55-2 Late Muzzy Elk?

Horniac · Jul 14, 2015

Does anyone know why the success rate on this hunt went from 80% in 2013 to 0% in 2014?

I called the IDG&F to confirm that the data was correct (confirmed) and have a call into the biologist to ask him about the lack of success last year but have not been able to connect with him yet. Since there is only 10 total tags for this hunt and the elk herd is suppsedly over objective in these units (55 & 57) that the tag is valid for, I thought it would be a quality low pressure fun hunt to chase some bulls around with a smokepole. I know there are some private land issues on this hunt, but there seems to be plenty of public land to roam on as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Horniac

7mmgilbert · Jul 14, 2015

The F&G opened up a general season in the area for the first time ever. Overwhelming number of hunters pushed most of the elk into Utah and Nevada the ones that stayed in Idaho went completely nocturnal. F&G wanted to push all elk off of farms and ranches and succeeded in doing it with a long general season. There are still elk up high but what was easy to find herds that eat the hay and grain have been taught to not be seen in daylight.
My $.02

Horniac · Jul 16, 2015

7mmGilbert,

Thanks for the info. I went to the IDG&F website and utilized their Hunt Planner and found the following hunts for those units:

Hunt 2036 Area 55-1 30 tags
10/15/15-10/31/15 Antlered Elk Any Weapon 55-1?

Hunt 2127 Area 55-2 50 tags
10/15/15-10/31/15 Antlerless Elk Any Weapon 55-2

General A Tag
South Hills A Tag Unlimited tags
8/30/15-9/30/15 Either-sex Elk Archery Hunt Area 55*?

Controlled Hunt Muzzleloader
Hunt 2163 Area 55-2 10 tags
11/1/15-11/14/15 Antlered Elk Muzzleloader 55-2

From the statistics, it looks like the unlimited archery tag has been around for a while. Is this the general hunt you are talking about as I don't see any other any weapon general hunt listed for these units? It looks like the Muzzy tag I drew immediately follows the any weapon antlered hunt with 30 tags and new this year they added another 50 tag cow hunt that runs concurrently with the rifle bull hunt. Might be even a tougher hunt this year I guess...

Horniac

HayZeus · Jul 16, 2015

I have a friend who had a landowner rifle bull tag there last year. He said it was a tough hunt just for the fact that the elk were so skiddish he couldn't even get within rifle range. He did finally get one at over 600 yards and it was a nice 340 bull. It will probably be a tough hunt with a muzzleloader but its a bull tag with a chance at some good bulls so make the most of it and have a great time. My daughter has a deer tag down there so we could let you know what we see throughout her season.

Deerlove · Jul 16, 2015

Do you think hunters tell the truth on those harvest reports?

Horniac · Jul 16, 2015

>Do you think hunters tell the
>truth on those harvest reports?
>

I would hope so! Wouldn't filing a false report be a violation thereby making the alleged hunter a "poacher"?

Horniac

Deerlove · Jul 16, 2015

I don't know, but a lot hunters DONT want others to know success and size of bucks and bulls. Poaching? Have a tag use it legally.

BigBuck23 · Jul 16, 2015

The hunters are reporting the right info it's the F&G that aren't. I live in this area and have hunted it for over 12 years the last two years it has been a complete disgrace the F&G started an unlimited any weapon over the counter cow hunt from Aug.1 until Dec. 31. They did this not having any idea how many elk where even in the unit. This was based off assumption and one land owner that turned his farm into an organic farm and threatened lawsuits if the elk weren't removed. I personally know they gave him additional tags and extended the season just for him beyond the first of the year. After it was all said and done it was a complete devastation to the elk herd. It has been very hard for me to watch them misinform the public and say they are over objective. If that is true they don't have very high objectives at all in fact when they did there first and ONLY flights to see what was left I visited with the pilot and he said they only found 21 cows in unit 57 and less then 100 elk total in 56 no flight was even done in 55. So even after spending thousands of dollars in this survey proving the numbers are way way below objective they added 50 more controlled cow tags as well as an unlimited any weapon hunt for the month of August. Pretty much offering more tags then cow elk available. Sorry to be so negative but I have personally seen it happen and am now forced to hunt another area or state for that matter. There are still a few Bulls around but with all the pressure and lack of cows it is going to be a very tough year.

Horniac · Jul 16, 2015

>I don't know, but a lot
>hunters DONT want others to
>know success and size of
>bucks and bulls. Poaching? Have
>a tag use it legally.
>

I understand wanting to keep success and size of a nice buck or bull on the QT. However, reporting no harvest on what I understand to be a MANDATORY harvest report, would be purposely filing a false report, and therefore IMO would be a violation of the Fish and Game code, hence the poacher label...

For example, in NV if you harvest an antelope with your bow with an antelope archery tag, you are ineligible to apply for another antelope tag for five years. If you actually harvested a goat, and then falsely reported you did not, you could apply for another tag the next year. I know the NV example is not completely analogous to the ID reporting requirement being discussed, but the reasoning is similar.

But I digress, I am just trying to understand why the success rate went from 80% in 2013 to 0% in 2014. Snow, lack of snow, unseasonably warm weather, elk on private in 2014, forest fire, etc.

If you are implying that the success in 2014 is better than the 0% reported because everyone did not report their harvest, I could see maybe one or two hunters doing that, but not all five hunters falsely reporting in 2014.

Thanks everyone for your input thus far. I am still hoping to get a call back from the biologist for the unit to shed some light on the situation. I will try to call him again I guess...

Horniac

Horniac · Jul 19, 2015

BigBuck23,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. Your opinions carry a lot of weight, based on the fact that you live in the area and given your hunting pedigree.

I am seeing an unlimited any weapon cow hunt (South Hills B tag) with a season of 8/1 to 8/29 and an unlimited either-sex archery tag (South Hills A tag) with an 8/30 to 9/30 season. These are in addition to the controlled hunts previously discussed. I can't find any tag that lets you hunt cows until the end of December unless I missed it someone, which is very possible for sure, given the complexity and the multitude of tag options, both controlled and general. What hunt/hunt # are you referring to?

In any event, the biologist was nice enough to return my call Friday and leave me a VM, seemed somewhat puzzled by the harvest data for the 58-2 muzzy hunt last year, since he said the bowhunters did very well in there last year on some nice bulls. He did say the elk density is low in those units, the elk are scattered throughout, and a hunter needs to stay mobile to find them. I am going to call him back next week to hopefully get some more info. I know the big bulls will typically be by themselves trying to recover from the rut and fatten up before the winter so I would think they would be up high in the NF of those units in some hidey holes unless early snow pushed them down to lower elevations. However, maybe these bulls just go lounge down low and fatten up on the private ranches where the public hunters can't bother them?

It is nice to have an opportunity at least for a bull with a tag in hand, I just hope it's not one of those hunts where you hunt hard and never see an elk. I have ten days or so to decide I guess...

Thanks again everyone for the info!

Horniac