231 early rifle elk

I drew the early rifle tag and would love to hear from anyone who has spent time in the unit or hunted it. I'm taking the whole season off and we already have the camping situation covered. Would love to hear anyone's opinion on what size of bull to hold out for. I'm fully willing to go home with a tag on my pocket if I don't see anything that catches my eye, I can shoot raghorns in my home state of idaho. Appreciate any input.

Based on what I know of the elk in that unit you should probably try to kill the first 340 class Bull you see. Most of the bulls I've seen there are either mature five points or funky shaped 5 x 6 or kind of goofy racks. A big clean 6 x 6 will be rare to find.

There?s some good bulls in there. We archery hunted it about 7 years ago and I was impressed. A lot could have changed since then but we saw some 350+ every day. The one my buddy shot with his bow scored just shy of 350.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-15-18 AT 11:38PM (MST)[p]The rifle hunt is nothing like the archery hunt. It is a very tough hunt and a lot of guys struggle to find a decent bull. I won't apply for the rifle hunts in NV due to how late they are. I'd much rather have an archery tag in 231. Here are a couple of reasons why...

I had the tag in 2013 and my son had his in 2010. I went with a guide and spent 7 days chasing bulls. The first day we saw a huge 5X5 that would have scored 340 easily. I passed to see bigger and 6X6 at least. Saw some bulls every day but never what I had expected from this unit. All the talk a 400 class bull had me waiting. Only saw one bull, day 6, that if I could have shot I would have. Too far away. When the hunt ended and not tagging out I went home got refreshed and a day later went back up. I live in Nevada, 2 days later a shot a 6x6 318 type bull. Not a pretty bull but a decent one. On White Rock mountain, west side, one night, we saw 23 bulls. Nothing worth chasing. But the bulls were there. My son on his hunt hunted 5 days, before he got tired, of chasing the elk. He took a 290 class 6X6. As you know, I can't apply for this unit til the waiting period is over, but as soon as I can I will apply here again. That time spent on those two hunts trained me quite well.

I'm very surprised by the comments on size of bulls in this unit. Don't get me wrong I would love to shoot a 340 class bull on my hunt but that's pretty close to my bottom line. At least that's what I'm telling myself going in. Would love any suggestions on access and where to hunt mickey,pm would be preferable, thanks guys.

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