Elk hunting with Birch Creek Outfitters

Adventure Information

Species: Elk
Type of Hunting: Rifle & Muzzle-Loader
Location of Adventure: Idaho, USA
Guide/Outfitter: Birch Creek Outfitters
Lodging: Wall tents/Drop Camp
Would you recommend it?

I would not recommend this experience

Adventure Review

I decided after 6 months of research prior to my October 2004 to go elk hunt in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area of Idaho.  I spent a lot of time looking at outfitters online.  I looked at prices, success ratios, hunting units, types of guided trips, and much more.  I finally narrowed my search down to an outfitter called Birch Creek Outfitters from Hamilton, Mt.  They seemed to have blend of success and a fair price.

This was  a drop camp hunt to help keep the costs down for my hunting group.  Mike, Eric, and I were excited to go on our trip.  We would be hunting with rifle and muzzle-loader.  Through our outfitter we b0ught elk tags and picked up bear tags for a steal at $25 for non-residents.

Our drop camp was the furthest camp away from the base camp and was located at Indiana Lake.

Here is a list of the good that I enjoyed from the trip:

• The scenery was magnificent
• The trail ride to and from our camp was good
• Our camp was well stocked and comfortable for a drop camp
• We did see 3 elk, many moose, and we heard some wolves

The things we did not like about our trip:

• The terrain in and around our hunting area was drastically affected by the Yellowstone fires of 1988.  There were deadfalls covering 60-75% of the area in a 1 mile radius of our camp.  This made for very diffucult access to the suggested hunting areas.   Our outfitter did not make us aware of this fact!
• We were talked out of hunting late September by the outfitter.  We were told that the first week of October was prime hunting in this area.  We did not hear any bugling and only saw 2 cows and 1 bull elk all week.  However a 300 class bull had been taken the week prior in our camp.
• Of  the 5-6 camps for the week that our outfitter had going, there was 1 small 5×5 bull elk taken and one mule deer.

I would not use this outfitter again based on the fire damage from 1988.  Moving from our camp through the deadfalls took hours each day.  If we had taken a bull it would have been extremely diffucult to get it back to camp because of the deadfalls.  We all felt a bit mislead by the outfitter because we were not told of the terrain issues.  We were also disappointed at the very small number of elk we saw and the lack of bugling.