Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting So much for elk season

My 2 partners and I had cow tags in Idaho unit 48. The season goes through Nov 30. We've seen quite a few elk but the weather hasn't cooperated a bit. It stayed way too warm for too long and the elk hung up way up high in the black timber trying to stay cool. When winter hit, it hit literally overnight. The 1st storm dumped a foot. We went up Sunday for 4 days hoping to find the elk moving down finally. They had but it kept on snowing. It also melted a little then froze so the snow was badly crusted. Walking quietly was a joke, not to mention trying to climb a 45 degree hill in a foot of crusted snow. I put a stalk on a herd and they heard me coming from 1/2 mile away. By Monday afternoon, we got the impression that we'd darn well better get the camp trailer out of there before it became a fixture for the winter. In the last 2 days, it's snowed another 2 FEET and all the Nordic ski trails are now open. That makes for some rough elk hunting. I think the lady elk are safe from us for this season.

Don't give up yet Rock Chuck! Ya' gotta be out there to kill one. I don't know how many times I've ended up blundering into elk when I thought it was hopeless.

I mean, there's this season for example...............

Judging from what I have seen on I-70 coming home from work the season wasn't as successful as others. No too many truck loads of antlers. Seems the same on the Campfire. I haven't seen anything from Brad yet, Tanner got a buck but apparently no elk, Snowymountaineer go t a buck but so far no elk. The only load of antlers I saw were 4 guys from Ohio at the Kum and Go in Idaho Springs, who went 4 for 4. Elk were still quite high as of two weeks ago on the front range. My colleague's husband and sons went 3 for 3 all above 12,000 ft. in elevation!

I need to put in for a nonresident tag in CO. I lived near Boulder for a time a few years ago and I was impressed with the elk I saw in and near RMNP and some other places. Elk hunting in Idaho these days is tough, IMO.

Elk came down a week ago.. My pal killed a fine 6 x6.. It is now 55 degrees and the elk are back up high.. I only went out two mornings.. May try later this mth or next.. I am not sure when the bull season closes, but I am after cows anyway..

I'm 69 and am the youngest of my group. Hiking in 2' of snow isn't what any of us can handle any more. Plus, there's no place to camp. After they plow the highway, there are no side roads open to get off of it. Even if I could get over the snow plow berms, the deep snow would tear the sewer pipes off my camper. All the side roads are snowed in for the winter and all the campgrounds are closed. Travel for the duration is either on the highway or by snowmobiles or skis.
They want to thin out this herd. They increased the tags by 100 this year and extended the season by 3 weeks. I don't think they got thinned much because of the weather. It's just one of those years. The last 2 times we were up, we heard a total of 1 shot. Nobody else is finding them either.

This area has a lot of high open sidehills, like 1000 to 2000' feet up and no cover at all. The elk like to hang up there in herds of a couple dozen to 100 or more. They have great visibility and there's no approaching them with all those eyes. You can stand down below and watch them all day but you aren't getting close to them. As soon as you start up, they're gone.

Rock Chuck: Supposed to get to 59 degrees herein SW Montana today (average high is 39 for this date!) so sorry about the weather conditions.
After today (Thanksgiving day) I have three more days in my Montana Elk season.
Better luck next year to you and your Hunting partners.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy