Ryan, I gotta add, out where I took those guys for the bear last weekend, which is in the "panhandle" zone.. We now have a GREAT addition to our clarkia elk hunting spots.. I mean amazing habitat ..elk all over in there while bear hunting it.. I cant wait to show you and J that area, we will probably just park my camper out there for you guys... already got the perfect camp spot picked out.
Awesome Troy. I think that 1st area you mentioned would have been good again last year had it not been for the forest service working in there. And you know how much I love that clarkia area, some of the most beautiful country out there, in a state filled with awesome scenery. So I guess this kind of turned into the whitetail/elk forecast
Yup and I know there are a few big monster mountain bucks out there in Clarkia, a net 186 and change typical came out of there a few years back. The Idaho state archery NT record came from just down the road 20 miles from the Boville area...I can promise you this, I will be doing a lot more scouting this summer. Dee's sis passing put a huge damper on my time in the woods before elk season.. last year.
I'm after 2 different bucks. Hopefully summer glassing will provide sightings of these 2 and others. I have a trail cam pic of a stud 10 pointer off our farm from last December. Found 3 different spots on the property that were littered with rubs leading into THICK cover. Not sure if it is the buck I'm after or not, but I'm going to gamble that it is. The other is a public land ghost. I saw him cross the road last year at night and he was an extremely tall 12 pointer with a huge body. I was able to find what I believe were his large tracks and tried to set up on him. Went into this area during the winter and found a good rubline from a major food source making a half circle into thicket, and they have the same large tracks that I found last year. This is land I have never hunted before, and is a little farther away from my house, so I may not be able to chase this buck as often as I would like.
Went into move a stand (the stand in which I missed the big 6x5 main framer on opening day last fall) on one of my community scrapes and was pleasantly suprised to see the deer are frequenting it heavily already. The scrape isnt dug up but its quite evident by the multiple fresh tracks below the licking branch, that these deer are checking it regularly. I will lload up the dripper, which I left out all winter above the branch) with BF and hang a camera in there today after work, lots of rain in the forcast today.... Then I went scouting last night and saw 6 bucks, nothing big but its nice to see lots of youngins made it. (looking for that monster I saw last week trying to get some footage of him) A couple things I am going to adhere to this year. 1. I am not going to put a camera in or check one unless I have rain in the immediate forcast. I feel like this makes a huge difference with the lingering human scent we leave behind. I am still gonna spray down use latex gloves etc on all my mocks even in the rain. 2. Gonna try and hang all my stands close to bedding areas in the rain only... Stay out of the area much more, let my month long + battery life cameras do the work for me.
I agree...there were alot of shooter bucks that made it through the seasons in our area...between the standing corn throughout the midwest and the warm rut alot of hunters went home empty handed as far as mature bucks go. I predict there will be some real bruisers shot (more than usuall) throughout the midwest this season. In MO our spring food plots are in and got rain within 24 hours of planting, so expect them to do well... I just purchased some very stratigically located land in Southern IA and being a new IA resident, I am very excited to get out and check things out...I actually put out some mineral the day after I closed (two weeks ago) and hung a couple of trail cams...so we'll see. I would love to put down a nice buck in both MO and IA this season. I already have a couple of stands hung and did a little "pre-trimming" on both farms... If we can get the weather to play along this season it should be an above average year I think.
SHED, you pretty much some it up for me. Very mild winter and seeing lots of deer and elk. I haven't been able to do much scouting lately, have two more weeks of workinig nights. After that i'll be getting out, got several spots to scout out. Snow is clearing out FAST up high, time to go look for mulies as well. Some spots are in accesable now because of the rain, Pack River is gorged right now, water has risen about 5'+ in the last few days.
That pack river country is gorgeous, awesome whitetail habitat, hell; its just awesome big game habitat, best of luck, I was just up that way a week or so ago.. dropping off a bear to my taxidermist in Libby.. There r some true giant whitetails that come out of that country. If you get a chance take a look at Ryan Hatfields books, Greatest Mule Deer, Elk and Whitetails of Idaho, Ryan does a great job of breaking down the top trophy units in Idaho for all of the above species.. as for Whitetails, you and I live and hunt in the top two Boone and Crocket counties according to Ryans new book's statistics, (Idahos Greatest Whitetails)... Bonner and Kootenai
Pack river is good country, I did some scouting yesterday up there and found a few promisng spots. Also tried my hand at gold panning found some color but nothing to set up shop over, lol. I have browsed at those books and was looking to get one soon, thanks for the suggestion!
Just got off the phone with Ryan, Idaho's Greatest Whitetials is on its way Do you have a deer in the book? He was asking me about where I heard of it, I told him and he mentioned a man by the name of Troy who had one in there. Thanks again for the recomendation! excited for it.
Yup, my 03 archery buck is in there, its a great book documenting the history of Idaho Whitetails.. some impressive bucks in there to say the least, Mountain/bigwoods whitetails that are pretty impressive!
Bow, best of luck man, you have some great ground you hunt, I am looking forward to what your trail cams show! Best of luck both in IA and MO.. great whitetail states!
Central PA - Much better around here that I would have thought. We had a rough winter, especially by Central PA standards. Feet of snow on the ground for pretty much a month. Have not scoped any big bucks (and 'big' around here is nothing like IL/WI) but am seeing BIG herds of does. Also, we cut some new trails on the two properties my buddies and I use. Lots of sign of heavy use already. So again, much better than I would have thought. October 3rd cannot get here soon enough.
Best of luck BG, glad to hear you are seeing good signs even after such a tough winter, I know in talking with Rybo that his winter was real tough as well, hes out near Pittsburg. I hear you on the opener, August 30th cant come fast enough myself!
Watched a couple clear cuts last night. till dark.. Nothing showed for big bucks but the elk sure are thick! won't complain about that. Its just awesome to be out, knowing that I have less than 3 months before I will be whitetail hunting! I have a bunch of prep work to do this weekend, hangin a few stands soley based on last years scouting, big buck bedding areas that I still believe are alive and terrain/structural features of the land that should move these big bucks through, all heavy canopy timbered areas back in off of clear cuts about a 1/4 of a mile. Lots of rubs and scrapes and travel going on in there during the rut as well. These are places I can kill a big buck from Aug to Dec in... (all based on last years notes and sign) I want to have the majority of all my terrain stands set by the end of June. Trail cams are going in too these next couple weeks. Then I will scout from afar and only set a stand here or there based on what Late July and August's glassing dictates.. Adding 3 more stands to my arsenal this year, hahah I lost count of how many stands I have strung all over Northern Idahos mountains!
Nice Troy.. looks like you're going in hard this year even more than ever. I'm more than sure it will pay BIG dividends this fall. Keep us updated!
Quick question for you shed.... When you are glassing areas this early, are you still seeing these same bucks in a few months in these same areas?
Yup Scott, this big mountain country and its over-abundant native feeds/clearcuts, terrain, water and cover offer up year around hideouts for bucks. Were I find them in June is the same general area they will be through the entire year outside of their rut travels.
I am getting excited, stayed up late last night getting all my trail cams set up and ready to go. Putting in 3 cameras this afternoon in about a 5-6 mile area, sticking with my rainy day schedule of intrusions. On the other hand an "area" out here can be a couple thousands of acres of cover and feed options for a deer, so they can definately move around in that area and be extremely tough to pinpoint. June/July has always been my best months to spot big mature bucks that are "willing" to show themselves in the late evenings. If it wasnt for such long daylight lit days.. I doubt I would ever see them much. Most of the time its a big buck showing up at last light which is 9 pm or later sometimes.. The same deer I would never see once the daylight starts diminishing. But once I get a few frequent visuals, it gives me a starting point on these bigwoods bucks.
