Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: jstone on December 09, 2011, 08:10:16 PM

Title: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: jstone on December 09, 2011, 08:10:16 PM: Ok next year i am going to go back to Central Idaho. It is around the stanley area. Anybody hunt deer or elk in there this year and how was it. And if there are wolf tags might buy one of those. Last time my brother and i went there it was awesome. We are getting back together and hitting one of our honey holes. So if you hunted close to that area, did you see much?
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: big wood on December 09, 2011, 09:01:18 PM: I USED TO GO IN AT THE BIG HORN CRAGS AND HEAD WEST. WE WENT IN 23 MILES AND KILLED 2 BULLS IN THERE. DIDNOT SEE MANY DEER BUT THE ONES I DID WERE DECENT. TO FAR TO GO IN AND THE ABSOLUTE WORST TRAILS I EVER BEEN ON IN MY LIFE, THEY SEPERATED THE MEN FROM THE BOYS. WENT IN THERE 6 TIMES AND FORTUNATELY FOUND A ESIER SPOT WITH MORE ELK. I GUESS I AM A BOY. GOOD LUCK ALSO IT WAS AN EARLY RIFLE HUNT FOR ELK, AND I THINK 4PT MIN FOR DEER
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: muleyslayer#1 on December 10, 2011, 03:41:08 AM: this was in Late October/Early November. It was fun had a great trip.
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: idahoelkhunter300wby on December 10, 2011, 04:49:13 AM: I hunted a little north of there this year. The deer huntin wasnt all that great. I shot a small whitetail buck. I went back during elk season and did fill my elk tag with a spike. Of course I saw alot more deer and bucks on the second trip once the season had closed. I dont think the deer herds are doing all that well in that part of Idaho. The locals I camped around didnt even bother buying deer tags, just elk.
I maybe wrong, this is just what I observed. :twocents:
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: jstone on December 10, 2011, 03:12:10 PM: Ya where we go i have seen elk and mulies only. It is deep in the back country. Well not deep deep 5 miles is camp. But good country. No whitetail there.
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: ANDERWAGON on December 10, 2011, 03:37:37 PM: Jstone, we pack in just under 9 miles. Here are the three we got this year. Also I did see one lone wolf in 2009 and some tracks this year.
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: Gringo31 on December 11, 2011, 05:38:56 AM: Going to need more of a story than that Anderwagon!
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: ANDERWAGON on December 11, 2011, 08:54:14 PM: Quote from: Gringo31 on December 11, 2011, 05:38:56 AM
Going to need more of a story than that Anderwagon!

Well, Gringo the area we hunt is single track or horse traffic only. We camp at 7200 feet and the hunting doesn’t seem to get good until we hit about 8500-9500. All of the hunting is spot and stalk if you can call 500 yards stalking. Six of us go in each year and only four of us hunt everyday. The other two are just happy to still go, ride there horses and mules and stir the beans. We hunt the first week of the rifle season. Some years with an early snow it drives all the animals out of the area towards there wintering ground (which is a draw only unit). There are not a lot of animals in the area but most of them are pretty solid.

No great stories on my behalf this year. The opener was on a Monday this year so with the long travel each way and the pack in and out we really only hunted 4.5 days. We spent most of that time boning and packing. The one on the left is the best buck we saw this year. This one we spotted one morning at about 2500 yards out. As he bedded we slid into a draw across from him and waited about an hour and a half for him to stand up, 436 yards broadside. The second one was bedded on the back side of a rock pile out of the sun at about 190 yards. We spotted him as we were coming down a ridge. The third one we spotted from camp before the opener. When we got on top of the mountain the first day for our hunt my buddy’s brother split off and went after it. He shot it at just over 450 yard. We didn’t know he wanted that buck or we would have headed that direction with him. Instead my hunting partner and I were headed in a different direction and had to turn around and hike back to help him (no issue we would’ve just liked to have been there and maybe filmed it).

Great trip, lots of hiking, riding and packing with good friends. You should have been there. :)
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: Gringo31 on December 12, 2011, 06:30:55 AM: Thats better :chuckle:

We need to touch base again someday....
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: ANDERWAGON on December 12, 2011, 09:16:53 AM: Quote from: Gringo31 on December 12, 2011, 06:30:55 AM
Thats better :chuckle:

We need to touch base again someday....

I hear that! I need to get in touch with Scooter too…. ;)
Title: Re: Idaho deer sucess
Post by: ANDERWAGON on December 12, 2011, 09:19:38 AM: These are the buck we took last year. I shot mine across the canyon as he was feeding between a patch of trees, 658 yard. It was in a fairly flat bottom surrounded by shell rock with a little timber shoot. Spent all night packing that one out got back to camp about 1AM. The other two were shot together at just under 400 yards. We usually average 3-4 bucks per year but I'm worried that one year we're going to go down there to find that the wolfs have decimated the deer. We used to see a few elk now and then but we've only seen one bull in the past few years, no cows. The bull was in tough area that you expect to find a good buck. I know the hunters didn’t drive him there.