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Idaho help

Lanieperch

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Joined
Dec 2, 2015
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I am new to thjs site as a member and i was hoping you all would be willing to help us out. Our hunting group is looking at going to idaho next year for a rifle elk hunt. Problem is i dont know where to even start. There should be 5 of us going including my 14 year old son. So im hopeful for any input anyone has to steer us in the right direction. I have already looked at the hunt planner and obtained the regulations from the game and fish folks. Thanks in advance
 
Start with the mindset that it might take more than one year to get to know the country and where you should hunt. That takes some pressure off of the first year you go.
 
We are also looking at a deer hunt in idaho and use that as a scouting mision for elk. Thoughts?
 
We are looking at maybe a deer hunt out there to scout for elk.
 
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Lots of elk in unit 39, the Sawtooth zone and McCall zones, despite what people say. They can be hard to find and their behaviors these days don't follow historical patterns (due to predators and more hunters) but they are there.

Don't expect to kill one until year 3 of figuring out your chosen unit, but you can definitely get lucky before that.
 
Don't be discouraged by private land held by timber companies in Northern Idaho. Look at onX hunt maps, look up each respective timber company's website, and most of the them offer free or inexpensive access to their land. Good luck and stay safe.
 
Here's a tip, check the historical imagery in Google Earth. There is a data set from a few years ago in central/eastern Idaho that is taken around the start of rifle elk season, the imagery is high quality and taken recently after a snow storm. You can actually see tracks in the snow. This helped me out tremendously when I first started investigating Idaho a couple of years ago. It obviously doesn't mean the elk will be in that exact location, but then again they were there for a reason.
 
What kind of hunt are you looking for? Idaho has a variety of vegetation and terrain. More trees in the north and more open country to the south. More whitetails in the north and mule deer in the south. Wilderness hunt or car camp? Good shape or not? More background would be helpful.
 
Well we used to hunt mule deer in wyoming but the quality has not been there for a few years. So we are looking for a decent mule deer or elk hunt with a reasonabke chance of success. Not being out there has me working on some research hence the post on here. We are good with a back country hunt but im hoping we can be successful. Location itself doesnt really matter except if we deer hunt we are looking at hunting mule deer. So that would mean southern idaho. We are all from minnesota. Any help would be great. Im trying to get a few hunts in with my son before he goes off to college....
 
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If you are dead set on going to Idaho, but suggestion would be to put in for one of the premier mule deer units. A bit of google-fu will turn up some unit numbers that fit that criteria. Draw odds are long, but with no point system in ID, you have as much a chance to draw as anyone. If you don't draw, often times the general units next to the hard to draw can be pretty good. There are very nice bucks taken out of most all the units in the state. Just a search on this site from this past year will give you an idea of the quality that can come from general tags.
 
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