Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Roughest and Easiest Elk Country

Llamas are said to be able to go where horses and mules can't. I've had my llamas in some very rough places but I've never used them side by side with horses to know whether it's true or not. I likely won't ever find out. If it's too rough for a horse, It's too rough for this old fart.

Add to that the fact that it's normally 40 degrees and pouring rain so everything is slippery as hell the entire time. The only good thing you can say about that area is that it's not up in where the air is thin. Fortunately, the peaks top out around 2,500' above sea level.


Okie John

The one and only elk tag I got in South Dakota, I shot an old bull 1/4 to 1/2 mile from my house when I lived in the upper Black Hills. Drove a 4x4 pickup to the knoll he was lying down, dropped the tail gate which touched the ground and pulled him onto the back of the truck with a come along. He was too big to fit in the 8' box, I drove him to Belle Fourche with the tail gate down and his hind legs tied up. I took him to an old butcher (in his 80's) who said it was the largest bodied elk he had ever seen. One shot with a 338 Win Mag with a 250 grain Partition, shot him in the Texas heart, right through the center of the hole surrounded by the sphincter (AKA Pelosi lips). Found the bullet in the neck. Rack is hanging in my loading room. The rack is odd, it was deformed on the right side. There was a large herd near by. I think this old guy had been kicked out by a younger stronger bull. I've seen two other racks from elk that were shot in the same area with similar racks.
The toughest would be in the dog hair pine in Colorado, crawling and climbing and trying to get through. I was almost glad I didn't shoot one in there. It was the reason for my 350 mag on a 600 action.

I don't know what it is like for you guys but the very best elk country is private land in our valley bottem.
I do own some of this land and interestingly, very often when I have been out sheep hunting I return home to an elk herd in and around my place. Bulls chasing cows, bugling etc.
Up on the sheep basins I see a few but when I return home I see many. Even ( sometimes)shutting the windows to cut down the noisy activity at night.
I have killed a few here but it isn't hunting, it is shooting. I then picked them up with the tractor.
Might as we shoot a Longhorn- same difference.
Exactly why I cannot hunt from a blind...
In my world, hunting is about the pursuit, horseback or afoot. My way

I’m in no position to determine the “right” or “wrong” way to hunt elk…but I’ll just say you have my full respect for your thought process friend.

Dave

I find this interesting. I don't have the experience of most, but have spent a lot of time in the Bitterroot and selway hunting elk and consider it what elk hunting is. I consider it hard but am shocked to hear it called the roughest by one who obviously can speak to such things.

Cheers, my legs are burnt and I gotta head east soon. Thanks Montana.

There are "easy" and "rough" areas to pretty much any mountain range, and the Bitterroots are no exception. The adjacent Selway Wilderness too. Goat Haven Peaks (rough) and Selway Falls (easy) come to mind.

For a few reasons I hunt a specific few canyons of the Bitterroots---and it is the most rugged country that I have personally elk hunted. I am sure there are parts of the Bob, the Scapegoat, Gospel Hump and many others that are much more rough than the parts I personally have experience with.

One thing I have learnt over the years:

If you are bringing a pack animal down to the carcass and tie it off.

DO NOT TIE THEM DIRECTLY UPHILL OF WHERE YOU ARE BUTCHERING.

Unless you like dodging rocks. When they get to pawing.

If you can bring down two, they will be calmer.

The easiest elk hunting that I've ever seen is east of I-25 in southeastern Colorado. Hard to get a tag, hard to get permission to trespass, hard to find the elk since numbers are small, but easy to get out once you have one on the ground.

Although not had the opportunity to experience it I would say Tule Elk hunting in the Delta region of CA or Lake Pillsbury Tule elk if you want to include them. Pillsbury you can almost drive right up to a downed elk and in the delta youcan drive the roads looking for them then its stalk and shoot time. Could be a little hairy getting them out though.

There's some pretty easy elk country east of the Bighorns, but lots of private land. Also some places elk will not come out whole carcass.

In many places the hardest part of the hunt is getting the tag.

Hmm, my only experience is in your 2nd toughest. I'll agree, its a b*tch, I chose it because people told me not to go there ha. We've killed two bulls in three years, but each one took 3-4 guys 3 days to get to the truck. Just glad I didn't read it was an easy area in this thread!

Easiest Arizona......Unless you kill one in a canyon Toughest...Idaho panhandle

Killed a bunch on the north coast and you can say you’re very committed once it hits the ground in many places. I killed a few in the cascades and it’s got some rough ground as well but when we killed them in Hells Canyon the mules got them to the top once we got them to the animals

Headed to NE Oregon on Friday, for my annual elk hunt. Terrain is steep canyons and long ridges. Most of the elk I have brought out of there are taken out downhill, makes it much easier. Unless you count the 1200 ft elevation climbs every day to get up where they are.

I’ve been scouting up bulls on the Oregon Coast. Next Saturday starts our 4 day 1st season bull hunt.

Weather has been extreme, with high winds and enough rain and hail to float Noah’s Ark ~ Perfect elk hunting conditions!

I couldn’t tell you who has the worst topography to hunt and pack out a bull across the US. But, I know with 200% certainty, if you’re not driving on rubber tires, or riding on top of hooves right up to the downed elk, it’s gonna suck, in one way or another.

Rough elk county via your legs is a hard hunting experience. Add shítty weather to it, and the situation can become miserable.

After the trigger has been pulled, the suck begins. But, once you are done with the stack and pack. There is a sense of accomplishment knowing that what you have accomplished wouldn’t even be attempted by a lot of hunters. Call it pride in the accomplishment, or whatever you want. It’s part of the game that brings some of us back again and again, while it turns others away from ever wanting to experience it again.

Congrats to iddave and his son on their elk hunt. Dave, like myself, I believe, knows our time is coming to an end for these types of hunts ~ not because we want it to. But, because the areas we are successful hunting bulls requires more than our bodies are gonna be able to give at some point...This will be my 44th year doing this same elk hunt. I’m feeling a Groundhog Days situation knowing what may be coming next week for me.

Sending Pear 🍐 to myself....LOL

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Take lots of pics beav’, that country is intriguing.

Will do....Located fur in three different areas. Hoping to pattern them between tomorrow and Saturday.

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I almost felt like I was back on the Washington coast last week dragging my bull 150 yards downhill through oak brush and chokecherry crap in pouring rain and sleet in NW Colorado. Fell hard a couple of times but luckily no injuries. WA coast is the toughest place I’ve hunted. I never wanted to attempt coastal Oregon. NW Colorado is easier by comparison. My old wheels could not manage tackling the Idaho Panhandle these days. Happy Trails