Intro and some Idaho advice

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Emberglo

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Oct 24, 2014
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Boise, ID
Hey all! I'm Ryan. I moved out to Boise from Chicago a couple years ago to attend BSU. Don't have much big game hunting experience but I've been trying. I've been a falconer for about 5 years now and so I've got experience hunting small game, upland and water fowl.

I've been trying to hunt 39 for Mule Deer. This will be my 3rd season. Everybody I know here has told me that if I just get out and hike, I'll see deer. But I'm obviously doing something wrong because I haven't found deer. I try to move slow and play the wind. I find decently fresh sign, but no animals. I have found some elk, antelope (which I don't think should have been where I saw them), and got chased by wolves earlier this week.

I'm planning on heading up North of Idaho City tomorrow to hunt with my dad (he's never hunted before either). Can you guys give me any pointers about how to see deer while I'm out? I've got good binoculars and try and scan as much ground as I can as I hike but that hasn't really worked.
 
Welcome Ryan! Are you hunting whitetails or mule deer?

Whitetails are easy if you can sit still. Find a location where you can see down a trail or even a road that you have found tracks on. Make yourself a graound blind and wait. Whitetails generaly follow the same patterns and stay in a relativley small area. Where I grew up in Michigan I read one time that a whitetail is born raised and dies within 1 square mile.

Muleys are a bit more nomadic but will look for cover to bed in and water to drink. Like all deer they are browsers who will walk and feed from the time they get up in the morning till they go to bed. GENERALLY, a deer will go get water and find their bed for the day and chew their cud and might get up again later in the day to feed maybe drink and go back to bed.
 
I took a friend hunting with me this week who hadn't hunted much. He had a hard time actually seeing the deer. As in I would say "there's a deer in that patch of brush" and he would look at it and not see the deer.

We actually placed a bet on buying lunch that there was a deer bedded in a patch of brush less than 100 yards away and he was looking through his binoculars and couldn't see it. We walked closer and not 1 but 4 deer busted out of that one patch of brush.

In my opinion "seeing" deer is a trained skill. One tip I gave my friend that he said helped is to look for parts of deer, not the entire animal. Often it is just a ear moving or a tail flick that catches your eye. Also look for horizontal lines in the brush. Once you do find a deer, I practice seeing it again by looking away and then trying to find it again. Same when they run off a ways, try to find them again and you can develop the skill of seeing them.

Of course if they are out moving around you should be able to see them early in the morning and late in the evening if you are in the right spots. I like to head out before shooting light and try to get on a ridge or other high spot as it is getting light if possible.

Good luck.
 
npaden said:
I took a friend hunting with me this week who hadn't hunted much. He had a hard time actually seeing the deer. As in I would say "there's a deer in that patch of brush" and he would look at it and not see the deer.

We actually placed a bet on buying lunch that there was a deer bedded in a patch of brush less than 100 yards away and he was looking through his binoculars and couldn't see it. We walked closer and not 1 but 4 deer busted out of that one patch of brush.

In my opinion "seeing" deer is a trained skill. One tip I gave my friend that he said helped is to look for parts of deer, not the entire animal. Often it is just a ear moving or a tail flick that catches your eye. Also look for horizontal lines in the brush. Once you do find a deer, I practice seeing it again by looking away and then trying to find it again. Same when they run off a ways, try to find them again and you can develop the skill of seeing them.

Of course if they are out moving around you should be able to see them early in the morning and late in the evening if you are in the right spots. I like to head out before shooting light and try to get on a ridge or other high spot as it is getting light if possible.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Look for horizontal patterns where most vegetation is vertical. Maybe it's all in my head, but this has always helped me. The above is great advice.
 
Hello Ryan. Listen to those Jedi warrior suggestions.

I think that my 2 cents worth (if it's worth that) is to move less and observe more. Pick apart an opposing hillside to find a bedded buck. The deer have huge advantages over humans in escape speed, scent, hearing and picking up movement. When you feel the need to move, move like another deer. Humans not in tune with nature plow along a trail at a single rate of speed. Deer travel very differently. Move, pause, hurry, stop and freeze, amble, drop off then trail for a bit,freeze again, check behind, spurt ahead and stand stock still once again.

Determine to learn something every time you go out. Keeping a journal to be able to look back and recall those tidbits of info that will help you find, approach and get that deer.........or just go find that stupid deer destined to be the One for you:D
 
Hey Ryan, welcome to HT! I ha a similar problem being an eastern guy in western woods when I move out here. I killed my buck this past weekend right on the border of 39 and 43. At this point the bucks have started to move and are out of the high bowls and basins and are heading toward migration corridors. Watch for deer in the morning on western facing slopes at about 6,000 feet. That seems to be where every deer was last weekend. Walk slow but don't be afraid to cover some ground if you aren't seeing anything. Glassing won't make you find animals that aren't there. That idaho city area gets hit pretty hard the first few weeks so try to get off the road about a mile into an area with a few different ridge lines you can work over. Good luck!
 
Hey Ryan, welcome to Boise though you've been here a few years.

Tons of people hunt 39 and hwy 21 may have the most deer hunters in the country. Fortunately 39 is a huge unit from verticle mtns to desert and deer inhabit all of it. A year like this is a little tougher with the lack of snow in the high country. Look for pockets people overlook and/or are too lazy to hike to and you will find them. I don't hunt deer or 39 too much otherwise I could be more specific.

I do know this, stay away from any road or trail that is gated or supposed to be closed because it will look like the Baja 1000 from idiots on bikes and quads.

Hope you find some, good luck
 
Welcome, Ryan. First, I'll add my request to kansasdad's for falconry stories and photos.

I haven't hunted 39 for years, but the recent fires there may have caused a surge in new vegetation. If you can find a spot with good forage, the deer should be in the area.

I sent you a PM with more details.

Paul
 
Just to be clear, are you using binoculars? It wasn't mentioned in the OP and most here just take it for granted that folks are using them. Look for the pieces of the deer is great advice. Once your brain gets the search image down it'll get easier.

I'm betting you could work a trade with someone. You take them out falconing and they take you deer hunting!
 
this is serious,,have you checked your eyes
do this test,,go to a clear spot and then enter the woods,,are the trees and scrub slightly blurry??
 
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