Most remote place hunted in lower 48?
Contributors to this thread:General Topic
From: midwest
09-Jan-18
midwest's Link
I used to dream of hunting remote places like the Bob Marshall and Frank Church Wilderness areas. Many miles back in on horseback to a backcountry camp and experience some of the wildest places left in the lower 48.
I found this pretty cool website that ranks the most remote wilderness spots we have. What's the most remote place you've bowhunted and how was the experience?
From: HUNT MAN
09-Jan-18
Number 10 on the list . Beartooth wilderness . Mountain goats in there for 21 days. I killed my goat about a mile east of Buffalo Butte. Good times. Hunt
From: cnelk
09-Jan-18
I hunt Colorado. No such thing as 'remote' lol!
From: midwest
09-Jan-18
That was a great thread, Hunter.
From: midwest
09-Jan-18
Brad, Weminuche is pretty remote.
I heard RMNP is awesome hunting! :):):)
From: Missouribreaks
09-Jan-18
Northern Alberta, BC and Alaska have some very remote hunting. I do not consider Montana to be really remote, however there are some quality wilderness areas.
From: otcWill
09-Jan-18
I've hunted both the Weminuche and the Flat Tops for elk. Enjoyed both
From: Old School
09-Jan-18
Wasn’t a bowhunt, but I rifle hunted the southern tip of the Bob Marshall. Some beautiful scenery for sure. We packed in on horses for about 10 miles and then hunted further back from there.
-Mitch
From: t-roy
09-Jan-18
I hunted NW of Quasqueton once ;-)
Elk hunted in south central Colorado several times, but like cnelk stated, no such thing as remote in Colorado.
From: APauls
09-Jan-18
I wonder how the list would change if they took into account the difficulty of the terrain to travel. Remoteness is a funny thing. I remember flying out and being dropped into the bush where there was nothing with my brother and feeling a little jipped, because it was like, well if we really wanted to, all we need to do is go 100 miles downriver and we'd be close to humans. Caribou country then you're really screwed. Cause you're not walking out of there!
Ya midwest, any HUNT MAN thread is a great thread.
From: Oryx35
09-Jan-18
#13 Gila Wilderness for elk/bear/turkey. I have yet to pull an elk out of the defined wilderness area, but I have killed a couple 3-4 miles from the nearest two track. The Gila is awesome, and I'd love to hunt some of the more remote wilderness areas.
From: KJC
09-Jan-18
I rode seven miles into Helena National Forest to the north side of Mount Edith several times. On the list, I've hunted Adirondack, Baxter / Katahdin and canoed through the Boundary Waters.
From: LUNG$HOT
09-Jan-18
Man, that’s a neat list to look at! The only area I’ve hunted on that list is the flat tops wilderness. Like Brad said I hunt Colorado not much “remote” here.
From: Genesis
09-Jan-18
Wyoming ......without a guide,a NR don't stand a chance.
From: Treeline
09-Jan-18
Never really thought about it that much, but have hunted and fished quite a bit in several of the bigger wilderness areas - Gila, Weminuch, Pecos, Wind River.
Interesting take of the maximum distance out in some of these wilderness areas.
Packing an elk out 1/2 mile is a big job and a lot of guys I have hunted with are really surprised thinking it was 2 miles...
From: Rick M
09-Jan-18
Bob Marshall way back in 1992!
From: Ron Niziolek
09-Jan-18
North Absoraka Wilderness in NW Wyoming. Some incredible pristine country!
From: mnbwhtr
09-Jan-18
By memory only, don't ask what year as I've made 29 DIY elk trips over the years. Selway-Bitteroot,Bob Marshall,Frank Church,Absoraka-Beartooth and Flat tops several times. Being from Minnesota I've fished the Boundary waters. Every trip has memories, even bad trips you can sit down and have a laugh about now. Even 7 days of straight rain before it turned to snow and we had to get out while we could!
From: Kodiak
09-Jan-18
Combine the Boundary Waters and the connecting Quetico wilderness in Ontario and you have a very large, intact wilderness area.
From: Kodiak
09-Jan-18
From: TrapperKayak
09-Jan-18
Indian Heaven but none of you would consider that 'Wilderness' even if it's designated as such. What exactly do you really 'need' in terms of wilderness? And who on here really lives up to that true 'wilderness' experience with the rare exception of a scant few. I know I don't.
From: TrapperKayak
09-Jan-18
Not on the list, but Specimen Creek 11 miles in on horseback for 8 days too. Had a griz right in camp that chased all the mules out and halfway back to trailhead before the wranglers caught up to them. I'd call that a remote wilderness experience. I guess it doesn't count though since its not on a 'top ten' list. Wow, I just got to wonder what some people regard a true wilderness if Colorado doesn't have some. Not trying to be contentious, but I really am wondering what it takes. 7 Devils was pretty remote I thought. Used to spend every week in there 80 miles up the Hell's Canyon via jet sled, but hey, there were other people in there so how could that be considered 'remote'. Good thing we aren't confined to some tiny islands like New Zealand.
From: TrapperKayak
09-Jan-18
I guess it would be in the Absaroka Beartooth wilderness.
From: Ucsdryder
09-Jan-18
#2 right smack dab in the middle on cabin creek!
From: Paul@thefort
09-Jan-18
I have done most of my "wild" hunts in Colorado and my successful bow hunt for a Mt Goat was the most "remote" and difficult, even though I could see my truck 1800 feet below and a mile away. Killed the goat at 12,000 ft. I actually thought I was on the moon up there.
From: Ken
09-Jan-18
Misty Fiords on a mountain goat hunt with Muskeg Excursions is as far into the wilderness as I have bowhunted. Bad weather made the hunting tough but being that far into the wilderness was a neat experience.
From: Bowriter
09-Jan-18
Cocodrie Swamp, LA- in the late 50's. Never saw another human except the three guys in our camp. Great days!
From: x-man
09-Jan-18
Elk hunted the Flattops from the south at East Elk Creek without horses.
Several trips inside the Boundry Waters here in MN.
From: Pigsticker
09-Jan-18
Not really remote but backpacked into the Snows in Montana in 2013 for elk.
From: swampokie
09-Jan-18
I do t think I’d call the weminuche remote. I was ran over 5 times by horses just as I thought I’d gotten in far Enuff to take a whiz in peace. I saw more people 6 miles in the weminuche than I did when I went to Pagosa to get away from all the outfitter tent camp cities. It was an eye opening experience.
From: elk yinzer
09-Jan-18
I have dozens of places in my home state that "feel" more remote less than a mile from the road than the designated wilderness I elk hunted in Colorado. Never in a million years would have thought that before experiencing both.
From: swampokie
09-Jan-18
I’ll second cocodrie swamp and achafalaya Some of the se swamps make the Colorado “wilderness” look civilized.
From: DEC
09-Jan-18
In the Lower 48 states ... about 8 miles deep in the Turner River Unit of the Everglades for turkeys. I hooked up with a guy (friend of a friend kind of deal) who had a swamp buggy and was a turkey hunter back in the early 2000's. Come to find out he had only ever killed one turkey ever. We took tents and drove about 8 miles or so deep into the Glades. It was pretty rugged. Camping under the stars with the gators and snakes. I killed my Osceola down there on that trip.
In North America ... a bear hunt where I paid the Indian to sit on his butt at camp to keep me legal in northern Saskatchewan. I slept in my truck, ran my own bait, ran a climber up a birch tree, and killed my black bear ... all about 11 hours drive time north of Saskatoon.
From: NoWiser
09-Jan-18
I killed (rifle) my moose deep in the BWCA Wilderness in Minnesota. It was actually not far from the lake named on that website. It was 12 portages back to the truck. 7 trips across each portage (4 loaded and 3 to return for more gear/meat). It was probably a combined 40 miles of paddling and portaging. A winter storm hit us in the middle of the trip back and we were stuck in the tent for 2 days. It's an experience I wish everyone could have at least once in their life.
From: Fuzz
09-Jan-18
Detroit...Miles and miles from civilization.
From: oldgoat
09-Jan-18
North Central Nevada, from the spine of the mountain chain you can see a highway and a couple of ranch houses but it's still remote AF based on how many people you run into!
From: Stekewood
09-Jan-18
A couple of buddies and I took canoes and tents into the Five Ponds Wilderness area via the Oswegatchie River in the Adirondacks and hunted for a week in Late November. Still one of the most awesome wilderness adventures we have ever experienced.
From: justinspicher
09-Jan-18
I live about a fifteen minute drive the Wenimuche wilderness and I wouldn’t consider it remote by any means. There’s a small town on the south side of the wilderness and you can almost drive to the wilderness boundary in some spots.
From: Glunker
09-Jan-18
Hunted Great Bear in MT, 1982, my impression was that it was more vast and remote than flattop or gila. And there were fresh griz tracks.
From: elk yinzer
09-Jan-18
Distance is a different measure out West with how open it is. Kinda like how temperature is relative. Having an outfitter camp a mile away in the same basin felt cramped in Colorado. Back home I could have a guy posted up 100 yards away and I would be none the wiser. Swamps are even more extreme, as many have said. 400 yards into a swamp feels like you may never get out.
From: IdyllwildArcher
09-Jan-18
A friend, my brother, and I ended up 12 trail miles into the Selway-Bitteroot wilderness for elk in 2014. Never saw a single animal, just wolf scat. Everywhere.
From: lineman21
09-Jan-18
The Nebraska Sandhills.
From: Willieboat
09-Jan-18
Hells canyon wilderness......last time i ever shoot a elk 14 miles from the truck;)
From: DMC65
09-Jan-18
Archery black bear hunt in Saskatchewan . Halfway between pinehouse and buffalo narrows on the Churchill river. Actually through one lake off the river ,to a portage into another lake ,then on to an island where we camped and hunted spring bears. The real deal! Only person in that country is the trapper who owns that areas trapping rights. If ya trek north from there you will not cross a road all the way to the Arctic ocean. That's true wilderness...
From: DMC65
10-Jan-18
Oops ! Got reading everyone's posts and started to think of good trips in the bush and forgot about the lower 48 part ! Disregard....
From: Kodiak
10-Jan-18
Yeah most of Canada is wilderness.
From: Drop Tine
10-Jan-18
Bridger Wilderness area outside of Pinedale WY. for 9 days.
From: rock50
10-Jan-18
Thorofare Creek
Thorofare Creek
Rode into the Thorofare in 2009 for a rifle hunt..............34 miles, 10 1/2 hours on horseback.
It was steep, windy, and snowy.
From: Backpack Hunter
10-Jan-18
I suppose it depends where in the Weminuche you go to. I've been in areas where you didn't see anybody for two weeks straight, and I've been in others where you couldn't get away from all the people.
From: South Farm
10-Jan-18
Geographically there is a spot in Minnesota NE of upper Red Lake that is supposed to be the most "remote" spot in all of Minnesota...even more so than the BWCA. Funny thing about the BWCA is it's the most heavily visited wilderness area in the country with close to 200,000 visitors annually...so although it may be "remote" you'll have tons of company, especially when you consider 99% of those users are condensed to a 5 month season.
Anyway, to answer the question, the most remote spot I've personally hunted other than Alaska would be Western S.D. Spent a week in a tent and never saw another living human being.
From: Irishman
10-Jan-18
Great Bear Wilderness. Scouting for goats.
Great Bear Wilderness. Scouting for goats.
Hiking down the mountain with the goat.
Hiking down the mountain with the goat.
Most remote hunt would have been a mountain goat hunt in the Great Bear Wilderness in Montana. It was pretty remote, and a long way for my son and I to pack out the Mountain goat he killed plus all the gear. I've hunted and hiked in the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness times, the Great Bear a few times, also the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat, all on foot. Not the most productive or practical places to try and kill an animal by hiking, but there is something really special about being up in the mountains and seeing no signs of human life for days.
From: Julius Koenig
10-Jan-18
Have hunted the area n maine mentioned on the list
