Wilderness areas.

ELKOHUNTER · Jun 11, 2018

I'm having a bit of trouble finding a list of outfitters who have privileges to certain wilderness areas. I'm looking at a new spot where ive never been. It is wilderness but i don't want to be over run by horses, as I'm a backpacker. Here in Nevada there are only certain guides that have the guiding rights to a wilderness to prevent over kill. Is Idaho like this as well?

N_Corey · Jun 11, 2018

I thought that was more of a federal restriction since it's on forest service land but I could be wrong. I'm not sure where to Boston a list of licensed outfitters for an area though.

idhikker · Jun 11, 2018

Just go to the Idaho guides and outfitters site. You can find the wilderness areas on wilderness.net. Many outfitters that guide in wilderness areas also hunt in non wilderness. I don't think the rules are the same. Idaho wilderness areas have some of the lowest elk densities, by the way.

The wilderness areas I'm familiar with are the Hells Canyon, Frank Church, Gospel Hump, Selway Bitterroot, White Clouds, Hemingway-Boulder, and Sawtooth NRA. There's a few smaller ones as well. Being with a guide in a backcountry hunt could be a really fun classic Western hunt. Not great quality and quality of game but amazing scenery and the guide can probably get you in front of some animals.

Blackjack · Jun 11, 2018

Oglb.idaho.gov

ELKOHUNTER · Jun 11, 2018

idhikker

Can you explain why the low numbers? That would be backwards from Nevada where the wilderness areas hold the majority of animals.

customweld · Jun 12, 2018

Low nutritional value in the feed and higher numbers of predators. That has been my experience.

ELKOHUNTER · Jun 12, 2018

LAST EDITED ON Jun-12-18 AT 06:54AM (MST)[p]Well darn. Now I feel like my wilderness hunt research has been use less. Back to the books. Thanks for the heads up!

idhikker · Jun 12, 2018

Customweld nailed it. The other thing is they're getting all popular with non residents.

Plenty of elk areas in Idaho have good elk numbers today. They're just not the typical backcountry areas.

customweld · Jun 12, 2018

If you are set on a wilderness hunt, don't let my negative comment discourage you. There are many folks who are successful hunting these areas. Most of the Seven Devils/Hells Canyon Wilderness Area are draw units only, with the southern portion as an exception. The interior,central Idaho wilderness areas are predominately on a quota for elk and most offer an earlier start on general deer. I'm most familiar with the Frank Church. It's big and unforgiving. Most of the trailheads get a lot of horse use. As a backpacker, you are at a disadvantage in trying to get away from these crowds (it can be done though). There are airstrips that you can fly into. During certain times of the year, these can be crowded as well. The biologist in the McCall office can give you a lot of insight to this area.

ELKOHUNTER · Jun 12, 2018

I thank you for the advise. Just different from the way I'm used to is all. Last year the "high pressure, hunter packed, low elk" was not the case at all. So I thought going deeper would only make it even better. Sounds like maybe I shouldn't change zones and stay where I'm at!

brymoore · Jun 12, 2018

I've hunted a lot of wilderness and have had very little horse contact. The contact I've was positive and didn't effect my hunt.

BPKHunter · Jun 13, 2018

Certainly the quantity of game in some of those Wilderness areas is much higher than others. I do understand the Frank Church, the largest by far, is a place you can get farther away from people if you try, but game is not as abundant and unlike places such as NW WY, the "trophy" potential is limited. Some areas do hold a fair amount of game.