Spring 2018: Like many hunters, I spent the spring applying for tags all across the west. Wyoming was good to me with a great late season bull elk tag (still to come / Nov. 15 - Jan. 15) and my now "former" home state of Colorado was GREAT. I drew my rifle antelope buck tag, and for only the 2nd time ever - I drew a Rocky Mtn. Bighorn sheep tag (archery only / Nov. 10 - 30). So I felt pretty lucky, and obviously looked forward to a great fall.

Roughly July 15th I moved to the great state of Idaho, after living in Colorado pretty much my entire life. Upon arrival I learned about Idaho's "Super Hunt Raffle Tags". One of which is the "Super Hunt Combo Tag", to include one statewide license for each of the following - elk, moose, deer, and antelope. Well of course I bought some tickets....and hell fire if I didn't get a call in August telling me I was the lucky winner of ALL 4 statewide tags!?

I was thrilled of course...but I know very little about Idaho as I had only been here for a month or so at that time. I was not too concerned with the Antelope tag, the deer tag is cool of course, but my passion is big bull elk and the moose tag was a special bonus! So with little knowledge / and only my Chocolate Lab "Grizzly Bear" as my hunting partner - we headed off to do some hunting!



I was "aware" of a very good unit for elk / moose in Idaho, and a guy I know showed my around for 1/2 day, but otherwise I was on my own. We arrived Aug. 28th, as I could start hunting moose on Aug. 30th (any weapon) and archery elk roughly the same time too! We started off just sleeping in the bed of my truck...traveling some rough roads / glassing and looking for game. Honestly, finding elk was not difficult at all, and moose were more plentiful than I expected - but I quickly realized I need a 4-wheeler to access some of the roads in the area that are ONLY LEGAL to atv type vehicles, and pretty nasty too!

Within a few days of hunting, I was back in town buying a 4-wheeler from a local friend and a 27 ft. Coleman RV as I knew this was gonna turn into a much longer affair than I first had thought?! My good fortune in the "Super Hunt Raffle" had just turned into a real expensive hunting experience! I was wanting to find a 380" plus bull elk, and a moose worthy of a statewide tag, but I knew neither would be easy - especially when I knew very little of the area I was hunting, or the state for that matter.


Deer hunters in the area were helpful, but I chased lots of "ghost" stories to be honest. I sincerely appreciated their help, but their estimates of trophy size were way off when I would find the animal they directed me to. Early on I was told about an 8x9 bull elk that lived in a very rough / nasty, secluded spot. Honestly, it took me 10 days to find him - and he was in fact an 8x9, but nowhere near the "new state record" I was told he would be. Regardless, he was a fine bull and watching him was awesome - but I decided to pass in the end. Over the course of 35 days, I saw so many bull elk my eyes went blurry....but most were 330" - 350", not was I was looking for. Still....a great hunting experience.

As the 22nd of September rolled around I figured I would go back and check on some of the cow moose I had seen in a roadless canyon - hoping the bulls might be onto them by now? That evening I parked my 4 wheeler at the end of the road, grabbed my bow (fitted with my Ultimate Predator cow moose decoy) and started walking. I went 3/4 of a mile and there he was. The willows were tall, but I knew he had to be tending a cow. As I approached he in fact was with a cow and her calf. They were not concerned with my presence, but the swamp and the willows made getting close / getting a shot, a real pain. As the sun set, I waded up to my belly through the swamp, stepped up on the bank and within 30 seconds the bull came out at exactly 40 yards broadside. I sent a 150 gr. WASP - Sledgehammer broad head behind his front shoulder and he went only 77 yards and fell over dead. Word of advice...NEVER shoot a bull moose 3/4 of a mile from a road - by yourself! It took me 8 trips and 24 hrs to pack him out...I thought I was gonna die!




Another bull right by my camp


After that, it was back to elk. By this time I was running low on time - but I still wanted a huge bull elk. So I went back to where I had seen the 8x9 - and the morning before the muzzleloader season opened (Sept. 25th) I found a huge bull elk. He was a 7x7, definitely 390" plus...a true giant. I could hunt him that evening with my bow, and then the following morning with a muzzleloader. Another 7x7 had followed him into cover that morning, and I knew he would go to one of two wallows that evening. The one I was certain he would go to had a bad wind, so I took my 2nd choice that evening. Sure enough, the lesser 7x7 showed up, but he never did!?

The following morning I was on my lookout early...it took me only a short time to find him (along with 12 other bulls) but he was in a wide open valley with no cover within 400 yards of him. Long story short, the closest I got to him that morning was 230 yards - I wasn't comfortable with an open sight muzzleloader at that distance so I let him walk. I never could relocate that bull. Finally on Oct 1st, the last day I had to hunt I went back to another familiar area - found a wide 6x6 I figured was over 360" and sat at a wallow for him that evening. Just before sunset he came in at 70 yards...and my elk hunt was over. He's 360" on the nose, my 13th bull over 350"!




I was in fact fortunate to win this combo raffle - but I have no doubt I could do much better with it in future years. I spent a ton of time / effort / money learning and hunting all by myself in a state I've never hunted before. Regardless, it was truly an awesome opportunity to experience Idaho. My Antelope tag has mostly expired across the state, but I still have the deer tag - just waiting for November.

Afterwards....Grizzly Bear and I loaded up and headed to CO for speed goats.


Colorado was fun as usual...we saw several decent goats and settled on this one on day 2. It was just a fun hunt with a friend of mine on his ranch for the tv show. We shot 2 goats...Grizzly became an Antelope hunter - and we drank a few beers together.




Now its back to Colorado on Nov. 7th to archery hunt Bighorns, and hopefully back to Idaho for deer prior to Nov. 30th. We'll see what happens!

Thank you,

Great report so far! Congrats, mostly on drawing an extremely tough tag; but also on fine moose and elk. Should be interesting to see what you do with that deer tag. Some great units.

What part of Idaho are you living? I just joined a duck club near Boise.

Aaron,

All I can say is WOW!

Mark

Thats pretty awesome Aaron...
You are going to have a serious Fall hunting season this year.
Great Moose and Elk...

Outstanding, Aaron!!

Congrats Aaron
Where did you move to in Idaho?

Incredible. You are a lucky SOB. Thanks for sharing the details!

Ski+3
Kalispell, MT

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
Great report so far! Congrats, mostly on drawing an extremely tough tag; but also on fine moose and elk. Should be interesting to see what you do with that deer tag. Some great units.

What part of Idaho are you living? I just joined a duck club near Boise.

Right now I'm in the Pocatello area!

Fantastic animals Aaron. Huge congrats !!

quote:

Originally posted by SkiBumplus3:
Incredible. You are a lucky SOB. Thanks for sharing the details!

Ski+3
Kalispell, MT

Dedicated and focused come to mind. Congrats Aaron!

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:

quote:

Originally posted by SkiBumplus3:
Incredible. You are a lucky SOB. Thanks for sharing the details!

Ski+3
Kalispell, MT

Dedicated and focused come to mind. Congrats Aaron!

Thanks bro!!!

Well done sir! Enjoy Idaho. Idaho and Montana are jewels!

Brett

.

Really enjoyed that. Thanks for posting.

.

quote:

Originally posted by BrettAKSCI:
Well done sir! Enjoy Idaho. Idaho and Montana are jewels!

Brett

Yes they are

Wow, I'm jealous! Terrific haul, your freezers must be bursting.

Good stuff! Thanks for posting.

Sweet! Very nice Aaron. Thanks for sharing.

don't y'all be thinking you can just roll into Idaho and go around shooting all this stuff so easily.
we just had 500 out of the 530 out of state Deer hunters we had here go home pissed off from my little corner of the state.

I hunted all 14 days of the hunt in areas I have takes several dozen deer out of and had one hell of a time scratching down a buck.
I was the only one in our group to get a Buck, and only one other person in our group even seen antlers all season.

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
don't y'all be thinking you can just roll into Idaho and go around shooting all this stuff so easily.
we just had 500 out of the 530 out of state Deer hunters we had here go home pissed off from my little corner of the state.

I hunted all 14 days of the hunt in areas I have takes several dozen deer out of and had one hell of a time scratching down a buck.
I was the only one in our group to get a Buck, and only one other person in our group even seen antlers all season.

Nope...I'd agree Lamar. I spent roughly 34 days in the Idaho woods...during that time I saw one legit huge bull elk, and a couple of really good bull moose. I've yet to see a really big muley (haven't looked much lately) and maybe won't see one either? I did however see lots of nice critters, and greatly enjoyed the time I spent looking.

You did very well and congrat's. Idaho is a great state (I better say that as that is where my wife is from)!

In all seriousness, I must say that you are a great hunter if you can go into Idaho like that and kill two trophies like that. That size of bull is a great trophy in any state and especially Idaho (IMO).

Good luck on the remainder hunts.

You moved to a great area that is just a few hours from where I live.

Great report. You worked your ass off to get those animals. Well done. With all that meat you need a lot of friends.

Dave

Way to go Aaron!!
Congratulations

dude, great report, congratulations on some hard earned trophies.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:
You did very well and congrat's. Idaho is a great state (I better say that as that is where my wife is from)!

In all seriousness, I must say that you are a great hunter if you can go into Idaho like that and kill two trophies like that. That size of bull is a great trophy in any state and especially Idaho (IMO).

Good luck on the remainder hunts.

You moved to a great area that is just a few hours from where I live.

Truth be told I did see numerous good bull elk (350" plus) but frankly I think it was persistence / stupidity, and 34 days in the field bro....

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:
You did very well and congrat's. Idaho is a great state (I better say that as that is where my wife is from)!

In all seriousness, I must say that you are a great hunter if you can go into Idaho like that and kill two trophies like that. That size of bull is a great trophy in any state and especially Idaho (IMO).

Good luck on the remainder hunts.

You moved to a great area that is just a few hours from where I live.

Truth be told I did see numerous good bull elk (350" plus) but frankly I think it was persistence / stupidity, and 34 days in the field bro....

Nice, and I am glad you saw that many bulls in the 350" range. I would really like to see the mule deer and elk continue to climb in quantity
and quality. I plan on hunting there next (it been many years since I have)!

BTW, don't you like how "free" hunts never end up free ha ha.....

thanks for clarifying the time thing.

we have some pretty good hunting here, but I don't want everyone thinking it's a super easy 'there's one' type hunting.

Aaron was super seriously dedicated on these hunts.
doing it by him self on top of everything else [like getting a moose out] just puts another feather in his cap.

I have done this over the years, it ain't easy.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:
You did very well and congrat's. Idaho is a great state (I better say that as that is where my wife is from)!

In all seriousness, I must say that you are a great hunter if you can go into Idaho like that and kill two trophies like that. That size of bull is a great trophy in any state and especially Idaho (IMO).

Good luck on the remainder hunts.

You moved to a great area that is just a few hours from where I live.

Truth be told I did see numerous good bull elk (350" plus) but frankly I think it was persistence / stupidity, and 34 days in the field bro....

Nice, and I am glad you saw that many bulls in the 350" range. I would really like to see the mule deer and elk continue to climb in quantity
and quality. I plan on hunting there next (it been many years since I have)!

BTW, don't you like how "free" hunts never end up free ha ha.....

Jason, allow me to clarify! I saw tons of bull elk...most of them were rag horns to 300" plus. The bigger / better bulls I saw were mostly 330" - 350", but I did see numerous bulls over 350", but not a ton to be honest. With the exception of the huge 7x7 I saw in late September, I actually passed 2-3 bulls bigger than the one I killed - in fact one was a heavy 6x7 I had at 50 yards for 10 minutes while he splashed around in a wallow, but I just couldn't bring myself to stick an arrow in him?! Fact is though...if you pass one - you may never see him again, and with the rut going on this was often the case it seemed?!

In hindsight I passed two bulls I wish now I would have shot over the one I did! The 8x9 for starters...his tops and mass were incredible (which I think is what fooled the guy who told me about him) but his fronts and 3rd's were so weak that they really kept him from being the HUGE bull I was told he is. Regardless...he was pretty damn cool!

Secondly, another 7x7 that I could find every single time I went to a particular spot to look for elk. I watched him for 2.5 weeks, he was always there and I literally knew which wallow he would go to and when. But his tines just didn't have the length to be a HUGE bull - so I continued to not even consider him. In hindsight, he was probably a 370" bull that did in fact have a great mass. I later learned that this area is noted for mass - and that sometimes can definitely make tines / beam length look shorter than they really are!?

Bottom line, it was another learning experience for me and a fabulous hunt in an area that has tons of elk. I cannot speak for any place else in Idaho....but this unit I was hunting was awesome for elk / moose. I saw few deer, and I'm told some of the unit has antelope too - but I never saw a single one where I was at!

What a hunt!

You now have me already looking forward to next season!

strong work! bad ass

Out of curiosity, why didn't you hunt unit 40 for elk during the rifle rut season? That seems like the highest probabilty of killing a giant. Only five draw tags offered.