Chasin Fin
FNG
All,
this is my first post and first just wanted to say thanks for all the hours or reading material on the site as there seems to be a ton of knowledge and info. First, quick intro, I bought my 5 year old son a bow for christmas and he loved it so i bought one (never shot one before - left handed) and have really falling in love with archery. Never really been a big game hunter as the rifle approach and lack of connection with the game just didn't appeal to me (to each their own). However, with a bow, things have changed and I'm hooked! Not only the act of shooting but the trade of fine tuning a bow has been a blast. Thanks to all the forums, it has given me confidence to try this on my own and was able to shoot a turkey will a bullhead a couple weeks back at 8 yards. Really exciting to be that personal to the hunt and i can only imagine a larger animal.
Fast forward, my family and I visit Ketchum/Sun Valley once or twice a year (have condo and good friends live there) and given how much I'm liking archery hunting, i figured i might as well start laying the ground work for future elk hunting which seems exciting due to the OTC tags and perhaps yearly tradition. I've done a fair amount of research on the surrounding zones/etc and will enlist my friend to take some hikes this summer along with a summer trip to scout but i had a few questions and any help would be appreciated.
1) I noticed Idaho does offer some "Controlled Hunts" which i assume are awarded by a draw? I'm guessing these are better units/limited number of hunters/etc. If there are specific archery only areas where drawing a tag would increase my chances at success? I figured it would be a good idea to lob in just in case i'm lucky in one of controlled units. Unfortunately, i haven't found more info on the web so maybe i just need to do some more digging but if anyone has direction, it would help me from chasing my tail.
2) Considering i have zero experience elk hunting, i'm sure there is a huge learning curve. I was considering a guided hunt for my first time but would like it to be in one of the surrounding units as I figured it would be best to concentrate on zones I will be hunting for the foreseeable future given the proxi to Sun Valley. Anyone have any recommendations on guides in this area or drop camp providers? I'm not a "guide" fan as I love the thrill of success/failure on my own and what leads up to it but feel this might be a good way to get a jump start on elk hunting tactics. Also, its tough for me to break away from the family for 5 nights to hunt so my local friend and I will likely only be doing 2-3 day hunts at a time.
3) Is there an elevation I should be focused on for scouting? When looking at google earth, there just seems to be a ton of area that looks solid but obviously the land is mass and can take some time so certainly would prefer to focus on areas that have a higher probability of seeing animals. Clearly some of the peaks in these zones are steep and rugged.
Ideally, i'm looking to start a new tradition of elk hunting that will hopefully be something i can take my boys to experience as they get older (Oldest is 5). Idaho is beautiful country and we really enjoy our time out there now as we already got him into fly fishing. I won't be hunting in 2017 so first year will likely be 2018 as we are doing a float on the Salmon which i'm pretty pumped for and hear its a great trip.
Thanks for your time and any and all help is greatly appreciated.
this is my first post and first just wanted to say thanks for all the hours or reading material on the site as there seems to be a ton of knowledge and info. First, quick intro, I bought my 5 year old son a bow for christmas and he loved it so i bought one (never shot one before - left handed) and have really falling in love with archery. Never really been a big game hunter as the rifle approach and lack of connection with the game just didn't appeal to me (to each their own). However, with a bow, things have changed and I'm hooked! Not only the act of shooting but the trade of fine tuning a bow has been a blast. Thanks to all the forums, it has given me confidence to try this on my own and was able to shoot a turkey will a bullhead a couple weeks back at 8 yards. Really exciting to be that personal to the hunt and i can only imagine a larger animal.
Fast forward, my family and I visit Ketchum/Sun Valley once or twice a year (have condo and good friends live there) and given how much I'm liking archery hunting, i figured i might as well start laying the ground work for future elk hunting which seems exciting due to the OTC tags and perhaps yearly tradition. I've done a fair amount of research on the surrounding zones/etc and will enlist my friend to take some hikes this summer along with a summer trip to scout but i had a few questions and any help would be appreciated.
1) I noticed Idaho does offer some "Controlled Hunts" which i assume are awarded by a draw? I'm guessing these are better units/limited number of hunters/etc. If there are specific archery only areas where drawing a tag would increase my chances at success? I figured it would be a good idea to lob in just in case i'm lucky in one of controlled units. Unfortunately, i haven't found more info on the web so maybe i just need to do some more digging but if anyone has direction, it would help me from chasing my tail.
2) Considering i have zero experience elk hunting, i'm sure there is a huge learning curve. I was considering a guided hunt for my first time but would like it to be in one of the surrounding units as I figured it would be best to concentrate on zones I will be hunting for the foreseeable future given the proxi to Sun Valley. Anyone have any recommendations on guides in this area or drop camp providers? I'm not a "guide" fan as I love the thrill of success/failure on my own and what leads up to it but feel this might be a good way to get a jump start on elk hunting tactics. Also, its tough for me to break away from the family for 5 nights to hunt so my local friend and I will likely only be doing 2-3 day hunts at a time.
3) Is there an elevation I should be focused on for scouting? When looking at google earth, there just seems to be a ton of area that looks solid but obviously the land is mass and can take some time so certainly would prefer to focus on areas that have a higher probability of seeing animals. Clearly some of the peaks in these zones are steep and rugged.
Ideally, i'm looking to start a new tradition of elk hunting that will hopefully be something i can take my boys to experience as they get older (Oldest is 5). Idaho is beautiful country and we really enjoy our time out there now as we already got him into fly fishing. I won't be hunting in 2017 so first year will likely be 2018 as we are doing a float on the Salmon which i'm pretty pumped for and hear its a great trip.
Thanks for your time and any and all help is greatly appreciated.