Idaho Elk & Mule Deer Rifle Hunt

Our Elk and Mule Deer hunts are done from our Backcountry camps in Idaho’s West Central Mountains. The hunts are 7 days with 5 full days of hunting, and Our camps consist of wall tents, wood stoves, cots, foams, and lanterns with 3 meals a day and plenty of firewood. These hunts are NOT for the faint of heart. Idaho's Backcountry is Rugged! We leave from Yellow Pine, Idaho. From there, our camps are 3 to 5 hours in on horseback. All of our stock is experienced mountain horses and sure-footed. We recommend our hunters to be in good physical shape, and the terrain can be steep and rugged. Typically we use the horses to get us up the hills or take us long distances to locate game if needed, but we have clients walk downhill as it saves on our horse’s front ends.

On our Idaho Guided Elk hunts we use our horses to get to prime glassing & hunting areas, if you are afraid of horses or heights these hunts are not for you. We put our clients on our best & most proven mounts to assure their safety. We use the horses to cover distances and to go up in elevation where the terrain permits to save on your legs. We do require our clients to walk their mounts down hill as it saves on our horses front ends.

We are not about Quantity; we are about quality. We limit each hunt to No more than 4 hunters in camp per hunt. All of our guides are experienced hunters and back-country men and know stock. The guides we have are never turned loose with our clients until they have worked as a packer or wrangler for a year, so they are familiar with the area and stock, and we are familiar with them. We are a fair chase hunting Outfit (Hunting is Hunting. There are No guarantees). Several factors Increase or Decrease your odds of harvesting the game. On these hunts, you can see anything from a spike to a 7 by 7, Typically taking home a mature 5 point or a large 6 point Bull.

We have two main camps we operate out of:

• High Camp is a 5-hour ride in from the trailhead. We climb from 4800 feet in elevation to 8200 feet and drop down to 7200 feet to our remote camp. Terrain can be steep and rugged. If you are afraid of heights, the ride-in may scare you! We hunt from this camp from August 30th to September 30th. The camp sits in Unit 25 but is right on the border of 20A. This camp is awesome for its remoteness and No pressure from other hunters.
• Fritzer Camp is a 3-hour ride in from the trailhead. We ride along a river trail down to camp. The river trail can be scary, narrow rocky, and steep ( Hunters can walk if they choose as it is fairly level in elevation to camp ). We hunt from this camp from October 15th to November 18th. The camp sits at 3400 feet in elevation and is in Unit 25 but sits on the border of Unit 20A. This camp is awesome for our late hunts as it is in the Elk and Deer winter range with excellent glassing right from camp!

Riding back to camp on horseback in the dark after a day of hunting is a common event, horses can see in the dark & using flashlights blinds them.

There is no guarantee on these hunts we do our best to pair you with a experienced Guide that is familiar with our hunting area, but there are alot of other factors that come into play such as weather, the moon, and being in good physical shape to get to the game.

• We hunt on public land on the Payette National Forrest and we can not gurantee that we will not run in to other hunters, although using the horses we can typically get away from most other DIY’s
• We do not have more than 4 hunters in a camp unless we are hunting in both unit 25 & 20 A, we are about quality not quantity!!!

Rifle Season

Our rifle season starts October 15th and runs through November 18th these hunts can be combo Elk, Mule Deer, ( Bear, until end of October ) & Wolf hunts. These hunts are done from our back country camps, our camp sits in Unit 25 on the border of Unit 20 A which works to our benefit with our hunt schedule as we use each unit for a two week period and give the other unit a break. Our camp sits right on the South Fork of the Salmon River at just under 4,000 ft in elevation, we can hunt up to 7,000 ft in elevation. With our later rifle hunts the more weather the better as it pushes the game down from the high country.

Midseason Rifle

Our Midseason Rifle hunts are done from our lower camp from October 15th through October 31st in Unit 25. These hunts can be awesome as the game starts to migrate down for the winter and are moving around more due to the weather. These hunts are a good opportunity to get both an Elk and Mule Deer! On these hunts, we usually glass from camp in the Mornings right at daylight as it is not unusual to spot games right from camp!

Our Late-season hunts are done from our lower camp from November 1st through November 18th in Unit 20 A. These hunts are usually abundant with the game as we hunt in the middle of the Elk and Deer winter Range, although some years we don’t have the weather we need to get the game down out of the high country. You will leave camp on horseback on these hunts every morning to cross the river (It is a long shallow crossing) to get to Unit 20 A, where you will be hunting. This hunt can be great for finding the BIG guys as they come down for the winter!

We encourage all of our hunters to purchase a Wolf tag as they make a BIG impact on our Elk and Mule Deer herds!!!

Price is per person for 2x1 Hunt. 7-Day Trip/ 5 Full Days of Hunting. Make it a 1x1 Guided hunt for an additional fee. Add non-hunter for a reduced Fee.