LOLO zone ID

[BT_NVhunter]

Just curious if anyone has experience hunting the general season elk in Lolo zone of ID what’s the land layout thick? Burns? Or is it zero visibility lol just hoping to speak with someone who’s had boots on the ground. Also are the bears thick around there?

 

[MTGomer]

What’s not thick is the elk population

 

[Irrelevant]

thick^2
the stuff that looks "open" is the thickest.

 

[ccc23454]

Have a wolf tag and good luck

 

[JLS]

If it looks like a meadow, it’s really a six foot tall jungle. Steep. Brushy. Can be wet as hell in October. Good bear numbers.

Follow game trails, hunt the benches, and be ready to shoot elk at 50 yards.

 

[westbranch]

To see elk they either have to be on an opposite ridge 1,000+ yards away or 10 yards away so the brush doesn't block your view. But the trees and brush are nice to hold onto due to how steep it is.

Good news on bears are the reduced price tags, and I think you can get two reduced price as a nonresident.

 

[Hem]

Driving back from a deer hunt a few years back heading over Lolo I spied a huge bull above the road. He might still be up there.

 

[lastlight]

Welcome to the forum. Was in there for 10 days straight last year chasing moose. I looked everywhere for elk in case I wanted to return to hunt elk. No sign, no elk, many camps I talked to said the same. I saw one wolf and plenty of sign, tons of bear and lion sign too. I think they are eating white tails. Beautiful country but I wouldn’t head all the way into that remote rainforest for an elk hunt..

 

[406LIFE]

Welcome to the forum. Was in there for 10 days straight last year chasing moose. I looked everywhere for elk in case I wanted to return to hunt elk. No sign, no elk, many camps I talked to said the same. I saw one wolf and plenty of sign, tons of bear and lion sign too. I think they are eating white tails. Beautiful country but I wouldn’t head all the way into that remote rainforest for an elk hunt..

So you're the guy who got my moose tag?

 

[lastlight]

So you're the guy who got my moose tag?

Guilty! First time applying, sad I’ll never be able to hunt moose in ID again as I was successful. Tough hunt, only moose I saw on the hoof those 10 days.

 

[BAKPAKR]

There are lots of burns. I drew a leftover moose tag in the Lolo Zone several years ago. I didn’t find out until I got to the unit that about half of it had burned the year before. Although I did see more wolf tracks than elk tracks, I called a raghorn bull elk into bow range (no tag and no bow) and I heard a couple others bugle. I didn’t run into any elk hunters.

Edit - To clarify what I wrote above, I did not mean to imply that half of the Lolo zone had burned the year prior to my hunt - I was referring to my specific moose unit/area that was just part of the Lolo zone.

 

[44hunter45]

So you're the guy who got my moose tag?

NO. That one was mine.

 

[ccc23454]

I seen a stud bull moose in there couple years ago (way up high in a burn) but i had elk and deer tags. Did find both but only few and none big enough to shot. More wolves than anything... Some desolate and remote places and beautiful country that is absolutely void of a huntable population. Last time there i bought my tag in Bozo on drive in mid season now Lolo sells out...lol idaho just taking $ from people and that year they listed it as "at objective" for population, idaho has some low game management standards.

 

[dgc1963]

I didnt get the tag for the unit I go to this yr and saw they still had tags for the lolo unit (10) left, talked with several folks at the local field office yesterday and I dont think as a NR I would go to lolo for elk but spring bear or lions for sure
just my opinion

 

[Hawk Tuah]

The downside is that they cannot breed. If you are not breeding, it makes sense. Cut dogs also need less feed over their lifetime.

Don't neuter until 2 years or so. Your dog needs the hormones to muscle out and grow good hard bones.

Spaying reduces cancer risk and the chance of an unwanted pregnancy...as well as no more bleeding if the dog is in house. For a hunting or competition dog, it is nice to not have to keep the bitch locked up during prime hunting season (or field trials). There is a reason that very few English pointer guys run females in trials at all. They got tired of sidelining bitches in heat that they worked so hard on to contend for points towards an FC title and almost collectively stopped doing it and focused on males. (Cut dogs (male or female) cannot compete in AKC trials because the purpose is to better the breed.)

I run hounds, breed Brittanys and train bird dogs. As a general statement, I personally tend to enjoy hunting and being around cut dogs more than uncut dogs. That is a decent sample size for one person as I own 10-12 dogs at a time and have trained quite a few, but ultimately it is just anecdotal and just based on my own observations.

 

[HUNTNNW]

There are lots of burns. I drew a leftover moose tag in the Lolo Zone several years ago. I didn’t find out until I got to the unit that about half of it had burned the year before. Although I did see more wolf tracks than elk tracks, I called a raghorn bull elk into bow range (no tag and no bow) and I heard a couple others bugle. I didn’t run into any elk hunters.

There is not lots of burns in the Lolo units and its quite the opposite. Ive talked to wolf bios and other bios in the unit and a huge problem with the lolo is the vegetation has grown up so much limiting elk feed and lack of fires creating openings and more feed.The 3 bios I have talked to all said there needs to be more fires and bigger fires. There hasnt been a sizeable fire in lolo in quite some time the only fires they have gotten of recent is little spot fires which adds up to nothing. Much of the units is so remote that logging is not a option. The forest is not healthy in many parts. Fires dont start and spread here easily due to tons of snow in the mountains clear into July. The mountains get sizeable thunderstorms quite often soaking the mountains in the summer and fall coupled with cool temps in the dead of summer makes fires hard to come by. I have spent alot of time in these mountains over the past several years.

I would not call this place a high black bear density or even close! Example: last summer to Oct 10 I got 40,000+ trail cam pics and 2 of them were bears. If this were other parts of N ID or NE WA I'd have thousands of bear pics. Wolves are plentiful , but very hard to actually get shots. I had a pack of 14 living on 1 cam all summer.

Is there elk? sure is and I am highly successful there, but for every guy that is successful there is 40-60 hunters who are not. Every drainage looks like elk heaven, but you will soon find out you can go drainage after drainage and be void of elk and can become very depressing and mentally challenging. Then add in huge country places so thick with deadfalls you can go crazy...confidence goes fast. My wife and I first year hunting this unit we decided to drive a road on a atv to cut tracks in fresh snow and glass to just locate elk and make a plan. Well day 1 found us with 38 miles on the Atv 1! single elk track and 0 elk spotted and things were very discouraging. These roads are not heavily traveled either by people, some roads have 2-4 camps over 20 miles

Weather is a major factor here and more so with rifle hunts. It has ruined more hunts here than not.Problem with the road system here is you are following the river valleys in most of the unit then you have to head up and these roads heading up get bad. Last year alone Oct 10 weather made a drastic change and we spent 6 days packing a elk and trying to remove 2 camps, cutting out 27 fallen trees in the road and 12-18" of snow. Year before it snowed 5" then was in single digits on opener. Traveling some of these roads up on mountains is treacherous in places once it snows. Plan on having chains and a saw for wind storms and falling trees. After Oct 17 none of the high country was accessible and almost everyone was on the main road on the clearwater as it snowed 14" more.

Hunting these units Id look at as a 3 year investment minimum with scouting and hunting to learn and find elk spots. Going in blind and new you will have extremely low % chance of taking a bull. Id only hunt here if you are committed to learning it and continuing to hunt it.

 

[BT_NVhunter]

There is not lots of burns in the Lolo units and its quite the opposite. Ive talked to wolf bios and other bios in the unit and a huge problem with the lolo is the vegetation has grown up so much limiting elk feed and lack of fires creating openings and more feed.The 3 bios I have talked to all said there needs to be more fires and bigger fires. There hasnt been a sizeable fire in lolo in quite some time the only fires they have gotten of recent is little spot fires which adds up to nothing. Much of the units is so remote that logging is not a option. The forest is not healthy in many parts. Fires dont start and spread here easily due to tons of snow in the mountains clear into July. The mountains get sizeable thunderstorms quite often soaking the mountains in the summer and fall coupled with cool temps in the dead of summer makes fires hard to come by. I have spent alot of time in these mountains over the past several years.

I would not call this place a high black bear density or even close! Example: last summer to Oct 10 I got 40,000+ trail cam pics and 2 of them were bears. If this were other parts of N ID or NE WA I'd have thousands of bear pics. Wolves are plentiful , but very hard to actually get shots. I had a pack of 14 living on 1 cam all summer.

Is there elk? sure is and I am highly successful there, but for every guy that is successful there is 40-60 hunters who are not. Every drainage looks like elk heaven, but you will soon find out you can go drainage after drainage and be void of elk and can become very depressing and mentally challenging. Then add in huge country places so thick with deadfalls you can go crazy...confidence goes fast. My wife and I first year hunting this unit we decided to drive a road on a atv to cut tracks in fresh snow and glass to just locate elk and make a plan. Well day 1 found us with 38 miles on the Atv 1! single elk track and 0 elk spotted and things were very discouraging. These roads are not heavily traveled either by people, some roads have 2-4 camps over 20 miles

Weather is a major factor here and more so with rifle hunts. It has ruined more hunts here than not.Problem with the road system here is you are following the river valleys in most of the unit then you have to head up and these roads heading up get bad. Last year alone Oct 10 weather made a drastic change and we spent 6 days packing a elk and trying to remove 2 camps, cutting out 27 fallen trees in the road and 12-18" of snow. Year before it snowed 5" then was in single digits on opener. Traveling some of these roads up on mountains is treacherous in places once it snows. Plan on having chains and a saw for wind storms and falling trees. After Oct 17 none of the high country was accessible and almost everyone was on the main road on the clearwater as it snowed 14" more.

Hunting these units Id look at as a 3 year investment minimum with scouting and hunting to learn and find elk spots. Going in blind and new you will have extremely low % chance of taking a bull. Id only hunt here if you are committed to learning it and continuing to hunt it.

Thank you so much I may be up there in the summer and just have a serious look around and see if it’s something I want to invest that kind of time in

 

[sapperJ24]

There is not lots of burns in the Lolo units and its quite the opposite. Ive talked to wolf bios and other bios in the unit and a huge problem with the lolo is the vegetation has grown up so much limiting elk feed and lack of fires creating openings and more feed.The 3 bios I have talked to all said there needs to be more fires and bigger fires. There hasnt been a sizeable fire in lolo in quite some time the only fires they have gotten of recent is little spot fires which adds up to nothing. Much of the units is so remote that logging is not a option. The forest is not healthy in many parts. Fires dont start and spread here easily due to tons of snow in the mountains clear into July. The mountains get sizeable thunderstorms quite often soaking the mountains in the summer and fall coupled with cool temps in the dead of summer makes fires hard to come by.

I'll be honest, I didn't believe that there 'are not a lot of burns' in the Lolo units, but now I can't believe how few fires there were over the past 20 years especially north of highway 12. Makes sense though with the cedar/hemlock forest and, as you mentioned, the persistent snowpack. Sure there's been a bunch of fires south of the highway and into the Selway zone. For reference the 2017 Lolo Peak fire was about 40,000 acres.

 

[BT_NVhunter]

I'll be honest, I didn't believe that there 'are not a lot of burns' in the Lolo units, but now I can't believe how few fires there were over the past 20 years especially north of highway 12. Makes sense though with the cedar/hemlock forest and, as you mentioned, the persistent snowpack. Sure there's been a bunch of fires south of the highway and into the Selway zone. For reference the 2017 Lolo Peak fire was about 40,000 acres.


View attachment 172544

Is this mapping from the ID fish and game hunt planner?

 

[JLS]

Hunting these units Id look at as a 3 year investment minimum with scouting and hunting to learn and find elk spots. Going in blind and new you will have extremely low % chance of taking a bull. Id only hunt here if you are committed to learning it and continuing to hunt it.

I think this could very well be said for about any zone in Idaho.