Swan Valley MT elk?

[acorn]

Anyone hunt elk down the Swan Valley east of Flathead lake in Montana recently? I've got some friends that live back there that swear the hunting is awesome (though they don't actually elk hunt themselves). But the harvest stats seem to indicate otherwise, 2-7% success are poor for Washington let alone MT. It's a ton of money to drop on a tag for an area that based on the hard numbers looks like *censored*. We would have some local knowledge on our part but I'm not sure how much to weigh that into my cost benefit analysis in my head.

I've been trying to convince them to head farther south, the Centennial mountains are the area I've focused on.

Any info advice?

[Moosebobb]

Do they have property you can hunt on? Let me know if you have any luck i'm trying to find a good elk spot also

[acorn]

No, no sweet property hookups (I wish). They just swear everyone they know always gets an elk down there, but that sounds pretty unrealistic. More like exaggerations from some Ole Timers

I may elect to stick with my substantially cheaper Deer B tag and just go along and see what it looks like... sort of a waste of a bunch of vacation days, but I suppose I could always grouse hunt while everyone else is elk hunting.

[nw_bowhunter]

I vacation in the area every year and I know there are lots of whitetails. When I called the local wildlife office I was advised most head other areas to hunt elk. Not say there aren't there but I was having a difficult time getting any great info. When I spoke with the local archery shop I got some details but not enough to really commit to hunting the area.

[NumaJohn]

I just sent a PM to you, acorn.

John

[alecvg]

Lived there for a little while.  There are some elk that are residents in the valley year round, but they are hard to find.  Most the elk summer in the Bob, or the Great Bear, and come down into the foothills in november.  If it were me... I would look elsewhere, there are better spots in Montana to hunt.

[acorn]

Thank ya much John!