Need ideas for a hunt in the backcountry.

[Auto-X Fil]

My brother in law and I are looking for a trip for next year. We have one week, but it can be any time in the fall. Our main priority is a serious backcountry excursion in mountainous terrain, followed by enough animals to make success likely, with trophy status of the animals taking a back seat. Cost is a concern - I don't want to pay for a hunt, just buy an easily obainable license and go way back on public land.

Deer seem like the obvious choice. I would love to climb back into some 5th class terrain at 12,000 feet after goats or sheep, but I don't know of anywhere I can do that with a cheap, easy to get license.

We live in PA, which means we can drive to roughly the Mississippi in a day. If we can't make it in a long day, we will have to fly or we would spend more time travelling than hunting.

The Black Hills in South Dakota or Montana look to be a great choice - lots of rugged public land, plenty of tags, and (barely) within driving range. Any other suggestions?

 

[kcebcj]

A week (7 days) is not enough time to do what you're proposing. We used to drive 17 hours from home to eastern Idaho set up a base camp at the trail head get a good night's sleep and pack in for 3 days of hunting out for a day and back in for another 3 days. This was hunting mule deer where two guys could pack out a boned out buck in one trip. The farther back you get or the higher you get the more time you have to allow

We always planned 14 days. For the amount of money you're going to spend these days on fuel and such I would try to get at least 10 days…..Good luck.

 

[Auto-X Fil]

Why do we need 6 days of hunting and a day off?

I'm also considering more eastern hunts - the Adirondacks, for instance. Does anyone have hints for east coast backcountry?

 

[linksmechanic]

I Would recommend Mt. over Sd. Tags seem easier to come by. I have drawn every year I have put in.