Southern Idaho Archery Draw Elk

Heff

New member
Joined
Jun 10, 2017
Messages
29
Location
Southern Idaho
Hey there everyone! First and foremost, I wanted to give a huge thanks to everyone who has offered some advice for this newbie! The three top contributors of information specific to my hunt were: Big Fin, Baerman, and Idahoarcheryhunter. Thank you all very much. This is my initial post for my hunt which officially opens in 28 days.

About me: I am a brand new big game hunter. I am very green when it comes to hunting, especially elk hunting. To make things more interesting, I shot my first bow about 4-5 months ago. This is where my archery bull elk hunt begins. I put in for one of 10 elk tags in the area, and with 1% draw odds, I got lucky. I am finishing up my final semester of nursing school and have to make hunting fit in around all of my prior obligations.

Equipment: Due to being a college student (which means I'm poor), I don't have the fanciest anything for equipment. I picked up what I could.
Bow: Bear Cruzer
Release: TruFire
Arrow: .340 Beman ICS Hunter w/ yellow wrap and pink/black fletchings
Broadheads: Muzzy MX-3 100gr.
Pack: Horn Hunter Full Curl
Bino Harness: Horn Hunter
Binos: Nikon Prostaff 3
Rangefinder: Nikon Aculon
Elk Calls: ummm... yellow and brown ones
Camo: RealTree from Walmart

Scouting: I spent a good amount of time eScouting and (with the help of the aforementioned people) marked down some good starting locations. After I got my bearings with onX maps I decided to hit the road. I have been getting to spend 2-3 days a week in the area familiarizing myself with the area, roads, water, and etc. I have narrowed down a pretty big, and I hope awesome area. I decided to go and climb a hill and glass first light yesterday. Saw 10 bulls roaming around and eventually bedding in the trees surrounding the many meadows. I plan to work those meadows over during the opener weekend. Half of the elk were smaller (spike to 3x3) and the other half had at least 5 on each side. There was one big boy who had these rad drop tines on the last horn. Id love to have a meet and greet when I get out there.

Hunt: The season officially begins on Aug. 30th and its the middle of the week. I have class that day and hope to be able to run out there for an evening hunt on the opener. Regardless of what happens then, I will be out there starting Friday morning and be there til Monday evening. I think it will give me a good start to the season. I am dedicated to learn all I can about elk hunting and the elk itself. I plan to give weekly updates of my week, including pictures, by Wednesday.

Tune in here for updates. Say hello if you wish. Im still open to ideas and any knowledge of elk or elk hunting that I may have overlooked. I am becoming a student of elk and hope to find success on top of a great time in the mountains. If you are wondering, I still haven't found cows. My original plan only allowed me to hunt the final 4 days of the season (which would be during rut) so I have been looking for cows like crazy. I have since expanded my hunting trip to earlier so I am happy I have seen many bulls.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy my story, pictures, and hunting adventure! -Heff
 
Great intro. Sounds like your already well ahead of the game being able to spend that much time in your area. Good luck this fall!
 
Best of luck to you sir. It sounds like you are going about things in the proper fashion.
 
Dang I wish I had the time to come call for you. You are in for a ride!
I'm surprised you are seeing bulls like that already. I'd expect them to strip velvet in another two weeks and then move in search of cows. Herds of elk will be moving into the area as the rut nears. You might try driving roads and calling at night to try and locate some bulls if you are not finding the right one as soon as season starts. I like the sound of the dropper though!!!
 
Update #1

SOUTHERN IDAHO ARCHERY DRAW ELK UPDATE #1
20170731_211620.jpg
Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you find this "live" hunt via forums exciting and thrilling. My hope is that through the updates and pictures I share it gives you a sense of actually being here on the hunt with me. Im glad many of you are following along. Only 21 days until the hunt opens. 21 days and I will get to hear my first in person elk bugle. I am getting all the final preparations in order. I mentioned above the broadheads I'd be using for the hunt this year. I decided on them mostly on 2 criteria: low cost and good reviews. Yesterday I purchased the Muzzy MX-3 broadheads. Got a great deal on them as they were on sale and they had good reviews. I put one on an arrow to sight my bow in for the broadheads and immediately had a problem (not with the broadhead). I somehow snapped an arrow in half. Has anyone else had this issue shooting broadheads into foam?:confused:
20170808_220650.jpg
I also bought my game bags yesterday. I was pretty excited. Again, since my budget is limited cost was the deciding factor. From all of the forums and videos I've watched over the past several months, I decided that to take care of my elk properly I needed synthetic bags. I really wanted to get Caribou, just didn't have the $$$. I researched other bags and came across an Idaho company who made bags. I love to support companies in my home state when I can and was pretty excited to find them. The company is called Boarmaster. Anyone used these bags before? Either way, synthetic bags was what I was looking for and they were affordable for me, primarily because they were on sale. I guess this hunt could be called the budget hunt.

I have a gear question for everyone: What skinning knives do you use? My buddy has an outdoor edge but doesn't like it. I am leaning towards picking up a Gerber Vital. I currently have a Buck knife (another Idaho company) and love it. Thinking about another knife, one primarily for skinning and butchering an elk.

Lastly, but not least (probably the most important). I have seen many more elk in the area I plan to hunt. I also found out the hard way that taking pictures with your phone through a spotting is really hard. Guess that's why phoneskope is a company now. In the tree/shadow to the left of the photo, a nice looking 5x5 bedded down in the late morning. It appeared to me that he was feeding down towards that area along the treeline. When he got to the shaded area he bedded. I watched him for a good 45 minutes before I backed out of my glassing point and headed for home.
20170801_074220.jpg

Thanks for following along! I appreciate all the feedback I received after my first post. Keep it coming! Plans for the hunt are still the same and as each day passes my excitement becomes elevated. Stay tuned for another update next week. -Heff:D
 
Great intro. Sounds like your already well ahead of the game being able to spend that much time in your area. Good luck this fall!

Thank you! I figured since this tag was basically a one time deal (1% draw odds) I better do all I can to make it worth it.
 
Dang I wish I had the time to come call for you. You are in for a ride!
I'm surprised you are seeing bulls like that already. I'd expect them to strip velvet in another two weeks and then move in search of cows. Herds of elk will be moving into the area as the rut nears. You might try driving roads and calling at night to try and locate some bulls if you are not finding the right one as soon as season starts. I like the sound of the dropper though!!!

I appreciate all the aid you've given me this far. I will do my best to not let it go to crap. Thanks for the tip on night calling, never would have thought of that. Yeah I'm hoping I get to see him again. I planning on spending a good chunk of time in the hills over the next week so Ill have a very watchful eye.
 
PEAX Trekking Poles

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
110,805
Messages
1,935,061
Members
34,883
Latest member
clamwc
Back
Top