Unit 49

[CHUCKER]

I bought my tag yesterday for my first elk hunt. I'll be going to unit 49 for the August 30th opener. I will also be hunting deer and bear. If anyoneone has any advice on where to concentrate my efforts or anything that might help I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks
Chucker

 

[usmcelkhunter]

well i dont know that area but good luck.

 

[IdahoBigGameHunter]

go to slaughterhouse hill if u cant find it just go into town and ask everyone nows where it is. I always see a lot of deer at the top good luck

 

[CHUCKER]

funny how sometimes guys say "sent you a PM , good luck" with some private advice and sometimes you get a smartass comment like upstairs from some dipstick.

 

[htnfool]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-21-08 AT 08:49PM (MST)[p]CHucker,

I used to hunt 49 every year and kill a small 4 point buck. (18"-20" inches)

Look just east (feels like north) of Sun valley/elkhorn golf course for a drainage called 'Keystone gulch'. It is marked on the road with a sign. Keystone is just north ( feels like the west) of independence gulch. It always has deer in it.

If you try to access from the bottom. Beware of the owner 'Stella Grey'. She has gotten cranky in her old age. She owns about 5 acreas in the bottom, ask first to cross her property. She used to be super cool and drive her volkwagen up the canyon and help retrieve our deer. But no more. Your better bet is to access it( keystone) from the drainage just to the south/east called 'independence'. Go up near where the main road ends and look for a 4wheeler trail to the left or north. You can ride it to the ridge line seperating the 2 canyons. The hike would not be hard-20 minutes. You should be able to spot it no problems. Not many hunt it. Seriously.

Or even better. Drop a truck off at the bottom of keystone and take another truck to the top of the hill via the triumph mine route. To get there, go up the east fork of the wood river road and head up to the triumph mine. When you reach the mine, it's right next to the road. Go due north to the top of the hill. This road is on the map and when you turn of the east fork rd to go up to the top it appears like you have to turn into someones yard to go up. you will figure it out. This basically give you access to the top of independence and keystone gulch. THis is the back door access. We used this method to beat all others into the canyons and get first dibs. Worked for 10 year staight. Those guys never did catch on to our gig. Damn that was fun. you can hike in there in about 45 minutes. That is the way we did it every year. Saw elk almost every year, but no bears. Milligan gulch has animals in it too. This is the canyon that you will be paralleling, it lies just to the east of triumph This is the canyon to the east of the mine. Only foot, horse or bike traffic in the bottom. A Bike could come in real handy in that drainage. If you check the maps you will see what I am talking about.

If you need more info. Just send me a p.m.

Htnfool

 

[BRDDAWG]

>funny how sometimes guys say "sent
>you a PM , good
>luck" with some private advice
>and sometimes you get a
>smartass comment like upstairs from
>some dipstick.


I don't think he was being a smartass. Slaughterhouse gulch is an actual place in unit 49 and used to hold a fair amount of elk.

 

[orion23]

Not saying Slaughterhouse is bad advice or a "dipstick" remark...at all, but you wont get as many "dipstick" remarks if you actually do a little research yourself first then ask more direct questions. even look at a map first, you can do plenty of scouting from your computer today. then you avoid the awkward comments like above when he really gave you good free advice.

i archery hunt 49 every year. there are plenty of good places to go.

Travis

 

[CHUCKER]

Thanks guys. I have done a lot of research like call biologist, look at old posts, bought three kinds of maps, checked back issues of huntin fool, I think I have a plan. I'm just worried wolves have had a negative impact. The biologist told me cow/bull ratios are up but mature bull numbers are down because they stay higher later which puts them at risk.