Hello all, usually a lurker just trying to get an idea of where everything is at. Really like to do it myself rather than snag peoples spots. I have hunted Colorado first rifle in wilderness area since I was 12 years old so I have a decent idea where em are and how to get on elk. This last year was my first year hunting Idaho and I went with lemhi zone archery and ended up settling on unit **. Probably wasn’t a great year to choose it since there was a fire but it looks like a good unit and since the nonresident quota was reduced the hunt pressure seemed to have been reduced but that’s all internet statistics. Once on the ground the big thing I noticed is there is plenty of water and cover, but large grazing areas really didn’t exist outside the front country. You run into maybe 2-3 acre patches but they are few and far between. Obviously limited by the amount of scouting and where I hunted but looking at satellite pictures it looks as though it’s very rocky and that rocky terrain does not hold near the food that I am used to in some of the Colorado mountains. I will say I only managed to get out three days in Idaho as I’m still settling in to the state (recently moved here) and I probably should have filled my tag, but it was a moving camp situation and an elk foolishly bugled right off the road while we were driving to a different spot. Outside of that we never saw fresh sign, we believe we only had two or three responses to calls but it was distant and one offs. I was told it was a quiet year every where in Idaho. It was also hot which suppresses activity. I’m wondering if anyone has had success in the backcountry in areas where the food seems scarce just in terms of terrain, what kind of tactics do you use, how frequently to expect responses from animals to calls.
Hunting first rifle in Colorado we typically hunt above timberline in post rut situations and that has almost eliminated our need to use calls and I’ll admit hunting the timber is rare for us. But we have fairly good success but a big portion of that is the amount of pasture we have above timberline that elk got to frequently.
Hunting first rifle in Colorado we typically hunt above timberline in post rut situations and that has almost eliminated our need to use calls and I’ll admit hunting the timber is rare for us. But we have fairly good success but a big portion of that is the amount of pasture we have above timberline that elk got to frequently.
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