Colorado or Idaho

[mkelley12]

I am looking to do my first elk hunt in 2017. I am starting the planning process now and have been looking into Colorado and Idaho. I am still not sure if i will do archery or rifle it depends on the season i can get a tag for. For Colorado i was looking into unit 70 and 71. Idaho would be the panhandle, selway or beaverhead.

Just looking to see ifanyone has experience in these area's or some recommendations. I have looked at some many statistics I am having a hard time choosing one area. I plan on packing everything in and stating for 5-7 days. So deep off the roads is the plan.

I plan on scouting the area this year to check it all out. Thanks again any help would be great

 

[MT_mulies]

I lived up in the Panhandle of Idaho. There are quite a few elk running around, but a lot of the areas are private land too. I found a couple public land places that were over looked that I found a lot of elk on. I saw the biggest bull that I could have ever shot up there, but things didn't work out haha. The panhandle has a ton of understory and its hard to shoot through it, because there is so much. I called in a number of elk that were within 50 yards and I couldn't see them. This is around the Moscow area. I have also hunted near the beaverheads. There is a lot of open ground down in the south half of the state no matter where you go. If you aren't finding elk then you will need to move over a draw or two in order to find them. There are a lot of wolves down that way so that is one thing to be mindful of. Last year we were near the beaverheads and every night we heard elk bugle about 10 min after sunset and then soon afterward we heard wolves howling that was for 5 we had the same routine every night. We only heard 2 elk bugles during the day while we were there. And I don't know anything about the selway. That's just my two cents.

 

[mkelley12]

Thanks for the information. The panhandle looked pretty thick and I thought visibility would be impacted. So that helps a lot getting that confirmed. For the beaverheads area would you recommend a rifle or bow for the type of terrain and hunting pressure?

I still have to learn on calling but was thinking about an early archery hunt and sitting over water holes and what not. Spot and stalk  maybe. Would the beaverheads for the most part be better terrain for this

Thank you again for the help.

 

[MT_mulies]

I'm not sure about rifle or archery. You will have to look at the regulations and see what area allows for rifle and when. I really think that if you go pretty much anywhere in Idaho you will have a good chance. Last year I moved to southern Idaho and everyone told me that there aren't very many elk here, well I saw elk all the time while hunting deer. And even found a dead 6 point.