I only hunted unit 4 and tagged out on day 4. Had planned to hunt 5 as well but never made it. Not a bad unit, not too steep and rugged but there was deadfall everywhere I went so it made it difficult getting around off trail. only other negative was there was a lot of cattle and sheep grazing.
Hunt Talk
HunterDan
HunterDan
There were a lot of hunters camped on the main forest roads but I never really had an issue getting away from them. Access is good in the unit with plenty of roads. I like to get as far as I can from roads and hunters so I backpacked in for 1-2 nights at a time as I moved around.
HunterDan
Let me know if you got anymore questions. Good luck
bucknastyhunter
Somehow I missed these messages. The Elk head mountains, and between sugar loaf and saddle mountain stand out. Do you have any insight on those? Are dates are lining up with the muzzleloader hunt, if you hunted during that same time, did it make a difference for dealing with other hunters?
Thanks for getting back to me.
Thanks for getting back to me.
HunterDan
I had a pin exactly where you are talking about but I never made it there. I hunted the Elk Head Mountains to the west in unit 4 and killed my bull pretty early so I never made it over to unit 5. Be prepared for deadfall because it was very bad when I was there. I started hunting on the 12th and killed on the 16th. Muzzleloader was in but I only ran into a few other hunters close to the road or on a trail.
bucknastyhunter
Thanks for the response! Good to hear the muzzleloader season didn't make a big difference. Did the elk numbers seem good for that area? Did you see a lot of quality bulls or more smaller ones? The plan is to get 2-3 miles away from the trails, did you hunt similar distance? Did you notice if the herds were staying around the wallows or other water sources with how dry it was last year?
HunterDan
If you get 2 miles from the road you should see elk no problem. I saw a small 4x4 bull on the first day I packed in 1-2 miles. The next 2 days I hunted with another guy closer to the roads and we didn't have much luck. The 4th day I went back out by myself and packed in 2 miles and got on a good heard and shot a nice 6x6. There was water everywhere i hunted.
bucknastyhunter
Thanks for all the help, did it seem like bringing a 4 wheeler would make an advantage or is the area truck friendly for getting around?
HunterDan
I don't think it would be necessary. Most of the roads are pretty easy to get around, just a little washboarded. All of the areas I hunted atv's were not allowed on trails.
