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Anyone have any stories of elk in the Owens Valley area? Also can anyone discribe the different areas of the Owens Valley ( Bishop,Independence,Lone Pine,Tinemaha)? Thanks....Erich.
DanD
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Erich, I was lucky and drew one of the Bishop Bull tags 5/6 years ago. This hunt takes place in the valley floor between Bishop and Big Pine. When I drew the hunt there where 2 tags for this hunt but now I see there is only one. The Bishop herd back then was about 80 head. I beleive success rate is quite high for all of the Owen Valley hunts.
The rest of the hunts are pretty much the same, just farther down the valley towards Lone Pine. I believe these tule elk pretty much stay in the same general area. There are a quite a few alfalfa fields up and down the valley and the herds are normally not to far away from the good food.
I hope this was some what helpful.
The rest of the hunts are pretty much the same, just farther down the valley towards Lone Pine. I believe these tule elk pretty much stay in the same general area. There are a quite a few alfalfa fields up and down the valley and the herds are normally not to far away from the good food.
I hope this was some what helpful.
Myself and my son drew Tenemaha Period 1 antlerless tags 2 years ago. The Tenemaha zone is that area around Big Pine where you see the elk in the alfalfa fields along the 395. The alfafa fields are leased from the City of L.A. water department and ARE open to hunting. We stayed in the Big Pine Motel which was 1/2 mile from where we hunted. We could have walked down the 395 to the fields.
Anyway we wanted to take the elk with handguns, but the first couple of days most of the hunters were concentrated around the fields and moving the herds to the center of the fields. We crawled thru 10" high alfalfa trying to get close enough for a handgun shot, but once one of the riflemen shot one, the herd broke for the Owens river and crossed to the other side. They stayed in the sagebrush for the next couple days. It's really surprising how that many big animals can hide, but the trees along the river are thick in some places, and they actually hide in the sage also. They would bed down in gullys and blend into the sage. Once the weekend was over most of the riflemen either got elk or went home. On monday when we headed back out we found that the elk had returned to the middle of the alfalfa fields. We only had 2 days left so we got out the rifles. My son got a cow at 11am and I got one at 12noon. We finished boning out the meat and getting it in the ice chests at 10PM. We picked the Tenemaha hunt because it had the most tags and had a 80-100% success rate. I would defenitely recommend this hunt because of the public access land, and close accomodations in Big Pine.
Anyway we wanted to take the elk with handguns, but the first couple of days most of the hunters were concentrated around the fields and moving the herds to the center of the fields. We crawled thru 10" high alfalfa trying to get close enough for a handgun shot, but once one of the riflemen shot one, the herd broke for the Owens river and crossed to the other side. They stayed in the sagebrush for the next couple days. It's really surprising how that many big animals can hide, but the trees along the river are thick in some places, and they actually hide in the sage also. They would bed down in gullys and blend into the sage. Once the weekend was over most of the riflemen either got elk or went home. On monday when we headed back out we found that the elk had returned to the middle of the alfalfa fields. We only had 2 days left so we got out the rifles. My son got a cow at 11am and I got one at 12noon. We finished boning out the meat and getting it in the ice chests at 10PM. We picked the Tenemaha hunt because it had the most tags and had a 80-100% success rate. I would defenitely recommend this hunt because of the public access land, and close accomodations in Big Pine.
Qbn Hunter
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Bishop,
I was in that area last year hunting deer. Is that area dirctly across the large lake that can be seen from the 395? Also is that area along side the lake huntable?
I was in that area last year hunting deer. Is that area dirctly across the large lake that can be seen from the 395? Also is that area along side the lake huntable?
Yes, the large lake is Tenemaha Resevior. I think that is the southern boundary of the zone. It goes north from there to Big Pine. The elk usually hang around the alfafa fields on both sides of 395. Only the east side of the 395 is in the zone. You can hunt around the resevior.
