Unit 40 elk late

juice · Jun 25, 2015

Somehow I drew a tag for the Oct. 15 to Nov. 24th in unit 40. I'm pretty excited to say the least. For all the hype this unit receives, is 350+" actually a realistic possibility? How much of an impact are the 2pt deer and controlled hunt deer guys going to have? Do animals get pushed to inaccessible private land?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I plan on making several trips up in the next few months to look at the country and hopefully get an idea for quality.

Thanks!

elkohalic · Jun 25, 2015

First of all congrats on drawing a great tag. While there are some good 350+ bulls there you may have to eat your tag if you hold out for one. A 330 to 340+ goal should be more reasonable to find. The two-point hunt does have an effect on the elk and they get pushed around quite a bit. Depending on the area some do take cover on private ground.
The opener is usually the best part of that hunt. Best of luck on your hunt.

juice · Jun 26, 2015

Thanks elkohalic. I'm pretty excited, why is it you never see pictures of bulls killed in the unit? It has been touted as one of Idaho's best units for the past 10 years but you never actually see proof. I've killed a handful of bulls so not too worried about getting tied into numbers. I just want a good hunt with the opportunity to kill a upper end representative of the unit. Going to head up the end of July to look around. Any suggestions on where to start?

brdhuntr · Jun 26, 2015

>Thanks elkohalic. I'm pretty excited,
>why is it you never
>see pictures of bulls killed
>in the unit? It
>has been touted as one
>of Idaho's best units for
>the past 10 years but
>you never actually see proof.
> I've killed a handful
>of bulls so not too
>worried about getting tied into
>numbers. I just want
>a good hunt with the
>opportunity to kill a upper
>end representative of the unit.
> Going to head up
>the end of July to
>look around. Any suggestions
>on where to start?
Go to Whiskey Mountain Outfiiters, to see some of the animals that the area holds.The bull from 2014,scored over 370.

BPKHunter · Jun 28, 2015

The early rut hunt was pretty famous, when it opened in Aug. I had my son in there in 07 and talked so some guys that know that country really well. One killed a huge bull, but you have to really know those elk and hope for weather, but not so much you can't get around.

There is a lot of country, it's full of nasty terrain, so the first trick is just to find animals. This is evidenced by low success rate historically. Just looked again and some years under 20%. Good news is if you find Bulls they can be very big. Bad news is you won't find them in late Oct-Nov where you can find them now. Seems you can't hunt Juniper Mtn any longer either and are just in Unit 40, too bad.

Good luck.

PS. I have

OLDHORNHUNTER · Jun 29, 2015

Whiskey Mtn also hunts ALL private land !! & also land they are NOT supposed to be on !!! Also heard from a ranch hand that saw them take a bull one year that was a Oregon critter !!!

juice · Jun 30, 2015

I actually had already looked at the Whiskey Mnt page. I figured they were on private ground.....awesome 7x7 last year. So will the elk push off the top by the time my hunt starts to the bad land thick flat country? Unfortunately I don't think there will be much rutting by my hunt to give away their locations. Feel free to PM me if you like. I'm trying to go up in three weeks to look around.

BPKHunter · Jul 1, 2015

They'll leave the tops before they rut. That's the needle in the haystack part. All those Junipers and all those little canyons.

This is why this hunt is best for guys that live and breathe the Owyhee's and get to know the elk's patterns.

They're sure easy to find in the summer.