TECHNIQUE
I
WOKE WAY BEFORE MY alarm to the tinkling of raindrops on the tin roof of my trailer . Oh crap , I thought . Not exactly the weather I was anticipating on this hunt . Granted , in the high country where I was going to be hunting it might be falling as snow . Unlike their blacktail brethren , northern mountain whitetails don ’ t really seem to like low pressure systems . They often bury deep in the cover and don ’ t seem to move much until the pressure starts rising again . In fact , some of my best hunting has occurred on those clear crisp ( read cold !) days . Those are the times it seems these animals move the most .
The plan for the morning was to go to one of my favorite spots , a piece of timber company land where everything is gated off . Even better , there ’ s a sign on the gate that says walk-in ’ s welcome , but no ATVs . For Idaho this is a pretty big exception to
one of Kaboth ’ s go to ways at locating these secretive deer . Our plan for the morning was for Kaboth to show me how he generally went about rattling sets . A guy would have to be a complete fool not to try and learn from a guy who ’ s had way more success with a technique than himself .
We arrived at my gate about 15-minutes before first light . We grabbed our gear and started hiking towards some of my favorite spots . I was taking Kaboth into areas where I traditionally saw quite a few deer . The benefit of hunting this spot is I ’ ve hunted it for over 12-years , and in that time my friends and I have killed quite a few nice bucks . This gives me a good idea of the areas the deer frequently use , so it allowed us to set up to rattle in areas where I ’ ve previously had seen or killed quite a few animals .
The first area we started calling was a 10- to
WINNING
THE
WHITETAIL
GAME
Using Northern Idaho as testing ground , here are four proven methods to score a buck . By John Childs the normal rule . Generally , gates only limit full size vehicle travel , but ATV and UTVs are allowed ; so when finding an area that ’ s limited to walk-ins , it ’ s pretty dang cool ! The downside is some people still ride their quad ’ s right on by the gate , but it ’ s rare .
During this hunt I was staying at my good friends Dieter and Loren Kaboth ’ s home ( there were four of us on this trip , and they ran out of bedrooms , so I opted to stay in their camper out front .). Dieter is a hunting fool , just like myself , and besides being hunting addicted , we ’ ve also both worked in the outdoor industry for more than 20 years . He also is a calling specialist , and has won the World Elk Calling Championship four times . To say he likes to use calls while hunting might be a slight understatement . While I ’ ve successfully rattled in a few deer , it ’ s never been one of my most successful techniques , but conversely , it ’ s
12-year-old clear-cut that ’ s now more re-prod than cut . There are openings where you can see 30 to 80 yards , but only in tight shooting lanes . Kaboth thought this would be a prefect place to try our first set . We split up so we were looking different ways and at different ground .
Kaboth started his rattling sequence , and rattled for about 15 to 20 seconds . He added some realistic stomps along with the rattling sequence . I stood stock-still , letting my eyes wander back and forth to the lanes I could see . After the first calling sequence , Kaboth waited about two to three minutes , and started another bout of rattling . This lasted about 15 seconds , but with less stomping . As the forest again grew still , I continued to let my eyes wander through the different shooting lanes I was observing .
Kaboth had told me before we started , that john childs photo
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WESTERN HUNTING JOURNAL