Selway Idaho September Elk Hunt

[akachin]

I am going to hunt Selway Zone in Idaho in late September with two other guys. We all have hunted in the Ga and Va and are in good shape. We are also going to rent some llamas so that we can get 5-10 miles from the truck. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[El Jason]

Welcome to HT.

 

[UP North Farmer]

Following. Hunted there in 2015 with an outfitter. Had a blast. I should have had a 6x6, but clipped a tree branch. Two buddies got raghorns. Spent a lot of time cow calling. Heard wolves, but never saw any. One of the most beautiful spots I have ever been. Most of the elk we found were coming or going to dark timber. Lots of burns to hunt. Good luck.

Jeremy

 

[griff536]

Bring good glass, a nice backpack and great boots. Make sure you do your homework in scouting, calling biologists, etc.

 

[Roughwater]

I would have to think it would be a great experience. As was mentioned already get a bear tag. I hunted Idaho in 2017 and the bear tags were pretty cheap.

I checked 2019-2020 game laws for deer hunting in the Selway units and I cut and pasted what it said: 16A, 17, 19, 20 Sep 15 - Oct 9 (Mule deer only) Sep 15 - Oct 9 (Mule deer only) Second RES-NONRES deer tag may not be used in Units 16A, 17, 19 & 20 Oct 10 - Nov 18 Oct 10 - Nov 18.

 

[HUNTNNW]

whats funny is everyone says get a bear tag there are lots, my definition from hunting NE WA must have skewed my definition. Its almost impossible to not run into a bear NE WA. I also spend considerable amount of time in the lolo zone and have yet to see a bear in years! hell I haven't even seen a pile of bear crap a track nothing. Last season we hiked 35 miles in 1-4" of snow never cut a single bear track. Did see wolf tracks about every where.

My advice on these hunts where predators have wiped out a lot of elk is to go into hunt with a open mind and low expectations. Hunt hard and have fun if you get into elk all the better.

 

[Roughwater]

whats funny is everyone says get a bear tag there are lots, my definition from hunting NE WA must have skewed my definition. Its almost impossible to not run into a bear NE WA. I also spend considerable amount of time in the lolo zone and have yet to see a bear in years! hell I haven't even seen a pile of bear crap a track nothing. Last season we hiked 35 miles in 1-4" of snow never cut a single bear track. Did see wolf tracks about every where.

My advice on these hunts where predators have wiped out a lot of elk is to go into hunt with a open mind and low expectations. Hunt hard and have fun if you get into elk all the better.

I did a Archery hunt in Unit 10 of the Lo Lo in 2017. My first part of the LO LO that I tried to hunt I came in from Unit 9 and camped on the boundary of unit 9 &10 within a hundred yards of I think was called Pole mountain trail #59 which kind of straddled the border of those Units 9 & 10. I arrived just prior to the opening of the Archery season. There was only one other vehicle in that area and they were a couple young locals that seemed to be hunting/shooting the grouse with a 22 and eating huckleberries. My second night camping there I turned in early. I had drove my Subaru Forester in there and had the back seats down and elected to sleep in the back VS sleeping in a small tent I had put up just a few feet from the Subaru. It was just getting dark when I laid down and hadn't laid down long when I heard a sound like something lightly scratching against the car. After hearing it a couple times I sat up but didn't see anything so I laid back down again. Then I heard it a second time and sat up again, and again quiet and saw nothing, so I laid back down. I started thinking maybe a squirrel or ground squirrel had got on the roof momentarily. But within 2 minutes it sounded like someone slapped their hand against the Subaru. My first thought was that someone was messing with my car and I sat up quick and could see a Black Bear up on it's hind legs looking in the passenger side window. That gave me a bit of a scare and I Yelled at the bear and it dropped down and ran across the road and down the steep bank on the other side of the road. It was the only Bear I saw in the lo lo but I did see other tracks. I had explored the Pole Mountain trail 59 and had seen other bear tracks along with Wolf and a few Elk tracks but not many but 4 or so miles down the trail I had started to see more Elk sign but the next afternoon two young Forest service guys drove through there on small motorcycles and told me I had to leave due to fire threat. Most of the fires were in Montana but I wasn't real far from the border where I was. I hated to have to leave there but had no choice. So I went to another part of unit 10 that I had seen online which was right on the border of Montana and Idaho and camped and hunted there. I wanted to get back to the first location but even after the rains started and the fire threat was zero they didn't reopen the access road as I had check with the FS. I walked many miles in the trails of my relocation but never saw an Elk. I never saw an Elk but did possibly locate one bugling Elk after being in that second location some 5 miles out but about the same time 3 guys from Wisconsin camped near me and as luck would have it got directions from someone to hunt in the exact same area where i had heard the Elk bugle. At that point in time I had been in Utah about 16 days and felt that was my sign to maybe try someplace else or leave. I decided to try one more place. So I drove a little south on the interstate and went back in and was driving up a jeep trail hoping to try to hunt on the edge of a wilderness area in Unit 12. I got most of the way there but as I was driving it was snowing and I didn't have great tires on the Subaru. I kept going toward the wilderness area anyway for a while and it kept snowing and I started thinking if I get up in here and it snows a lot I could have trouble getting back out. Also the sheer drop offs along the road edge concerned me with the snow cause even if I can still move with my worn highway tires it could be a ify situation so I got turned around and headed home. That was my first and last Idaho hunt. But I did see a bear anyway at my first hunt location. I had also seen some bear tracks at that second location in unit 10 near the border of Montana.

 

[jymarine24]

I am going to hunt Selway Zone in Idaho in late September with two other guys. We all have hunted in the Ga and Va and are in good shape. We are also going to rent some llamas so that we can get 5-10 miles from the truck. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

You from Georgia?

 

[44hunter45]

First of all - Welcome to HT.

My sister used to live at Fenn Ranger Station and I was there every summer. I killed my first bull in Unit 16 in 1986. Yes there are lots of bears and you need to be bear aware. That means good camping practices. If you do get a bear tag you decide to use your elk tag on one, be careful about black bear vs grizzly identification. There are not "everyday" grizzly populations in there, but every few years someone has an encounter, especially to the Selway-Bitteroot and the Montana border. I've encountered black bears right along the Selway. Rattlesnakes as well, but only down low. The first time I went into this country I was so "Bear Aware" that I was kitted out like Rambo. My kit has trimmed way down since those days. If you shoot an elk DO NOT leave your quarters on the ground at the kill site. Move them and hang them. Black Bears steal more elk meat than grizzly.

I have never been in there late summer when we didn't eat grouse for dinner every night. Grouse (and bears) are crazy for elderberries that time of year. The trees will be heavy with dark purple clusters. I like a pump pellet pistol for grouse. A "Hush Puppy" pistol is legal to carry if you have the proper Federal forms on file.

I used to access Unit 17 off the Fog Mountain road. I've also gone in along the Selway and then up a specific drainage. There are outfitters on horses working the zone, so you need to figure out where they are not. It may not be about how deep you can go, but finding an ugly sanctuary pocket closer to the trailhead that the horsemen are blowing past. Be ready to go into the nasty stuff to find elk. Decide up front whether you want the pack out. This is vertical country. Google Earth can't show how steep it is. The burn layer and roadless layer in the OnX app will be your friend. Although the Selway zone fire map is almost solid with successive fires. Be sure to either go with a GPS chip or download all your maps for offline use because the is only cell signal randomly at the highest locations. Have a way to maintain your batteries.

Speaking of wildfire. Make sure you have plans B-Z lined up in case your primary target area is burning. Fires are common.

Good luck and keep us posted on your prep and your hunt.

 

[akachin]

You from Georgia?

Yep.

 

[Gruidie]

I am going to hunt Selway Zone in Idaho in late September with two other guys. We all have hunted in the Ga and Va and are in good shape. We are also going to rent some llamas so that we can get 5-10 miles from the truck. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Are you open to other areas? I am looking for hunting buddy’s but am hunting in a different area I have been scouting.

 

[RockyDog]

I live in montana and did a diy selway hunt last year with our own packhorses. i went expecting low elk numbers. I wasnt ready for ZERO elk. We put on major miles just trying to find an elk track. Incredible dead zone.

 

[akachin]

I live in montana and did a diy selway hunt last year with our own packhorses. i went expecting low elk numbers. I wasnt ready for ZERO elk. We put on major miles just trying to find an elk track. Incredible dead zone.

That does not sound good.

 

[Huntin' Fool]

I'd head farther north and hunt units 4, 5 or 6. 8A is good too. I think you can trade tags. You will get into elk. 4 and 6 have large roadless areas.

The Selway elk herd has not recovered at all. You may not see any elk.

 

[akachin]

We didn’t see any Elk but we saw a good number of whitetail deer (not in season in Sep in that unit). It rained on us for four days. Beautiful area though. View attachment 158416