Picking Brains on Idaho's Selway zone -10 day Early October Hunt!

gaines033

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Hey everyone,

So myself, dad and uncle all decided to go in and purchase a few game tags for the Selway zone that include deer, bear, wolf and an elk tag.. Are main objective is Elk but aren't going to pass up on any of the above listed. This will be our first hunt in the area and you could say first real western big game hunt. We are coming from Georgia and plan to haul a trailer and a couple ATV's with a King Ranch. The hopes were to come in off Magruder Corridor from Darby and hunt a few different locations off of the road --hiking back, up to 7ish miles. I have yet to contact any biologists/wardens on areas but was hoping that I could find out some input on the tactics anyone may have used or heard of to tag out! There is so much information out there as regards to hunting elk such as some folks bugle at every drainage and mountain side and if they hear no response they continue to move on (I see how you could put many miles a day in doing this) but then I also see people that claim elk in this unit and other heavily pressured units, whether hunted by human or wolf, do not always bugle.. So would suggestions be to sit still, glass the area and hope to glimpse an elk or continue moving. I've narrowed down a lot of areas that I think would hold elk, glassing spots etc but all that is up for change based on any information that you all provide or biologists etc. I would love to hear anyone's suggestion that has hunted the area or know someone that has. Also any information as to the conditions of the road, weather and such in early October and what I could expect or be prepared for. I know this hunt I going to be pretty grueling but we are all in good physical condition and every day are preparing for this. The way we are looking at this is ultimate backcountry experience, with plans to backpack and camp off the trail, fish lakes and streams and just take in the beautiful country as we bust our ass trying to fill our tags on a couple animals.

thanks so much in advance!
 
Welcome to the forum
sam.jpg
 
Welcome to Hunttalk. As most of the eastern part of the zone is wilderness, there are not many roads other than the main road. So, if your plans are to backpack, I would leave the ATVs at home rather than dragging them across the country. It is really pretty country.
 
Welcome to Hunttalk. As most of the eastern part of the zone is wilderness, there are not many roads other than the main road. So, if your plans are to backpack, I would leave the ATVs at home rather than dragging them across the country. It is really pretty country.

Well we kind of have a few areas picked out to hunt, the areas are a few miles down from each other by the way of the road. Each area has a 2-3 specific zones we plan to key in on. Our thought was that the last thing we would want to happen is getting out there and have some trouble on the road, maybe something impassable by truck so if that was the case we could just ditch the truck and continue on ATV down the road.
 
Ditch the atv and bring horses. You will find that hiking in 7 miles in that county isn't exactly easy. A 7 mile mile hike in is going to be a multi day adventure. That's a lot of time spent on one area so pretty much at that point might as well use that as your hunt area and make it work. Enjoy the 7 mile pack out of the meat, it will test your will power!
 
Ditch the atv and bring horses. You will find that hiking in 7 miles in that county isn't exactly easy. A 7 mile mile hike in is going to be a multi day adventure. That's a lot of time spent on one area so pretty much at that point might as well use that as your hunt area and make it work. Enjoy the 7 mile pack out of the meat, it will test your will power!

the last thing I want to be is naive to this terrain but we backpack in the Appalachian mountains often. For reference I hiked a little over 8.5 miles with 3k elevation gain in a 40lb pack and it took me right at 3.5 hours. The plan is to drop camp before our hunting areas and then hike the mornings before and get set up. So about a third of that will be with just daypacks. Also a lot of our hiking is ridgeline so I honestly am having a tough time thinking a three to four mile hike back and dropping camp will take us a day or a half a day for that matter. Again, 7 miles is the furthest hunting location I've e-scouted and again I don't want to underestimate the terrain, just stating we are all fit and conditioning every day for this hunt.
 
It is beautiful country with a ton of burns. I hunted the Eastern edge of 16A and the west side of 17 a few years back. There are ton of variables with weather and animal behavior you'll need to be prepared for. We had 70's one day and a foot of snow the next. The ATV's could be useful, but aren't necessary, I personally would leave them home. We found some animals close to the road, I think you are better of walking into your spots so you don't drive by some key sign or animals. As much as they may help you at times, it will limit you where you can go with a trailer, some of the roads are narrow, washed out with very steep drops, you should be able to pass most anything with some patience and 4wd. I would be sure to bring a chainsaw as trees blow down across the road regularly. I would recommend bringing tire chains too, better to have them and not use them than get stuck if you are way back! We hunted from a basecamp and then would drive out to different jump off points some mornings and would hike in from there. Some days my father (was 68 at the time) and I would hike 10 miles (out and back). The terrain is steep and can be very thick for the Rockies, a lot of the ridges can easily be navigated, but the drainages and creeks get extremely thick.

As for the hunting, there is game, but you will have to work for it. We called in bulls 2 out of the 5 days we hunted. Found a few herds of cows throughout the week as well, surprisingly saw no deer, bear or wolves. We did find one fresh mountain lion kill that we backed away from quickly. My suggestion would be to call at the tops of drainages as you move, better to be active in the morning when the elk seem to be more responsive and on the move. Plan your route to bring you to multiple glassing points by late morning and through the early afternoon, a lot of that country has burned off in recent years which can create some great opportunities to glass some animals. You may find animals across the valley, they will seem close, but factor in how long it will take you to drop down in to the thick stuff and come back up. Your best bet is to usually make a plan for the next day to get to them. Buy topo maps, be sure you can decipher them because the terrain is most important part of that hunt. Your biggest challenge to navigating will be keeping perspective how big everything is compared to the East. It may only be 2 miles on a map, but by the time you walk straight down and then straight back up it may end up being 4 miles in actuality! Good luck, don't be picky. Any animal back there is well earned.
 
First, welcome to HT...

I agree with the above replies to your post. Usually most elk will not be hanging out where hunters can get to them easily.

I'm sure that you will have a grand adventure. Good Luck!

PS: Don't expect to cover 8.5 miles in 3.5 hours in most all of the country that you'll be experiencing.
 
I just pulled up Onx and looked at a trail starting by the Selway river and it looks like it gains about 3k ft in about 2.5 miles, not including all of the switchbacks. And once you start going off trail in country like that its a whole different ball game. The topo lines on Onx are either 50 or 80 ft depending on the spot which can hide some serious cliffs and other rough spots. Have to really think about where you leave a trail in terrain like that because it will get miserable fast.

Good luck and please post pictures when you are back! I still need to go down there and check that area out.
 
A seven mile hike is not a multi day adventure. That said, figure on elevation gains similar to what @westbranch referenced. 1000-1800 feet of vertical per mile is pretty normal across central Idaho.

Google Earth doesn’t even begin to do that country justice.

The ATVs actually might have a lot of benefits when it comes to getting around. There is only one main travel route, but it might be easier using those than the King Ranch.

Welcome to HT and have a good trip b
 
Here is a successful hunt there...
 
Others have done a good job with advice so far. It will be much rougher than you are expecting, the road can be real bad, weather could be almost summer like to lots of rain/snow. If you do get into elk be mindful of where you are with relation to being able to get it out.
 
Here is a successful hunt there...

I remember reading this a few years when googling the Selway. It makes me want to do the hunt and not do it at the same time.
 
the last thing I want to be is naive to this terrain but we backpack in the Appalachian mountains often. For reference I hiked a little over 8.5 miles with 3k elevation gain in a 40lb pack and it took me right at 3.5 hours. The plan is to drop camp before our hunting areas and then hike the mornings before and get set up. So about a third of that will be with just daypacks. Also a lot of our hiking is ridgeline so I honestly am having a tough time thinking a three to four mile hike back and dropping camp will take us a day or a half a day for that matter. Again, 7 miles is the furthest hunting location I've e-scouted and again I don't want to underestimate the terrain, just stating we are all fit and conditioning every day for this hunt.
welcome to HT and I dont want to pee on your cornflakes I live in Pa and hike the AP trail too but it aint nothing like Idaho not even close climbing those mtns is a whole diff ball game
Train hard then train more then train even harder, I run 3 to 5 miles bike 5 to 10 miles and hike with 45 to 50 lbs on my back
My first time in Idaho I flew into Boise then charter to Stanley all in cloud cover low hanging stuff drove to hotel to get a good night sleep before going in got up early still had cloud cover drove down the rd looking around a bit shortly after sun up just getting to see a place I have never been before and in a few minites the cloud cover lifted an now im looking and the sawtooths and not just foot hills, I pulled over got out of the car and just stood their in awe and said out loud SHIT I didnt train enough lol
when you climb 1000 ft elevation in a mile or less it kicks ur butt
Good luck n have fun
 
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