Idaho 10A Whitetail

[3nails]

 Heading over solo for the last week of the season. Anyone on here going to be there?

[elkboy]

I'll be going up on free days or afternoons to 8A, just over the state line. The snow makes me think the deer will be getting active!

Good luck, 3Nails!

[redi]

Good luck the weather should help

[highside74]

Good luck. We hunted 10A for 6 days last year and never saw a buck. Camps with 10 plus dudes only had 1 buck between them. The camp in the same area as us had 4 guys. They killed 1 buck and left early because of lack of deer. We had some snow and everything. I hope your hunt is better than ours.

[Naches Sportsman]

I was out there this morning and gotta go back up on the hill again. Saw 50 deer. 37 of those were below the snow. Snows moving the does and fawns down. About 6” on top of grangemont. Watch for black ice!!!

[idahohuntr]

I was over there a bit last year to try and get a sense of how bad the EHD kill was...didn't seem too bad...but this year I'm hearing some pretty bleak reports...hope it was just the warm weather and now that its getting cold the reports will change dramatically.

[fowl smacker]

Heading over on the 13th.  Different unit though.

[Naches Sportsman]

I was out there this morning and gotta go back up on the hill again. Saw 50 deer. 37 of those were below the snow. Snows moving the does and fawns down. About 6” on top of grangemont. Watch for black ice!!!

22 more this afternoon. Most in a day I've seen this year since the spring.


These numbers aren’t counting the deer in people’s yards either.

[Machias]

Heavy snow and winds 50+ mph this weekend.  Be safe out there!!

[Naches Sportsman]

1-1.5 feet of new snow above the 3000 foot level and now switching to rain

[outdooraddict]

too early to rattle, in case my mule deer plans next week get snowed out,  i may be whitetail hunting. will rattling still be worthy? or is it too early

[elkboy]

too early to rattle, in case my mule deer plans next week get snowed out,  i may be whitetail hunting. will rattling still be worthy? or is it too early

3Nails should weigh in- he has a lot of rattling experience with whitetails.  I've rattled in 5 good Idaho bucks, and those were all concentrated towards the end of November.  I've rattled from the very beginning of November, but I've shifted towards more sitting and waiting, at least in early November. 

Good luck to you.

[duckboy23]

We'll be over there from the 10th to the close. Lots of good reports from what I've been hearing. With this snow it will definitely make things interesting!

[C-Money]

Good luck!! Hope you find one!

[deerhunter_98520]

I'm heading over on the 10th for 16, first time in this unit.

[MeepDog]

I've never hunted Idaho, but isn't there tons of units where you can take a whitetail doe with a rifle?

[Duckslayer89]

I've never hunted Idaho, but isn't there tons of units where you can take a whitetail doe with a rifle?

I wouldn’t encourage shooting does with the game populations over there right now. Fish and game should have put an end to that long ago.

[meatwhack]

Almost all of the units that are open for whitetail hunting are either sex.

[3nails]

too early to rattle, in case my mule deer plans next week get snowed out,  i may be whitetail hunting. will rattling still be worthy? or is it too early

We are in prime time rattling from now on.

[bornhunter]

Hunted yesterday and had deer all over the place. Started snowing early a.m. today and the deer just shut down. Over 3000 ft lots of snow. Got about 3 more inches today. Going to get cold tomorrow so things should start looking up. No responses to rattling yet. Good luck everyone.

[fishngamereaper]

Be over next week a little north of you.
Shaping up to be perfect timing....

[Naches Sportsman]

Hunted yesterday and had deer all over the place. Started snowing early a.m. today and the deer just shut down. Over 3000 ft lots of snow. Got about 3 more inches today. Going to get cold tomorrow so things should start looking up. No responses to rattnig yet. Good luck everyone.

There’s been locals rattling in bucks for the last week.

I’ve been working in thick stuff for the last few weeks  and the deer are hanging out in the mature timber and in the SMZ’s around clear cuts when the weather is crap.

[buckcanyonlodge]

too early to rattle, in case my mule deer plans next week get snowed out,  i may be whitetail hunting. will rattling still be worthy? or is it too early

We are in prime time rattling from now on.

I have a couple whitetail bucks sparring in earnest out front after dark. I heard them first and then put a light on them from my deck to watch the battle. There were two other small guys checking them out too.

[bornhunter]

Looking forward to tomorrow morning.  Clear, cold with fresh powder snow on the ground. I am dealing with a cat  or other predator though. Found two predator kills within 500 yards of each other but it hasnt scared the deer off. Both deer were really little so maybe coyotes as there are a lot of coyote tracks around.

[bornhunter]

Be over next week a little north of you.
Shaping up to be perfect timing....

Good luck to you.

[bornhunter]

Well found wolf tracks yesterday about 200 yards from the deer kill. So it wasnt coyotes or a cat.

[ljsommer]

Spent a week (14th - 20th) in Elk River with a guide, and out of the 6 hunters present, we dropped one buck and he was tiny. Sunup to sundown trying different locations and elevations and it was a total bust. I didn't see that coming.

[Naches Sportsman]

Of course the day after deer season, the bucks are out in the wide open today 😂

[vandeman17]

In western montana the wt rut is going like crazy right now. Seen multiple bucks chasing does and actually had a doe followed by a buck run in front of us this morning when we were hiking in to pack out my elk.

[Mtnwalker]

Spent a week (14th - 20th) in Elk River with a guide, and out of the 6 hunters present, we dropped one buck and he was tiny. Sunup to sundown trying different locations and elevations and it was a total bust. I didn't see that coming.

That's rough. Definitely not what you hope for on a guided trip.

[3nails]

 Pretty odd year in 10A for me. There were more hunters than I can remember since the 90s. Seemed like there were camps at every pull off and the weird part was that the vast majority had Idaho plates. Almost no out of staters. Snow was terribly crunchy so I decided to shoot the first buck I rattled in and head home.

[3nails]

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[3nails]

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[highside74]

That's different. 

[boneaddict]

Congrats 3 nails.  I was curious what you were going to come home with.   What did you think of numbers of deer?   

[Naches Sportsman]

Awesome buck 3nails!

I saw more Washington and Oregon folks out the last 10 days than I saw locals. Pierce area.

[3nails]

Congrats 3 nails.  I was curious what you were going to come home with.   What did you think of numbers of deer?

One thing I forgot to mention was the amount of logging that has occurred over the last 2 years since I've been there. I was in disbelief. Not much sign in the cuts since they were so new. Any timber that you could find was loaded with sign. The numbers still appear low to me but I'd expect them to rebound nicely after good regrowth happens.

[3nails]

Awesome buck 3nails!

I saw more Washington and Oregon folks out the last 10 days than I saw locals. Pierce area.

I didn't see a single wolf track around there this year. That was good.

[deerhunter_98520]

Pretty odd year in 10A for me. There were more hunters than I can remember since the 90s. Seemed like there were camps at every pull off and the weird part was that the vast majority had Idaho plates. Almost no out of staters. Snow was terribly crunchy so I decided to shoot the first buck I rattled in and head home.

I agree with the hunter numbers. I was in a new unit but not very far from where I usually hunt and we wouldn't hardly see anyone this time of the year just a handful of locals. Not this year we seen Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California and a couple plates I couldn't make out but there was alot of people out

[jae]

Nice Buck! Congratulations!

[krolelov]

Great buck! Congratulations!

[Machias]

Congrats!!

[snake]

All of the transplants have idaho plates now.  The only way to tell a true idaho native is if they have Montana plates.  They sold their houses and moved to Montana but still like to hunt their old stomping grounds.
I dont see many out of state plates in the panhandle anymore.  Last two years I could probably count them on one or two hands. ive been able to escape the pressure by continually searching for new area's and of course people still don't stray far from a road.

[Woodpecker]

Congrats to your success, I also harvested a buck, while hunting in Idaho this year. Had old crunchy snow, for the first week or so. Was later rewarded with some nice new snow at the end. Always a memorable adventure.

[3nails]

Congrats to your success, I also harvested a buck, while hunting in Idaho this year. Had old crunchy snow, for the first week or so. Was later rewarded with some nice new snow at the end. Always a memorable adventure.

That crunch was awful. Got a pic of your buck?