Idaho Unit 36B Archery Elk Questions

[Jweber240]

Hi All. Not looking for honey holes just wondering if I'm wasting my time having put about 20 miles of boot sole down last weekend around the Garden Creek area outside of Challis. I was up near and further back north from Buster Lake and didn't come across any old rubs or hoove prints and only saw 3 piles of extremely old elk droppings, probably years old. This is my first archery elk hunt and while I have no problem putting on the miles I'd like to know if I'm just in the wrong area for elk. Just looking for feedback of anyone who has spent time in 36B as to whether you'd concentrate your time up Squaw Creek, Bayhorse area, Garden Creek, Custer Motorway or further up the unit up Morgan and Panther Creek. I've got all the motorcycle, atv and motor vehicle road and trail map kmz files overlaid into my Google Earth so I can try to stay away from the roads. I've never tagged an elk before and would like to maximize my time in the woods looking over area that is known to hold elk. Thank you for any all of your feedback, I'll be utilizing it this weekend for my 2nd scouting trip. Plan to have about 5 more trips before the season. Thanks!

 

[CApighunter]

I’ll be nice… you probably won’t get much help naming off specific drainages, creeks or other spots. You’ve got 5 trips, keep moving till you find them. Watch some YouTube videos on e scouting for elk and narrow down the locations listed from there.

 

[Jweber240]

I’ll be nice… you probably won’t get much help naming off specific drainages, creeks or other spots. You’ve got 5 trips, keep moving till you find them. Watch some YouTube videos on e scouting for elk and narrow down the locations listed from there.

Lol yeah I figured. I've looked into this forum for awhile for some sort of answer that may point me in the right direction. I take a different approach when someone new is legitimately trying to feed their family but realize that I cannot shake hands with anyone so that they can tell that I am not just fishing for information for a quick tag out. The drainages are large and more specifically Morgan Creek seems like you can really get back a ways was just hoping that someone could PM me and let me know if I am warm or cold. Appreciate the response. If anyone hunts mule deer north west of Winthrop WA in the Chewuch, I do not mind swapping honey hole info with gps coordinates for a vague area that holds elk in 36B. Appreciate it!

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

and didn't come across any old rubs or hoove prints and only saw 3 piles of extremely old elk droppings, probably years old. !

Give more detail on how you scouted the area, not just say I roamed around.

Were you in the thick, nasty over grown hell holes? Were you on trails? What kind, game or 2 legger trails? 20 miles is a good venture, how fast were you traveling and how much elevation were you covering?

The most important part of finding elk is not walking by them.

 

[Jweber240]

Give more detail on how you scouted the area, not just say I roamed around.

Were you in the thick, nasty over grown hell holes? Were you on trails? What kind, game or 2 legger trails? 20 miles is a good venture, how fast were you traveling and how much elevation were you covering?

The most important part of finding elk is not walking by them.

From the rig was around the 8,300ft level and between there and 9,400ft level. A little over 7,000ft elevation gain according the the map I created on Google Earth. Mostly ridge hiking to peep on either side into drainages. wasn't thick nasty stuff just open basin with small to large patches of some type of grass? Each basin had several springs without any sign around them. Plenty of green grass down in the drainages and greens in the patches of timber which some was blow down but nothing crazy. Signs of a burn from the distant past. No trails and I am not sure how fast I was traveling at the time but from 6:00am back to the rig at 8:45pm. It wasn't steep and nasty terrain. Some of the basins or drainages on the north side had decent length to them with steep shale talus type fields (not sure what kind of rock it is) leading into thick timber with some blow down. If blow down is considered nasty then I suppose I found some of that then. Should I be snooping around more in the deep timber and less ridge creeping? Should I focus more on the north to northeastern slopes as opposed to the south to southwest slopes due to cover? I had always had great success with mule deer hunting the north to northeast slopes but not sure if its the same for elk. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Beendare]

Delete

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

From the rig was around the 8,300ft level and between there and 9,400ft level. A little over 7,000ft elevation gain according the the map I created on Google Earth. Mostly ridge hiking to peep on either side into drainages. wasn't thick nasty stuff just open basin with small to large patches of some type of grass? Each basin had several springs without any sign around them. Plenty of green grass down in the drainages and greens in the patches of timber which some was blow down but nothing crazy. Signs of a burn from the distant past. No trails and I am not sure how fast I was traveling at the time but from 6:00am back to the rig at 8:45pm. It wasn't steep and nasty terrain. Some of the basins or drainages on the north side had decent length to them with steep shale talus type fields (not sure what kind of rock it is) leading into thick timber with some blow down. If blow down is considered nasty then I suppose I found some of that then. Should I be snooping around more in the deep timber and less ridge creeping? Should I focus more on the north to northeastern slopes as opposed to the south to southwest slopes due to cover? I had always had great success with mule deer hunting the north to northeast slopes but not sure if its the same for elk. Thanks for the reply.

Find the feed on your next trip, you'll find the trails soon after. What do big bull elk want in September?

 

[Jweber240]

Find the feed on your next trip, you'll find the trails soon after. What do big bull elk want in September?

This being my first elk hunt out here and not having much experience I would say cow's or feed.

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

This being my first elk hunt out here and not having much experience I would say cow's or feed.

Find the feed and water, you might be up too high and more of a rifle season area where you're scouting.

 

[sneaky]

Elk don't like this thick smoke anymore than we do.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[CAH]

Hot and dry weather has me and everything else parched… also, you found where they aren’t and sometimes that’s just as beneficial as finding where they are. Next trip do the opposite of what you did.

 

[ridgefire]

I would personally be looking in a new area. Move until you start finding rubs and wallows from last year or really fresh sign from this year or both.