Idaho’s Selway-Bitterroot Early Rifle

[jorgensen.travis]

My dad, a friend, and me have Elk and Deer tags for the Selway-Bitterroot Zone in Idaho. We’ll be there for the September 15th early rifle season. I’m hiking in, but my dad and buddy will car camp and mostly road hunt. I’m wondering how popular this hunt is. There are so few roads and trail heads for such a vast area. Will the roads leading in east of Elk City be loaded with hunters? What about the Gospel Hump area?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jetsled]

I hunted this area twice. Way more people than I ever imagined. Small city at every trail head. I was baffled at the amount of people around. What I found most ironic was, I feel more secluded hunting general areas then I did 8 miles in on horses in this area. Hunting camps in every meadow. TONS of out of state plates. I guess that's what you get for a Septemeber rifle hunt. Neat country though.

 

[jorgensen.travis]

What about the area around Paradise Campground?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sneaky]

What about the area around Paradise Campground?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Outfitters operate out of that area. You would need to hunt the area between where the end of the road is, and where they pack into on horses. Lack of access points funnels people into the same areas. Same with the airstrips

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[idahohikker]

What the people above said. The Frank is similarly crowded. Idaho has so much backcountry (many of it not designated wilderness) and nonresidents assume that wilderness areas are where the game is and people aren't.

If you work for it, you can find a slice of country for yourself to hunt, though. The tricky part is that both the Selway and Frank have low deer and elk densities and big country so they're hard to find.

 

[idahohikker]

Also, if you're wondering why the success rates are pretty decent in the Selway and other Idaho designated wilderness, they are artificially inflated by outfitters and self guided horse hunters. The hiker who is new to the area is at a real disadvantage statistically.

 

[TheTone]

What about the Gospel Hump area?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats a great spot to destroy a vehicle. The "road" in from dixie is something else. First time I ever went in (via atv) we followed a trail of oil for quite a while before coming upon the dead pickup that left it.

 

[Haneydew]

I also have the Selway b tag and have plans to hunt around some of the areas you mentioned. Only 282 non resident tags and almost 2 million acres... Unless everyone is going to the same trail heads I can't imagine how it could be so crowded! Guess I'll find out. I plan on staying mobile and have selected a half dozen trail heads to start with. I'm thinking about possibly having to get off the trail system to get away from the crowd as well. I have a few of those places picked out as well. Something to think about. If you look through this forem you will find many instances of someone finding elk less than a mile from the roads in an area that is too steep for the majority of hunters to give it a second look. We may cross paths at some point, I'm coming in from the Montana side out of Darby.

 

[sneaky]

I also have the Selway b tag and have plans to hunt around some of the areas you mentioned. Only 282 non resident tags and almost 2 million acres... Unless everyone is going to the same trail heads I can't imagine how it could be so crowded! Guess I'll find out. I plan on staying mobile and have selected a half dozen trail heads to start with. I'm thinking about possibly having to get off the trail system to get away from the crowd as well. I have a few of those places picked out as well. Something to think about. If you look through this forem you will find many instances of someone finding elk less than a mile from the roads in an area that is too steep for the majority of hunters to give it a second look. We may cross paths at some point, I'm coming in from the Montana side out of Darby.

Ummm.... you forgetting the resident tags? The fact that there's only a few trailheads or airstrips? Unless you are taking horses your options are way more limited than what you are thinking. There's the huge portions of it that have no critters. Now you see why it gets crowded in certain ways.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[sneaky]

If you are coming in off Magruder, you'll have company

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Haneydew]

I don't doubt there are other hunters, but from the people that I've talked to that know the areas, it's not that hard to get into an area by yourself. You may have to go in 4 or more miles, but as far as road hunting, my suggestion would be to bring the best optics you can, so you can see where you can't or unwilling to walk. Contact the Ranger station, they may give you some advice. Do your homework on Google maps . Get off the trail system. Even if you only go a mile or so in you will likely be by yourself. I've done two years of research on this area, and the one thing I've found to be constant is no one who has actually hunted in the area never has anything good to say about it. I'll let you know more around the end of September, I may be joining them!

 

[jetsled]

Hunted it 2 years with ponies. Thought 8 miles was deep enough. Had a pastor walk into my camp while I was drinking whiskey to chat. Packed up the next morning and drove home. Must have seen a dozen other hunters within a mile of my camp. That was just the icing on the cake. Good luck....and get deep...lol.

 

[OleWI21]

Don't let all this negativity get you down. I picked up the tag last year just because it happened to open the day after my WY antelope hunt was done. I had never hunted the area, just researched maps and we were able to get into elk. We car camped and actually got into elk about a mile from camp. Just happened to be some of the nastiest blow downs I have ever walked through so easy to see why the elk were there. I eve found a spot where the elk were feeding on grass off the side of an old road. You don't need to go in 8-10 miles to find them. If you just stick to road hunting you will have company. I met a few guys that have been hunting there for years. All they do is walk the roads and hope to bump into elk. Get off the roads and if you put enough work in you will find where the elk are. 16A is chalk full of whitetails, shouldn't have a problem getting a deer in there. You will need to get back in to 17a or 20 if you want a chance at a mule deer.

 

[jorgensen.travis]

Thanks for the info. I certainly don’t let negativity get to me. Worst case would be having a great trip in beautiful country and coming home empty handed. Wouldn’t be the first time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HookUp]

Just hunt!! Don't worry about what people say. If it doesn't work out try another unit the next year.

 

[Azone]

Heading up tomorrow, going in on foot. My friend got his bull in September last year and I got mine in November. My friend also killed another bull up there in 2015 in November two ridges over from where mine fell last year. That country is ridiculously rough, it made one guy we use to hunt with quit on day two. There is elk there but they are spread out and extremely spooky due to those damn dogs the tree huggers brought down from Canada. If your prepared to push yourself to the limit on a backpack hunt this is the place.

 

[Haneydew]

How deep do you plan on going in on foot? Me and my girlfriend will head that way next Friday. Plan is to hunt from Monday thru Saturday. We are prepared to remote camp anywhere from 3 to 5 miles in, but may hunt a little farther. Have several drains picked out. Do you think it's better to stick to an area until you find fresh sign, or if within a five Mile hike, you find no sign move to a new area completely?

 

[Azone]

How deep do you plan on going in on foot? Me and my girlfriend will head that way next Friday. Plan is to hunt from Monday thru Saturday. We are prepared to remote camp anywhere from 3 to 5 miles in, but may hunt a little farther. Have several drains picked out. Do you think it's better to stick to an area until you find fresh sign, or if within a five Mile hike, you find no sign move to a new area completely?

About the same distance as your planning. Any deeper than that in that country your just asking for trouble without horses in my opinion. Last years pack out with my bull was a little under 5 miles and I would never want to go any further than that, it kicked our azz pretty good. If you find fresh sign I would definitely stick around a couple days to hunt it, but if no sign is around I would keep on the move. If you go too far in then your going to be running into the horseback hunters. We got lucky last year and got my bull 4 hrs into day one, will probably never happen that quick again. He was a small 5x4, but for a OTC, DIY I was not gonna be picky. Its awesome country to hunt but it's also a place where one wrong step and its over. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

We were down there last year. From talking to a lot of hunters we had a lot better luck than most people filling 2 tags in 4 days, but we got snowed out last year hunting the early September season. This year I’m headed back, but going for the October 1st season. I found cows scouting in August last year, and they were right there with a bull and a satellite bull come September. Got
Both less than a mile from camp. One pack out to a vehicle was about 400 yards.

I will stack it up to beginners luck. We talked to about 20 other people hunting there and in total they had one bull.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Haneydew]

Do you get a deer tag? Or strictly after a bull? I've been tossing that idea around. I like the idea of having the tag just in case that monster muley or bear shows up.. but I also don't want to waist time stalking those animals since im only going to have 5 days to hunt.