2011 Idaho Whitetail Adventure
Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 6:32 pm
A friend and I decided to revisit an area in northern Idaho that we hunted for a few years back in the late 90's. The deer in this area had a significant disease kill-off around 5-6 years ago so we were unsure what we were getting into. Also, we had always gone the last week of the season in November to hunt at the peak of the rut but schedules dictated that we would have to go in October this year. I was concerned as the weather was t-shirt warm when we arrived but was relieved when we immediately started seeing deer high on the breaks above the river.
We went right to the same ridge system that we hunted in 2001 and split up to glass different sides of a large ridge that served as a travel corridor between the pines of the upper breaks and the fields and river bottoms below. The country is very steep and quite open for whitetail country so we like to sit at good vantage points and watch the travel areas in th morning and evening. I spotted two nice 8 point bucks on the ridge and elected to pass them as it was the first day. After some does came down, a large deer caught my eye coming from high on the ridge trotting down the trail. He was obviously a nice buck and upon further inspection I decided that I couldn't pass him up. He stopped on a shelf 298 yards across from me and my hunt ended.
That night, my friend said that he had seen 3 big bucks that came down and held up in a brush patch too far above him for a shot. We made a plan and were in there early the next morning. When we got set-up, I spotted the bucks below where they had been the night before. The spot they were in was very tricky as it was surrounded by very steep open country. Instead of a stalk, we elected to take the shot from where we were at 408 yds. Keith placed a perfect shot and soon his buck was down on the little shelf 408 yds away.
After alot of recovery work, we enjoyed a few days rest and headed back home. It was a great trip in some beautiful country that ended with a couple great western whitetails. -------SS
We went right to the same ridge system that we hunted in 2001 and split up to glass different sides of a large ridge that served as a travel corridor between the pines of the upper breaks and the fields and river bottoms below. The country is very steep and quite open for whitetail country so we like to sit at good vantage points and watch the travel areas in th morning and evening. I spotted two nice 8 point bucks on the ridge and elected to pass them as it was the first day. After some does came down, a large deer caught my eye coming from high on the ridge trotting down the trail. He was obviously a nice buck and upon further inspection I decided that I couldn't pass him up. He stopped on a shelf 298 yards across from me and my hunt ended.
That night, my friend said that he had seen 3 big bucks that came down and held up in a brush patch too far above him for a shot. We made a plan and were in there early the next morning. When we got set-up, I spotted the bucks below where they had been the night before. The spot they were in was very tricky as it was surrounded by very steep open country. Instead of a stalk, we elected to take the shot from where we were at 408 yds. Keith placed a perfect shot and soon his buck was down on the little shelf 408 yds away.
After alot of recovery work, we enjoyed a few days rest and headed back home. It was a great trip in some beautiful country that ended with a couple great western whitetails. -------SS
