SE DEER

[300MIKE]

Well boys the several states I applied for decided I was not gonna hunt so I bought another SE tag. Just wondering how the growth and numbers are lookin for this year. Last year we saw countless 2yo deer along with a couple 3rd maybe 4th yr, so I figure with the winter we had most prob made it through. Usually hunt 76 but lookin at 77 or 78 just to get away from ATV's. Only hunted up out of Paris and Preston once so im not real familiar with that side. Lookin for info on the weather up in there, is it like on the WY border in 76? Will the deer be up on the top with snow if the weather comes in or will they vacate soon as the snow hits? Stay high, low or mid? Any advice would be great if you want to pass it on. Not askin for specific spots really, just the routine of the deer up in 77/78. Now if you want to throw out some specific info all will be gladly excepted.

Been up in there many times and have sen some great deer, I still think there up there just have to work a bit harder and walk a little farther. Regardless of the outcome, 2 weeks in the hills beats the heck out of workin.

Good luck to all this fall.

Mike

 

[BrianID]

Looks like you already have a general idea about what to expect. Unfortunately the Idaho F&G sales many left over SE tags to hunters that think they have a reasonable chance of killing a decent buck.

That area has the genetics and food to grow large antlers but currently there are very few bucks in that area that live long enough to grow large antlers. I spent a couple mornings scouting two different units in the Bear River Range in July. I'm not going to be hunting that area this year. Based on what I saw there is a strong year class of 1 year old bucks and a fair number of 2 year old bucks. I did see a couple bucks that somehow survived a few hunting seasons but they are going to be few and far between. Any buck that has survived more than a couple seasons in this area knows how to avoid hunters and is going to be a very difficult buck to kill.

I'm going off my memory so I could be wrong on some of the details. In 2005(?may have been 2004?) the winter range in unit 78 had a post season buck:doe ratio of only 5 or 6 bucks per 100 does. I would be surprised if most of those bucks counted that winter were not dead now (hunters, poachers, lions, road kill, winter kill, etc).

Even though the area has ATV restrictions for hunters the Bear River Range has relatively easy access. IMO this is one of the main reasons there are few old bucks in these units. You aren't going to be able to get away from other hunters, especially when the elk hunt is open (aka the bull wars). Hunters will kill two points just about everywhere in the Bear River Range because packing them out in most places won't be difficult. You can access most areas in these units with less than a mile hike from a road. There are roads to almost all areas so a steep uphill hike isn't required to reach almost any of the high country.

Weather pushing the deer out of the higher elevations is possible but not likely. If you get heavy snow some of the deer will move to slightly lower elevations but as the snow melts they will move back up to the high country. As you probably know big bucks are often the last to move to lower elevations.

I would recomend you purchase the Forest Service Travel Plan map for the area. It is a good quality map and well worth the $10.

Anyway that is just my opinion on the area. At least you will be out hunting. I'm sure if you hunt hard you will at least have a chance of putting your tag on a nice buck. I'll send you a PM with a few more details.
Good luck.