Headed to Hells canyon!(Updated with pics)

[huntnnw]

After a long wait and lots of scouting and packing and getting ready for better part of a week we are off to chase bulls in Hells canyon today. We should be into elk right away. A member I talked to on here has giving me info of some elk as he was down there for 2 weeks chasing elk in Sept. That should give us a good start as we will have 9 days to put 2 bulls down hopefully...Im going to be somewhat selective in what I take and my girlfriend will shoot almost any bull. Hope to update this down there and share some pics.

[3nails]

 Good luck! Looks like good country.

[Timberstalker]

I look forward to the kill pictures. Good luck. Travel safe.

[Labs07]

Good luck!  Kill a masher!

[JLS]

Backpacking in, or livestock?  Good luck.

[coop2424]

Good luck should be a real good hunt!!

[huntnnw]

So far its been tough.. Seeing lots of elk , but seeing them in rifle range is a whole nother story. Had a close call with a small bull today .. No shots as it was running .

[blackveltbowhunter]

Awesome!! Good luck and have a great hunt!

[Dblstks]

Good luck, stick with it

[mr.ktm95]

I just got back from unit 11, what unit are you hunting in?

[huntnnw]

Ill post more later, but this hunt was the worst elk hunt exp in my life! I woulda rather hunted WA general rifle gives u an idea how bad I thought this was. IDFG may wanna change permit hunts,6 other guys I talked to were never coming back. Disgusted is putting it lightly in their words.

[3nails]

 Really bummed to hear that. I was really looking forward to seeing you both nail a nice bull.

[lostbackpacker]

grass is always greener on the other side

[hntrspud]

Thats sad to hear! I grew up in Lewiston and was always used to seeing nice bulls and bucks come out of that area. Sorry to hear about your hunt!

[boneaddict]

Ill post more later, but this hunt was the worst elk hunt exp in my life! I woulda rather hunted WA general rifle gives u an idea how bad I thought this was. IDFG may wanna change permit hunts,6 other guys I talked to were never coming back. Disgusted is putting it lightly in their words.

Looking forward to your report.   Sorry your hunt wasn't very good.  I pulled my dollars from Idaho, and at one time I though Idaho was the best ever.

[huntnnw]

Bumper to bumper traffic on fs roads and this isn't being sarcastic !

[lostbackpacker]

Bumper to bumper traffic on fs roads and this isn't being sarcastic !

that might be because all the road hunters in WA are going over there to road hunt

[idahohuntr]

Bummer...I would be curious to hear what happened.  If I remember correctly bull hunts, cow hunts, and deer hunts all start the same day (oct 10)...maybe that is what made things tough? 

[huntnnw]

Yes they do.. Not my cup of tea. May float others boat to hunt like that . I do know that alot of people were very frustrated  with this hunt. We will return for the last few days of the season to see if we can fill one of the tags. I went down with the mindset to kill a good bull, Id kill a spike now!

[300rum]

Was this a permit hunt then? Or are you saying they should change it to a permit hunt?

[idahohuntr]

We will return for the last few days of the season to see if we can fill one of the tags.

I was going to recommend that if it is at all feasible for you.  You will see way fewer people (usually after the first 5-7 days) and I have found in several of those hells canyon units that the last week can be pretty darn good.  The elk come out of hiding from that initial mad rush as things start to settle down...bulls will start to form up bachelor groups and get more visible again feeding out on ridge tops.  Several times I have just skipped opening week altogether. 

I presume then that is what kind of ruined it for you...just tons of people?  Every pull out had 3 rigs...every herd of elk had multiple hunters glassing/stalking them?   

[180-GRAIN]

We will return for the last few days of the season to see if we can fill one of the tags.

I was going to recommend that if it is at all feasible for you.  You will see way fewer people (usually after the first 5-7 days) and I have found in several of those hells canyon units that the last week can be pretty darn good.  The elk come out of hiding from that initial mad rush as things start to settle down...bulls will start to form up bachelor groups and get more visible again feeding out on ridge tops.  Several times I have just skipped opening week altogether. 

I presume then that is what kind of ruined it for you...just tons of people?  Every pull out had 3 rigs...every herd of elk had multiple hunters glassing/stalking them?

I agree with Idahohuntr go back. I dont hunt those units but we always make it a habit to go to our unit in the selway the last 10-12 days of the season. Way less hunters and in our area the bulls seem to come into a second rut in that time frame making it easier to find them.

[huntnnw]

Got home last weekend with a major let down on this hunt and maybe why I haven't picked a rifle up for elk in 15 years. I don't wanna pick a rifle up for elk for another 15 years now. This hunt has been 3 years in the making as I have applied for it and been able to draw the mule deer tag and tag along on a hunt in this unit, so it was not like I was diving in blind. I had alot of knowledge of the unit and lots of scouting in over the last 2 seasons. I also got lots of info from archers down there this year plus others that had hunted it.

 With the day before season arriving fast we were packed and ready to hit the road. We were detoured from where where we wanted to camp due to heavy snow, so we camped low and out of the snow. Opening morning came and we headed to a spot I was told to hunt opening am, well that ended as soon as we got up high as the fog was so thick we couldn't even see the road! Option B took us down low and out of the snow on a gated road system. We saw little sign and no hunters which would be the only hunt in 8 days where we didn't see anyone . Before we left for the morning I was glassing a ridge off in the distance several miles away and spotted 3 elk and they were bulls!  1 looked pretty big. I knew how to get there as I had scouted this spot in August. We had hr walk to the rig and hr to camp to get the ATV and a hour and half quad ride to get there. We show up and there is 2 ATV's already there and we run into another guy walking out He proceeds to tell us he just got kicked out by Heavens gate outfitters, I look at my GPS and it says Natl forest...wtf...We can hear 3 bulls screaming below us, but its so steep we cannot get off the ridge onto them. Not wanting a altercation with the outfitter and thinking my GPS could be wrong we left and I called IDFG the next day to make sure where we were right ..we were. That evening before dark we drove up by camp to glass some hills and found a ton of elk behind camp! with 1 good bull. The next 2 days had us hunting these elk we converged on a herd the same time as 2 other guys...needless to say no shots fired as elk scattered. This was pretty much the last elk we got into for 5 straight days of hunting 

The afternoon of day 7 I was desperate and decided it was time to hit the wilderness side and see if we could get away from hunters and finally find elk after 5 days of seeing nothing. We hit the trail and about 2 mi in I run into a guy I had talked with all summer about hunting the unit. He proceeds to tell me there are camps and guys pounding every ridge in there!  And all the elk are halfway to the snake river! We proceed on and get about 6 mi in and glass some hills, we immediately find 3 herds of elk which 2 of them have bulls and 1 had 3 bulls and they were bugling and fighting. Its getting late and no way to even get to any of them before dark. We head out and have 1 last day to hunt. I go over maps of where the elk were and there is no way we could pack an elk out of these ridges in 1 day looking like a 2 day venture. The elk were 2-3500 ft in elevation below us and I don't even know if its possible to even traverse one of the ridges as its really steep let alone packing an elk up it. we decide its not a good idea and hunted elsewhere the last day.


The amount of people hunting was staggering! I have never hunted a unit with so much pressure it was almost comical that I had to laugh there was so many folks out. I was told after the fact that you better tag a bull in first 2 days or they are gone, boy was that true! The elk were pushed into the bottoms and on to private.  We talked to many guys over the 8 days and all were very disgruntled with their hunt and 6 guys said they would never apply again. I had more spots to hunt than I could hunt and it didn't matter how far we walked or how hard access was there was 3-6 people in every spot!! I coulda just hunted a general unit and killed a bull in the panhandle with 1/4 of the people hunting instead of dealing with this. This was by far the worst elk hunt I have ever been on, but still better than being at work Live and learn. Some pics of the hunt.







In this pic will give you an idea what I was talking about not being able to get to the elk..the tree in lower center of this pic...the top of it and back on the hill side is where the elk were 

[huntnnw]

[mtmn35rem5]

Looks like a fun trip, and some great country. Nice pics!

[Annette]

That is beautiful country!!

[bearhunter99]

Which unit were you hunting in?

[huntnnw]

18

[huntnphool]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience on your hunt Shane, looks like beautiful country too.

I'm assuming it was a permit hunt? If so, how many permits were issued?

[huntnnw]

It was a permit hunt...225 bull tags..335 cow tags. I spoke with a bio last week at IDFG and shared my exp with him..he agreed with exactly what I said about the elk. They are trying to get the herd cut down as it has exceded carrying capacity, but the terrain has created some huge mangement issues with large roadless areas and private on other side protecting the elk. He said the long term goal is for the unit to be an exceptional bull hunt

[Machias]

Great photos, thanks for sharing!!

[huntnphool]

It was a permit hunt...225 bull tags..335 cow tags. I spoke with a bio last week at IDFG and shared my exp with him..he agreed with exactly what I said about the elk. They are trying to get the herd cut down as it has exceded carrying capacity, but the terrain has created some huge mangement issues with large roadless areas and private on other side protecting the elk. He said the long term goal is for the unit to be an exceptional bull hunt

How long is the season for that permit, and which weapon?

[huntnnw]

It ends Nov 3rd and its any weapon..we are headed back the 1st to see if we can fill a tag or 2

[huntnphool]

It ends Nov 3rd and its any weapon..we are headed back the 1st to see if we can fill a tag or 2

Oh ok, it doesn't seem so bad then. I was thinking that many tags on a short permit hunt seemed a little wacko but stretched out over that much time it doesn't.

Good luck

[huntnnw]

Yeah its pretty long....by our 5th day on the hunt about 80% of the people had left and I guess its pretty empty from there on out. The damge was done by then anyways shoving the elk onto private or 2-3K feet in elevation down into the wilderness. My hope is with the pressure being down now for awhile and cooler temps now that the elk will be out a little more.

[huntnphool]

Yeah its pretty long....by our 5th day on the hunt about 80% of the people had left and I guess its pretty empty from there on out. The damge was done by then anyways shoving the elk onto private or 2-3K feet in elevation down into the wilderness. My hope is with the pressure being down now for awhile and cooler temps now that the elk will be out a little more.

Yeah, and all but the die hards will avoid hunting in the increasingly worse weather.

[BrettinWen]

Sorry to hear about the bad luck, I think your in good company. The Hell's Canyon units 11, 13 and 18 are tough to hunt, have way too many hunters and access can be tough with outfitters locking down private land leases.  This year they screwed up the unit 11 hunt by having a cow hunt Oct. 1-9.   

[NWTFhunter]

Horses are the answer to that area. When I was younger, my dad, grandpa, and I would pack in and not be pressured.