NorthwestRob
New member
- Jan 28, 2018
- 7
Good morning fellow elk fanatics. I did not see a designated place to introduce new members so forgive me if I am posting in the wrong forum.
I grew up hunting Washington state for big game from a very young age with my family. I now have a few young ones myself that I hope to teach the same ethics, survival skills, and love for the outdoors my father instilled in me. After spending my 20's in the active Army, I have returned to the northwest and am looking to get back into serious elk hunting.
My father is in great shape for his early 60's and I hope to be able to make every hunting season count while we can enjoy it together. I also have a 13 year old nephew that I enjoy taking on whatever hunting trip I can get his mothers approval to miss school for! As a group, we are meat hunters and enjoy hunts that offer the most opportunity to fill the freezer. We often hunt muzzleloader general and draw hunts in WA to harvest deer on a yearly basis and get elk every 3 years or so. We target areas closed to vehicle traffic and hike in at gates, or parking off roads and hiking to other areas lacking them.
It has taken 2 years of bantering the family to get them to say yes to taking the out of state DIY route for an elk hunting adventure, but I have succeeded. I have started researching (3 weeks) Idaho OTC antlerless elk hunts that offer good chances of harvest and have designated muzzleloader seasons to keep the family in their comfort zone. I have found a few elk zones that offer muzzleloader seasons that overlap deer season. One unit even provides an antler less opportunity to my youth nephew.
I found that the Beaverhead and Lemhi zones offer a great opportunity on paper for our hunting style and goal (MEAT). I will be scouring over maps in the next few months and have vacation set aside for a 4 day scouting trip toward the end of the summer. My goal of the scouting trip is to just familiarize myself with unit access and terrain association. I understand that by muzzleloader season there should be a good amount of snow and elk location and habits will change, along with road access.
I did find something odd during my research. The Elk City zones again offers the muzzleloader antlerless season we are targeting. Unit 16 and 14 had great success but less than 400 hunters between the two units participated. Looking at satellite and topographic maps, these units look pretty thick and offer a variety of steep terrain. Is the unit very accessible when the snow hits? That season is later (NOV) than beaverhead and lemhi (OCT).
Anyhow, thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing our trip experience with everyone and following others as well.
I grew up hunting Washington state for big game from a very young age with my family. I now have a few young ones myself that I hope to teach the same ethics, survival skills, and love for the outdoors my father instilled in me. After spending my 20's in the active Army, I have returned to the northwest and am looking to get back into serious elk hunting.
My father is in great shape for his early 60's and I hope to be able to make every hunting season count while we can enjoy it together. I also have a 13 year old nephew that I enjoy taking on whatever hunting trip I can get his mothers approval to miss school for! As a group, we are meat hunters and enjoy hunts that offer the most opportunity to fill the freezer. We often hunt muzzleloader general and draw hunts in WA to harvest deer on a yearly basis and get elk every 3 years or so. We target areas closed to vehicle traffic and hike in at gates, or parking off roads and hiking to other areas lacking them.
It has taken 2 years of bantering the family to get them to say yes to taking the out of state DIY route for an elk hunting adventure, but I have succeeded. I have started researching (3 weeks) Idaho OTC antlerless elk hunts that offer good chances of harvest and have designated muzzleloader seasons to keep the family in their comfort zone. I have found a few elk zones that offer muzzleloader seasons that overlap deer season. One unit even provides an antler less opportunity to my youth nephew.
I found that the Beaverhead and Lemhi zones offer a great opportunity on paper for our hunting style and goal (MEAT). I will be scouring over maps in the next few months and have vacation set aside for a 4 day scouting trip toward the end of the summer. My goal of the scouting trip is to just familiarize myself with unit access and terrain association. I understand that by muzzleloader season there should be a good amount of snow and elk location and habits will change, along with road access.
I did find something odd during my research. The Elk City zones again offers the muzzleloader antlerless season we are targeting. Unit 16 and 14 had great success but less than 400 hunters between the two units participated. Looking at satellite and topographic maps, these units look pretty thick and offer a variety of steep terrain. Is the unit very accessible when the snow hits? That season is later (NOV) than beaverhead and lemhi (OCT).
Anyhow, thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing our trip experience with everyone and following others as well.
