Need some help.

[Dbllung]

I need some help. Last year I went on my first diy bowhunt for elk in Idaho. I bowhunted for elk one other time and it was a guided hunt in north west Montana. My hunting partner had never elk hunted. So, he has a friend that lives in Challis and offered to let us stay at his place. That made it an easy decision as far as where we were going to focus our efforts. As I began to look at hunter numbers, herd densities and harvest records it become obvious this would not be easy ( not that any elk hunt is). Anyway we picked a few areas in unit 36b to start looking and hoped to hear some bugling ( we hunted from Sept. 12-20) and we would go from there. Well we found good sign but very few elk (all the sign looked to be a week or two old). I expected that but I thought we would hear at least some bugling. I managed to call in my first two elk. A four point for my buddy that didn't end well and a cow that came in to me at 20 yards but it was too thick to shoot. Now, I am planning on going back. I feel like there are enough elk for me to have a chance at killing one because I am prepared to kill the first one that gives me the opportunity. I am planning on going the first week of season with the hopes that I will find the elk that left the sign last year before they move out. I am hoping some of the seasoned elk hunters on here will have some advise or at least start some open dialogue that will bring up things I may not be thinking of. Thanks in advance.

[Lefty]

My wife and I spend some time in that area ATV'ing, panning gold and wildlife viewing.
The area has lots of roads and ATV trails that are used. while we ddnt see many elk, I quickly noticed most of the elk sign was in the higher more dense cover. and in the thick bottoms near homes. Over all The harder the access the more sign we saw.
Yep typical elk. Some of those deep areas should be easy to find on Google Earth

Maybe its just me or the way I like to do things I would consider a spike camp and use the friends place as a base camp.

If the buddy has connections there very well could be elk in the bottoms around homes and ranchettes

[six]

Sounds like you are way ahead of most of us out of staters.

"he has a friend that lives in Challis and offered to let us stay at his place"

I would definitely utilize the friend to the max. Pester him monthly to ask around and find info on elk. Co workers, coffee shops, mom and pop gas stations (if there are any left in the area), sporting goods stores, hardware stores, you get the picture.

I would definitely agree with Lefty part of the hunt for me is camping out in the mountains. Truck camping is good, bivy camping is best. Early season it shouldn't be too cold for either. There is no better alarm clock than a bugling bull at 4 a.m.

[Toby]

I'm not sure if I would change dates if you have the option of going in the same window that you went last year. I went early once and didn't like it. I prefer to try to catch more of the rut and potential bugling. Some years they bugle a lot, some they don't, in my experience.

Trying to predict where the elk will be on September 1st this year based on last year might be a crap shoot.

You had pretty good luck last year. What I have found is that you just have to keep covering ground until you find elk or fresh sign. I don't know what makes them turn the bugle on, but IMO, find the elk first, if they are bugling great, if not, plan B.

Good luck
Toby