idaho 73

kicker

Active Member
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Drove through the country again this weekend and love it. If anybody could give me an idea where to start scouting i would greatly appreciate it. I am willing to swap info. if anyone has questions about any other areas in ID.
 
You can find deer to hunt in about every part of the unit. There is also a lot of private land that is posted. Even if it isn't posted you can still get a ticket if it is CRP or cultivated. If you don't have a map that shows were private land is I would recommend buying one. In my opinion the easiest place to find deer are in areas that have CRP. I have watched a number of bucks that will walk a mile or more every day from their bedding area to the CRP to feed. The larger bucks that live on or adjacent to public land become extremely nocturnal during the fall. The buck/doe ratios have been low the last few years so the F&G have restricted hunting in unit 73 and considered doing away with the general season and making it a controlled hunt only unit. If you plan on hunting it during the short rifle season this year expect plenty of company especially on October 5th & 9th. During the rifle season you will also see a lot of does and 2 point for every decent buck you see.
 
try the oxford peak area, there is a trail from the east side that takes you to the peak, alot of the locals will be hunting the east face of the range and those deer will work there way up
and over the ciffs and shale rock to get to the relative safety
of the pines and rough country on the west slope...definately
get a map and study it...
 
You better be in excellent shape if you plan on hunting thaat mountain. There is the "No ATV " access and the only ATV's we saw last year were the Fish and Game cops. If you have a ATV with a rifle on it, you are in trouble.
The unit was very vertical and very dense vegitation. dissapointed in the amount of animals we saw and the quality of the animals we saw. We hiked all over this unit.
Looking to go to unit 56 or some of the other general area's.
Unit 73 needs some years to come back.
Best of luck and if you kill one, it most likely will no be any easy pack out.
 
Brian gave good advice , get a map that shows private land , I have never deer hunted but have spent some time lion hunting down there , have not seen any monsters but seen some decent bucks southwest of Daniels resevoir.
 
Access yes sounds so good until you stop and think about it. Now the private ground that is a safe haven for pressured animals is now open season to anyone that want's to hunt.
 
I live and farm in unit 73, I have covered almost every part of it on foot or horseback and you can find deer in almost any spot you pick. I haven't been to the western side of the unit for a few years so I can't say how it has been lately. I have been watching a few nice bucks on the eastern side but have yet to spot the 2 that I have watched for the last 3 years. The biggest one I have spotted this year is around 28 inches and fairly tall. If you hunt around the eastern side of Oxford you need to know the land, there is alot of private ground that is closed there. I trust most of the hunters on this site to have good ethics, if your ever going to be around Downey let me know a little ahead of time and I'll try to catch up with you and show you a few spots you might want to scout.
Idhunter
 

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