Dont tag soup your Idaho deer tag yet

[top pin1]

If you are planning on cooking up your tag after Wed. the 1st when general season ends and you have a archery permit PM me if you can hunt any of the next three weekends.

Unit 15 along the  South Fork of the Clearwater river always has a great hunt from Dec 5th through the 20th. Its either spot and stalk or tree stand hunting. I've seen over 100 deer a day and have had 50 deer go by my tree stand in a day. If you hit the migration right (yes they do migrate) you can see a ton of deer. So far with all this snow its looking to be really good.

A few 150" deer are shot up this way every year. 

I plan on hunting the 5th, 11,12th and 17th thru the 19th.  I have a 10x10 wall tent wood stove that will keep ya warm. I usually tree stand hunt daylight to dark. I usually leave Lewiston the night before and set up camp in the dark hunt till noon on sunday and come home. 

If interested PM me and we'll discuss from there. I'm not a guide and am asking for no money. If you see where I hunt you wont want to hunt it alone either. Its always good to have company up there. I've seen it snow over a foot in a day and its been as cold as -5 up there in the mornings. Anyways its a good time. I'm without someone to camp and hunt with this year so thats why the open invite. I can drive from Lewiston if anyones interested.

Chris S.
Lewiston, Id.

[Woodchuck]

Cool offer dude, makes me wish i had a tag

[ribka]

Very generous offer. Good on you

[top pin1]

A couple interested. I'd thought I'd attach a couple pictures of the country. Its open timber and clearings.

The first pick gives you a general idea of the country, it can be steep or flat depending on where you want to go find the deer. The second shot is from my treestand and thats how the forests are. Its open where you can see 100+ yards.



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[Machias]

Is that a deer in the center of the bottom photo?  I would love to tag along next year if you need someone.  Great offer!

[top pin1]

Great eye Machias, was wondering if anyone would spot him. He bedded down right after that picture for about 20 minutes and took a snooze. He got up and I made a little noise taking pictures. he came right to the base of my tree looking for what made the noise. Would have been a chip shot.

Here he is at 16' straight down from me. He looked at me a few times but didnt know what I was up in the tree.


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[Bean Counter]

That is indeed a generous offer, Chris. Let me know if you ever need help hunting Coues deer in Arizona 

[hogsniper]

Great offer man..Also great pics!     Stuff like this is what makes me keep coming back to sites like this!!!

[MichaelD]

Very cool offer.

[top pin1]

Here some info..

Tag in Idaho for whitetail deer is over the counter no drawing.

Hunting lic. is $154.  the archery permit is $20. and the deer tag is $301.00.  So you into it for about $375.00 for lic. etc.

I personally would not spend that much for just this hunt for only a weekend or two. Alot of money for 48hrs of hunting, but if you are sitting on a tag this is a great oppurtunity to fill it.

Idaho Whitetail deer tag is very generous. For those thinking about next year here's some info.

Whitetail deer season runs from

Archery   Aug 30th to Sept. 30th either sex.
Rifle        Oct 10th through Dec 1st either sex. (most units north of Mccall to Canada) A couple areas close early but if your north of Lewiston  thats the season.
Late hunts. .Some units are archery from Dec 5th through the 20th. Some areas are Muzzleloader Dec 1st through the 16th depending on the areas. Thats where it gets tricky and you need to read the regs.

Now personally the best time to get a bruiser of a buck is November 15th to Dec 1st in general season if the weather turns bad. Snow and cold temps to get the deer moving and the are hard into the Rut.
September is super tough cause its about 80+ degrees and the deer mainly only move at night. December the deer are coming out of the rut and dropping there horns. By the last weekend of this hunt you can be picking up fresh drops as you hunt. Several years ago a buck became a doe as I was stalking it. Was able to pick up its sheds. Was a cool thing to see.

Late hunts like where I'm proposing is a migration hunt. When the snow gets deep in the higher elevations the deer move down along the river corridors to escape it. If the weather is right you can see ALOT of deer. On good years I've seen 100+ deer in a day with 20+ bucks. One of those bucks might go 130+. On a bad year you'll see 10+ deer a day. Thats if there is no snow to push them around. This year is going to be a good year. The same spot with my doe picture already has a 1' of snow as of two weekends ago before this last good storm. The trade off is the rd to get to where I'm at in those pictures is no cake walk. 4x4 required. Its just super icy and semi steep though its a good rd. You just wouldnt want to go in the ditch and be by yourself up there.

Temps range from 40's to 0. This year it'll be cold I'd say temps in the teens as highs were looking at. Lows at 0. Its tough hunting in a tree stand let me tell ya. COLD. I bought a Warm Bag specifically because of this hunt.

Anyways some info for you to ponder.

Top.

[Machias]

Top have you ever seen any cats while treestanding hunting, when the herds move down in that country?  I have cat hunted the Little North Fork of the Clearwater River and along the Clearwater River for cats and bears, awesome country.  I'll be back next year with a deer, elk and bear tag and if I draw the non-resident hound permit, I'll be back for cats as well.

[top pin1]

Bump to the top as offer is still open..

And yes Machias the first cougar I ever saw in Idaho was on that hill behind me. It was stalking the same buck I was. Sadly though last season Across the canyon I heard wolves howling all day long as I sat in my stand so there not far behind either.

I keep a 22-250 in the truck in case I see that cougar again. He's gotta be pretty old by now as its been 5 yrs and he was a bruiser back then.



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[Special T]

Top I have a question regarding regs... Is there a class you have to go through to archery hunt? or just purchase the permit? I'm from Wa and have hunted the panhandle before and contemplating going back...

[Machias]

If you've had an Idaho Archery permit in the past you don't need to take bowhunter ed class.

[halflife65]

I would be very interested in this for next year.  Awesome.

[Special T]

 I just got done comparing the online courses for Wa and Id and they are exactly the same... Should make it easier to pass the field day portion of the test!

[Alan K]

If you've hunted archery in Washington before, you don't have to take the test in Idaho.  I just had to show them an old archery tag from Washington and I was good to purchase the archery permit.

[hunter-4-life]

Hey thanks for the invite. I am very interested in going on this hunt with you next year. sounds like alot of fun

[Special T]

Alan i'm guessing you were born before jan 1 75... otherwise you have to take it is my understanding...