Whitebird Idaho area

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

Anyone been chasing whiteys around Whitebird or Grangeville ID areas ?? Was up there last weekend fri sat sun never only saw 4 does off of private land. Very few on private even compared to years past. Have not heard of any diseases knocking the crap out of them , or any bad winter kill from last year .

 

[bigcreekmetal]

You should have hunted muleys in unit 31 they were absolutely crawling out of the woodwork in that area lol. Not.

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

Hey hows it going ? I actually saw 3 bucks during the entire season scouting or hunting elk in 31 .They were some real studs 2 HUGE forkies both close to 10" wide & a Toad of 3x2 nearly 15" wide it took a lot of restraint too not let an arrow fly NOT !!! The elk were about as scarce this year as well, Saw 22 bulls & 9 cows during season .Did you have any luck on the ranch ??

 

[bigcreekmetal]

I didnt hunt elk this year, just way, way too busy. I got out with my 16 year old son and daughter a couple times and hunted deer (son was hunting I was just along for the ride) down low close to Weiser but the deer were real scarce. My son went out by himself probably about 8 or 10 times and out of all that he saw around 10 does. Finally on the last day he saw a 2x3. He passed on it and at the end of the day after not seeing anything bigger he came across it again and shot it. Before that bad winter I used to see a good 50 deer a day or even more but the first day out with my kids we saw zero deer and zero sign. 2nd time I went out with my son we saw half a dozen does, no bucks. Covered lots and lots of country, lots and lots of glassing. And that is on private ground that doesn't get hunted hard! That winter killed so many of them in there it was insane. I talked to a friend of mine just today who talked to a close friend of his just today who had a bull tag for 31 this year. he hunted for 20 days in unit 31 and saw a total of 4 does and 1 buck. I don't know what the brownlee side looks like but close to Weiser it is slim pickins!

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

Yeah the Idaho Fish Tarts did this unit NO justice should have been shut down after the 16/17 winter.. That is why myself & several others I hunt with opted to not shoot any mulies in 31. I guess we hunters are going to have to help these deer out ourselves, I know of several landowners that closed their land to all deer hunting last year & this year. I know there were a bunch of the 31 hair tags unfilled & been quite a few 31 bull tags unfilled as well. That is why we decided to head north for whities !!

 

[bigcreekmetal]

Well Sunday I talked to a guy I know who drew 3 bull tags between him and his family for unit 31. They killed their three bulls (raghorns) but out of all the days they hunted they literally saw a total of 2 does. And that was over toward the Brownlee side so that answered my question.

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

So far it has been under 50% harvest in 31 on those draw tags & probably closer too 35% .Almost all the hunters I have talked too have the same story, seems like all across 31 very few deer & elk seen .Well at least the Idaho Fish tarts got their $$ will be another interesting harvest report they put out !!