Year in Review and What’s Ahead for Budge’s in 2025
First, a big thanks to everyone who visited in 2024. What a year! From opening day in June, right through to the final days in November, we are thankful for safety, plenty of adventure, and great memories with each of our guests.
A big thanks also goes to our outstanding crew. If you visited this season, you know what we’re talking about. What a blessing it is to work with a team that has fun and works hard together. That attitude is apparent as it shines through to our guests.
2024 Summer Fishing Season in Review
We run fly fishing and horseback riding trips from our opening day on June 28 through early October. With an average snowpack last winter, water levels were steady throughout the 2024 season. We had the opportunity to fish with some wonderful folks from around the country. Several father-daughter and father-son trips come to mind. We got to celebrate milestone birthdays with friend groups, anniversaries with couples, and be a part of special family getaways.
To us, these things are far more important than the fishing itself. But the fishing was darn good too! Right off the bat in early July, we had a group of four friends and adventurous anglers spend a few nights at our Downriver Camp, which sits about 6 miles downstream from the lodge. Our friend and photographer, Ryan Lee, captured some great shots on that trip. They caught a lot of great fish, including some late-night rainbows on mouse patterns, by the light of their headlamps.
At the other end of the season in early-September, we were joined by a group of friends from the East Coast, celebrating a 50th birthday. Their hope was to hit some good dry fly and hopper fishing – what a blast! It’s hard to say which was more fun, the fishing or the company.
From one end of the summer season to the other, it’s hard to pick out a favorite memory. We saw several people catch their first fish on a fly rod! That never gets old. We saw faces light up on horseback rides through the wilderness. Thanks again to all of you who visited, it was a special summer season!
2024 Elk Hunting Season
The elk hunts kicked off in September with some excitement. On a father-daughter muzzleloader hunt, the daughter connected with her first elk on opening morning. Our packers arrived to help retrieve the bull, and it’s always a privilege to be a part of adventures like that one. Our hunters throughout the first half of September seemed to have good action and heard lots of bugles.
The second half of September proved to be difficult as the elk became silent during that later part of the month. Usually, the latter half of September is the more desirable time to hear elk bugling. But elk don’t read a script and every year is a different learning experience. Despite the tough conditions our archery hunters worked hard and had a great time.
The first rifle season was unseasonably warm and dry. Normally, this would make for extremely difficult hunting conditions. But thanks to some hard-working hunters and guides, we were able to take five bulls and our guided hunters went over 50% for success rate. For a tough week of hunting, we were thrilled with that result.
As is often the case, our second rifle season went from fall to winter overnight. The first two days of the hunt were warm and dry. By the third day, we were hunting in snow and very cold temperatures. Again, thanks to hard work and perseverance by our hunters and guides, we were able to take five bulls among our guided hunters that week.
Unfortunately, we also had many missed opportunities during both the first and second rifle seasons on very do-able shots. This emphasizes the importance of practice and knowing one’s weapon inside and out – including bipods, shooting sticks and all accessories. Most of these missed opportunities were avoidable.
This year we also had several hunters who struggled with the physical aspects of the hunt, sitting out entire days of their hunt. This is a good reminder to be in the best physical shape possible. Additionally, the mental side of the equation is just as important. Be prepared for early mornings, late nights and the difficult grind that elk hunting can be. In fact, to help hunters be more prepared, we will publish a piece here later this winter on elk hunting preparedness. Look out for that soon!
Looking Ahead to the 2025 Season
As soon as one season ends, we begin preparing for the next! Our crew is busy planning for 2025 and we can’t wait.
Once again, our opening day will be June 28th and we will run summer activities through about the first of October. When is the best time to come fishing? There’s no bad time! But each part of the season can be a little bit different. Check out this previous blog post for some details on that subject.
A few projects coming in 2025 include improvements to our staff housing and barn/storage facilities. While these don’t directly impact our guests, they will certainly benefit our crew and we think that is of immense value to the experience as a whole. We will also continue to fix up the community showers with a few new improvements there. And we will be working on alternative energy solutions, to be less reliant on the diesel generator.
In the guest cabins, we will continue to replace some of the older beds – particularly those old metal bunk beds – with more traditional (and more comfortable) log furniture that helps maintain that classic, log cabin aesthetic.
Of course, hauling new fixtures and equipment along that rough road is never easy – nor is hauling the old stuff out! So as always, we will do our best to make things work with what we have, and to be good stewards of this wild place. Our goal is to strike a nice balance between comfort and the authentic wilderness experience that guests at Budge’s have appreciated for almost 100 years.
Speaking of which – Budge’s Lodge is coming up on its 100th anniversary in just a few years! We can’t wait to be a part of that milestone.
Contact Us With Questions
If you have questions or if you’d like help planning your next wilderness adventure, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can call or text us at 970-536-1341. Or send us an email. We are looking forward to a new season and most of all, to seeing familiar faces, meeting new friends, and the new adventures that lie ahead!