Sinlahekin Late White-tail

[Seabeckian]

In putting in for this hunt I did it blindly not ever having hunted this area prior. I selected it based upon hunter success rates, harvested buck size, and location (I always do my research even if it's not always in the field). I know a lot of people complain about that, but I gratefully look forward to the opportunity to spend some time in a foreign area where I know odds are good of harvesting a great deer.

So while I'm not very concerned in finding an area to get in, my question is as follows; Given the drastic elevations deviations within the unit, is there a lot of deer migration come November 1st? I worry that between my preseason scouting and game time, the possible snow level may shoot down all my hard efforts to get on deer. Or if any of you have any other info, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance! -Scott

[CP]

The whitetail there don’t migrate, they are always low.  That’s a great tag; you shouldn’t have any trouble filling it with a good deer.

[MtnMuley]

Sinlahekin is filled with lesser quality whitetail bucks.  A 130" is a dandy in there these days.  Also, you won't find many bucks down low during your season.  I'd plan on hunting a good ways above the valley floor.

[Seabeckian]

Although two very contrasting replies, one low country and one high, thanks for the input! I would be very excited with a 130" whitey. I have shot nothing but mulies my whole hunting career and would be ecstatic to get a fair whitetail. This is my first special deer permit so I'm really hoping to get that great buck that has eluded me during general season.

[saylean]

Just head into the sinlahekin, get out and hike about some good looking areas....the edges of the valley are pretty dam steep in most spots, as you will see. It should be a blast to hunt. I love that area. Most people I've seen during general season are road hunting....but that could have been just my experience and not par for the coarse.

Good luck!

[Seabeckian]

Just head into the sinlahekin, get out and hike about some good looking areas....the edges of the valley are pretty dam steep in most spots, as you will see. It should be a blast to hunt. I love that area. Most people I've seen during general season are road hunting....but that could have been just my experience and not par for the coarse.

Good luck!

Given your past experience, would you suggest coming in on the 97 side and getting in deep? Thanks for the input! 

[highcountry]

PM sent....

[MtnMuley]

Just head into the sinlahekin, get out and hike about some good looking areas....the edges of the valley are pretty dam steep in most spots, as you will see. It should be a blast to hunt. I love that area. Most people I've seen during general season are road hunting....but that could have been just my experience and not par for the coarse.

Good luck!

Given your past experience, would you suggest coming in on the 97 side and getting in deep? Thanks for the input!

I'm sure he is referring to the Sinlahekin Valley.  Valley floor on the bottom with steeper walls on both sides.  Whiteys throughout.  You can access it of the South Pine Creek/Fish Lake Road off of 97 from the south or through Loomis from the north.

[Seabeckian]

MtnMuley- Thanks for the input. I have been eyeing the valley on google maps and I'm pretty excited to get over there and start putting some miles on my boots.  Definitely going to have to do some research on gohunt or whatever else to establish whats all public.

[NWWA Hunter]

I had the tag last year and it was tough to find bucks not on private.  I would recommend staying low and knocking on doors or hunting low in the wildlife area.  And if you go high into the forest service my experience was that there are a few whitetails but dont go to far as in my experience they were fewer up there and only just on top of ridges of the bottoms.

[CP]

PM sent

[backyard bucks]

i'm with mntmulie on this one.. the valley floor is amazing whitetail county but the nicer whitetail bucks will be up where you would think the mulies would be. look off the valley floor and up into the canyons/draws that go up to the top.

[FishBio31]

Very fun area to hunt, hope for weather! Father in law shot a really nice buck out of there a few years back when the snow moved in. It was his first day out and shot it within 30 mins of hunting. There were a lot of bucks that year out in the open due to the weather. Other years you have to work for them a little. Work the whole valley, top to bottom.

[Seabeckian]

I had the tag last year and it was tough to find bucks not on private.  I would recommend staying low and knocking on doors or hunting low in the wildlife area.  And if you go high into the forest service my experience was that there are a few whitetails but dont go to far as in my experience they were fewer up there and only just on top of ridges of the bottoms.

Good info. Thanks! How did you end up doing last season while you were there? And/or did you see many other successful hunters? Last season it shows the success rate to be just above 50% for the draw.

i'm with mntmulie on this one.. the valley floor is amazing whitetail county but the nicer whitetail bucks will be up where you would think the mulies would be. look off the valley floor and up into the canyons/draws that go up to the top.

Those nicer wt's are what I'm hoping for . I want to have to spend a lot of money at the end of the season with a taxidermist. And I really don't care what it takes out of me for hiking and scouting.

[Birdguy]

Send a PM to Oren at TW Guides, he is a sponsor on this site and has lived within a few miles of there his whole life. I would expect he will be able to give some good advice. We drive through there every year several times after hunting season as it is a great drive and we generally let the dog out to chase a few quail as well. The weather is different each year some years there is a fair amount of snow other years there is none. Either way good optics, GREAT boots, and some time is what you will need. If you can get access to the private land in there even better, but I would bet you can get a pretty decent deer just putting  in the time and effort. By the way it is a great area to scout in all summer long. Looking forward to seeing your success photos with the story in late November.

[longknife]

Hang out at the old horse loading corral, on the valley floor, beside the fish lake rd, on your way into Loomis. Remember Whitie wont give you a second opertunity to shoot him like a Mule deer will!

[norsepete]

  congrats on the tag,I also have one too.I've camped at fish lake and hunted mulies there.I figure on hunting up higher to start with,I think the whitetails will run the good drainages up quite a ways.

[hirshey]

My work has taken me up into the Loomis State Forest a few times already this year and there are some whopper whitetail in that unit.. saw one 3 weeks ago that was going to be at LEAST a 4x and had 3 inch eyeguards.. wish I had the photos to prove it but alas I don't. He was only probably 12 driving miles into the state land from the Loomis side.. kind of near Douglas mountain. So, at least a few of the ones I have been seeing are off the valley floor... for now.

Happy hunting,
-Kari

PS if you want to see something that gets you excited for the hunt, drop by the DNR office in Loomis and see one of the broken whitetail sheds they have out front.... I think you'll want to put even more effort into scouting after seeing that one.

[SkookumHntr]

-Keri, your telling all of are hotspots!! lol j/k, I wish i had that tag!

[Seabeckian]

Thanks for the outpouring of support and advice, I'm getting more excited everyday. It's really refreshing to see this kind of hunter to hunter help.

Birdguy- Thanks for the great info. I'm hoping for a fair weather season, but will be ready either way.

Norsepete- If you see a red and white 72' Bronco be sure and say hi.

Kari- Thanks for fueling the fire, wish I had a job where I could do some scouting. I was just eyeing Douglas Mt. the other day when outlining the GMU on my map. Definitely going to have to spend some time up there scouting. I think I will be starting out high hoping to find a monster buck and gradually work my way down if I'm not finding anything promising. Thanks!

[257 Wby Mag]

I drew last year. Lotsa private down low, except down in the wildlife area where I killed mine. Saw 6-8 dinkers in 2 days, ended up killin a cool buck up behind Forde Lake. Rumor has it the whitetails have really slipped in both quality and #'s according to the folks I talked to. The buck I killed was a fork with a eyeguard on one side, the other came out of its peticle, turned down along the side of his face to the bottom of his jaw, then came back up like a J with a few little eyeguards outta the base. Its steeper than a cows face up behind the lakes, be careful, I bout got myself in a pickle or 2 up there. From my experience, a public ground hunt in the panhandle or clearwater of Idaho is several notches above this tag, but thats my opinion. Hunt hard, ya might come up with a biggun. Later

[Bigshooter]

I drew last year. Lotsa private down low, except down in the wildlife area where I killed mine. Saw 6-8 dinkers in 2 days, ended up killin a cool buck up behind Forde Lake. Rumor has it the whitetails have really slipped in both quality and #'s according to the folks I talked to. The buck I killed was a fork with a eyeguard on one side, the other came out of its peticle, turned down along the side of his face to the bottom of his jaw, then came back up like a J with a few little eyeguards outta the base. Its steeper than a cows face up behind the lakes, be careful, I bout got myself in a pickle or 2 up there. From my experience, a public ground hunt in the panhandle or clearwater of Idaho is several notches above this tag, but thats my opinion. Hunt hard, ya might come up with a biggun. Later

That sounds like a cool buck.  Got any pics of it?

[257 Wby Mag]

Ya, can I e-mail em to ya? Got a new puter, ain't figured out how to down size em and get em into photobucket...

[longknife]

Ya, can I e-mail em to ya? Got a new puter, ain't figured out how to down size em and get em into photobucket...

Would like to see those as well! I have hunted, and fished the Sinlihekien since i was a little kid. Used to fish Blue lake when it was the hot spot lake!!
PM'd you

[Bigshooter]

257
I sent you a pm.

[highcountry]

 I was able to find one last year

[saylean]

Just head into the sinlahekin, get out and hike about some good looking areas....the edges of the valley are pretty dam steep in most spots, as you will see. It should be a blast to hunt. I love that area. Most people I've seen during general season are road hunting....but that could have been just my experience and not par for the coarse.

Good luck!

Given your past experience, would you suggest coming in on the 97 side and getting in deep? Thanks for the input!

I'm sure he is referring to the Sinlahekin Valley.  Valley floor on the bottom with steeper walls on both sides.  Whiteys throughout.  You can access it of the South Pine Creek/Fish Lake Road off of 97 from the south or through Loomis from the north.

Thats correct. Sorry for the delayed response. Its really a gorgeous area. Have a blast!

[jess]

good tag good luck there is some good mature bucks over there but your gunna have to work for it we have archery hunted it a few times and saw some good whitetails but big ones are few and far between! Lots of basket racks.... If thats all your looking for you will love it 

[Bigshooter]

Here are the pics that 257 Wby Mag sent me of his buck from last year. 

[highcountry]

This hunt is not a "slam dunk", it was difficult to find deer. There was little to no rut activity till the last 3 days of the season. Once they turned on it was game on and bucks would come to the horns. The buck above was the 5th solid oppurtunity I had in 10 days of hunting. It is beautiful country and fun place to hunt. You will have a good time, my only suggestion is to go as late as possible into your season that you can, and stay to the end.

[257 Wby Mag]

Thanks bigshooter, nothin big, but had that "cool factor".  I was over there around the 10th I think, no whitetail rutting activity, but the muleys were crankin up. Good luck on your hunt, I'd make sure you were over there the last 5 days. Later

[sakoshooter]

My hunting partner-Norsepete-and I drew this tag also. We'll be camped and hunting mulies during the reg gun season and headin back for whitetails if we're not successful early. Ought to be fun.

[highcountry]

One other thing......you can tell in my pics that there is snow. Any of you that had this tag know that there was no snow at all down low near the valley floor the entire season. The bucks I found were up high, mule deer high.

[hirshey]

-Keri, your telling all of are hotspots!! lol j/k, I wish i had that tag!

Douglas Mountain is a big chunk of land to navigate... It drives me nuts to see posts about "no whitetail" etc... as long as the person is willing to get out and hike around I have no problems giving general areas..  This big boy would take some hiking to get to but by the time he's done growing for the season he'd be worth every step.