Idaho Lehmi zone

[JustinEllison]

Will be hunting these units this sept. Have picked out a few spots that look like good areas. Trying to soak in as much knowledge as possible with this being our first trip out west. Have been in contact with that regions biologist as well.

Curious if anyone had any info they wanted to provide on what all you have seen? Don’t need specific areas or honey holes.

Thanks!

 

[Fridaythe13th]

I'm not much help other than we were 2-3 miles in before we were seeing elk (Like most zones). Plenty of people, but is was the year of fires so I think it pushed people to that zone like it did us. The biggest thing I remember was how windy it was the week we hunted, every day was 30-40 mph. We did get 1 good eating cow and had a couple of chances at bulls. It seems more open than what we were used to with bald mountain tops and the valley were mostly woods, where we hunted. Not a lot of help but work hard and have fun. Good luck.

 

[wthunter]

I was in unit 29 of the Lemhis last year.

Here are some tips I wish I had known before going:
1) What looks like an open meadow on an aerial for camping is likely a steep hillside or filled with rocks and sage. If you arrive a week or so into the season, expect any decent camping spot up the mountain to be taken. There were guys who had to camp down near the flats and drive ATV/dirtbikes up every day because there were not many good spots to have a camp.
2) The elk in 29 are not very focal, I did not hear a bugle in the time I was there. Talked to some of the veterans of the unit and they said that was typical. Between human pressure and wolves, they get quiet after the first week.
3) Be ready to share the woods with ALOT of people. Like alot. Leave your bugle at home, the only thing it is good for is to call in other hunters. If you are a day hiker like me, I would get 2-3 miles in and would tend to run into more hunters than say 1-2 miles in. I had my best success calling in other hunters 3 miles in
4) I am sure there are places where you might be able to spike camp 3 miles in, then go another 1-2 miles and get away from the crowds. Or hire someone to pack you in 3-5 miles.
5) Unit 37a of the Lemhis are very steep and looks like sheep country. I'm not shy about getting into rugged terrain, but that stuff is no joke.
6) If a spot on a map looks good, guess what, you aren't the only one to pick that spot out. There are no secretes. I had a bunch of places picked out that looked great on an aerial. Went into those spots and the sign looked fantastic, except it was a couple weeks old. The elk had already been run off those areas by hunting pressure.

After saying all of that, I did get into some elk. I would slowly walk through the timber and do light cow calling. Sit down, have a candy bar, listen and watch. Get up, slowly move 100 yards, sit/watch/listen. I hunted all day, you aren't going to kill an elk sitting in camp. There is a sweet spot for elevation where I, and others who were getting into elk and had success. I'm sure that elevation changes year to year depending on pressure. I got into a couple nice bulls, but I hunted them more like I would heavily pressured mature whitetails.

The other highlight of the trip, as crazy as it sounds, were the people. I met a bunch of great people out there, some of them I still keep in touch with. I was surprised at how helpful some folks were. My last tip would be to stay positive, you never know when your luck will change so you need to be mentally prepared for the grind.

 

[FlyGuy]

I hunted there last year and I can second everything wtHunter said. Lots of pressure, but some of the best people I’ve ever met in the woods. It’s a Hell of a long ways from TX, but I actually drew a non-resident Bull Moose Tag up in 51. I also had a couple buddies helping me and carrying OTC archery elk tags. I owe my success to a couple guys I met and befriended earlier in the week who found a shooter moose and then went WAY out of their way to find me and put me on that bull before legal light ended. Then, they hung around with us until Midnight processing and packing it out.

We were primarily in the sawmill creek basin as it was about the only place moose had been spotted. While we did get into elk one day, we really had to work for it b/c that basin was absolutely covered in elk hunters (and cattle). I wouldn’t recommend going to that basin unless you were going fishing. After I punched that tag We moved on to 29. Had a couple encounters and blew the one really good opportunity that we had.

It was a tough hunt in some really tough country. Bulls were very quiet but would occasionally respond to bugles if you were standing right on top of them. Pressure was lighter in 29 than 51, but I still bugled in 3x more hunters than elk, and we were 4 miles in.

I can put you onto a good processor there in Lemhi who works fast and has very fair prices.




You can’t cheat the mountain

 

[Pwells10]

My backyard if you want to pm me