Elk hunting the Bob Marshall wilderness

[ATangsGearHunter]

First off I want to say I am not looking for anyone to tell me where to go, a trailhead to start at, a drainage to look at or anything of that nature. If anyone wants to share that you may feel free to but I would advise against it. So, what I am wondering is what elevations have others found the majority of elk at in unit 150 in the Bob Marshall wilderness during the mid to late September timeframe? Are the elk typically feeding on grasses at that time of the year in the area? Also, are the elk located throughout the unit in small pockets or are the pretty much concentrated towards the eastern unit boundary? Also as a side note has anyone hired someone to bring in pack animals and pack out an elk for them in this area after a kill? If so would you be willing to share their contact info and a typical price for a job like this? Thank you to anyone willing/able to answer my questions!

 

[Indian Summer]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if you do a search using the words Bob Marshall you’ll see that most comments will advise you to look somewhere else. If there were elk there worth hunting they would be feeding in the upper benches and some areas just above timberline. Good luck.

 

[ATangsGearHunter]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if you do a search using the words Bob Marshall you’ll see that most comments sill advise you to look somewhere else. If there were elk there worth hunting they would be feeding in the upper benches and some areas just above timberline. Good luck.

I’m not too particular on size. Just want to shoot a legal bull.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I was there last fall (9/14-9/21) on a 7 day pack-in rifle hunt. I was incredibly blessed to kill the bull in my profile picture. However, over 7 days this was the ONLY bull seen across 8 hunters and 4 guides. The outfitter we went with has hunted the same units for 30+ years and they're not newbies. We hunted the unit west of the Swift Dam.

If you're looking for a unit with high opportunity at a legal bull I would look elsewhere. If you're looking for spectacular country and a legal bull would just be icing on the cake, then I would recommend the Bob. It is a truly amazing place.

One word of caution the wolves, bears, and lions have a legitimate presence up there so prepare/pack accordingly.

 

[bsnedeker]

I’m not too particular on size. Just want to shoot a legal bull.

Lol.....my dude.

There is a reason they let you use a rifle in there during the peak of the elk rut, and the reason is NOT because their are so many elk they want to thin the herd.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Indian Summer]

Read the last comments AND the one below this. The Bob is NOT the place to look for a good chance on ANY bull. Especially DIY! Especially for a beginner!!!! You’re talking about some of the most rugged country you can find and very few elk. Elkless elk hunts are the norm. I’m not sure why you chose that area to consider hunting but you should start considering somewhere else right now.

 

[MThuntr]

How are you planning to get into that unit? All access requires at least few mile hike and ascent over a pass (nothing major but probably 4 miles before you can even hunt). Without pack animals you're looking at carrying a lot of stuff a long way before you get into huntable country. @ATangsGearHunter outfitters must be licensed to operate in the wildnerness and all of them will likely be booked a year or 2 out so you can't just hire any guy with horses to offer pack support (I know it sounds crazy but the amount of use these areas get would be compounded if there wasn't some regulation). They all have "areas" that they operate. Few guys can operate just anywhere in the Bob

I've done two different loops in that area for work...Holland Lake down Gordon Creek to Big Prairie down the South Fork Flathead to Salmon Lake up Big Salmon Creek back to Holland. The second was from Lodgepole Creek trail head down Hahn & Youngs Creek to the confluence with Danaher Creek and then up Danaher over to the South Fork of Blackfoot. Those 2 trips and side quest hikes resulted in exactly ZERO elk seen in over 20 days on foot.

Personally I'd hunt Iowa for elk before I hunted that area.

This is what a lot of it looks like. We don't venture too far from trails because it's a tangled mess of old trees and some burnt blowdown

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

@mthuntr, just curious, do you work for the forest service or fish and wildlife?

 

[MThuntr]

@mthuntr, just curious, do you work for the forest service or fish and wildlife?

a partnering USDA agency doing the soil survey up there contracted with the FS

 

[kpk]

Personally I'd hunt Iowa for elk before I hunted that area.

Forgive my ignorance on this area....

Why is the Bob Marshall so awful? no elk in there, elk too far in, predators?

 

[MThuntr]

it's a combination of predators, mediocre forage, several big burns, FWP waging war on elk in their wintering areas, forest habitat types that may not be the best for elk, etc. I'm not well versed on the full reasons so someone with more biological experience may be able to more accurate expand on that. Neighboring areas aren't terrible spots to hunt though they do contain a bit more grass and some agriculture.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

it's a combination of predators, mediocre forage, several big burns, FWP waging war on elk in their wintering areas, etc. I'm not well versed on the full reasons so someone with more biological experience may be able to more accurate expand on that. Neighboring areas aren't terrible spots to hunt though they do contain a bit more grass and some agriculture.

Agree and the guides/outfitter we went with mostly blame fires and predators. They lamented how the hunting has gone downhill over the last 30 years and blamed dramatic increases in wolves and grizzlies. Nothing else has really changed over this time period. One key thing they talked about at length was that the Bob already had a lot of wolves prior to reintroduction (constantly coming down from Canada). Since then they've exploded, and the Bob's remoteness and Wilderness area classification (no motorized anything) makes hunting/trapping them effectively futile. This predator problem is corroborated by folks that hunt and manage the Blackfeet Reservation just to the north.

Other MT residents and guys with way more experience than me also blame very long seasons and to @mthuntr's point, beating these animals up in winter ranges when they're more vulnerable. Add poor reproduction rates to all these things and you have a herd that is very stressed.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Forgive my ignorance on this area....

Why is the Bob Marshall so awful? no elk in there, elk too far in, predators?

We packed in 18 miles from the Swift Dam trailhead.

 

[MThuntr]

We packed in 18 miles from the Swift Dam trailhead.

Sounds like you were deeper than us. I spent some time up there in 2015. Swift Current up North Fork of Birch Creek into Beaver Lake (10-11 miles from the dam) to camp for a week. Hiked/worked down South Badger Creek and down Muskrat Creek. We were evacuated just before that South Badger Creek area burned.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Sounds like you were deeper than us. I spent some time up there in 2015. Swift Current up North Fork of Birch Creek into Beaver Lake (10-11 miles from the dam) to camp for a week. Hiked/worked down South Badger Creek and down Muskrat Creek. We were evacuated just before that South Badger Creek area burned.
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Roger that man, Badger Pass was a roughly halfway to our camp. I wish I knew the landmarks better and could tell you where we were. We rode past Badger Lake and gave the horses a break there on the way out. That looked like an awesome place to camp. Looking at a map, from Badger Lake we kept on the SW trail for several miles. We ended up getting a late start and finished the last few miles in the dark. That was very interesting for a bunch of novice horsemen.

 

[Indian Summer]

The big change since the elk hunting was good there is wolf and grizzly population explosions. Fires might relocate elk but in the end they can improve habitat. Grizzlies are hell on pregnant cow and calves and wolves are like cancer to elk year round. Top that off with liberal cow seasons on winter range and it’s been a recipe for disaster.

Quite frankly even if the elk hunting was half decent I don’t think that area with that number of grizzlies is the place for a solo rookie with so many other things on his mind. The bears up there and around Ovando have always had a bad attitude too! Probably because they can’t find a darn elk to eat!!!

 

[ATangsGearHunter]

Sounds like a heck of a lot of don’t go there’s haha we’re pretty committed to going there the other option would be north of Yellowstone but I’ve heard worse about that area. We do have some experience elk hunting just never in that area. We’re going to hike in on foot though and planning to go roughly 10-15 miles in. Original plan was to hike from the meadow creek trailhead on the north end of the unit.

 

[Gerbdog]

Hey man if you can pack in camp 10-15 miles and get a dead elk out on your backs.... more power to you and post up your diet / genetics/ and work out routine.

I think if you can accomplish the above, you can probably find elk too. That's a heck of a hike.

 

[ATangsGearHunter]

There will be three guys which definitely will help but yeah it’ll be a heck of a haul.

 

[beignet]

I mess around in the Bob a bit outside of hunting season. Over the years I’ve seen exactly one legal raghorn in one of the early rifle units. I also have a few friends who’ve done seasonal pack & trail work in the Bob. None of them hunt the early season units, even with access to pack animals.

I’m sure you’ll have a fun adventure if you’re in it for the sake of adventure though.

Sorry to pile on the discouragement, as I certainly get the appeal. But there’s more than a few reasons why the harvest rates in those units are so low.

If you do go, I’d pack along a fly rod. Fishing is still pretty good in September.