General season role call

BrianID · Oct 9, 2023

Who will be hunting general season deer in Idaho?

I will not be able to hunt the first couple days but I'll have plenty of time the rest of the season. Just like most years, I doubt I'll find a buck that gets me to put a round in the chamber. I will still have a great time time hiking around the mountains and spending time with friends and family. After the tough winter in most areas, I hope many hunters decided not to put a "meat buck" in the freezer. Beef is cheaper than deer meat and if you want wild game, there are plenty of opportunities for elk meat.

andrew12gauge · Oct 9, 2023

I’ll be out later in the season. First couple weeks are gonna be busy for me though. I’m sure I’ll find a buck worth hanging a tag on

Blindnonresident · Oct 9, 2023

Deer, antelope, elk.

dgfavor · Oct 10, 2023

Heading out...now

KGParker · Oct 10, 2023

Will be hunting the tail end of the season. Less hunting pressure to deal with.

JPickett · Oct 10, 2023

I’ll hunt the last 3 or 4 days just because my spot has a decent chance of a nice buck moving thorough there late. Planning on the late archery seasons though.

Moe · Oct 10, 2023

Whitetail for me, waiting till Nov.

Sparks Shooter · Oct 10, 2023

I grabbed a leftover tag a month ago so my 10 year-old could go on his first big game hunt. It was for an area I knew nothing about but we were able to identify some starting points that got us to a nice basin where he took his first buck this morning. I’ll spend the rest of the week with him looking for a buck I might want to shoot. More than likely head home with an unfilled tag and a huge smile on my face!——-SS

andrew12gauge · Oct 11, 2023

Sparks Shooter said:
I grabbed a leftover tag a month ago so my 10 year-old could go on his first big game hunt. It was for an area I knew nothing about but we were able to identify some starting points that got us to a nice basin where he took his first buck this morning. I’ll spend the rest of the week with him looking for a buck I might want to shoot. More than likely head home with an unfilled tag and a huge smile on my face!——-SS

Let’s see some pics?

Blindnonresident · Oct 11, 2023

Great job Pops.

Jgill19 · Oct 11, 2023

Atta boy Sparks Shooter!!

Mine ain't general because it's NR, it is a general unit for residents though. Heading out early Saturday morning, gonna hit it for a week.

Zack · Oct 12, 2023

I'll be out in 39 next Thursday/Friday. Open to bringing someone along, on my own right now. Going for a shooter buck and scouting for archery elk/mule deer in Nov.

andrew12gauge · Oct 13, 2023

Zack said:
I'll be out in 39 next Thursday/Friday. Open to bringing someone along, on my own right now. Going for a shooter buck and scouting for archery elk/mule deer in Nov.

Where you should be looking for a shooter buck is not where you want to be for late archery in November

JPickett · Oct 13, 2023

andrew12gauge said:
Where you should be looking for a shooter buck is not where you want to be for late archery in November

just let them do their thing up there man...

BGnight · Oct 13, 2023

Have a unit 48 buck tag I won't be using. Drew a better NV tag via FCFS so I'll be doing my part to help the deer populations by eating my tag.

andrew12gauge · Oct 13, 2023

JPickett said:
just let them do their thing up there man..

Oh don’t worry, I’m staying far away. Just giving a helpful little tidbit to anybody that wants to run off and join the circus

Jgill19 · Oct 22, 2023

Spent Sunday-Friday in a general unit. Deer numbers seemed to be ok. Lots of does with fawns, many with twins (love to see that). Saw 7 bucks out of 50 deer. Only one of which made a guy even think about pursuing and still woulda been the smallest buck I had taken in Idaho. Passed a small fork at 120 yards last morning of hunting. Went high looking for more mature deer, with temps of lows in the high 30's and highs in the low 80's, I believe the better bucks were bedded at light and not on feet until dark. Had one morning of deer moving until around 9:30. Never saw any mid day movement. Tough hunting, but not surprised. Was in a slightly new area for me, found a few spots but spent some days in areas that I would now cross off the list.

All in all the hunt was fine, deer numbers seemed ok. Much better than what I had expected. Not ready to make any formal opinion on mature deer numbers as weather wasn't conducive to finding and spotting them. Would like to go back when there is a break in this hot weather, moving on to a helping a buddy with a rifle elk tag though.

Good luck the rest of the season!

Ohh yes and god blessit there are people and motorcycles everywhere. Big disadvantage having to hike 2 miles and 1200-2000' in elevation to get to where you want to start. just to see people already on ridgelines with bikes. Sure makes a guy jealous thinking they probably slept at least an hour more and have fresh legs!! lol

Zack · Oct 23, 2023

Jgill19 said:
Spent Sunday-Friday in a general unit.

Had a similar experience. Hiked back a couple of miles and several hundred feet in elevation. Sat down to glass and had a dirt bike come blazing by. Saw tons of deer bedding areas and sign but not a single deer. It was hot and I think everything pushed up another 1,000 feet higher due to pressure. I glassed those ridges and didn't see anything, but know they could peel off to the backside.
Hoping to get lucky in Unit 32 tomorrow morning for the last day.

Makes me want to higher a guide for next year!

JPickett · Oct 23, 2023

Zack said:
Hoping to get lucky in Unit 32 tomorrow morning for the last day.

just go a head and replace the dirt bikes with sxs's and you should have the exact same experience

JPickett · Oct 23, 2023

i actually really like most of the dirt bike guys. they crack me up. ill watch them ride, stop for 5 minutes, maybe get off the bike, ride, repeat. ive got a spot where i can see them all come in its kinda nice because the deer will sometime pop their head up on the hill for me to get a better look mid day.

i watched one guy last year, stop on the trail right under about 20 deer. look straight up at the 8' buck brush, not see a thing then kick the bike over and ride on. those are the type of hunters i love being my competition up there

Zack · Oct 23, 2023

JPickett said:
i actually really like most of the dirt bike guys. they crack me up. ill watch them ride, stop for 5 minutes, maybe get off the bike, ride, repeat. ive got a spot where i can see them all come in its kinda nice because the deer will sometime pop their head up on the hill for me to get a better look mid day.

i watched one guy last year, stop on the trail right under about 20 deer. look straight up at the 8' buck brush, not see a thing then kick the bike over and ride on. those are the type of hunters i love being my competition up there

I glassed the other side of the ridge, waiting for the biker to push deer to me.

Jgill19 · Oct 23, 2023

Most the bike dudes I seen were riding to a spot, dumping bike then hiking down ridges. Handful of sxs using closed on 9/30 trails, I think they’re closed for safety/snow rather than game pressure, so while it’s a little annoying I guess it’s not the end of the world.

BMosh · Oct 23, 2023

I picked up an 8A whitetail tag in case I didn't draw anything this year. Ended up drawing a CO deer tag so it's looking like this hunt is in limbo. Would love to make it back there, just to do something different.

JPickett · Oct 23, 2023

one thing i actually would like to see is more single track trails closed to dirt bikes seasonally. yeah some guys would just blow by it anyway and yes it would be impossible to enforce but to some degree it would lesson pressure and make for a better hunting experience for those that want to put the effort in.

im sure it will never happen but it'd be a rare move in the right direction

HUNTNNW · Oct 24, 2023

I found out in August a buck I had watched the previous 2 years survived winter. I sat in line in Sept as the first person at IDFG to get the 1 tag available and got it. Third day of season he walked out and 1 shot was down.

HighCountryHill · Oct 24, 2023

Wife's tag was in 29, mine was in 37A. After seeing the deer numbers in 29, I decided to stay out of my unit entirely. We saw 30 deer in 4 days and hunted (and camped) from 9600' to the sage flats bordering private ag. Late on the 4th day she was able to take a nice buck at just over 8000'. Her first big game animal. She earned it, and then some. We met some wonderful people, saw amazing country and critters and having that memory forever is more than worth the tag soup I'll be eating this winter.