Headed to Hells canyon!(Updated with pics)

[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