36A Critters

muledeermottly · Jan 6, 2009

Anyone do any actual shooting in 36A this season? I have been in that unit now for around 5 years and normally see elk all over and we usually fill our deer tags every year with decent 160 - 180 class bucks. This year though is the same story everyone else has, wolves and weather. We hunted the late season (4th week of Oct) unlimited deer tag expecting good things to come. That didnt happen! We did see a couple of decent bulls come out of the 36A-2 hunt, one monster 6x7, but I was just wondering if any one had better luck than we did this year. If so post some pics, I know there are good animals in that area.

Thank guys!

MuleyCrazed · Jan 9, 2009

My buddy and I drew in Unit 36A-1 this past season for elk. We were up there for the first week. We saw nothing less than 320" bulls. We got into one herd on opening day, but couldn't get a shot. My buddy ended up getting a shot at that bull on the second day of the hunt. It was probably a 320-330" bull. Unfortunately he missed....not sure how, but he did. The weather was extremely warm for October. We drew in 2006 and there were a lot more elk in the area. I shot a 313" 6X7 in there that year. The elk were there this year, but just not active. My brother also drew with us and he ended up shooting a rag horn bull the last weekend in October. Other than that it sounds like the same story you have. The weather just didn't cooperate this past year. There are some good animals in that area though, hopefully it will get better.

MuleyCrazed
Idaho

muledeermottly · Jan 15, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Jan-15-09 AT 01:33PM (MST)[p]Sounds like you guys have pulled this tag a few times, I only hit the elk tag once and had a great hunt. I know how the "missing" thing goes, somehow, someway I missed a good 340 bull in 2005. That was the last time I drew the tag, still ended up killing a 320 6x6, a 5x5 and a rag with my brothers. Have you ever done any archery hunting in there? I have given it some thought, but I heard that it can get pretty crowded. Thanks for the feedback though, one always good thing about that country is the scenery, cant be it in my mind! I would post some pics of past hunts, but the files must be too large to download or something!

Thank you!

MuleyCrazed · Jan 16, 2009

Sounds like you have done well in there as well. I have attached a pic of the bull I shot in '06. Unfortunately, I was alone when I shot it and didn't have a camera with me. So the pic is back at camp. The other pic is of a winter kill I found in there while scouting this past season. It is definitely cool country!

MuleyCrazed
Idaho

Birdchaser · Jan 20, 2009

I also hunted the unlimited deer tag as well for 6 days. I saw 12 bucks and only one shooter with no opprotunity to get in close. In that six days I only saw two bulls and ten cows. I also have had the bull tag three times 98, 02, 04 best bull we killed was 285. But since then animal numbers have dropped dramaticly.

northwesthunter · Jan 29, 2009

I was looking into that tag for this year and wondered what the pressure was like. If a guy is willing to hike a ways can you get away from people? I think this year the weather messed up a lot of units. We were in 39 with lots of others and it was 65+ every afternoon and saw very few bucks. I thought maybe the unlimited tag only hunt would help the people issue and hope for the best on the weather. nwhunter

Birdchaser · Jan 31, 2009

Northwesthunter, yes you can get away from people it is a big unit. But we did see and meet quite a few hunters in the feild. As far as the the weather it was 68 degrees on more than one afternoon. And yes I also feel that the weather played apart in the low deer numbers as well. But I think there were close to 250 pepole that drew that tag this year and for 36a-1 and 36a-2 thats quite a few people to be in there after a general deer season too. But thats just my opinion. Hope that helps answer your questions

muledeermottly · Feb 3, 2009

I gotta agree with you birdchaser, I think there were around 250 tags for the unlimited deer hunt. I couldnt believe how many people we saw camped along the road as we drove in. I was actually surprised to see how many people hiked in further than I thought. We had our horses with us and we still had hunters getting pretty close to where we were. The ideal situation usually is to get a camp way in, 8 or 9 miles and hunt from there. But to answer your question northwest, on a typical year its not hard to get away from people, and the hunt can be very rewarding.