So I've been lurking on here for the last few years...I gleaned a ton of info on Spring Bear hunting from old post last year - great help! Anyway, I'm 23 and a few buddies of mine and myself decided to buy some general Idaho mule deer tags for this season. Heeding the advice of others, we put into the draw as well. We ended up pulling a controlled hunt tag around the Soldier area. Basically we're in a conundrum because we're in a great unit from what I hear, but none of us have ever hunted muley's! Good problem to have though...SO I've been getting as much info as I can from articles/podcasts ect. but I'm hoping there's some guys out there that I can outline our rough plan to and see what holes they can poke in it. (timing, habitat types, ect.) Like I said we hunted Montana for bear last year with great success, but we are from out east and mainly hunt whitetails in the hill country. Thanks for the help guys.
Lucky Draw - Mule Deer Hunting Brain Picking
- Thread starter easterner
- Start date
LCH
Well-known member
No help on the tag, but good luck on your hunt...
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Welcome to HT!
LopeHunter
Well-known member
Welcome into the discussion. What are the dates of the tag? Tactics that are useful and likely to have success vary depending on what the bucks are motivated to do that time of autumn. Sometimes is eating groceries and other times is fighting bucks/chasing does and sometimes is to go somewhere far from the action to recover from the rut. If the unit has a variety of elevation then the bucks in autumn can be 1000s of feet lower in elevation compared to late summer.
ida homer
Well-known member
Congrats on the draw success, PM sent.
Make sure you buy your tags by the deadline.
Make sure you buy your tags by the deadline.
Got the PM twsnow18.
That's kind of the type of info I'm looking for as a starting point when we get out there. It is the 44 any weapon tag. The season runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 31 and I am leaning towards the last week or two of the season, hoping to maybe catch some pre rut activity?
That's kind of the type of info I'm looking for as a starting point when we get out there. It is the 44 any weapon tag. The season runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 31 and I am leaning towards the last week or two of the season, hoping to maybe catch some pre rut activity?
Preston.W_HDO
Active member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2019
- Messages
- 97
Damn that's a good tag. Top 5 unit and possibly tied for 3rd in Idaho. Good luck on the hunt. Dad pulled a top 3 tag as well this year. Wouldn't you onow, the year I didn't put in with him
Goodluck on the hunt, looking forward to pics. I don't know the area or I'd pitch in.
Goodluck on the hunt, looking forward to pics. I don't know the area or I'd pitch in.
Huntin' Fool
Well-known member
I live nearby and know a few hunters that have drew it in the past. F&G says that collar research shows a good number of mature bucks come out of the high country and head for the ag fields in units 44 and 45 the middle of Sept. Go hunt it the first few days of the season. Big open country - bring good optics, a spotting scope would be good too. Perhaps the best tag in Idaho to shoot a monster this season. Plenty of public land. 225 tags so enough to be some competition. Landowners also have a draw for 22 tags so usually big bucks just don't just stay on private. I'd get here on Sept 13 or 14.
I haven't hunted that unit, but if I had the tag, I'd be there ahead of the september opener to find deer and put my chips on the first week of season. Big mule deer bucks are more vulnerable in late summer/early fall and then again during the rut. My read on one reason why 44 is tough to draw is allowing you to hunt any weapon on Sept 15. My $.02 anyway. Plus mid-september is a glorious time to be running around the high country.
Huntin' Fool
Well-known member
Unit 44 - 5084 appicants for 225 tags. Access, ease of hunting, sight ability of deer. And oh - Big Bucks. Also in Idaho a parent or grand parent can transfer a draw tag to a 17 and under. Lots of grand mothers put in and transfer. In a Mormon family there may be some arguments among the grand kids if granny pulls a tag. So there are a few kids out hunting too. I can't put in because I put in for sheep, goat or moose.
Runnin_Chupacabra
Well-known member
Welcome to HT!
Thanks. We're definitely bringing glass, although we are novice glasses at best. You seem to have some pretty good knowledge of the hunt, mind if I send you a PM?
Slightball
Active member
Welcome and good luck
marshman
Well-known member
Damn dude I've been after that tag for years...good luck and welcome to hunttalk!
Might want to consider September before they all go into pre rut, Muleys can be tough in mid to late October.
ida homer
Well-known member
To focus on the last 2 weeks of this season could be the single largest regret of your western hunting career. Not exaggerating.
You will likely never draw this tag again. Unit 44 deer migrate early, some completely out of the unit.
All about scouting and opening week. If you cannot summer scout, get there on 9/12 and stay for 2 weeks. In 10 years,
you will thank us later.
You will likely never draw this tag again. Unit 44 deer migrate early, some completely out of the unit.
All about scouting and opening week. If you cannot summer scout, get there on 9/12 and stay for 2 weeks. In 10 years,
you will thank us later.
