Idaho Unit 11 Whitetail

[trogers861]

Hey All,
Been prepping for my unit 11 whitetail hunt the past few months. Heading out on 11/13 and will have 9 days to hunt. Have been spending a lot of time on google earth and onx identifying potential areas. Will be backpacking in to try and get as far away from others as possible.

Unfortunately due to my work schedule, I was only able to spend one day boots on the ground scouting in August--which wasn't nearly enough time. If anyone has experience in this unit, I would love to connect. I have never hunted mountain whitetails so this is new to me.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[mtluckydan]

Haven't hunted that unit, but it will be similar to other units. Most locals road hunt so you don't have to be far off the roads...they will be driving roads or any trail accessible by atv or sxs. Backpacking most likely isn't the best choice...you'll be committed to an area you're not sure will be good & will waste multiple days if it isn't. Try multiple day hunts until you find the right sign or animals then hunt that area. They should be pre-rut with a lot of scraping. Don't expect mature bucks to be standing out in the wide open...most likely they won't be. Cover a lot of ground & don't be afraid to relocate if you're not finding animals.

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[trogers861]

Haven't hunted that unit, but it will be similar to other units. Most locals road hunt so you don't have to be far off the roads...they will be driving roads or any trail accessible by atv or sxs. Backpacking most likely isn't the best choice...you'll be committed to an area you're not sure will be good & will waste multiple days if it isn't. Try multiple day hunts until you find the right sign or animals then hunt that area. They should be pre-rut with a lot of scraping. Don't expect mature bucks to be standing out in the wide open...most likely they won't be. Cover a lot of ground & don't be afraid to relocate if you're not finding animals.

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Thanks a lot for the information, I appreciate it. Based on feedback, I will probably plan on doing Multiple single over night trips. Get into an area, glass in the evening, sleep there, wake up and hunt and then head out to a new area. Try to cover more ground.

You are the second person to tell me that I don't need to go too far off the roads and 90% of people road hunt--dually noted!

I have zero experience rattling or grunt calling--worth giving a shot or not?

 

[Terrapin]

Unit 11 has a large percentage of private property, be very aware of the boundaries. It also has a significant percentage of mule deer… make sure you are 100% since mulies are a controlled hunt. The weather usually transitions in November from crappy to lethal. I try not to drive and camp past questionable parts of unimproved roads. Most aren’t maintained in the winter. I have a few buddies that have gone back in June to get their campers.


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[trogers861]

Unit 11 has a large percentage of private property, be very aware of the boundaries. It also has a significant percentage of mule deer… make sure you are 100% since mulies are a controlled hunt. The weather usually transitions in November from crappy to lethal. I try not to drive and camp past questionable parts of unimproved roads. Most aren’t maintained in the winter. I have a few buddies that have gone back in June to get their campers.


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Thanks for the heads up. From what I gather, 90% of the roads are gated for the late season--so not planning on venturing off the main roads in vehicles. Everything will be on foot for us. We are planning on focusing our efforts in the Craig Mountain WMU--so will be in some decent chunks of public land but will have Onx with us for guidance.

 

[mtluckydan]

Yes on rattling & calling...sounds like with all the private in that area I would work the boundaries & call them off private or catch them coming & going...not sure but that area may have lost deer last year to EHD...it's sometimes bad in that area. If that's where I think it is...it's where a lot of hunts get filmed on private & has some good bucks...should be fun.

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[Jonesan20]

Hey All,
Been prepping for my unit 11 whitetail hunt the past few months. Heading out on 11/13 and will have 9 days to hunt. Have been spending a lot of time on google earth and onx identifying potential areas. Will be backpacking in to try and get as far away from others as possible.

Unfortunately due to my work schedule, I was only able to spend one day boots on the ground scouting in August--which wasn't nearly enough time. If anyone has experience in this unit, I would love to connect. I have never hunted mountain whitetails so this is new to me.

Thanks,
Tim

How was your hunt? Was there enough deer on the public land to make it worth it? I have an elk tag and was thinking of purchasing a whitetail tag for my dad just to give him something to do while I am out and about

 

[trogers861]

How was your hunt? Was there enough deer on the public land to make it worth it? I have an elk tag and was thinking of purchasing a whitetail tag for my dad just to give him something to do while I am out and about

I wouldn't say there were a lot of deer by any measure. Spent eight days hunting and saw one gut pile and one deer in the back of someones truck. Saw a LOT of hunters--so success was pretty low. We ended up harvesting a doe in our group. We had some looks at bucks--but they were all on the move. This wouldn't be my first choice of an area to come back to. If you do end up going, shoot me a message and I can get you in the zone for where we finally started finding deer on our last two days. We did get into some elk, but didn't have tags. I can also point you to a couple spots on that front.

 

[Jonesan20]

I wouldn't say there were a lot of deer by any measure. Spent eight days hunting and saw one gut pile and one deer in the back of someones truck. Saw a LOT of hunters--so success was pretty low. We ended up harvesting a doe in our group. We had some looks at bucks--but they were all on the move. This wouldn't be my first choice of an area to come back to. If you do end up going, shoot me a message and I can get you in the zone for where we finally started finding deer on our last two days. We did get into some elk, but didn't have tags. I can also point you to a couple spots on that front.

Awesome man I really appreciate it! Was the snake river complex fire scorched earth or was there some cover left?

 

[trogers861]

We stayed up top in the timber for most of our time there as we were chasing whitetail. Plenty of cover. The SW area of the unit seemed to be where the fire hit the hardest.