Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Idaho deer hunting

It's been almost 20 years since I hunted there and am planning on heading there in October to visit my kids and grandkids (and 1 great-grandkid) and figured i'd bring my rifle with me to hunt deer. I'm looking at hunting north of Mtn Home in an area off of Cow Creek road, use to hunt there quite a bit back in the late 90's and the hunting was always pretty good. Anyone from that area care to share their experiences hunting on that side off the state or in this particular area? Thanks in advance.

NR wolf tags are cheap.


mike r

Plenty of wolves here in Alaska that need thinning out, I want to hunt mulies but thanks for the heads up.

I have shot deer in that area in the 80's but moved and have not gone back. The population in the Treasure Valley has exploded since. Boise is over 200K Meridian and Nampa are both right at 100K and the rest of the valley has followed suit, you may have company,

I had a spot that I tried to get my son and a good friend of mine to hunt, they could never find it, i'm kinda hoping others couldn't find it either.

Looks like i'm hunting unit 39 with my boys in mid October, use to be good hunting in that unit, anyone hunt there recently and can share their experiences it would be appreciated.

Unit 39 used to be my go too spot many moons ago..Now there are roads all over..Hunted the Crooked river/Bear river and Graham areas along with Queens river and the Swanholm area...Can't imagine the game is all gone in those area's but it is close to Boise..

Scouting is the key to any hunt..

Trust me - they've found it.

Since the mid-nineties, the area (especially just west of it) has been discovered by the ATV crowd. Yeah, there ain't much foot traffic in the corners in the off season, but there ain't much of it far from a motorized trail.

4-wheelers have ruined most hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The area I hunted was accessed on foot, can't imagine someone taking a wheeler in there as it's right on the edge of a small canyon. I've been riding wheelers since 1989 and I wouldn't attempt riding one in that area as it is steep and full of trees and brush.

+1

I'll have a couple in my pocket this fall.

Will be interesting to hear what you think in Oct. I'll bet it will be along the lines of there are more hunters than deer.

I'd suggest finding somewhere within USFS boundary. They are better about limiting off road vehicles than BLM.

Idaho game regulations have restricted off road vehicles in many units. However, the restrictions are pretty generous. In those units you can use an ATV on any road that will allow a 'full sized' vehicle. They define 'full sized' as anything heavier than 1500lb. It doesn't take much of a UTV to weigh 1500 so the restrictions apply to very few roads. They do keep them on roads but that can be any cow path. Also, that's just for hunting. If you score, the F&G regs don't restrict you from going cross country to pack it out. The BLM or FS might, but not the F&G.

Yeah, there are plenty of places you can't ride into, but the trail system makes those pretty easy to get close to and then walk. That would be great - but for the fact that everybody knows about it, it's close to Boise and Mountain Home, and the population increase has brought a respective increase in hunters - many of whom are riding and scouting the area year-round. I used to ride and hike all over that, and there isn't much of it I haven't seen. Not saying you can't be successful there - just that pretty much every inch of that area is well known to someone or many someones. You won't likely be alone there.

I rode along and hunted antelope out there with my BIL a few years ago.
It was a weekend, so we had lots of company. Pickups, jeeps, utv's and atv's.
Most just joy riding.
We laughed about his scouting on his big tired Yamaha motorcycle right behind Micron.

I hunted there last year, and will be again this year, since I didn't get drawn, again. I will be there the end of October. Last year we say a lot of dear, not many with horns. I take it as a migration unit, as most of the deer appeared to be just moving through.

I'll be hunting there in mid October, i'll let you know what I see, that is if I can find a parking spot. lol

We will be going in on a Sunday, shouldn't be too bad. Had a good location last year.

Hope the weather is cooler then it was last year, could have hunted in shorts for all but, one day last year.

The weather here that time of year can change in a hurry. Even if it's near 80, in a few days it could be snowing...or vise versa.