Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Idaho DIY mule deer hunt

Lost my best hunting partner(my dad) and had to cancel our plans for a Texas pig hunt this winter. Want to jump a plane in October and head out west to hunt Idaho with a rifle. Open to all sort of suggestions.

Just in the planning phase and very unfamiliar with Idaho but have wanted to go there for years. Hunted Colorado a lot and need a change.

Looking for a shortish(few miles) pack in to base camp and hunt pretty mobile from there.

Idaho is over the counter and there are a bunch of good areas!

Grab a map and be in shape...then go from there.

In shape ,check, where on the map to start looking is where I'm open to suggestions.

39 or 48 will suit your needs......

Thanks, I appreciate the info, have you hunted it?

Both 39 and 48 are STEEP. In 48, Hwy 75 runs from south to north through the middle of it. The highway starts at 5k and goes to 7k before it climbs over a pass out of the unit. There are numerous 10k+ peaks on both sides of the highway. Between the highway and the peaks are plenty of places to stretch your legs a bit. The deer numbers are pretty good.
I haven't hunted 39 much since I was a kid. It was plenty steep then and I doubt it's flattened out much.

37, 50 or 51

Less deer is ok if it means less people and remote beautiful country. If I see a big whitetail I'll probably be just as happy with that. I just love the lonesome mountains and a prospect of game.

MM

IMO, where to hunt deer in ID can largely be answered by what type of country you want to be in. Flat sagebrush to thick, steep timber and most every thing in between. I'm partial to the country in the south central part of the state. Plenty open to glass, but enough timber/topography to keep in interesting.

Another way to narrow down your locations is to look at the map for limited entry units and then hunt the OTC ones bordering them.

High lonesome is what I'm going for and hoping there are some deer there too. I'm going to call the a warden/biologist tomorrow and narrow down my search.

Mm

We hunted 50 for several days last year and saw nary a deer. We saw quite a few elk and a few moose, though. We were hunting in the general area of the No. Fork of the Big Lost River. That's just a small part of the unit, though. There are lots more places for them to be.

I've spent many hours in 50 in the Lost River area...generally speaking, deer are sparse. But hard work and glass might yield a good one.
Wife killed her mountain goat near phi kappa camp at 10,000'.

Think I am between 51/50 and 28. It's early.

General mule deer units with public land in Idaho are tough to find good deer these days. Scouting is key. I know that's not a great option for an out of stater, but it will help more so than normal in this instance.

Anything with roads or is relatively easy to hike will be STUPID crowded in the general season/public areas. Pray for nasty weather to keep crowds at bay.

There are still some great deer available though, if one works for them.

Looking hard at unit 67, talked to a guy who worked that region for twelve years in the fish and wildlife dept, said it was tough country but beautiful. Lots of trails but areas where it was no motorized vehicles. Anyone here have any knowledge of that area?