Thoughts on the Starkey Experimetal rifle elk hunt

JB148 · Feb 3, 2014

Just curious to hear thoughts on this rifle elk unit. I am debating if my wife should put in or not. Thanks for any input. JB

Wanted · Feb 3, 2014

Difficult hunt. Low success rate.

Hiker of the Woods · Feb 3, 2014

Depends if they have a current experiment going on right now with having to wipe out all mature bulls and only leave spikes. That place is always changing. Best to make a call and see where they are at with bull numbers and/or experiments. It is a hard hunt no matter what.

lostinOregon · Feb 3, 2014

John, I will text you a picture of a bull killed in there this year. A stud.

Rich

bonepicker · Feb 4, 2014

I have never hunted it and I don't know of anyone who has. That being said, I would totally apply for the tag if I had enough points. It would be cool to hunt the area just to be able to see what goes on, what the land is like, to hunt where other people can't go at any time, with a chance at a good bull, small crowds, etc. Seems like a lot of cool elements in that hunt, I would do it just for the fun of it.

JB148 · Feb 4, 2014

Thanks for the input guys, you brought some interesting points. I will do some checking and figure it out. JB

elkliver · Feb 5, 2014

I've always wanted to hunt it and then post hunt have them show you the tracking beacons for where elk were. It seems to me this would be a huge teaching tool to learn to be a better hunter. Not sure if they do this or not but they should. Fish and game could use it as a revenue producer and sell the info after the hunt to their hunters.

does anybody know if you can do this?

LoveBigRacks · Feb 6, 2014

They don't track every elk, just a select few they have collared, and don't believe they collect the data in real time or are willing to share it with general public.

Had the archery tag several years ago and had a great time but like has been said, it's changed a lot since then.

LBR

JB148 · Feb 8, 2014

Years ago a read a few reports regard elk movement during a hunt. Not sure if it was bow or rifle. In what research I have done it seems every year they make slight changes for study purposes such as truck traffic, ATV traffic, and walk in traffic. The people I have spoken to either say they liked it or it was tough. As you know regardless of where you elk hunt it is never easy. JB

dz · Feb 10, 2014

My son had a cow tag about 7 years ago. They told us there were 400 head there. We hunted hard and didn't see an elk for days. On the 8th day of a 9 day hunt he shot the 13th cow of the season. There was 60 cow tags given out and 50 youth tags picked up over the counter. Then for the last two days of the hunt they brought in 12 master hunters. There are some big steep nasty draws in there. The cow my son shot had a collar on it. They said it had not been caught in 8 years. Did see some dandy bulls inside the fence. I haven't been back since but it used to be open in the summer to go hike around.

Good luck,

DZ