Hunting the other side of Idaho

I have to admit I don’t get to Western Idaho very often, I was there a few years back for a fishing trip on the Owyhee River and South Fork of the Boise and then again to go through my pre license education to get my real estate license.  This time I made the trip west to hunt Chukars and Pheasants.

I am still a rookie when it comes to any type of hunting having only shot a handful of ducks and grouse on day trips near Teton Valley but my friends Stephen and Ben Adamson are very avid hunters and their enthusiasm for the sport is contagious and they are gracious and patient enough to take me in and show me the ropes.   They have had to teach me just about everything from how to load my shotgun properly (It was jamming occasionally if I loaded it.) to how to clean birds.  Kind of nice having friends with an encyclopedic knowledge of hunting.  And did I mention they have bird dogs….wow what a difference…hunting behind a well-trained pointer makes all the difference in the world.

Western Idaho is much drier and lower in elevation than the highlands to the east but the terrain is beautiful, the people are very nice, and the bird hunting is impressive you can hunt ducks, chukars, grouse, huns, quail, and pheasants all in the same day.  We spent all day Friday and Saturday hunting Chukars and I wasn’t quite prepared for how much “walking” we would do.  Stephen warned me that there would be a lot of walking but this is not walking this is steep aggressive mountain climbing without trails and the sidehilling really works your ankles.  Following these birds up and down this amazingly steep slopes is a great work out and I think you have to be a little crazy to actually enjoy it.  It can be so frustrating trying to chase these birds down that after a while it becomes a pure act of revenge and you want nothing more than to kill those little fuckers.

Being so new to the sport my revenge will have to wait until next time, the steep fast flight of the Chukars was too much for my lack of shooting skill, but I did manage to shoot one the first day when one bird happened to fly in front of my line of sight while I was taking aim at another bird…got him and man it felt great.  Ben was curious why I didn’t keep shooting at the rest of the birds but I was so thrilled that I shot one I could have cared less about the others.

On Sunday Stephen and I hunted pheasants after we dropped Ben off at the Boise airport.  Pheasant hunting seemed like a lazy man’s sport after Chukar hunting, we would casually walk the flat fields while Greta, Stephen’s dog, would dutifully and expertly find us birds to shoot.  It would have been really easy if I could shoot!  Stephen shot his limit of two Pheasants after about 10 minutes and we spent the rest of the time trying to get me some birds while Greta worked her ass off.  Greta got me set up on birds time and time again while I proceeded to miss each time, only managing to wound one bird that Stephen helped me find and finish off later.  It was embarrassing and Greta must think I am an idiot.

So before I go hunting again I think more time spent knocking down clay pigeons is in order and maybe some more time running up steep hills getting ready for Chukars.

Here’s some pictures from our trip.

Thanks Stephen and Ben!

End of a great weekend

Chukars

Ben and Elsie getting ready for the hunt

Stephen, Ben, Greta, and Elsie showing how it’s done.

Chukar Country…steep, rocky, and steep.

Stonefly Tattoo

Ok this is a purely selfish post…well and a plug for my tattoo artist.

Here’s the deal.  For a long time when someone would ask me “Would you ever get a tattoo?”  I would say “Yes, I want a stonefly nymph on my ankle.”  Simple as that.  And maybe it was a little bit of an early mid life crisis but when I saw that there was a new tattoo parlor open in Victor I started doing some research and eventually went to talk to Autumn Goodspeed at Tinnelli Bros. Ink Slingin Saloon.

And here is where the real point of this blog is going….Google….I had searched on line for images of “stonefly tattoos” but after a lot of searching only came across one and it just wasn’t my style….so by naming the title of this blog “Stonefly Tattoo”  Google can work its magic for others looking for a stonefly tattoo and in the process will find a great tattoo artist to work with.  Autumn walked me through the whole process and was very careful to weigh my wants with her ability to make a tattoo that would look good.  You can reach Autumn at 208-787-1278 or visit their shop on Main Street in Victor Idaho.

Heres the pics!

This is the image we worked from to create the Tattoo

The finished product

A summer gone by…

You know you suck at blogging when you start hearing from friends and family how they have stopped checking your blog…oh well…what can I say.

It is amazing how a summer can just dissapear, especially when you try to make the bulk of your annual income in basically a 90 day period.  I started to get busy guiding in mid-June and things just barely slowed down, when I wasn’t “shoveling water” while looking for trout I was keeping the car wash clean and operational, trying to close what few real estate transactions I could muster up and squeezing in the occasional family day or even a short family vacation.  Oh and I even snuck in 17 hours and 55 minutes to climb the Grand Teton with my Brother in law John…my be the highlight of my summer.  Certainly a great story to tell my fishing clients.

Grady is growing up fast and I think he likes summer, days at the pool with Mom, watching Daddy paint out his window, getting toy cars from our neighbors who spoil him.  I am definitely looking forward to spending more time with him now that I wont be on the river as much.  The days when I didn’t get to see him at all were sad, many days he was asleep when I went to work and asleep when I got home.

We are looking forward to the fall, looks like cold weather is coming tomorrow…wow.  The pace in Teton Valley will slow now that Fall is upon us.  I look forward to splitting wood, spending time with my family, trail running in the falling leaves, chasing large Brown Trout, and skiing powder this winter.

I will try my best to update the blog more regularly and keep you posted on anything cool happening in Teton Valley.

Thanks for reading,

Chris “Jigidy” Jensen

Nice Weather and Guiding

I have been really busy guiding…even though the water on the South Fork is at record levels.  The fishing has actually been very good…shhh.

Check out my report here.

http://tlapc.wordpress.com

Rain Rain go away

Wow what a wet Spring!  It’s rained every day for the last 18 days!  I was supposed to paint my house before I got busy guiding for the summer, now I am looking at my schedule and the weather forecast trying to figure out how to get it done, looks like Friday morning or Tuesday….guiding gets cranking on Wednesday…unless the river is raging….see my fishing report @ http://tlapc.wordpress.com

Catching Up

I think we had Spring in Teton Valley for all of about two days and now summer is in full swing (I hope…we had several snow storms in June of last year.)  My last post was a couple of weeks ago and like everyone in the valley the Jensen family has come out of winter dormancy and into the “get it done” time of year.   Plant a garden, fixt the drip system, water and fertilize lawn, paint house, stain the deck…on and on…all while chasing a very busy 14 month old boy.   Phew…we even managed to squeeze in a trip to Southern Utah (finally)  we had been planning the trip for months but every time we picked a day to head out something would come up.

The excellent weather in Teton Valley has really made business at the car wash pick up.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by to get their Spring clean on their car done.

Here’s some pics with a rundown on whats been going on.

Fished in the Carp Classic V…no fish for our team.

Fortunately for us there is more than one place to fish for Carp

Bear Lake proved to be about 40 times more productive than Blackfoot Reservoir

Grady soaking up some rays in Southern Utah on family vacation

Jenny and Grady checking out som acient Indian ruins

Enjoying a campfire in Beef Basin

Grady and I checking out some rock art

Salmon Flies on the Henry’s Fork? Lets go!

The Big Nymph!

The Big Fish

The Big Nymph Tatoo…aka mid-life crisis? I couldn’t afford a fast car.

Fly Rod Carrier Machine Version 1.0

For a long time I have wanted to be able to carry my rods (and clients rods) fully rigged and ready to go, flies and all.  My Dad has a really cool carrier for his rods inside his Suburban and it makes things really easy when fishing multiple days or hitting different areas all in the same day.  It’s just nice not to have to put everything away when you know you are going to be fishing again soon.  Especially around here when you could be fishing the Henry’s Fork in the morning and stop to wade Fall River or Bitch Creek on your way back home.

Anyway because I do not have a sliding rear window in my truck and it costs $550 to get one I had to come up with some sort of rack to carry my rods.  Enter the FRCM 1.0.  After a lot of pondering and staring at random parts in Home Depot (“May I help you find something?”….Uh…no…) I came up with this contraption.

New Listing

I am very excited to announce my newest listing, 4 acres of premier Henry’s Fork River Front property.  Located 45 minutes Northwest of Driggs this lot features everything you could want in a riverfront lot, views of the river and the Tetons, a private boat launch on the river, access to National Forest across the street, and it’s on a paved road that has year round access.  There isn’t much more you could ask for in a recreational property.  For more information shoot me an email chris@countrywideprop.com or visit my website www.chris-jensen.com

I hope Spring has arrived where you are!

Chris

View looking down river and towards Ashton

View upriver and towards the Tetons

I’ll go back and take more pictures when the snow melts…June?

In Teton Valley Happiness is a friend with a Snow Plow

Spring appeared for a few days this month we had temperatures in the mid 50’s for awhile, but Winter has definetly returned this week.

Here’s a look at the Targhee snow report…

Snow is still piling up.

I am very lucky to have a neighbor who has a plow on his truck.   They are out of town this week (biking in St. George…lucky.)  so I got to use the plow myself yesterday busting out about a 3 foot drift at the end of my driveway.  Takes a little bit of practice to work the controls and drive the stick shift, but it’s quite the tool when you get used to it.

Bust It

Thanks Neighbor!

Looks like more snow for the weekend, we have two passes that we need to use at Targhee so you know where we will be.

Jig

South Fork fishing Report

Spectator

I fished the South Fork of the Snake on Friday…58 degrees, sunshine, friends, and trout…doesn’t get much better.  I posted my report here for The Lodge at Palisades Creek.

Thanks for reading!

Chris

The Lodge at Palisades Creek Blog

I have been a fly fishing guide for The Lodge at Palisades Creek for 11 years.  I have some great clients and feel lucky to guide on such a great river.  In the past guides and clients both have been disappointed in the regularity of fishing updates on www.tlapc.com and I wanted an easier way for guides to post reports and clients to get updated information hence…http://tlapc.wordpress.com

All the guides will have access to the blog to update reports and add pictures or videos.  Should be a great resource for up to date fishing reports.

Chris

Teton Snow Info

It’s a one stop shop www.tetonsnowinfo.com.

It is a early morning ritual for a lot of us backcountry travelers here in the Tetons, log on to the internet web machine first thing in the morning and start checking all the websites for snowpack, forecast, avalanche hazard, road conditions etc.  Well thanks to Chris Larson at The Software Ranch LLC in Victor we have one website we can visit to get all the info we need.

Now if I could check my facebook page here too, I would really be set.

Baby Swap/Ski Weekend

How do you ski with an 11 month old baby boy?  The answer is to take them cross country skiing and swap with friends when you want to go downhill skiing.  Fortunately we have some close friends who have a 10 month old as well so, we watched their son Tyler while they went skiing on Saturday and they watched our son on Sunday while we went skiing.  It made for a fun weekend watching Grady and Tyler on Saturday, they played on the floor and at one point had a “fight” over a broom.  We loaded them up and took them cross country skiing up Teton Canyon for some fresh air and exercise.

Sunday Jenny and I borrowed one my parents snowmobiles and did a quick lap on Beard’s up South Leigh.  The weather was perfect and the snow was in surprisingly good shape.  In all the excitement trying to get all of our gear loaded up…Grady, ski stuff, snowmobile equipment, etc. I forgot to grab my camera but I managed to take a few horrible pictures with my camera phone.

It was a great weekend with nearly perfect unseasonably warm weather which is continuing this week.  At one point yesterday we hit 60 degrees!  If this keeps up the snow will be gone by next week….yeah right.

Enjoy the pictures.

March Comes in like a Lamb

Just a quick post…more to come today or tomorrow about our weekend…but just had to mention that my thermometer hit 61 degrees today!  It’s just not wise to start thinking about Spring so early as last year we had snow well into June, but don’t tell that to all the people hitting up our car wash this weekend.  And to all those who are using the wash…Thanks!

County Comm

I had to share this website.  I came across it quite by accident one day and have been very pleased with the pricing, products, and service from this company.  County Comm Government Products Group sells all kinds of random items from “peanut” lighters, LED keychain lights (for only a $1.00!!), government issue bags, compasses, etc. etc.  Very similar to an Army/Navy surplus store, but with better prices and harder to find items.  I ordered several Holiday presents from County Comm and plan on ordering some things for myself soon.  Their website leaves a lot to be desired but their selection and prices more than make up for it.

Check them out at www.countycomm.com