Help with Western elk hunt

[RoadrashPaul]

Guys my head is swimming Earlier this year I had a good friend buy some property in Lenore, Idaho. After looking online it appears he is in a decent area for elk with lots of public land access around him. I started doing some research a few weeks ago but got busy with life and realized the tags go on sale today. I am not sure if I can make it work for this year or not because the process seems incredibly complicated.

I have the units and zone areas figured out. One of the things I am struggling to understand is the difference in quota tags and otc tags? Also the difference in the A and B tags? I believe that mostly has to do with the type of weapon you plan to use.

Another question I have is about transporting the animal back to TN. The drive is 32 hours one way I really don't want to drive but if I fly in and kill something how do I get everything back?

If any of you have done this or can offer any tips I would greatly appreciate it. I found a great video last night from Elk 101 where they broke down a lot of the info but it is still confusing for someone who has never hunted out of state.

[Fishysam]

I do believe you would have a local to the hunt processor do the meat up how you want it, they will freeze it and then ship it to you. 32 hours is a hike could get a bunch of coolers and get it done if you want but lots of bones in ice or time spent deboning if you have time.

[BOW4UM]

Starting to hate Idaho - My random number for elk tag was above 14.5K!!! Damn.

[RoadrashPaul]

Starting to hate Idaho - My random number for elk tag was above 14.5K!!! Damn.

What zone did you put in for? Also, does this mean there are 14,500 people ahead of you in the drawing for tags?

[BOW4UM]

Salmon area. Yes but remember many are in it for other species. I'm done because when I got in the Elk was gone for my area and I don't want deer...

Was in at 9:30 until 3:30 to find out :(

What zone did you put in for? Also, does this mean there are 14,500 people ahead of you in the drawing for tags?

[RoadrashPaul]

OK that makes sense. Do you know anything about the Palouse zone? That is where my buddies land is located.

[BOW4UM]

Only that its NW area. I have only been to Salmon.

[BigEasy]

I have seen guys on the road headed west or headed home from hunting with freezers in the bed of their trucks. I'm guessing they rigged inverters to power them. If you kill an elk I suspect you'll have several hundred pounds of meat to deal with. I'm also guessing that would cost an arm and a leg to overnight home.

Regardless, good lock and have fun!

[Cover Dog]

Most every grocery store in Wyoming (where we hunted) has freezers full of dry ice. 2 or 3 pieces in each cooler will keep your meat frozen for days. Jackson Hole to NE Ohio was no problem, both Elk & Antelope fully frozen when we got home.

[MacIntosh]

Yeah, people around me bitch when we talk about adding any distinction between units or something, apparently they’ve never applied for a tag anywhere in the Rockies! It is a lot more complicated than I’m used to on the East Coast or even the Midwest. You need to navigate the lottery system, and each state is totally different, but honestly that’s the biggest hurdle. Obviously you still have to hunt and find a critter, but as long as you have it frozen getting the meat home is no big deal at all. Depending on where you are it’s likely you can find a meat processor in the area as someone else suggested, they can cut it up and freeze it for you. If your meat is frozen, getting at home is actually a lot easier than you think. You’re going to have over 100 pounds of frozen meat, think about how long it takes to thaw a giant chunk of ice (a long time!), if you have it in any kind of a cooler, even a cheap one, it’s going to take several days to thaw even at warm temperatures. I have flown meat home from that area, we had an expensive cooler which was actually counterproductive because it was totally unnecessary to keep it cold, and it ended up costing us quite a lot more because of the extra weight. I know people that simply put their frozen meat in a cardboard box, check it at the airport, and two days later it’s still frozen. What my brother does if heFlies is he uses a cheap cooler as one of his checked bags and puts anything he’s worried about getting damaged into it to help protect it. Then he’s got a cooler out there as well as a way to get meat home.If you drive a cooler makes a lot of sense, but dry ice as mentioned above works fine for a couple of days. The freezers in the back of the truck are for when you’re out there for a week or two and you need to keep something cold for that entire time off the grid camping. If you don’t have a way to freeze the meat when you’re out there, that’s when you need to be good with your coolers and the dry ice. If you’re backpacking, then you’ll obviously need to deal with the meat in the field and getting it out, that’s probably a bigger worry for me if you’ve never hunted in that area, especially early season. The only other tidbit is to just go and do it, it’s pretty cool and a big departure from sitting in a tree stand the way most hunters around my parts do things.

[EKYRanger]

Check out the Hunt Talk forums and you’ll get your answers. Hunttalk.com

[Bassman25]

May I ask why Idaho? Colorado, New mexico and Wyoming produce some slammer Elk and have great draw odd's, Montana is another one. Colorado has a ton of OTC tags available as well. Do you have preference points in Idaho? or other western states?

[RoadrashPaul]

May I ask why Idaho? Colorado, New mexico and Wyoming produce some slammer Elk and have great draw odd's, Montana is another one. Colorado has a ton of OTC tags available as well. Do you have preference points in Idaho? or other western states?

That is a good question and really the only reason is because my friend has property in Idaho. I realize I am hindering myself some and driving past elk to get to possible elk. In my mind it was going to be easier to have a spot to camp/stay at his place and branch out from there.

[bass-o-maticjm]

Make sure you are in shape. Idaho is a LOT steeper than the other states when it comes to elk hunting!

[big bucks 170]

Make sure you are in shape. Idaho is a LOT steeper than the other states when it comes to elk hunting!

This is a very important quote! I have DIY hunted Co and NM,when I went to the Frank Church area I about died.That area requires a man to be in sheep shape.