The past season a buddy and I took our first trip into the high country in Idaho's unit 67 for a archery mule deer hunt. We intended to scout for 3 days and hunt for 6 days. To make a REALLY long story short we found deer but a bear came into our camp while we were scouting and destroyed our tent some non essential gear. The killer was that I took us a long day to get into the area we camped and since it was so dry it took nearly a day to get water. The bear destroyed our water containers so by the time we could get off the mountain, get new water containers and get back up we would have had only a day or two to hunt and due to a family medical emergency in my family it was best we went home without even getting to hunt on the opening of season.
We found out the area we were hunting is an area where nuisance bears are dumped and despite our food and things that had scent being stored away from camp in a tree the bear decided to into our camp. Apparently this is a common problem in the area.
We did see 3 shooter bucks while scouting as well as plenty of mountain goats and some elk, including a branch antlered bull. Like a lot of the locals said, which we thought found to be true, there are not a lot of deer in the area but if you find one its going to be a nice one. It was fun while it lasted.
Now we are trying to plan our next hunt and we are not to keen on going back to the same place. The travel it took to get there (from Missouri) and the bear experience (not to mention all the bear sign and 2 sightings) make us lean away from going back. We are now kicking around the idea of what to do this coming season. We have the gear and enjoy the experience of back country hunting and want to do it again. But do we stick with the same area we are now somewhat familiar with or do we pursue finding a new area? Colorado appeals to us and we ended up getting a point and plan to build more points there. So question is are there decent OTC units in Colorado where we can have a good archery hunt in the high country? By no means do we need a trophy unit, we just want the experience and see a decent number of deer. I am also willing to help anyone with questions about unit 67 in Idaho if you would like to know.
We found out the area we were hunting is an area where nuisance bears are dumped and despite our food and things that had scent being stored away from camp in a tree the bear decided to into our camp. Apparently this is a common problem in the area.
We did see 3 shooter bucks while scouting as well as plenty of mountain goats and some elk, including a branch antlered bull. Like a lot of the locals said, which we thought found to be true, there are not a lot of deer in the area but if you find one its going to be a nice one. It was fun while it lasted.
Now we are trying to plan our next hunt and we are not to keen on going back to the same place. The travel it took to get there (from Missouri) and the bear experience (not to mention all the bear sign and 2 sightings) make us lean away from going back. We are now kicking around the idea of what to do this coming season. We have the gear and enjoy the experience of back country hunting and want to do it again. But do we stick with the same area we are now somewhat familiar with or do we pursue finding a new area? Colorado appeals to us and we ended up getting a point and plan to build more points there. So question is are there decent OTC units in Colorado where we can have a good archery hunt in the high country? By no means do we need a trophy unit, we just want the experience and see a decent number of deer. I am also willing to help anyone with questions about unit 67 in Idaho if you would like to know.
