 |
|
| Phone: Rich LaRocco 801-451-6755 | |
| Antelope Bison Black bear Brown bear Caribou Elk Exotics Grizzly Moose Mt. goat Mt. lion Mule deer Sheep Turkey Whitetail deer |
Africa Archery Blackpowder Other species Fishing Contact us |
| Note: To talk with any hunt provider, join Hunts.Net free of charge. All information on this site and our literature is provided under the condition that the customer accepts our terms. | |
Unguided trophy hunt near Preston, Idaho
Idaho ranchers offers unguided elk and mule deer hunting
If you are well-equipped and sufficiently experienced, a self-guided hunt on private land could be your ticket to tagging a trophy elk or mule deer. This ranch in southern Idaho offers good hunting for both. This is not a fenced-in game ranch, just private property where hunting is limited. It borders another ranch that is owned by the owner of the Utah Jazz, and both deer and elk are free to roam off and on both properties.
|
|
|
David Larsen with his bull. The rancher is not an outfitter. All hunts are unguided only. |
The ranch is north of Preston, Idaho, in Unit 74. That means you can buy mule deer rifle tags or archery elk tags over the counter. Even though the ranch is in southeastern Idaho, you don't need one of the limited southeastern Idaho deer tags that sell out the first day they go on sale. Usually you can buy a deer tag well into the summer. To hunt elk with a rifle, you must apply in the spring for a permit in a computer drawing. The rancher likes no more than two bowhunters on the property. He usually sells two permits good for one half of the 30-day September season, and then he lets his son hunt the other half of the season. His son has been very successful. He bought his first bow 30 days before the 1997 season and got a 5x5. You get your choice on which half of the season you want, and you can hunt both deer and elk. The rancher also sells about a dozen trespass permits a year to rifle mule deer
hunters. Our customers keep returning on the rifle deer hunt, so it's hard to get a spot there. All three elk bowhunters in 1999 got shooting and saw mature 6x6 bulls but only one hunter scored, and it was on a spike. The rancher said the two hunters who did not score got shooting at 10 to 15 yards. The elk herd is not high-fenced and is free-roaming. They often move between the ranch and bordering private and prublic land, but the ranch holds good water and feed, so there are usually some elk on the property every day. You can stay in a motel in town or bring a trailer and park it in the yard or set up a tent on the ranch.
Hunts.Net agent Rich LaRocco hunted the bordering ranch in 1996 and saw several bull elk, including some mature 6x6s. There are usually big bulls in this area because rifle hunting is by lottery permit only. This ranch also holds a lot of mule deer, and though most are on the small side there have been some bucks over 30 inches killed in the past. elk bowhunters are allowed to hunt deer simultaneously just by buying a deer permit. Hunt EKB74.
|
Hints on booking a bargain hunt |
Update Dec. 2003 by the rancher: "We had a tougher bow hunt than usual with both guys during the first half of the season not filling their tags. My son hunted the last part of the season and got a nice 6x6. "
Update 10/30/02: We had a good season. Everybody was really impressed with the better quality and more bucks. The bow hunt when I was hunting was the best I had ever experienced. One of the bowhunters got one, and one of the rifle hunters got an excellent bull. Largest buck was a 28-inch. The other guys got nice four-points. It's looking better this year. I shot one this morning that was not real wide but quite heavy and a five-point. I got a 5x5 bull with my bow this year. He was 30 to 35 yards away. I had intercepted him. I saw the path they were traveling. I never bothered to count, but I probably had 35 go by me, including some really nice bulls, there were 10 or 11 in that particular group, including two really nice herd bulls and a lot of satellite bulls that were big bulls that been booted off.
|
Hunt EKB74 |
|
| Hunt | Price |
|---|---|
| Archery elk and mule deer combo, 15 days | $1,500 plus $500 if you kill or wound a bull. |
| Rifle elk | $2,000 |
| Rifle deer | $1,500 |
| Success rate | Trophy size |
|
1997-2003: 15 bowhunters have killed six bulls, hit and lost two, and missed five or six. Six hunters have taken five bulls.
Rifle deer: Typically 75% of the deer hunters score, and the others pass on 4x4 bucks while holding out for trophy class. In '03 nine hunters got seven bucks. |
Most hunters see mature bull elk scoring 300 to 350 or so and mule deer in the 24 to 26-inch category. |
| Airport | Licenses |
| Closest airports are Salt Lake City UT (major), Pocatello ID, Idaho Falls ID, Jackson WY. We do not suggest that fly-in hunters booked self-guided hunts. |
The odds of drawing a rifle elk tag are about 10% on the early Oct. season and 40 to 50% on the late Oct. hunt. Click here for latest prices. |
|
Notes |
Seasons |
| Strictly an unguided hunt. No services provided. |
Archery: Sept. 1-15 or Sept. 16-30 Rifle elk: Early October and late October. |