Idaho 59a or 30a? Help!!!

My buddy and I are planning a 10 day DIY backpack archery elk hunt for mid September in the Beaverhead zone. We have never hunted the area and we have been roaming through the vast web pages of the internet looking for any info possible and still have not made up our mind on what unit we are going to go to. We are leaning towards 59a or 30a but have no real knowledge of the area other than what we have found online and from the Idaho Fish and Game. We really need to settle on a unit so we can do more in depth research and plan a scouting trip.

I was hoping to connect with someone who's familiar with the area who could point us in the right direction. We have a couple areas in both units that we like based on google earth images but we are hoping to get some intel on what the hunting in these units is like (hunting pressure, terrain, weather, ease of access) Our main goal is to get of the beaten path and away from other hunters in a area that holds elk, we are both in pretty good shape a have been training for this hunt for quite some time.

We are both accomplished whitetail and turkey hunters in Kansas and would be more than happy to trade info and possibly provide the right person with private land access in central and SE Kansas as well as info on public land that we hunt.

Thanks and God Bless!!!
Josh

I hunt 59A some years, I hunt within 3 hour hike of the truck so probably not much help for where to backpack into. I rarely run into other hunters more than 1 mile from 4 wheeler trails.

I've talked to a few people and it sounds like hunting from vehicle/atv the way you described might be the way to go until we find elk. that we want to spend multiple days hunting.

Hunted both quite alot until the last few years, got to be to many people for me, although like gilbert said some days you will be by yourself. Access in 59A is no problem, 30A has some private at the base of the mountain that takes a little gettin around but if you're spiken it you shouldn't have much problem. Alot of both is pretty steep & you better have some rain gear just in case. There are elk there, but just like any where you gotta find'em.