Hello everyone,
First of all, I just want to say how lucky I feel to have found this forum! I've been lurking for a short while and finally decided to join the community. This forum has everything, as a hunter, that I'm looking for. At the moment I'm purely leeching all the information contained here, but one day I too hope to contribute.
Hopefully you all don't mind if I share a little about myself. I was born and raised in SE Idaho. After working a few years in Salt Lake City after school, I felt a great need to move back to Idaho Falls to be closer to my dad (no real reason other than my gut told me). Last year the dream finally came true and my family and I have joyfully returned!
When I was a kid I remember my dad hunting up in the Tetonia/Ashton area every year for deer, most of the time returning empty handed. Occasionally, my older brother and I were able to tag along. To be honest, 80% of it was road hunting
I enjoyed it immensely though because it usually meant that I got to plug away at a few grouse hanging on the side of the road with my Marlin .22. When my brother was old enough my dad took him out to get his first deer, in which they returned with a nice sized doe. I still remember my brother's smile as they rolled up with that doe in the bed of the truck. I was jealous to say the least. After that year my dad stopped hunting all together. I think a lot of it had to do with the area he was accustomed to hunting as a kid had changed so much (private land), he didn't feel like it was worth his time anymore. When I was old enough no invitation was extended and no deer was(or has since been) ever taken. My dad taught me a lot of things, but hunting was unfortunately not one of them.
Roll forward to today. I'm back in Idaho and I have no greater desire than to learn and begin to hunt. Part of me feels ashamed that i didn't take advantage of this area when I was in High School. The problem/challenge/fun is I have to learn from scratch. I plan to dedicate a large portion of this summer to scouting some areas with the family (great bi-product of family hikes) in preparation for hunting season. Though I have a long bucket list of animals I want to hunt in SE Idaho, I've taken a keen interest in elk!
So here is the part of my post where I get to my question, especially those who have/do hunt SE Idaho. Though I lack the knowledge and experience of hunting elk I feel like I can receive a lot of my answers by gleaning information from this forum and other resources on the net, but one is really bothering me. Where are the Elk? Silly and seemingly lazy question, I know. I've been studying Google Earth like its final's week, but I'm left with more questions than answers. There are elk units in almost all of SE Idaho, so it is pretty overwhelming. How do i know what areas to scout or units to go to? How do you know where elk summer and where they winter? How can I get in the general area of elk?
I hope nobody thinks I'm asking for a handout because I'm really not. I am just looking for advice, direction to the right information, or a mentor. No matter what happens I'm going to give it my all and enjoy every moment of it! If it makes a difference I plan to rifle hunt (never tried archery, but really want to!) and while getting a nice bull would be exciting, it is second to getting meat in the freezer. Anyways, sorry this is a long winded post, but I wanted it to not only be used to ask a question but to introduce myself. Also if anyone has any good tips, information, websites, books, videos, and so forth for a new hunter I would be eternally grateful. We are so fortunate to be in a country where we can do this and I really plan to take full advantage of it and hope to pass along to my kids. As stated above I have a bucket list of game I would like to hunt in SE Idaho (deer, elk, antelope, moose, bear, mt. lion, wolf, mt. goat, turkey, coyote, etc) so I hope you all don't mind the questions I'm sure to have.
Thanks--
Garrett
First of all, I just want to say how lucky I feel to have found this forum! I've been lurking for a short while and finally decided to join the community. This forum has everything, as a hunter, that I'm looking for. At the moment I'm purely leeching all the information contained here, but one day I too hope to contribute.
Hopefully you all don't mind if I share a little about myself. I was born and raised in SE Idaho. After working a few years in Salt Lake City after school, I felt a great need to move back to Idaho Falls to be closer to my dad (no real reason other than my gut told me). Last year the dream finally came true and my family and I have joyfully returned!
When I was a kid I remember my dad hunting up in the Tetonia/Ashton area every year for deer, most of the time returning empty handed. Occasionally, my older brother and I were able to tag along. To be honest, 80% of it was road hunting
I enjoyed it immensely though because it usually meant that I got to plug away at a few grouse hanging on the side of the road with my Marlin .22. When my brother was old enough my dad took him out to get his first deer, in which they returned with a nice sized doe. I still remember my brother's smile as they rolled up with that doe in the bed of the truck. I was jealous to say the least. After that year my dad stopped hunting all together. I think a lot of it had to do with the area he was accustomed to hunting as a kid had changed so much (private land), he didn't feel like it was worth his time anymore. When I was old enough no invitation was extended and no deer was(or has since been) ever taken. My dad taught me a lot of things, but hunting was unfortunately not one of them.Roll forward to today. I'm back in Idaho and I have no greater desire than to learn and begin to hunt. Part of me feels ashamed that i didn't take advantage of this area when I was in High School. The problem/challenge/fun is I have to learn from scratch. I plan to dedicate a large portion of this summer to scouting some areas with the family (great bi-product of family hikes) in preparation for hunting season. Though I have a long bucket list of animals I want to hunt in SE Idaho, I've taken a keen interest in elk!
So here is the part of my post where I get to my question, especially those who have/do hunt SE Idaho. Though I lack the knowledge and experience of hunting elk I feel like I can receive a lot of my answers by gleaning information from this forum and other resources on the net, but one is really bothering me. Where are the Elk? Silly and seemingly lazy question, I know. I've been studying Google Earth like its final's week, but I'm left with more questions than answers. There are elk units in almost all of SE Idaho, so it is pretty overwhelming. How do i know what areas to scout or units to go to? How do you know where elk summer and where they winter? How can I get in the general area of elk?
I hope nobody thinks I'm asking for a handout because I'm really not. I am just looking for advice, direction to the right information, or a mentor. No matter what happens I'm going to give it my all and enjoy every moment of it! If it makes a difference I plan to rifle hunt (never tried archery, but really want to!) and while getting a nice bull would be exciting, it is second to getting meat in the freezer. Anyways, sorry this is a long winded post, but I wanted it to not only be used to ask a question but to introduce myself. Also if anyone has any good tips, information, websites, books, videos, and so forth for a new hunter I would be eternally grateful. We are so fortunate to be in a country where we can do this and I really plan to take full advantage of it and hope to pass along to my kids. As stated above I have a bucket list of game I would like to hunt in SE Idaho (deer, elk, antelope, moose, bear, mt. lion, wolf, mt. goat, turkey, coyote, etc) so I hope you all don't mind the questions I'm sure to have.
Thanks--
Garrett
