Idaho’s Selway-Bitterroot Early Rifle

[idahohikker]

There's low to fair deer densities in there, with the very occasional bruiser.

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

There are some decent mule deer. This was in early July. They let me walk within 20 feet of them.


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[Azone]

Well did anybody have any luck? Sadly my elk tag came back home in my wallet and not on horns. Got on fresh sign the last day but no animals. My friend stayed three more days and got on bulls all three days but just quite couldn't seal the deal. Hard to kill an elk when someone walks in between you and the bull your calling and shoots it lol. But hey that's public land.

 

[jorgensen.travis]

I didn’t see any Elk in 8 days. I covered a lot land, and saw very little fresh sign. I ended up finding mule deer and tagged a doe. Didn’t see any good bucks, but I was short on time by the time I located them. I saw 2 good bears. Shot one of them, but he went into some horrendous terrain and I never recovered him. Brutal and beautiful country. The idea that the area is crowded must have come from people that didn’t leave the road. Once you get off the road (even on the trails) you rarely run into anyone. But the camps are crowded with fishermen, kayakers, and horse people. Most people don’t leave camp much. Must horse hunters just go for a mid day ride. The part I didn’t expect is how thick the woods were. Very hard to hunt.


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[Salmon River Solutions]

I leave Friday for my season that starts Monday. Didn’t spend much time scouting this year but I know the area well now. Hopefully the elk are close to where they were last year


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[KHNC]

I didn’t see any Elk in 8 days. I covered a lot land, and saw very little fresh sign. I ended up finding mule deer and tagged a doe. Didn’t see any good bucks, but I was short on time by the time I located them. I saw 2 good bears. Shot one of them, but he went into some horrendous terrain and I never recovered him. Brutal and beautiful country. The idea that the area is crowded must have come from people that didn’t leave the road. Once you get off the road (even on the trails) you rarely run into anyone. But the camps are crowded with fishermen, kayakers, and horse people. Most people don’t leave camp much. Must horse hunters just go for a mid day ride. The part I didn’t expect is how thick the woods were. Very hard to hunt.


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Thats a nasty place to hunt!!! I killed an archery bull with an outfitter there in 2005. Flew into Fish lake airstrip and rode horse 4 hours on the Lewis & Clark trail to camp. Killed a bull 2nd morning. Saw a group of 9 people riding horses on day 1, group of 6 on day 2. So thick that i dont know how anyone could kill a bull without bugling. Also, heard wolves each of the 4 nights we stayed back there. Rode out and used sat phone to call the pilot after 4 days with our bulls.

 

[Haneydew]

Headed home after 5 days of hunting. I can see some people's thinking of how crowded some areas are. Not a lot of trail heads for such a large area, but to be honest, about 90 percent of the areas are just not practical or just outright impossible to hunt. There were areas I thought might hold elk, but I would have taken a day to get in and woulda been impossible for me to get one out. I think that is most people's thinking in the area I was in, so all of the trails I went down already had horse and boot tracks in them, but I never saw another hunter in the four areas that I walked into about 3 miles deep each place. Now, with that said, the one area that I went to with no sign of another hunter, I actually cut a fresh elk track about a half mile in on the trail. Headed the wrong way, but I cut another set of fresh tracks about 1.5 miles in. Found a few rubs from earlier in the year. Unfortunately I only got to hunt this area for one evening and one morning after making camp at noon . There was a great place to get up high and glass for miles down two drains and a small river stream. I really liked the area, and believe if I would have had more time I may have got one. I don't think I'm going back to this area again, so if someone has a hunt coming up in the next few days or weeks pm me and I'll tell you exactly where this area is. I can tell you that you will need to be coming in from either elk City or Darby like I did. Beautiful country, but way steeper than this 50 year old Texas boy wants to tackle again. My feet are thanking me for not going out this morning for another 10 mile hike !

 

[Azone]

Anyone with the B tag heading back out in November?

 

[idahohikker]

If you are hunting in November, I'm happy to chat about my experience there last year. It's a dang hard hunt but can be rewarding I think.

 

[jetsled]

I've spent lots of time up there myself if you have a few questions. Mostly Selway for me, not much experience on the top end of the zone.

 

[Haneydew]

Too far to go back again this year. Beautiful place, but most places are just too hard to hunt. May do a drop camp next time. Any recommendations? I'd like to be able to get deep without spending so much time and Entergy.

 

[idahohikker]

If you're going to spend thousands of dollars, I'd advise you to go somewhere that elk aren't so sparse unless you're simply captivated by that specific area. Predators have done a number and calf to cow ratios are at maintaining or declining population levels.

Lots of drop camp options in the OTC or easy to draw general states.

 

[Haneydew]

That's what I was thinking also. I'm keeping my options open and starting research. Colorado is possible, so is Montana or Wyoming. Possibly another zone in Idaho. I loved it there but not enough critters. Anyone in that area with a little extra time on their hands to just hike, I would definitely suggest the trail up the river behind the Magruder ranger house. walked in a little over 3 miles on my last day there. Too steep to hunt effective, but very beautiful. And the sound of that water rushing the whole way! I believe if you could get deep enough in there it would be a good place. But you would need to get like 10 miles... And I wasn't up for that!

 

[KennethDeemer]

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.

Hey OleWI! I'm headed to the selway this fall, would you be up for chatting a little bit?