The First Outwest Hunting Trip

My First Outwest Hunting Trip - I went on an Elk hunt in Idaho with a few other fellows from around West Chester where we all worked at building houses, developing land, and selling Real Estate that ended up in a story that was published in the Magazine called [Outdoor Life]. We had two big Motor Homes each pulling jeeps and had camped on the Madison River [one of the last free flowing rivers] near Ennis Idaho Very much like this scene of the Sacaramento River in California ,unfortunatly I didn't get apic of the madison River.
I shot an Elk that very first morning which took three of us until almost midnight of very hard work to haul it out of the mountains. Well the Game Warden came down in the middle of the night and confiscated it saying we were not with a guide which the law read you have to have a licensed guide present [all the time], we had a guide that cost plenty, but at night he went back across the river and said he would return the next morning. We didn't know any difference. The Warden immediately informed us we were all under arrest and could either pay a fine of $50.00 each [10 of us] or go to court that night, a Sunday night.
Well to say the least that did not go well, but we didn't know what else to do but go along and pay the fine so we did. After paying the Warden plus the Guide several hundred dollars we decided to go into the little town of Ennis, we were all to upset to sleep and see if there were more goings on. The little town of Ennis consisted of a raised board walk like you would see in the cowboy movies with a grocery store - post office - and a bar that was it, remember this was back in the 70's not much normally going on there, but on this night that place was hopping it was overrun with hunters from all around. It seems this game warden that was from, Springfield Ohio was in cahoots with the Guide had taken many elk and deer from hunters on trumped up charges and they were all there and fighting mad. One group from Colorado had just arrived with 6 deer they had legally bagged and tagged in Colorado, and they were ready to fight. Someone called in the Highway Patrol and the local Sheriff, and settled everybody down, but it was kind of scary there for a while. We're talking about some tough characters with loaded weapons and mad. I couldn't believe it but one of our members let the air out of the Sheriff's tires and if I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe it, just goes to show how upset some folks can get when wronged. Later one of our members decided to sue the State, and it ended up in the papers and the biggest outdoor Magazine of the time "Outdoor Life" and he got the law changed. But it ended a weeklong hunt, down to just one day with no meat or antlers. We didn't want to go back in the woods with that crazy Guide and Warden, because if something did happen it would be very nervous time consuming and expensive, so we elected to turn around and head back to Ohio. but we went on other hunts in later years and had great times and wonderful memories. Happy trails
Uncle Ran