southern idaho archery questions

[dgwoody]

I am planning on hunting southern Idaho next year for deer and possibly elk (depending on weather or not I draw my utah tag) My question is, which units has the best potential for deer (size and quality)? Do I have to pick one unit, or do you just have to follow the regs for the unit you are in? I know that I can hunt both archery and rifle and that I have to hunt spikes for one or the other. I live in cache valley and wouldn't mind hunting close to home if I can, but I don't mind traveling for a good hunt.

 

[tageater]

Franklin county used to be great in the deer column,but the late muzzy hunt has killed alot of big bucks off(IMO)

 

[dgwoody]

Do you have to pick a unit for archery deer in Idaho? Or is it like utah where you can hunt the whole state but just follow the regs for the unit you are in?

 

[UtahIdahoHunter]

Like you I live in Cache Valley and I am waiting frustrated with the lack of deer and waiting to draw a bull tag. In Idaho you have a choice of two tags, Tag A and B. Tag A is any elk including bulls for archery then muzzleloader and rifle are anterless including spikes. Tag B is archery antlerless and anyweapon is a bull tag. (Look close at the muzzleloader restrictions)
For the last 3 years I have bought OTC Bull A tag for the Bear River Zone consisting of units 75,77 and 78. It is an area that gets high hunting pressure and Idaho sells too many tags. It is an area that you have to know where to look or you may never see an elk (it happens to a lot of people that I know). It has taken me three years to figure out where the cows like to return every year. The bulls are call shy because people don't know what they are doing or when to shut up. I have had some success but, have never seen a bull in this unit over 330" It is a tough hunt with not many elk but it beats sitting around waiting to draw a Utah tag.
As for the deer tag I know you have to specify which area you are going to hunt in and like the hunter before me has said Idaho had a late season muzzleloader hunt after a huge snowstorm that pushed all of the big bucks down and they were wiped out. I have seen a few good bucks over the last 3 years, but the population is still really low. I hope this helps.

 

[dgwoody]

That helps quite a bit. I considered hunting up near island park, but after talking to one of my buddys from Ashton, he said the elk have been wiped out by wolves. Is there anywhere in the south east with some kind of wilderness in it? Somewhere I could pack into. Not asking for honey holes or anything, a simple yes or no will work. I will do my homework deeper here in a couple of weeks, I am just trying to get an idea of what to expect. Thanks fellas.

 

[UtahIdahoHunter]

There are a few areas in the Southeast with no atv access that are pretty good and you have to hike into, but they are nasty. It is a good idea to have access to horses to help pack out. I plan to pack in this fall to a couple of them.

You will never kill a big one if you continue to kill the small ones.

 

[dgwoody]

Thats kind of what I'm getting at. I don't spend a hundred bucks a ton just to look at the cute little pony in the back yard! I don't mind the nasty as long as there are animals in the area.

 

[BrianID]

LAST EDITED ON Jan-04-08 AT 00:37AM (MST)[p]For elk you have to pick your zone. For deer you only choose between a regular deer tag or a whitetail deer tag. The regular deer tag allows you to hunt any season or unit open to the regular deer tag. A large majority of the units have an archery season for deer and elk from August 30th to September 30th.

If you hunt any muzzleloader or archery season you will also need an archery or muzzleloader permit.

The late muzzleloader deer hunt in the Bear River Range (units 75, 77 & 78) was done away with a couple years ago. The SE tag that made nonresidents choose between a SE tag (units 75, 76, 77 & 78) and the regular deer tag has been removed for 2008. The nonresident regular deer tag will allow you to hunt the SE units and/or any of the other units that have a season for the regular deer tag.

The 2008 regulations will not be out until April. I would expect the 2008 hunting seasons to be similar to the 2007 but that is only my opinion. Every now and then I've seen the F&G make significant changes giving the public little or no advance notice.

Last year the quota for nonresident elk tags sold out September 12th. Nonresident Deer tags sold out October 10th. There are a handful of elk zones that have individual quotas but most elk zones are only affected to the state wide quota. No elk zones in Eastern Idaho have an individual quota. Because of the liberal quota's I would expect to see other hunters if there are elk in the area. Even during archery season you are going to see other hunters when you are as far as possible from motorized access.

Good luck at getting away from motorized access in SE Idaho. There are very few places you can get much more than a mile from some kind of motorized access.

 

[dgwoody]

Perfect! Thanks for the info Brian.

 

[Foxbow]

dgwoody
Your buddy must be mistaken, saying "wolves wiped out the elk".
Acording to the wolf-lovers here, the wolves are good for the health of big game herds.
They are so healthy (decimated) you can not even find any.

BTW their are some very good archery units if you can draw a tag in the southern part of Id.
I plan on appying there this season too.

 

[dgwoody]

Obviously the elk are not gone completely, but there numbers are down from what they were (which was probably to high) My buddy is an outfitter who is trying to make a living.