Thoughts on area 31

[idahobuckfever]

I'm looking for the pro's and con's of area 31. I haven't been in it for as few years. Deer was okay and even great if you happened to hit it at the right time. Even saw a few dandy bulls in there late in the season.

 

[IDdesertman]

I was there last season trying to fill a bear tag. Never did connect with a bear although there are plenty. As for deer, I think any area can be great if you know it well and time it right, but 31 would not be high on my list for general deer areas. I would love to get that bull tag...

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

what are u looking to do ??? draw a late tag or hunt general season ??? I have hunted 31 for the past 10 plus years..it has gone to the crapper..I spoke with the F&G guy this year & he told me point blank 31 needs to be put to a DRAW ONLY unit for bucks before there are none left in it !! he had stopped 18 vehicles that day & only one had seen a buck & it was a forkie..there were lots of does... in fact where I hunted we saw close to 200 does to 25 bucks..& of those 25 bucks there wasnt one of them over 22" !!! I do believe this F&G guy knows what he is talking about.. but will they do anything about it ?? my bet is NOOOO... when F&G made 22 a forkie unit it pushed alot of the boise area hunters into 31 & 32...I have seen in the last 3 years more 1A & 2C plates on vehicles than I have seen deer & that is NO Bull... the draw hunt for bulls in this unit wasnt much better I know of several people that had tags & ate tag soup or shot rag horn bulls..that is another reason 31 has gone down hill so bad..alot of these animals hang out on private property that is leased or the owners will not allow access period !!! another unit that has been HOSED by F&G & the local land owners..

 

[idahobuckfever]

My main goal this year is to get my dad on a branch antlered bull. I know this tag is not the easiest to draw. I have only seen 3 elk during my time in this area, all bulls that would be going on the wall. Anyone have any comments on archery in this unit?

 

[jbloom17]

Not an easy tag to draw, less then 5% chance. I did archery hunt it this last year and saw more guys riding around on 4 wheelers then I did elk. Most of the elk we saw were on private ground as stated above. We went later in the season and I assumed they had all been chased to the private ground by then. Lots of roads in that area so it makes it difficult to get away from the people and it seemed that there was a truck or 4 wheeler at every drainage we wanted to hunt.
Won't be going back.

 

[OLDHORNHUNTER]

like jbloom17 said hard to draw...I have put in for bull tags in this unit for over 25 years & have drawn it once that was back in 87 when there was like 200 tags now there are 30 !!! This units sucks for bow hunting too many roads in the blm & national forest & private land all around weiser-midvale & cambridge area so anywhere u go u will have lots of company..people walking around bugling avery 5 minutes & cant figure out why there are NO bulls talking...there are alot of better units with way better odds of drawing than 31 do some research & good luck

 

[TBOP]

I bow hunted in 31 for a couple days last year. I would agree that there were PLENTY of people running around up there and if they weren't bow hunting, then they were banging away at the blue grouse. Lots of roads and way too many 4-wheeler trails. It was hared to get away from disturbed areas. I was up there Sept 15-16 and got the feeling that alot of the elk that were up high had already been pushed down into private ground or deep into the breaks towards Brownlee. Like I said, I was only there for a couple days so I could be wrong but I sure didn't see many elk and didn't hear a single bugle up in the timbered areas.