Idaho unit 1 mule deer hunting

[Dunning Kruger]

so unit 1 has otc any weapon mule deer november 1-20th. While bear hunting up there this spring i saw far more mule deer than whitetail. The harvest report for unit 1 shows 96% whitetail. So what gives? Somethings not adding up there for me.

 

[westbranch]

When I have done some hiking up there I have seen more mule deer as well. That was mainly at higher elevation alpine lake areas, but I have not hunted up there. So I have wondered the same thing, and have thought a mule deer rut hunt up there would be fun. I have heard a lot of the hunting gets concentrated on lower elevations and also on private lands where there are more whitetails. The Selkirks, Cabinets, and Purcells are all steep and thick add in early snow and access gets tough in Nov. I think a lot of guys that want go up and with the goal of finding mule deer end up sticking to lower elevation spots and shooting whitetails.

Last week we had a fork horn mule deer run through our work parking lot in CDA. First time I have seen a mule deer in town here.

 

[44hunter45]

Boundary County has 3 mule deer in the B&C all time records. The same for Bonner. That is all of Bonner, not just the part in Unit 1.

goHunt says 38% success for Unit 1 mule deer OTC rifle for 4pts or better, trending down.

Those cuts up Rapid Lightning might be interesting.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

goHunt says 38% success for Unit 1 mule deer OTC rifle for 4pts or better, trending down.

I wonder where theyre getting that. IDFG says its 96% whitetail harvest. Just doesnt sound right.

 

[morley.tyler]

There are some very big Mulies in unit 1.
they reside:
1) mostly in the Selkirk range
2) higher elevations

take a look in the Upper Pack River drainage (North and east of Sandpoint), Roman Nose (East and South of Bonners Ferry)
Have bumped a few in the Cabinet range, but not many.
the good news is that your deer tag is good for either species, so you can focus on Mulies, but consider Whitey’s as targets of opportunity.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

While i appreciate the pointers, i really didnt start this thread hoping to weasel out advice/hunting spots. I really just am curious what the hell the deal is, with idfg claiming 96% of the deer harvest is whitetail, but i saw a lot more mules than whitetail up there this spring. And mule is open nov 1-20th. It just doesnt make sense that only 4% of deer taken would be muleys. Are people falsifying their harvest reports to not encourage outsiders to hunt mule deer up there? I started making fawn bleats, cold calling for bear, and had a massive herd of muley does come pouring off the mountain and surround me, it was crazy. Ive called in a few whitetail does with fawn bleats before, but never had anything like this happen. No shortage of mule deer from what little ive seen up there. I cant imagine idfgs stats are right.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Boundary County has 3 mule deer in the B&C all time records. The same for Bonner. That is all of Bonner, not just the part in Unit 1.

I dont put much stock in that. Ferry county washington doesnt have a single b&c whitetail in the books, but i know of a couple that werent entered that could shake up our states rankings, and im not naieve enough to think theyre the only ones. Some big bucks have hit the ground that were never made official. Some people dont want to draw attention which is understandable. Id bet there are some massive muley bucks from that area hanging on walls and in barns that never got put in the books.

 

[joshs]

We hunt unit 1 every year and take some really nice whitetails