Tuchodi Elk

[gathto]

Was lucky enough to spend 16 days in this year hunting the West end of the Tuchodi Lakes. I have been hunting there for the past ten years and
have always had good results. Not this year. Did not see an Elk, Goat or Sheep. Saw one bruiser of a Moose but didn't have the right antler
configuration.

I'm curious how you other Tuchodi hunters made out this year. Not looking for specific locations just what your results were and your opinion
on amount of game spotted. Was I too late? To Early?

[Rampager]

We were there for two weeks in early September, a week for sheep and a week for elk. We saw 50+ sheep, 25+ rams but none confirmed legal. We saw 4 cow elk but didn't have a tag, never actually saw a bull elk but bugled back and forth with a couple and got really close to one. We saw a tripalm bull moose at high elevation but couldn't get close enough to make it happen. For predators - one black bear, one grizzly, and no wolves (yay!). No goats or caribou but we weren't in their territory. We also busted our assess for two weeks and spent almost the entire time in spike camp off the river. We were there right after the big dump of snow melted and think the animals were still recovering from being scattered around the countryside after waking up to 2' of snow.

[swampthing]

I know of two crews that were in there that never shot anything!

[Islandeer]

We were there mid September, saw some elk, 4 Grizz, a monster black bear, and a very cool wolverine. Beautiful country, first hunt up north , eye opener for sure. Very little wolf sign and didn’t here any at night. For us it was an amazing experience, and with what we learned feel confident we will connect next trip. Put on the miles, and will return. Jason at RiverJet Adventures is a great guy who I highly recommend.

[blackbart]

I hear the Gathto was better this year....

[Stroodle]

Our camp was 'near' the Tuchodi and took one 6x6 elk. We saw more cow/calf elk and cow/calf moose than in recent years. We saw several sheep, mainly ewes/lambs with a few small rams. Plenty of goats. No caribou. We only saw a 1/2 dozen bull elk in 2 weeks. Lots of BIG black bears (4 in one day) and we had a grizzly bear encounter - it wanted our elk as bad as we did - it got the gut pile, we got the meat! No wolves seen, heard one. Heard coyotes near camp but suspect a den as it was every night. I would say less game animals overall compared to years past but the ones we did see were up and comers (young ones). Tough hunt as the weather was extremely windy for days and days on end, but thankful for the success we did have.

[albravo2]

I didn't go this year but heard of two very experienced guys on horseback that didn't see anything worth shooting in 10 days up there.

[steve-r]

We hunted 7-50 early September.
Saw and harvested one bull moose 11x12. No cow moose or calves seen.
Saw 6 cow elk, no calves. Encountered 2 bull elk at long range but no joy.
Had to leave 3 days early to get the moose out due to warm temps.
Fresh griz track on most horse and game trails, one came thru camp but kept going.
Fresh wolf tracks, including pups, following the griz tracks.
No black bear observed by us, but another group in there after us encountered a bothersome big black boar.
One caribou track near a lick.
The moose was a bonus. We expected to see more elk, and likely would have if we stayed longer.
Biggest issue in there , reinforced by feedback from everyone going into the area, is griz numbers, and the lack of any calves, moose or elk.

[Jrax]

In the prophet it was much the same, very tough hunt. Only 2 bull elk spotted and 1 cow elk. 0 moose, 0 black bear, 0 caribou, 13 griz, 2 wolves (tons more fresh sign). The good news was the sheep and goat numbers - lots of sheep and goats spotted every single day we were in there. Saw one nice legal ram, but couldn't get close without getting busted, and many more that were close and lots of fresh sign in areas we didn't spot the sheep. Good billys spotted with easy access but unfortunately its LEH only and we had no draw. It was actually frustrating how many griz, every day was the same. Put on kms to get to a good looking area, see fresh griz sign everywhere, get to area and spot at least 1 griz right smack in the middle of excellent moose or elk habitat. Two other guys showed up on horseback and had seen 6 griz coming through one valley on same day, crazy.

We came out with one of the bull elk and took down one wolf. The void of elk, moose and caribou was quite the experience. To see the places they were and create the old sign like that there must have been so many. After talking to people who were in there this year, the experience was much the same - griz and wolf. I have been told the wolf numbers should be way down now since they culled from sikanni to muskwa but I would like to try and confirm this to see if its right. The number I was told was 184 wolves.