ID unit 13

[nbell]

Guys, was wondering if I could get a little input on unit 13 in Idaho. I have been applying for the high quality, hard draw mule deer tags for a while to no avail, and hunting general white tail seasons, am sitting down now to decide what to apply for this year. Looking at this unit, it seems to be 75% or better private land, and some very rugged country. I have located several large blocks of public land with in the unit, but was wondering if anyone has hunted it knows if all of the public lands get pounded by lots of guys. I have spent some time up there in the summer, and I think that most guys are not going to be willing to get too far off of the few roads that there are. The fact that there are 200 tags and not much public land makes me a little nervous that there will be a ton of people on it. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks

 

[TheTone]

Sounds like you understand fairly well the real problem with the unit and that is access. A fairly large amount of the private is leased by an outfitter and that limits access even further. Without knowig for sure which public areas you're looking at, there is probably a decent chance they are completely inaccessible due to the private issues around them.

 

[Brentster7189]

I agree with Tone. I've hunted this unit two years in a row for elk, and this last year was worse then the year before with regards to public land hunting. The ranchers most surely have their land tied up with outfitter leases. I know your out of state, and I have nothing against that, but I will say that there were a lot more out of state people camped up there last year then previous years. Most local people that hunt that unit have done so for many, many years, and have ties to the private land owners, as well as their usual camp cities, which they set up weeks ahead of time.

It may look like you've found some state land honey holes on the maps, but don't kid yourself, others already know about it. I know the odds of drawing elk and mule deer tags in that unit are pretty good...at least for locals. But it's not worth it in my opinion, with the lack of public landing hunting available.