Elk populations, East versus West Kootenays

[Singleshotneeded]

:-D I'm just doing up my LEH cards right now, and wanted to ask the veteran hunters out there about elk. I'm pretty sure that the East Koots has bigger populations of elk than the West Koots, but is it a really huge difference? Is a hunter in general FAR better off driving further to the eastern part of the region if he wants to put elk in the family freezer? We've always shot deer locally and moose up north, but I thought I'd try for an elk this year...

[Fisher-Dude]

35,000 in the EK, 5,000 in the WK.

[bforce750]

If you want a crack at a big bull ,the west koots would be a good place to go and hunt a trophy, but for a meat hunt drive that extra 2 1/2 hours and hunt the EK. trench ,there are alot of elk. Give yourself a minimum of a week to find them and you will be successful...good luck

[Singleshotneeded]

Lol, thanks FD and Bforce750...Gott im Himmel, I guess that answers THAT question!

[J_T]

35,000 elk in the EK is an optimistic number. But the relevance of the number being 7:1 between EK population to WK population is important.

I think the biggest factor between the EK and WK is access and huntable terrain. A lot more crown land in the EK, and you are probably less likely to bump into hunter to hunter conflict or hunter to land owner conflict in the EK.

Just my opinion. But it's why I chose to live in the EK rather than the WK.

[d6dan]

:-D I'm just doing up my LEH cards right now, and wanted to ask the veteran hunters out there about elk. I'm pretty sure that the East Koots has bigger populations of elk than the West Koots, but is it a really huge difference? Is a hunter in general FAR better off driving further to the eastern part of the region if he wants to put elk in the family freezer? We've always shot deer locally and moose up north, but I thought I'd try for an elk this year...

If your just looking for a flat top, put in for the Peace region late draw..Its good odds and easy hunt. But, you will need land owners permission. 4.9:1 odds

[325]

If you want to fill the freezer, the EK hands down. If you want the chance at a big bull, and won't be bothered by the high likelyhood of not seeing any elk at all after a week of hunting, the WK would be a good choice.

[hunter1947]

If i was to put in for elk LEH it would be in the EK way more accessible roads.

[bigben]

Eask kootenay is a good bet for elk good luck

[6616]

:-D I'm just doing up my LEH cards right now, and wanted to ask the veteran hunters out there about elk. I'm pretty sure that the East Koots has bigger populations of elk than the West Koots, but is it a really huge difference? Is a hunter in general FAR better off driving further to the eastern part of the region if he wants to put elk in the family freezer? We've always shot deer locally and moose up north, but I thought I'd try for an elk this year...

Since you're applying for LEH I assume you're trying for an antlerless draw since bull elk are on GOS in the entire region. There are many more antlerless authorizations available in the East Kootenay and in the Creston area than there are in the West Kootenay. There's also a cow elk GOS in the agricultural zone 4-03X (East Kootenay) from Sept 20th to 30th.