point buck appeared in the willows below us. We’d seen him on day one as well.

 

Then we saw him again on day three, but at about 150 yards. Apparently he’d seen us as well.

 

His partner was a four-point buck (in the lead), but was more camera shy. Like many bucks, he was better at keeping his head down. As you can see fairly well, this buck has blacktail characteristics.

We have noted that some deer in this area look like blacktails and others more like mule deer. There is  a species called the California mule deer and these deer would most likely fall into that taxonomy.

According to biologists I’ve discussed this with, the California mule deer is not a cross between blacktails and mule deer, it is a species that evolved in this habitat. Could be.

We saw these bucks every day of the hunt.

Chipmunks were plentiful, as were many other ground squirrels including marmots, pica and Townsend ground squirrels.

The most prevalent creature on the ridge was the Clark’s nutcracker. While watching one of these birds from about 20 feet away through his binoculars, Rob observed one of them regurgitating pine nuts and storing them in a slot in a pine tree.

After a few hours of watching deer in the morning, a three-point buck with a nice spread bedded in these willows. Wes decided to sit on him and see if he’d make a mistake.

Where’s Wes?

There his is. Wes sat next to that large rock for several hours waiting for the buck to show himself, but he didn’t.

One exciting moment occurred on the last hunt day when Wes jumped a mountain lion that took off at full speed until reaching a place to hide behind a large rock.

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Back Country Mule Deer Hunt Slide Show

 On Wednesday morning we headed up canyon.

 

On Thursday, after glassing for bucks in the morning, Rob and Wes headed to their spike camp in preparation for hunting on Saturday. The packs look heavy and they were. The climb to spike camp was up a steep trail and about a 1,000 foot climb.

Although we saw no bears, we saw scat many times. I photographed this scat while scouting on Thursday morning.

Each day we glassed for deer from first light.

 

Although my buck was only a young three point, the fact that I shot him at 50 yards and  over 11,000 foot elevation made him a trophy to me.

Joe snapped this hero shot of me hauling meat off the mountain. We spike camped at 10,200 feet and left at 4AM to make it to the top of the ridge by first light. At times my heart pounded so hard that I thought I’d blow a gasket.

Here’s Wes with his antlers. Rob and Wes spotted this buck on the first day in base camp and Wes shot it about 10 AM on Saturday morning. Somewhat surprisingly, it was the largest buck we saw on the trip.

Back at base camp, Joe posed with our antlers.

 

After bagging our bucks, Joe and I fished some downstream beaver ponds for brook trout. We managed to catch enough for dinner.

After a full week in the mountains our packer, Craig, arrived to pick us up on the last morning.

 

We elected to walk out and Craig packed our gear.

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