Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: CarbonHunter on June 20, 2017, 12:10:34 PM
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Has anyone been over to the Lolo unit or heard if the elk herd is starting to stabilize? It's been a couple years since the game department has been working on killing the wolves and they have had a couple small fires but I haven't heard if it has made a difference.
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From what I've heard the lolo herd is slightly rebuilding. IDFG does counts about every 4 years, I'm not sure when that unit was last counted nor when it will be counted again. I know there are still a lot of wolves in that unit so I doubt there will be a huge recovery until quite a few more wolves are killed.
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The fires I saw were horizon to horizon and much much more. Saw some sign last year and I think fire may have helped knock wolves back. Another 3 years should be worth a look.
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Still below objective per the regs. They have killed a lot of wolves. It's tough to find elk though, sometimes we see a couple, other times it's like a waste land. I spend a few long weekends down there in the summer fishing and scouting, but I haven't seen enough to make me buy a tag and commit to only hunting down there.
I go down during rifle elk and deer hunt and talk to some people who have been there since the glory years and chat with them. It's hit and miss with most of the guys. Seems like they get 1 in camp every few years, but it's a lot of hunting and not a lot of action. There are a lot of camps to my surprise, the general story is most of them just can't give up on an area they put some many years into hunting.
It's beautiful country though and really hard to stay away from. I really hope the numbers come back up. To me it is the definition of elk country.
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Their plan for the herd is about 12,000 elk and according to one article I read they had less than a 1,000 elk (about a year and a half ago) so the regs will be saying below objective for a while. I haven't seen any real numbers about the herd since 2014 so maybe the count will be in the next year or two.
According to the hunter reports it looked like there was very few hunters in the area and that's one of the reasons I was thinking of making a trip. Kind of surprising to hear there's lots of camps up there. How's the deer hunting? I'm usually happy if I'm seeing critters so even if it's short on elk if there's other critters it makes the trip worth it.
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I was really surprised as well, there wasn't anything hanging in them, but lots of camps in the bottom. Deer hunting isn't great, mostly just go because I like the country and you can get away from people. I spent 4 days down there last year hunting deer and didn't see an animal, in country that should hold some animals. I have yet to see any wolves nor have a run in with them, but I do cut a track once in awhile. I think they did some work on the packs down there.
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In the last year I read the cow to calf ratio was up and it was a first time in a long time. I do know where I camp in the middle of nowhere and 20 miles from closest pavement there is a lot of Muleys and whitetails. Couldbt keep them out of camp!
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You can check the harvest statistics on IDFG website.
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I hunted and harvested a moose in that unit last year. Saw cows up high sitting in the remaining snow banks in July. Saw a bull and three cows low on trail cam in august. Had a bull bugle back and forth in the same location each of two days before archery elk season. But, I was hunting moose.
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I was over there the last couple days. Really love that area. Saw deer but no elk and we put a lot of miles on the truck
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Yea that area is still in need of a dire break from the wolves but I don't foresee that happening
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Maybe a great opportunity for a wolf tag
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