Archery ELK in Idaho

[jae7675]

Has anyone done any elk hunting in any of the Bannock zone units in Idaho. I have been hunting the Diamond Creek zone for awhile but they sold out in 2 hours this year. We decided on the Bannock zone but will be going in blind coming from Ohio. Any help would be appreciated and id be willing to swap intel from diamond creek as well if interested. Thanks Guys

 

[Pucky Freak]

Has anyone done any elk hunting in any of the Bannock zone units in Idaho. I have been hunting the Diamond Creek zone for awhile but they sold out in 2 hours this year. We decided on the Bannock zone but will be going in blind coming from Ohio. Any help would be appreciated and id be willing to swap intel from diamond creek as well if interested. Thanks Guys

Welcome to HT!

 

[jae7675]

Thank you

 

[ignorethefringes]

Diamond Creek has been selling it fast for a few years. I don't have experience in Bannock, but I imagine that what you've learned in diamond creek would apply in Bannock as well. Spend time on OnX looking for elk habitat and be ready to move sites once you get there if needed.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Bannock zone is huge and elk distribution is chaotic at best. Elk numbers seem to be ok if you find where they are. You can go ridge after ridge without seeing a thing at all let alone semi fresh sign. The elk get hammered for 3 months straight every year and know where to hide. Do not overlook places you think would have no elk. Big conifer filled ridges with lots of fingers look great and can be great, but dont overlook that foothill below it full of thick quakies and brush in the bannock zone.

 

[fachries]

Bannock zone is huge and elk distribution is chaotic at best. Elk numbers seem to be ok if you find where they are. You can go ridge after ridge without seeing a thing at all let alone semi fresh sign. The elk get hammered for 3 months straight every year and know where to hide. Do not overlook places you think would have no elk. Big conifer filled ridges with lots of fingers look great and can be great, but dont overlook that foothill below it full of thick quakies and brush in the bannock zone.

+1

 

[Duck-Slayer]

All the elk in Idaho moved too Colorado
Matt

 

[Losing_Sanity]

It is over half private and the public access areas get a lot of pressure. But pressure is not always a bad thing if your patient, not expecting a bunch of trophy bulls, and use pressure to your advantage. Expect your hunt to use up all of your time. Listen to @Hilljackoutlaw, he has some real good advise for you.

 

[Preston.W_HDO]

Get away from people. Hunt close to property lines. Cousin killed this bull last season there. Quite a few elk where he was at. 5 different bulls in a few days span. Unfortunately for me he decided to kill this bull 7.8 miles from the truck. 2 trips in 2 days.

On another note, I'm a resident and hunt diamond creek. Love the area and elk numbers, but the amount of people is sometimes overwhelming. I've heard rumors they are thinking of turning it into a draw tag next season because of all the whining from residents.

 

[jae7675]

Get away from people. Hunt close to property lines. Cousin killed this bull last season there. Quite a few elk where he was at. 5 different bulls in a few days span. Unfortunately for me he decided to kill this bull 7.8 miles from the truck. 2 trips in 2 days.

On another note, I'm a resident and hunt diamond creek. Love the area and elk numbers, but the amount of people is sometimes overwhelming. I've heard rumors they are thinking of turning it into a draw tag next season because of all the whining from residents.

i have heard the same about diamond creek

 

[jae7675]

We definitely are not opposed to getting away from roads. I hunted CO last year and our base was 5.5 back in and we hunted about 2mi from that everyday. Oh did I mention that I saw ONE elk in 7 days! Hence my return to Idaho. I was online within 2 hours of tags going on sale and i still was too late for Diamond Creek. I have a friend who is a good bit older going who has never gotten an Elk and another friend that has been hunting Oregon for 4 years and hasn't even seen an Elk. I suppose I am just putting a little pressure on myself to get them into some animals. We definitely are not trophy hunting that is for sure .

 

[TheTone]

On another note, I'm a resident and hunt diamond creek. Love the area and elk numbers, but the amount of people is sometimes overwhelming. I've heard rumors they are thinking of turning it into a draw tag next season because of all the whining from residents.

I would love to see what making diamond creek and sawtooth tags a controlled hunt would do to other controlled hunt draw odds

 

[Preston.W_HDO]

I would love to see what making diamond creek and sawtooth tags a controlled hunt would do to other controlled hunt draw odds

Oh man. I think OTC units like bannock and TeX creek will be hit even harder unfortunately. If they do that, I'll start hunting bannock or lemhi. But my dad and uncles have been hunting diamond since 86' so I think they would be kind of lost unfortunately since that's all they know.

 

[Preston.W_HDO]

I would love to see what making diamond creek and sawtooth tags a controlled hunt would do to other controlled hunt draw odds

I do believe it would help out lower the amount of entries in rifle elk hunts

 

[TheTone]

I do believe it would help out lower the amount of entries in rifle elk hunts

i guess my thought on making them controlled would be based on current tag levels. If so that would potentially pull about 3600 people out of the draw if they decided they wanted a DC or sawtooth tag

 

[Preston.W_HDO]

i guess my thought on making them controlled would be based on current tag levels. If so that would potentially pull about 3600 people out of the draw if they decided they wanted a DC or sawtooth tag

Yea you're right. I can definitely see it helping out the controlled tags for sure.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

Oh man. I think OTC units like bannock and TeX creek will be hit even harder unfortunately. If they do that, I'll start hunting bannock or lemhi. But my dad and uncles have been hunting diamond since 86' so I think they would be kind of lost unfortunately since that's all they know.

That has already happened to some areas. Season dates and available tags combined with draw odds have bottle necked too many people into a few areas causing way too much pressure and too many people. Lemhi is one of the more crowded areas.

 

[Preston.W_HDO]

That has already happened to some areas. Season dates and available tags combined with draw odds have bottle necked too many people into a few areas causing way too much pressure and too many people. Lemhi is one of the more crowded areas.

I agree. A lot of area but a lot of people for sure