tim629
Active member
brother in law moved to Idaho and got invited to go elk & mule deer hunting in the Salmon Zone I believe they had their camp in unit 21 on the ID/MT border
he invited me out and I'd love to go so now just doing my research, he said not a lot of elk were seen but mule deer weren't hard to come by although their group only shot two mule deer and one elk.
he said most days they drive to the end of a road then hike in max of about 4 miles because within that distance you usually come to a ravine that you don't want to pack an elk back across. so on one hand I can understand that but on the other hand early on in the hunt is it logical to jump that first ravine in hopes of finding an elk then using the rest of the trip to curse myself packing it out?
-how many miles do you guys expect to hunt in a day?
-if you find an area that looks promising 3 miles from the trail head, with "ok" land inbetween do you try to be 3 miles in at daybreak, or do you quickly glass the "ok" areas on the way to the area that looks promising the next morning
-how is the walking in the creek bottoms? my question there is at what point do you decide if you are going to carry an elk an extra mile out the bottom going down in elevation vs the shorter route up to a road/jeep trail
-is there a different unit you guys would suggest for someone that may only get 5-6 days of idaho hunting every couple of years? this area has the advantage that my brother-in-law has the friends that took him there so I just need to worry about me and my gear (and helping them at camp and helping others pack stuff out) but if there is another area that may require a 5 mile hike with a more reasonable expectation of connecting and a more reasonable pack out i'm not opposed to that route (or a whole different state, but if I change locations probably need to look at a drop camp which is still fine by me)
he invited me out and I'd love to go so now just doing my research, he said not a lot of elk were seen but mule deer weren't hard to come by although their group only shot two mule deer and one elk.
he said most days they drive to the end of a road then hike in max of about 4 miles because within that distance you usually come to a ravine that you don't want to pack an elk back across. so on one hand I can understand that but on the other hand early on in the hunt is it logical to jump that first ravine in hopes of finding an elk then using the rest of the trip to curse myself packing it out?
-how many miles do you guys expect to hunt in a day?
-if you find an area that looks promising 3 miles from the trail head, with "ok" land inbetween do you try to be 3 miles in at daybreak, or do you quickly glass the "ok" areas on the way to the area that looks promising the next morning
-how is the walking in the creek bottoms? my question there is at what point do you decide if you are going to carry an elk an extra mile out the bottom going down in elevation vs the shorter route up to a road/jeep trail
-is there a different unit you guys would suggest for someone that may only get 5-6 days of idaho hunting every couple of years? this area has the advantage that my brother-in-law has the friends that took him there so I just need to worry about me and my gear (and helping them at camp and helping others pack stuff out) but if there is another area that may require a 5 mile hike with a more reasonable expectation of connecting and a more reasonable pack out i'm not opposed to that route (or a whole different state, but if I change locations probably need to look at a drop camp which is still fine by me)