unit 27 deer?

[idahoz7xhunter]

Has anyone ever hunted deer in unit 27. I am looking to go up there with my dad. I have been wanting to try new areas to hunt. I am looking for any advice, pros, cons, and would like to see any deer taken from there.

Hunt Hard Shoot Straight Apologize to No One

 

[tagsoup]

Unless your going to be using stock or flying in to a strip I wouldn't waste my time.



"Go hunt for meat at Wall Mart."

 

[NickM]

What if he is not afraid to hike some steep country?

 

[tagsoup]

If he was to use stock or fly in he would still be hiking/hunting steep country. If he wants to drive to the unit and hunt from there I would suggest big creek. But from my experience it sucks compared to flying in and I wouldn't waste my time.



"Go hunt for meat at Wall Mart."

 

[NiceRack]

I have hunted Deer in 27. I saw many but nothing in a trophy class. If you want to hunt the wilderness and enjoy the solitude it's great. If you are looking for a high quality buck 27 is not the best choice due to restricted wilderness access. As far as where to go... If you drive all the way to "Sleeping Deer" lookout on Morgan Creek Rd. you will find lots of Deer country along the way. The "burn" would be a good area to start, lots of new growth. Another area with lots of deer is "Meyer Cove" at the end of "Silver Canyon" rd. You will have to wade across Camas Creek to be inide unit 27 but there are lots of deer.
Good luck,
Paul
"Nice Rack" Taxidermy

 

[idahoz7xhunter]

I don't mind hunting remote out of the way places. I just want to have a chance to get a nice 4x4 it douse not have to be big, that and my dad is 48 and has never got a deer. So I would like to try to get him his first deer. thanks any advice is helpful

Hunt Hard Shoot Straight Apologize to No One

 

[orion23]

i second sleeping deer in the burn if you want to hunt 27. even saw a real nice NT pulled out of there shot off the road by some other hunters.

Travis
www.RidgelineOutdoors.com

 

[jeremie]

finding a 4x4 if you fly in is not a problem and is one of the funnest hunts i have ever been on but deffently not a trophy hunt without a ton of luck in my apinion.I have spent 2 years in there and a total of 23 days hunting as hard as a guy can hunt and the biggest buck I saw was in the high 170s.That being said we saw 10 to 20 bucks a day.With all the country in there are bound to be a big one somewhere.I would hunt it again someday just for the experience fun hunt foresure.

 

[customweld]

My family has a lodge right at the base of Marble Mountain in Big Creek.I have hunted that area off and on for about 20 years. There is definately deer in there.The terrain and habitat looks like incredible deer country but is lacking in actual population.The pastures just below treeline in the basins hold deer in them you just have to glass your ass off.

 

[Rizzy]

With respect to trophy class deer, the problem with that area is the soil isn't very fertile. The nutrition just isn't there to grow large antlers. I wouldn't let that stop me though, that unit would be a fun wilderness hunt.

 

[DEADicated]

We hunt in unit 27 every several years. Last year I got a 185" buck, but that is the biggest one we've ever seen in four hunting seasons there. Usually we get smaller ones like the ones in the picture with the airplane.

Good luck out there!
DEADicated

 

[DEADicated]

Sorry, I'm not good with photos...
This first picture was 2009. My daughter's buck only had one antler, the other broken less than an inch up. My younger son got a 4x4 of about the same size and we sent it out on an earlier flight.

This next picture is the big one from 2011. I got him at the highest point you can see in the picture and he rolled down to where the picture was taken. His cape was ruined, and only one small point was broken off.

You'll have a lot of fun hunting 27. We love it out there. We see tons of smallish bucks, but you'll really have to work hard and be lucky to find a big one. Good luck!
DEADicated

 

[tufcntry]

man thats stud, do you have any more pics of him. are you with an outfitter?

 

[kickerbuck]

Deadicated, sweet buck way to go!

 

[DEADicated]

We don't use an outfitter. When I don't fly myself in, we use Middle Fork Aviation in Challis to ferry me and my kids in. Here are some photos: These first ones are last year:

Here is another of 2009:

Here are some from 2006:

And one of 2002:

 

[idahoz7xhunter]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-17-12 AT 09:05PM (MST)[p]what is the average $ for a flight in to one of the air strips? for say two people

 

[MichaelJ]

Nice pics man... we put in for 27 this year as a second choice. Not sure if we are going to hunt it or not!

Mike

 

[DEADicated]

Middle Fork Aviation charges based on the price of fuel, amongst other things. Last year we paid about $330 per flight. So it would have been $330 to get you and your buddy and your stuff into one of the strips, and then another $330 to get you out. Their planes (Cessna 206) can carry three passengers and a bunch of stuff. Give them a call for more accurate information.

We've hunted the regular season and the late season. The regular season we only hunt very high, and the late season we hunt anywhere from the river all the way to about 8000 feet. The late season is amazing as to the numbers of bucks you will see. As others have said, it is very steep everywhere you go.

We take our backpacks and usually hike many miles from the airstrips since it is usually relatively crowded there. During the early hunts we always camp at the 5000' level or higher, and during the late season we will usually camp near the river.

We always tote a shotgun or two to hunt the abundant chukars and occasional grouse. Once we even got into the geese.

The other wildlife you will see is amazing too. We always see river otters. We usually see some bighorn sheep, and we always see lots of elk. Last year we had an elk tag but only got close to cows and spikes, and of course it is a branch-antlered hunt.

During the late season we see wolf tracks occasionally, especially at the higher elevations. Definitely buy a tag if you will be out there anyway.

You can't go wrong in 27. Good luck!

 

[Rizzy]

Sounds like a really fun hunt, I'm sold

 

[bootspearo]

Are there whitetails in 27 also?

 

[DEADicated]

We've never seen a whitetail there. It is classic muley habitat.

 

[idahoz7xhunter]

one other ? do you ever see very many bears up there?

 

[DEADicated]

We've only ever seen bear tracks, and always during the early hunt and very high. A biologist once told me that by mid-November the bears are already hibernating or almost dormant.

However, a friend of mine killed a bear there during the Spring hunt years ago. I've never been in the Middle Fork during the Spring.

 

[ID_Paul]

I hunted 27 from '96-2000. Most years we saw bear tracks, and I saw a bear one time.

 

[whuppinstick]

I've guided in there and hunted elk last year. Saw many bears while guiding up until mid-October (though I think some other guides saw them until the end of Oct.). Last year I saw a good bear at 50 yards in a river bottom on October 14th. We always saw bears in about a 3:1 ratio of river bottoms:everywhere else.

 

[MichaelJ]

I'm curious, but how big is your typical 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 year old buck in there? Say if you randomly picked 10 MATURE bucks from that unit, what would the top one likely score?

We've taken two bucks out of 19 the last two years and both have been relatively small. One 3x4 and one 4x4 that were around 21-22" wide and maybe 130". This was not from a boat either so pickins are pretty slim. Wondering if 27 is all that much better or not.

Mike

 

[DownThePipe]

More mass than width in there. 3 point problems. Bucks have to be in that illusive 7-9 year old range to break 190 points in my experience. Life is tough in there...

 

[jbricejr]

Do a search on this unit in the Idaho archives; the buck quality in 27 has been pretty extensively discussed in the past. Bottom line is that in general that country doesn't grow big bucks. Occassionally a nice one is taken, but most bucks are small, even old ones. I talked to some of the "strip hunters" in November, some of which had been consistently hunting the late hunt for a lot of years, and many said that the quality of the hunt has really gone way downhill, and even finding 140 - 150 type bucks was getting extremely difficult.