Montana/Idaho border

[towens2011]

Hello all!
Will be east of Leadore looking for bull or cow September archery! Trying not to advertise area so the whole web knows where I’m talkin about
Anyways, any input on things I should know about the area would be awesome, not looking for spots just more so generalized pointers. Will gladly trade info on any NV unit if it interests you guys. Will report back if successful! A PM would sure mean a ton, thanks in advance fellow muleys!!

 

[Blank]

You're joking, right? Managed to get a Beaverhead A tag, and think it's a secret hotspot. You will have more company than you can imagine. Rifle cow hunters around the fields for a month, then NR's there for the entire season. Wide open glassing country, good numbers roaming around 1st and last half hour, then the elk bury themselves in thick timber all day. Traffic on every open road.

 

[towens2011]

You're joking, right? Managed to get a Beaverhead A rag, and think it's a secret hotspot. You will have more company than you can imagine. Rifle cow hunters around the fields for a month, then NR's there for the entire season. Wide open glassing country, good numbers roaming around 1st and last half hour, then the elk bury themselves in thick timber all day. Traffic on every open road.

Nice PM big guy!

 

[Rie bread]

I was told Montana archery is excellent that time of year . You got a good tip. Go in there and get the

 

[Blank]

What tip didn't you like? You specifically didn't want a hotspot, so I didn't give you one!
1. It's wide open country, requiring lots of glassing. The Killer B's from Bannack, Bingham, and Bonneville counties have spent years learning the units and where to glass from.
2. The elk will be in larger herds, but only visible in low light
3. Lots of hunters, and lots of traffic. you will just be one more
4. The animals bury themselves in timber. Get a surface management map, study all roads that get you near timber. Use Google Earth and mark timber on your map.
5.The farther from a road, the closer to the wolves. They have had impact on herd numbers, but more so, the elk are less vocal. Cow calls are much better than loud bugles
6. Look for seeps and tanks. If you see deer and antelope above timberline there will be elk also
7. The comment about Montana is a good one. Check opening days, pressure moved them back and forth for the 4 weeks

By the way - Good luck

 

[towens2011]

What tip didn't you like? You specifically didn't want a hotspot, so I didn't give you one!
1. It's wide open country, requiring lots of glassing. The Killer B's from Bannack, Bingham, and Bonneville counties have spent years learning the units and where to glass from.
2. The elk will be in larger herds, but only visible in low light
3. Lots of hunters, and lots of traffic. you will just be one more
4. The animals bury themselves in timber. Get a surface management map, study all roads that get you near timber. Use Google Earth and mark timber on your map.
5.The farther from a road, the closer to the wolves. They have had impact on herd numbers, but more so, the elk are less vocal. Cow calls are much better than loud bugles
6. Look for seeps and tanks. If you see deer and antelope above timberline there will be elk also
7. The comment about Montana is a good one. Check opening days, pressure moved them back and forth for the 4 weeks

By the way - Good luck

No I absolutely appreciated the last half of your tip, but you mentioned “beaverhead” so now all the other new guys will search the web for it and go straight to this forum
But really, thanks for the advice dude!
Lot of wolves? Grizzlies?
Good fishing?

 

[HORNhunter7]

I hunted several times just west of Leadore till the crowds ran me out and that was over 20 years ago! Since then the wolves came in and the elk got thinned out. Funny thing is the people just kept coming.
It used to be a really fun place to hunt and had some pretty nice bulls.
Where your looking at across the the road they did cut the tags some but it's still got too many I think.

Blank told you right. There will be lots of people and you won't find a secret elk hole spot that many others don't know about and that hasn't been talked about in every hunting magazine, podcast, game forum etc. etc. for the last several years now.

Hopefully you can find one that has the fewest people and if your willing to out work everybody else you could have a good hunt.

As far as grizz goes your a little to far North for the most part but could still encounter one.

When it comes to wolves there's a few reasons most of the elk are down out of the mountains in the sage and the fields and wolves are probably the main one . Elk learn to survive any way they can and that means changing there habits substantially. As far as wolf numbers I have no idea. Fishing the same.

You're at least one step ahead of some of your competition as many of them won't draw a tag so go have a fun time. Make getting an elk just be the icing on the cake.

 

[Blindnonresident]

I cannot believe you are angry.
YOU ARE THE ONE THAT CREATED THIS THREAD!
Sticking it to yourself.

 

[towens2011]

I cannot believe you are angry.
YOU ARE THE ONE THAT CREATED THIS THREAD!
Sticking it to yourself.

Where you get angry from blindnonresident? Lol

 

[towens2011]

I hunted several times just west of Leadore till the crowds ran me out and that was over 20 years ago! Since then the wolves came in and the elk got thinned out. Funny thing is the people just kept coming.
It used to be a really fun place to hunt and had some pretty nice bulls.
Where your looking at across the the road they did cut the tags some but it's still got too many I think.

Blank told you right. There will be lots of people and you won't find a secret elk hole spot that many others don't know about and that hasn't been talked about in every hunting magazine, podcast, game forum etc. etc. for the last several years now.

Hopefully you can find one that has the fewest people and if your willing to out work everybody else you could have a good hunt.

As far as grizz goes your a little to far North for the most part but could still encounter one.

When it comes to wolves there's a few reasons most of the elk are down out of the mountains in the sage and the fields and wolves are probably the main one . Elk learn to survive any way they can and that means changing there habits substantially. As far as wolf numbers I have no idea. Fishing the same.

You're at least one step ahead of some of your competition as many of them won't draw a tag so go have a fun time. Make getting an elk just be the icing on the cake.

Thanks for the help sir!

 

[Blank]

Here's your hint. Seriously. Go out of town to the top of the hill, turn left, and walk down into the trees in each canyon. Good luck finding them!!

 

[towens2011]

Here's your hint. Seriously. Go out of town to the top of the hill, turn left, and walk down into the trees in each canyon. Good luck finding them!!

PM’d

 

[ARROWHNTR]

Not much that hasn’t already been said. I used to hunt that area. To many people and the rifle cow hunts starting august 1 in the fields have changed the elk patterns a lot and so I moved on. You will deal with lots of pressure and elk moving back into montana. You can’t out hike people anymore, there will be camps in deep all over, some bivy camps and some packed in to stay. You can kill elk in there but you’re going to have to be patient and work your ass off and get lucky, it’s a tough steep area. Never seen a Grizz in there, lots of black bears and wolves.