Unit 39 Idaho

Talk anything related to Mule Deer
Sponsored by: http://www.muledeermania.com
Post Reply
delkmon
Spike
Spike
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Southwest Idaho

Unit 39 Idaho

Post by delkmon » Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:55 am

Does anyone have any advise on how to hunt Idaho unit 39 effectively? I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong. I hunt hard, I get out early and stay out late. I just never see any of the bucks I'm looking for. I hunt up high and walk miles and miles glassing for hours an still see very few bucks.

Specificalliy I am hunting the Graham, Swanholm, Warrior mountain areas. I love this area and have heard that there are some big bucks there. If anyone has any scouting advise I am all ears. I just don't know what I am doing wrong. I don't have horses or an ATV. I hunt on foot and believe I out work 90% of the people out there.

I know that this unit holds some of the bucks I'm after because I have seen them on the winter range.

If anyone has any tips on scouting this unit I would be willing to burn up my gas to scout with you and learn how to do it effectively. Pm me with a phone number so we can talk. It is much easier to exchange info on the phone. I don't want your hidey holes, I just want to learn what I'm doing wrong.

Respond here or pm me, I'm sure others would like to learn from some of you veterans.
Its fair chase, or its foul!

delkmon
Spike
Spike
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Southwest Idaho

Post by delkmon » Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:57 am

Bumping this one back up to the top. Someone has to have some advice? Even if not in this zone, maybe a similar zone? Don't tell me you're all road hunters :) Pm me if you prefer.
Its fair chase, or its foul!

User avatar
GPWDeer
2 point
2 point
Posts: 224
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:33 am
Location: Southwest Idaho

Post by GPWDeer » Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:16 am

delkmon,

I have only hunted unit 39 once or twice a long long time ago, but it might be helpful if you gave folks more info as to the class of buck you are looking to take and where you live. Unit 39 is huge and if you are from Boise, I don't think there is any need to go to the far reaches of the unit to find a quality deer.

From talking to friends that hunt the area I think you have to hunt it the first few days and the last few days of the season really hard. They also like the area around Arrowrock and to the west of Anderson Ranch.

I think because there are a lot of hunters in this unit you will have to be on the mountain in a position where you feel there is a good chance of deer being located about 30 minutes (minimum) before the first light of dawn. You'll be surprised how many of the big boys are nearly nocturnal due to pressure. You have to start glassing before dawn and stay until it is completely dark. That can be hard to do for those of us that do hunt on foot, because that means we have to hike in the dark. I just use a good headlamp and give myself plenty of time.

I would love to be able to help more, but I don't have the required knowledge of the unit. Hopefully someone who does will offer some pointers!

Good luck and keep us posted with what you find on your scouting trips!

GPWDeer
Making the swtich to the strick and string! Watch out!

delkmon
Spike
Spike
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Southwest Idaho

unit 39 idaho

Post by delkmon » Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:22 pm

Gpwdeer
I appreciate the response. I am looking for the biggest deer I can find. The 180 and 190 deer in this unit don't just diasppear they have to go somewhere. That is the place I'm looking for. I have gotten some good tips from the book "Public Land Mulies". It is a great book and I am looking forward to putting some of his advice to work.

By the way, congrats on drawing the unit 40 tag, I have seen some real hogs come out of that unit.
Its fair chase, or its foul!

User avatar
oakbrush
2 point
2 point
Posts: 256
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2004 6:13 pm
Location: Hurricane, Utah

Post by oakbrush » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:28 pm

I hunt in the heavy pressure general season units in Utah. I have been lucky enough to take a couple of nice bucks in the past few seasons. I am no expert by any means but I spend alot of time scouting and studying maps etc.
I don't know anything about the unit you are hunting in Idaho, but if there are alot of other hunters to deal with, like in Utah, I feel that you have to take a little different approach.

Opening morning: Everyone is excited and trying to hike faster than the next guy and deer are going to get pushed all over the mountain. It is really hard to find an unpressured/feeding buck on this day. Sometimes you still can, if you are back in far enough and the others haven't got there yet. But don't plan on that buck being there for long. Sure as heck when you start to make your plan, someone will bumble into the area and mess it up. On this day, I usually position myself up high in a saddle with well used deer trails where I can still glass alot of country (in case i can bed something down to go after later) and hope that everyones excitement to get to the top will push something up to me.

After Opening Morning: Remember all those pretty alpine bowls on the top of the mountain that had all those nice deer in them all summer and even on opening morning? Well now you will probably not even see anything that resembles a good buck up there until next summer. Where did they go? In the country that I hunt, they go down. For the rest of the season, I look in the thicker canyons about halfway down to the bottom of the mountain. Look for canyons that have no roads coming up the bottom. Try to find those places that have little openings in the trees here and there. These little spots of feed may only be about 15 feet wide, but that is all a big buck needs until he has to head down for the rut. Hours of glassing is the key, not hours of hiking.

Every place is different, it usually takes years to figure out an area.

Good luck
oakbrush

delkmon
Spike
Spike
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Southwest Idaho

Post by delkmon » Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:21 pm

Oakbrush,
That sounds like very good advice to me. In fact it is exactly the advice given in the book I mentioned above. Unit 39 sounds a lot like what you describe in Utah. Lots of hunter pressure. But most of them are road hunting, or hunting within a few hundred yards of a road. I like to climb and get high and glass. Thanks for your response, I hope you get a biggun this year. Do you have any pics to post of your last couple of bucks?
Its fair chase, or its foul!

User avatar
oakbrush
2 point
2 point
Posts: 256
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2004 6:13 pm
Location: Hurricane, Utah

Post by oakbrush » Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:05 am

delkmon,

I sent you a pm


oakbrush

delkmon
Spike
Spike
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:30 pm
Location: Southwest Idaho

unit 39 Idaho

Post by delkmon » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:01 pm

Oakbrush,
Pm'd you back.

Delkmon
Its fair chase, or its foul!

User avatar
badgersniper
Fawn
Fawn
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:40 pm
Location: IDAHO

unit 39

Post by badgersniper » Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:18 pm

delkmon,
i have hunted unit 39 several years now and the one thing i can tell you from my experience is that scouting will only go so far. with the presure certain areas are getting the deer movement is erratic and not very easy to pattern. and i am sure you know that unless we get any weather, snow! the big bucks are almost always nocturnal. there are a few resident big boys but not many. weather always will help. i will share this info with you.....if you have access to a boat send me a pm i am always looking for a new hunting comrade, i could show you some areas you might not have known even existed.

Post Reply