Sawtooth Wilderness

brn2hunt · Aug 3, 2004

I'm looking for any information on the sawtooth wilderness. Planning on archery hunting there but have only hunted the westside of the wilderness in years past. The fish&game agent said there were alot of elk in unit 35&36 but very rugged country. Have horses will travel, just need some info. on type of country on eastside of the units and trail conditions. Thanks for any help!

austin · Aug 4, 2004

Well the East side is pretty much like the west side.
May even be rougher country actually. Depending on how far you want to go in there are more roads coming up to the edge of the wilderness on the East side. There is more trail access from the N or NE that there is from the East side into the actual wilderness. Check for trail access around the Stanley area.

If you check your maps you should be able to find the more detailed info you are looking for as far as trails. Since I do not know specifically where you are looking at this is just a general reply obviously.

Edpre · Aug 4, 2004

Have you ever hunted 34? How many in your group? Where you coming from?

COSA · Aug 4, 2004

While deer hunting a few years ago I saw quite a few elk in the Jerry Peak, upper Lake Creek area. The road up Lake Creek was closed to vehicle traffic just above the lake. There's probablly better access from the East. Not many deer up there.

cryan · Aug 4, 2004

i have a buddy that has hunted that country quite a bit, he has shot a couple bulls out of 36 but he also says that if you have a horse it will definately make your life easier,(there is a lot of country that would kill a horse though!) i will try and find out some areas that are good as well.. but the bottom line is there are a ton of elk there.. just need to cover a lot of country..

brn2hunt · Aug 4, 2004

Never hunted 34 just the upper end of 39 during the November elk season. There are two of us maybe three and we are coming from Washington. Main focus is to get away from foot traffic and ATV's. Looking at packing in 8-10 miles with the horses and making camp.

Edpre · Aug 9, 2004

A buddy and I are heading out from PA to hunt Sept. 17-28, (packing in 18th - 27th) unit 34. I've hunted there before, about 5-6 years ago. That trip was hot & dry, nothing much happened, but there are elk there. We're looking to go in about 4 miles to our base camp. There's another good spot about 4 miles farther in. Would you be interested in giving our gear a ride in on the way to your spot, in return for some assistance in the area? We'd have to hook up on the dates above, since our flights, etc. are already booked. We'd have to talk more about the details, but it can possibly work out to both our advantages since we'd be able to hunt "together"- you @ 8 miles in, us @ 4 miles in, especially in locating the elk as we're both not in the position to do any pre-hunt scouting. Let me know what you think, send me your e-mail address.