I thought I would share the part leading up to our hunt. Although this isnt the sexiest of posts, it is something many DIY hunters have to go through and I see little written about it. Hopefully, in awhile, you will see a grip-and-grin picture culminating from all this work, but that has yet to play out.
My cousin Shane moved out to Boise this year and with that, our elk hunting trip was planned. There will be 3 of us this year, all between 32 and 42 years old in good condition. My job was the internet and phone research, Shane's job was to put boot leather on the ground. I thought some folks might be interested in how we went about it and the difficulties we have had along the way.
First step was studying the regs and Idaho zones and looking at success rates. ID was different than either WY or CO; where I had previously hunted elk. What we wanted was an area fairly close to Boise that had an opportunity to get off the road 1-4 miles and away from the crowd with giant bulls lurking behind every tree. What we ended up with was an area fairly close to Boise that had an opportunity to get off the road 1-4 miles and away from the crowd. While doing this, I started reaching out via hunting forums hoping to get a little help along the way (I didnt expect and didnt get anyone's honey hole). Ironically, the best info and most offers of assistance came from this forum. Nothing however really helped us select an area. Most of that was done by just spending time on google earth and the Idaho G&F hunting website. So we finally picked a zone in early August. A big step. Then, after more research and talking to the biologist and game warden, we picked a unit.
So Shane went up there scouting and to make a long story short, he came back and told me to start over. That was tough to take. The zone was okay, but the areas were a bust. Another call to the biologist and some more research and we found a new area. Lots of talk and lots of research and we homed in on an area that I termed "Bend in the Road". I liked it a lot and I had a backup plan that could be reached from the same camp that I knew would hold elk, but was nasty territory.
Trip #2 for Shane was last weekend. He came back and said......it looks great and there is more than we can possibly hunt. There were a lot of bowhunters there he talked to. Is that good news or bad? Dunno that yet, but it should mean there are elk there, right? He felt the back up area, he called that the "Grouse" area for obvious reasons, was actually the best of the two. Problem is, he thinks we need to spike out over night a couple or three nights of our 5 day hunt. Wasnt really expecting that, so gonna need a few pieces of gear for that.
Next thing to do is order custom maps from mytopo.com for $15 each. I waited on buying maps until I got the green light from my field guy and now I have it.
Anticipation? It is killing me. Which one of you jerks slowed down the calendar? But it is good motivation for working out which has went well. I will post more as it happens.
My cousin Shane moved out to Boise this year and with that, our elk hunting trip was planned. There will be 3 of us this year, all between 32 and 42 years old in good condition. My job was the internet and phone research, Shane's job was to put boot leather on the ground. I thought some folks might be interested in how we went about it and the difficulties we have had along the way.
First step was studying the regs and Idaho zones and looking at success rates. ID was different than either WY or CO; where I had previously hunted elk. What we wanted was an area fairly close to Boise that had an opportunity to get off the road 1-4 miles and away from the crowd with giant bulls lurking behind every tree. What we ended up with was an area fairly close to Boise that had an opportunity to get off the road 1-4 miles and away from the crowd. While doing this, I started reaching out via hunting forums hoping to get a little help along the way (I didnt expect and didnt get anyone's honey hole). Ironically, the best info and most offers of assistance came from this forum. Nothing however really helped us select an area. Most of that was done by just spending time on google earth and the Idaho G&F hunting website. So we finally picked a zone in early August. A big step. Then, after more research and talking to the biologist and game warden, we picked a unit.
So Shane went up there scouting and to make a long story short, he came back and told me to start over. That was tough to take. The zone was okay, but the areas were a bust. Another call to the biologist and some more research and we found a new area. Lots of talk and lots of research and we homed in on an area that I termed "Bend in the Road". I liked it a lot and I had a backup plan that could be reached from the same camp that I knew would hold elk, but was nasty territory.
Trip #2 for Shane was last weekend. He came back and said......it looks great and there is more than we can possibly hunt. There were a lot of bowhunters there he talked to. Is that good news or bad? Dunno that yet, but it should mean there are elk there, right? He felt the back up area, he called that the "Grouse" area for obvious reasons, was actually the best of the two. Problem is, he thinks we need to spike out over night a couple or three nights of our 5 day hunt. Wasnt really expecting that, so gonna need a few pieces of gear for that.
Next thing to do is order custom maps from mytopo.com for $15 each. I waited on buying maps until I got the green light from my field guy and now I have it.
Anticipation? It is killing me. Which one of you jerks slowed down the calendar? But it is good motivation for working out which has went well. I will post more as it happens.
