Idaho unit 29 rifle bull tag

animallver · Oct 3, 2005

Looking for some help in this unit. My hunting partner had to go solo on this hunt, due to a family emergency that kept me from joining him. I talked to him on sunday and he was having a tough time with the elk!! Any help would be appreciated and passed along the next time I talk to him. He will be there for another 8 days if needed. If there is anyone that has just came back from there on a archery hunt PLEASE HELP!!!!

THANKS!!!!

NoBark · Oct 4, 2005

Not suprising. Archery was tough in there this year too. What part of the unit is he in?

animallver · Oct 4, 2005

He is focusing around hayden creek. Has also been in big timber and withington creek. He is heading to bear vally lakes for the next couple of days.

Thanks,

NoBark · Oct 5, 2005

Well, He sure is getting around. We found all the bulls above 8500 feet. Most of the cows were down in the valley, holeing up in the draws by the alfalfa. They were few and far between for us. That was early September. I would suspect that if he covers a bunch of ground he will find them. It was pretty dissapointing compared to the year before for us. With a rifle, he should do OK.

animallver · Oct 5, 2005

Thanks for the input. He said the word from the other hunters in the unit was (bad year!!). This unit was a Garth Carter top ten elk unit, so the hopes were high to see some good bulls. He is getting some good weather that might help.

Thanks again.

NoBark · Oct 6, 2005

I've hunted the unit for three years now and I would have to say that it looks like it's a feast or famine kind of unit. Look at the success stats and it's up and down like a yo-yo. For archery, it went 24%/12%/08%/12%/??? I bet this year will be back down around 8% for archery.
Let us know how he does? Thanks
JIm

Idahoelk · Oct 9, 2005

Any unit that is a Garth Carter pick is gonna be toast within 3 years. It happened to the diamond creek zone too. ever since he put it on the top idaho archery pick the place went from 26% to 20% to 14% this year I predict it will be 10% or less. Welcome to modern hunting. Once attention is called to an area and hunting is OTC the crowds will take care of the success rates.

NoBark · Oct 11, 2005

The numbers of hunters in 29 archery did jump substantially between the 24% and 16% years. However, since that time ('03) the numbers have stayed the same. I await this years numbers to see if that continued. So atleast in 29 the up and down continued with a constant number of hunters. Yes, more than before the carter endorsement, but that is not the primary cause of the fluctuating success rate over the last three seasons. IMHO
JIm