Palouse Buck Question: Hold-out factor?

[Dansk]

I drew the Palouse Buck tag for November.  I do have access to property, but have not hunted it before.  Nor have I hunted whitetail for that matter.

What is an average buck for Palouse?  If you hunt there, and had this tag, what would you consider shooting the first couple of days?

I'm sure there's wide opinion on this subject and a lot of 'well it depends' answers... just curious about other's thoughts.

[carver52]

Hi Dansk,
One thing to consider, you haven't hunted whitetails before so will you be able to hunt them successfully.  I mean they are sneaky suckers.  That said, I'd try and get an idea of representative heads and use that as a benchmark.  Generally personally I'd consider an ear width, 4X4 or larger that is mature to be one deer in trouble.  Then the old saying "If you'd take it the last day, then don't pass it the first day" has great merit.

[jjhunter]

Depends on your access and your ability to find and harvest a mature buck. The average buck is probably 120"ish.  Access is the biggest factor.

He'd have to be 160" on the first day

[huntnphool]

He'd have to be 160" on the first day

......and on the correct side of the fence.

[jjhunter]

Right! 

[Idahocougar]

The quality of bucks here on the Palouse isn't the greatest because of the open farm country and amount of hunting pressure they see. You can realistically expect to shoot an average 4x4 basket buck. Don't get me wrong there are big deer shot here every year but they are the exception. It is a fun area to hunt for sure. You will see a lot of deer, coyotes, game birds, and maybe the occasional elk. Good luck on your hunt. Access is the key for sure!

[Dansk]

The quality of bucks here on the Palouse isn't the greatest because of the open farm country and amount of hunting pressure they see. You can realistically expect to shoot an average 4x4 basket buck. Don't get me wrong there are big deer shot here every year but they are the exception. It is a fun area to hunt for sure. You will see a lot of deer, coyotes, game birds, and maybe the occasional elk. Good luck on your hunt. Access is the key for sure!

That's kinda what I was expecting, given the number of tags they give out. Thanks for the info!

[Maverick]

130 class or bigger

[T-Dozzer]

Mine was mid 130's last year for late Palouse, but I was on a time crunch and had my eye on him for a while.
Like jj said, it's depends where your access is. What area do you have permission for?

[bigelk1030]

Tagging

[LDennis24]

This was the buck I shot late muzzleloader, last day of the season and I couldnt find the buck I had been hunting for (about a 150 class 22-23" wide whitey!) and this buck wandered past me at about 40 yds then just stayed at 40 yds for about 30 minutes eating shrubs and roses and I couldnt take it any longer. I would say this buck would be an average size buck you will find almost anywhere on the Palouse.There are definitely big bucks out there you, I have the opportunity to hunt alot of scab rock bordering cropland and this is the type of area you wanna hunt or treed eyebrows. Don't just drive around the fields, if there's a draw walk through it or glass it, if there's an eye brow do the same. I've seen ALOT of bucks just laying down in a few trees as a pickup drives by 20ft on the other side of the bushes because they are used to tractors and equioment rolling by constantly. It's when you stop and get out that they will sometimes run or you have to almost step on them. Let meknow and if you would like some help gaining access. I can give you some areas to do homework with.

[T-Dozzer]

Here are some Palouse bucks from last year.
If you have good access, 130 to 140 is a good starting point.
Don't listen to JJ.....He eats tags all the time if they don't tip the 160 mark 


http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,127687.0.html

[huntnnw]

the northern end of the unit has the biggest bucks, but will have to work to get them

[Dansk]

Mine was mid 130's last year for late Palouse, but I was on a time crunch and had my eye on him for a while.
Like jj said, it's depends where your access is. What area do you have permission for?

It's about 40 miles South of Spokane.

[T-Dozzer]

Mine was mid 130's last year for late Palouse, but I was on a time crunch and had my eye on him for a while.
Like jj said, it's depends where your access is. What area do you have permission for?

It's about 40 miles South of Spokane.

Good area. Rosalia & surrounding land gets alot of deer out of the Turnbull animal refuge.  I've seen some real nice deer taken in that area.

[Dansk]

Mine was mid 130's last year for late Palouse, but I was on a time crunch and had my eye on him for a while.
Like jj said, it's depends where your access is. What area do you have permission for?

It's about 40 miles South of Spokane.

Good area! Rosalie & surrounding land gets alot of deer out of the Turnbull animal refuge.  I've seen some real nice deer taken in that area.

Nice. That's good to hear. So 130 is still a good benchmark then?

...I need to spend some time looking at photos to practice judging... 

[BULLBLASTER]

You will need to know the property and area to really know what to hold out for... I have hunted places in the palouse that are lucky to have a buck over 100 inches and others that consistently hold 140+. Depends on what goes on around around property. If its a very heavily hunted area most likely won't hold many big bucks even if that property doesnt allow hunting. Varies by areas...

[T-Dozzer]

Correct...like mentioned above, know without a doubt your boundaries.  I've seen things go to blows or worse over trespassing. Especially,  if your from the wet side of mountains.  If you have private land locked down, see if you can walk it this summer. Wouldn't be a big deal to drive it after they cut it either. I think a 120 to low 130's is doable around warden/Rosalia. How many acres are you working with?
Good luck!

[TL23]

What partof the unit do you plan on hunting?(nearest town)

[Dansk]

What partof the unit do you plan on hunting?(nearest town)

Rosalia is the closest town.

[palousehunter]

I have taken bigger Bucks in the regular season than the late season,

[scottfrick]

Sorry for bringing this back up. Just curious if you were able to get a decent sized buck?

[Dansk]

Sorry for bringing this back up. Just curious if you were able to get a decent sized buck?

Did not. Took a nice whitetail in Montana during the huge winter blast (minus 20!), but that hunt conflicted with my Palouse tag.... I did stop by the last 2 days of the season on my way back home from MT, but it was so darn cold and super windy... deer were holed up all day.. no movement. Saw a few right after dusk on adjacent property, but way too late and they didn't cross. I learned a lot and will be applying again. I did see a monster taken on opener in Oct, as well as a 5x5 typical mulie that 15-20 people must've walked by for 3 days on a bench before I spooked him. Very cool area and neat people. Had fried chicken and ribs at the brass rail in sprague... next to bill moose... and drank beer out of coug glasses. Good times that,....and I'm a husky