Sinlahekin Late White-tail

[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.