Idaho Whitetail. Help needed!

[Prospector4]

My Wife and I have the first 10 days in November of 2017 to hunt whitetail in Northern Idaho. My wife has never harvested a whitetail and we are hoping this year may be her first. The only problem is that Northern Idaho is big and our knowledge of the area is small. We would really appreciate it if someone could help narrow our search for places to try for a mature whitetail. Ideally we would like to hunt in an area thats requires hiking and limited road access where we can get away from the crowds. We don't want to spend all our time driving logging roads. We would prefer to hunt in more open country but I am not sure what prime whitetail country in Idaho is like.

Again, any help is appreciated. Feel free to PM me if you can help. Thanks!

 

[Ben Long]

Well, some folks have hunted the Idaho panhandle more recently than I have, but I don't think you can go wrong. There are lots of timber lands and national forest that are open to hunting, with gated roads that are good for walking and game carts. Most of Idaho is cold, wet jungle. You can hunt clearcuts and logging units which are somewhat open, but surrounded by cedar and fir jungle. If you really want open country, consider the canyons of the Clearwater. It's steep country to hunt, but it is open and the deer do use open country. Also other folks can chime in about spots of disease kill over the past few years.

 

[Hannibal]

Idaho whitetails are generally associated with more heavily forested terrain, especially in north and north central Idaho. South of the Salmon River and the more extreme southern most parts of their range in southeast and southwest Idaho the terrain is more 'open'. These areas do not have large concentrations and are not areas known for producing large whitetail deer. The canyons through which the south fork and middle fork of the Clearwater River flow are predominantly private property. The north fork flows primarily through national forest and Army Corps of Engineers land, all open to the public. Though these areas are all heavily forested there are 'open areas' available to hunt. If you're looking for large whitetail deer your best and probably only available option is north or north central Idaho. Since most, if not all, of the record book whitetails killed in Idaho have been killed there it might be a good area to focus your efforts.
If you're still interested in hunting north Idaho send me a p.m., I have a few specific areas I can recommend.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Really crowded up there. Not many deer. You'll be too early for the rut. It'll probably rain a lot. Wolves have been eating most of the deer. But hey, welcome to Hunt Talk. Great first post! Hope to see you contributing more in the future.

 

[Prospector4]

Thanks everyone for all the great info!

 

[TheTone]

Hike into a thick mature timber patch, find a big fresh scrape and sit down. An old guide gave me that advice and he was right. Don't get caught up on watching too big of a spot, if you've got 50-75 yards of shooting lanes and the deer are moving that's all you need. Expect to see lots of road hunters that don't leave the truck or atv and make you question every bit of hunting ethics you've ever learned.

 

[Inkedmedic8404]

Expect to see lots of road hunters that don't leave the truck or atv and make you question every bit of hunting ethics you've ever learned.

You are not kidding on this part. Completely blew my mind seeing this on my first hunt last year.

 

[ddavis83864]

What part of Northern Idaho are you hunting?

 

[HUNTNNW]

Depends on how north you are wanting to go. ALOT of N ID is covered in logging roads and quad trails. Most all of it can hold mature bucks due to heavy cover. Patience is key, walking around heavy cover is a very ineffective way to kill a mature whitetail. Sit on ridges in timber with good trails and if you can find scrapes and rubs you are atleast in a area bucks like to move.Use calls, grunt tube and rattle it works. Watching remote clear cuts super early in the am and late evening can produce. Take some map scouting and some boots on the ground to find the right ones.. and by remote I mean ones people cant drive to with a atv or truck. I have some that I hunt that are 4-5 mi in by foot and never see a person and we see bucks in them all the time.