Archery hunting elk in area 36

[diamondlangus]

My brother and I are thinking of bow hunting area 36. We have never hunted Idaho before and just wanting to get a little advise. We hunt on foot, and like to pack in a couple of miles set up camp and then hunt the area. If there aren't any elk around or decide to move we will do that. What is the hunting pressure like in that area for archery season. Can we expect to see a lot of hunters, and how call shy are the elk. We will be going around Sept. 8 for about 5 days.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[runamuk]

LAST EDITED ON May-09-08 AT 08:38PM (MST)[p]diamond,, you will be wasting your time..
i have been hunting unit 36 for over 20 years,and have been very sucsseful,, up until the last 3 years.. im telling ya that they have been almost completly wiped out..
i hunted over 20 days there during archery last year, i seen 2 bulls and less than ten cows,, and very very few tracks or any sign to speak of, and heard one bugle..
the few tracks i did find all had wolf tracks in them, every single one!!!
also i hunted all 10 days of the spike hunt pretty much the same story.
also hunted ten days during general rifle, there were 7 of us during rifle only three of us seen elk..


i ain't one of them fellas that just go around crying wolf,,
in fact i was the only one out of my hunting party that enjoyed hearing and seeing them,,i was the one that accused the rest of the boys of being paranoid and over reacting.
but now i am finaly convinced that the party is over..
here's why,,,,,,,,,,

#1 cowhunts have gone from 300 tags to 150 to 50 to 40 in the last 4or5 years.
#2 the late muzzleloader hunt has been elimanated from the A tag..
#3 the cow hunt is on the same time as the spike hunt and i talked to several cow hunters they were going the whole season without even seeing one single elk,, they all had the same old story about how they used to get there cow every year but the last few years have been a bust..
i talked to over 20 different hunting partys there last year,
through the archery spike rifle muzzy seasons and not a single person had one positive thing to say about the hunting there..
i have talked to a couple of pilots that fly that area almost daily and they are saying the same thing THEY GONE!!!
#4 i was up there several times during the winter checking out the winter grounds they gone!! there were VERY few elk scatterd here and there where i used to see many many elk..

i think it is one of the hardest hit areas out of all of idaho as far as wolves are concerned.

i ain't just some good ol boy that runs around in my truck drinking beer until i see an elk off the side of the road..
i have spike camps stashed all over in there i get in pretty deep and stay on the mountain for days at a time..

i could go on for a long time about how bad it has become there but im sure you get the picture..

i know there wont as much hunting preasure there as there has been cuz none of my party will be going there again for awhile and i have talked to others that wont be hunting there either.

good luck on whatever you decide but i would look around a little more before i bought a tag..

 

[supersider34]

Sent you a pm.

 

[BRDDAWG]

My experience is identical to runamuk's. I've also hunted unit 36 for 20 years and in the last few years the elk have just disappeared. The wolf lovers would have you believe that the elk have just moved further back to get away from the crowds but that's where I hunt and the elk just are not there. I got into a few small groups last year but none (zero) of the cows I saw had calves with them. It's not good.