Unit 48 Mule Deer

[go2patriots]

Looking into Rifle hunting Unit 48 for Mule Deer. Would be my first time in Idaho as Oregon deer hunting continues to decline. Looking for any help on trails or areas to check out. Willing to get out and hike for a good mule deer. Will have good quality glassing optics and dont mind sitting in one area glassing through spotting scopes. Any help towards this would be greatly appreciated. I'm not looking for peoples favorite spots but simply ideas that might be worth checking on. Thanks in advance,

Logan

 

[elkboy32]

Unit 48 has become pretty popular the last few years. More and more non-residents are hunting it. And with the popularity of residents buying second deer tags, the age class of bucks has dropped dramatically. There will be vehicles at every trail head, and its getting pretty tough to "outwalk" everyone. I think you would have better success in units closer to Oregon personally.

 

[IdaMatt]

Unit 48 is fairly crowded, along with all of the other OTC deer units in that area. It seemed really crowded this year, the post above is correct, residents are buying second tags and hitting it hard. I really don't think you can escape the crowds from this unit all the way over to the Oregon boarder. A lot of hunters have 1300yd guns and high power optics.

An area I typically hunt had a bunch of residents, 8 guys from Washington with dirt bikes, and 12 from California. Bottom line is pick an area, come over and scout, and then hunt it. I have noticed over the last couple years that the age class is going away, saw just young bucks over 7 hard days of hunting.

 

[backcountrymuleys]

I scouted it this year and was bewildered by the amount of single track that allows motor cycles. If I went back I would look in the portion of the unit that does not allow them....unless Im mistaken and you can use them everywhere. That being said the country was awesome. But seems way too accesible to me if you want to get off the beaten path.

 

[missalot]

This seems to be the problem in many of the southern zones.

 

[twsnow18]

Very popular unit filled with dirt bike hunters.

Good elk numbers but I can't speak on the buck quality. I have only been in there during September. Everyone trains for hunting and has a spotting scope it seems, big country doesn't scare guys away there like it does in other units. I think this is due in part to some of the TV shows and the first lite guys out of Ketchum.

 

[IdaMatt]

Agree with twsnow18, the elk archery hunt was crazy this year, especially around Ketchum, I would agree with the comment about the first lite guys, they get after it.......