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Rutting Whitetails in Idaho USA
Hi all, just wanted to share a story about one of my annual hunting trips here in the Pacific Northwest. Whitetail deer hunting isn’t all sitting in tree stands over food plots and corn feeders like you see on YouTube and hunting tv. Every November my hunting buddies and i make a trek over to the state of Idaho to chase mountain whitetails during the rut. We load up our boats with wall tents and gear and make a 20 mile run up a river into the Idaho wilderness. We set up our camp along the river and hunt up into the hills each days. November is the peak rut for whitetails and it’s generally the start of our cold weather season. Last season, the temperature held well below freezing for the entirety of the trip.
In this part of the world we have a fair bit of competition from the other predators in the woods. We had wolves howling above camp each night, mountain lion tracks in the snow circling our tent one night and several bear encounters out in the woods. Despite this, we still had a very successful trip. Our usual tactics include still hunting through the thick timber until he hit a patch with large amounts of rut sign like rubs and scrapes. Once in a likely spot, we sit and begin calling. This is a mix of aggressive antler rattling, buck grunts and doe bleats. If a rutted up buck is within ear range he usually comes in to check out the commotion. Thick timber and silent deer make for some close action and fast shots. It is one of my favorite methods of hunting.
We like to split up and hunt by ourselves to cover more area and limit our sound while moving through the thick brush. Last season my buddies had better luck than me early on and each harvested nice bucks early in the trip. I saw plenty of deer but no bucks that I wanted to to take. As the trip neared it’s end I could sense the clock ticking away. The last morning of the trip, as everyone was packing up their gear, I made one last climb up the mountain in the dark. I snuck into the timber in a new spot and looked for some recent sign. I found a fresh scrape and picked out a seat. I lightly tickled my rattling antlers together and within 10 seconds I spotted antler tines coming over the next rise. I’ll always remember that moment because his antlers were coated in a thick layer of frost from the cold night and the frost was catching the light from the sunrise through the trees. The buck paused for a second or two looking for the rival bucks fighting before committing to dropping into a clear shooting lane. One quick shot and my trip was over and I had taken my best whitetail to date. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the pictures of a little different style of hunting.
Jake
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my buck
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Cat tracks in camp
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My buddy's buck
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Buck #3
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Buck #4
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camp meat pole
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