Well luck struck and I drew a good Idaho deer tag. I was really excited and wanted to make the most of my fortune and started scouting a couple days after the results were posted.
Overall, I spent 23 days scouting and saw quite a few bucks…my notes totaled 164 bucks. Although this is a “coveted” tag I wasn’t all that impressed with what I was seeing. Good deer numbers, but the quality really wasn’t anything better than the general season units I know well.
As the season started #’s dipped as the bucks slewed into their normal fall, stagnate routine. On the 10th day of hunting, I was pushing brush on a hot day and kicked up a big buck that I figured to be 30+ wide, huge frame and a drop tine-like main beam. 60 yards away and for some reason I didn’t shoot.
More days passed and my frustration grew…mainly because I didn’t know what I was hunting for and continually kicking myself for not taking that big buck. Then comes hunt day #17. Deer were active and I saw a lot of bucks including one that I figured to be 28”, low 180s, slick 4pt (although he was ~3 miles away).
Again, I kept moving on looking for something bigger until mid day and had nothing, and no plans for the evening hunt. I decided to get closer to the 180 buck I saw that morning and get a better look, or hopefully come across one bigger. As I snuck into the area where I last saw the buck, there were deer and I recognized some bucks but couldn’t see the 180. I sat there for about an hour (within 200 yards of deer) waiting for that buck to appear from the sage. Then all the sudden he walked over a small ridge headed right for me…and once I saw those huge eye-guards and a couple cheaters he was in trouble. It happened fast but a perfectly staged 310 yard shot opportunity and he instantly dropped in his tracks.
Definitely no ground shrinkage! Smaller bodied buck given the antler size. Turns out he nets over 190” and grosses over 200”. Gotta love Idaho!
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Overall, I spent 23 days scouting and saw quite a few bucks…my notes totaled 164 bucks. Although this is a “coveted” tag I wasn’t all that impressed with what I was seeing. Good deer numbers, but the quality really wasn’t anything better than the general season units I know well.
As the season started #’s dipped as the bucks slewed into their normal fall, stagnate routine. On the 10th day of hunting, I was pushing brush on a hot day and kicked up a big buck that I figured to be 30+ wide, huge frame and a drop tine-like main beam. 60 yards away and for some reason I didn’t shoot.
More days passed and my frustration grew…mainly because I didn’t know what I was hunting for and continually kicking myself for not taking that big buck. Then comes hunt day #17. Deer were active and I saw a lot of bucks including one that I figured to be 28”, low 180s, slick 4pt (although he was ~3 miles away).
Again, I kept moving on looking for something bigger until mid day and had nothing, and no plans for the evening hunt. I decided to get closer to the 180 buck I saw that morning and get a better look, or hopefully come across one bigger. As I snuck into the area where I last saw the buck, there were deer and I recognized some bucks but couldn’t see the 180. I sat there for about an hour (within 200 yards of deer) waiting for that buck to appear from the sage. Then all the sudden he walked over a small ridge headed right for me…and once I saw those huge eye-guards and a couple cheaters he was in trouble. It happened fast but a perfectly staged 310 yard shot opportunity and he instantly dropped in his tracks.
Definitely no ground shrinkage! Smaller bodied buck given the antler size. Turns out he nets over 190” and grosses over 200”. Gotta love Idaho!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk my
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