Rate the State

WillHunt

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Wondering if you all would be willing to rate western states for mule deer, elk and pronghorn, considering my folowing objectives:

1. Willing to wait a few years between tags (so don't rate a state highly just because they have OTC tags, for example).
2. DIY hunting.
3. Looking for "representative" animals (not B&C) and lots of opportunity. ie, decent 4x4 muley, 5x5 elk, 12"+ pronghorn.
4. Somewhat budget minded.

I think I know the answer for at least 1 of these species, but before I start investing time and money into getting tags for the others, I want to have a big-picture strategy and a starting point. By the time my 1 year old son is old enough to hunt, I'd like to be knowlegeable enough to start taking him on some hunts out west. I have lots of hunting experience in the east, and a little in the west, so not a complete novice, but not a seasoned veteran of western hunting either. Thanks for the input!
 
I started listing these in order of a list and decided not to. Each state has it's pros and cons. If you are starting now so that you can take your one year old son with you, start building points now in all you can afford. That being said, I do think there are a few states that stand out for each species.

Antelope: Wyoming has every state beat hands down IMO. There are just more antelope in Wyoming than all the other states by a huge margin. You can hunt every year on leftover tags and every 2-3 years on some really good public land units. Any other state you'll be waiting much longer. The trophy potential is there in Wyoming as well. You can shoot a 12 inch buck on pretty much every unit after an hour of hunting.

Mule Deer: I would give Colorado the top spot for mule deer. Lots of deer, easy to draw decent tags second choice which allows you to build points for a really good hunt someday.
After Colorado, I would probably say Wyoming, then follow up with Montana, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Nevada. All of these states have pretty decent mule deer hunting. The only reason I put Nevada last is because they have fewer tags.

Elk: That's a tough one. Every western state has good elk hunting. But some of them are very hard to draw (Utah, Nevada, AZ) so taking opportunity into account I would probably pick Wyoming, Montana and Colorado as the top Elk states. But as stated before, get in on the points game now and you can likely be hunting elk with your son in utah and Arizona(your tag) when he's in his teens.

I haven't hunted every one of these states, so there are def. folks on here more experienced than me. But that's how I would rate them. Good luck!
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-09-12 AT 12:26PM (MST)[p]Wyoming, no question beats any other state as far as Antelope. But, as mentioned, each state has its good and bad. Overall the deer population is doing best in Colorado, but every state has some big bucks if you are willing to put in the work to find them.

Elk - Colorado for opportunity and some of the other states like AZ, Utah, Wyoming, etc. for size, but drawing is tough. Then you have others that offer OTC and if you hunt hard can find good bulls.

If you want to get serious about it, I would get a subscription to one of the many magazines that offer information in more detail on hunting out west.

Also, bottom line is, if you want to hunt the better hunts you are going to have to put in the time applying and building points and along with that you are going to have to get your checkbook out, there really isnt any way around it if you want to hunt anything more than general season/OTC hunts.
 
Based on your criteria I would have to agree with those that have already posted.

Elk - Colorado (5x5 which are 2 year and older bulls, Colorado has a lot of them) and right now a fairly reliable draw.

Antelope - Wyoming (12" bucks are pretty common on nearly any unit and some units are nearly a guarantee tag.

Mule Deer - Colorado (decent 4x4 is truly in the eye's of the beholder, a lot of 2 year olds will be smaller/light beamed deer, so not a real difficult deer to find in Colorado. Most of the easier to draw units with a good population of mule deer will give up a good number of younger 4x4 bucks, if you hunt it aggressively and hold out for the right deer.

Regardless, each of these States still require "hunting", no just shooting. No such thing when you dyi, imo. Therefore, with deer and elk kill ratios at 25%-40%, not everyone that hunts fills their tag and a dyi hunt is going to be tougher simply because you haven't spent a life time on the unit, learning it's special locations.

If I were you, I'd build tags on trophy "grade" units in as many States as you can afford, by the time your son is old enough to hunt you'll have enough points to start being able to unit the easier draw tags form the States listed, then jump into a trophy "grade" as your points mature.

The unspoken reality is that all of these Western States and their wildlife, on public lands, are in a constant state of flux, therefore what might be good advice today might be all wrong 10 or 15 years from now. However, year in and year out, Wy has had reliable antelope and CO has had decent and dependable numbers of deer and elk. The other States, for the last 25/30 years, have been in a constant state of changes, with a few years of highs, followed by many years of lows, then back to some highs, and so on.

Once again, these suggestions are based on your criteria. Every State, every year, has some outstanding units that produce world class elk, deer, and pronghorns but most require many draw points in order to hunt units that have limited hunters to 5% to 20% of normal hunter numbers. or pay $2,500.00 to $25,000.00 to access private property or to buy revenue raising "special" tags, such as Utah's conservation tags.
 
Great advice so far!!
So WY is the no-brainer for lopes, and happens to be the only state of those mentioned that I've ever hunted before. Also, southern WY is easily accessible via the Denver airport. So for discussion's sake, let's just say that for my goals, WY gets the vote for lopes and CO gets the vote for deer and elk. However, given that I live a long distance from there (so I can't just up and go scouting on the weekends) do you think there's any value in just sticking with one state, like WY and hunting all 3 species there, or is CO so much better for elk and deer that it's worth learning another state's rules and regs and learning another territory? Obviously there's some value in seeing a different area, but there might also be value in scouting for the other two species while you hunt the third, all in the same couple of counties of the same state. Just thoughts, but looks like I'll either focus on just WY, or WY/CO in combo.
 
I'd hunt Wy for pronghorn, as you said, but if you want the best chance at your choice of deer and elk I'd go to the trouble of traveling to CO rather that hunting all three species in Wy.

If Wy can get there deer herd numbers back up and don't need to sell every buck for Dept. revenue, then Wy will produce the kind of deer your after, someday. At that time, if it should happen, then you could hunt deer and antelope in Wy.

For elk, the State of CO has got the rest of the States beat, in sheer elk numbers. By hundreds of thousands, therefore, it will be a long time, if ever, that any other State can out produce public access to 5x5 or young 6x6 bull elk, as you said were your harvest goals.

It's not that far to travel from Southern Wy antelope units into great north central, norther west deer and elk units. Maybe as close as relocating to a good deer and elk in Wy.

However, if you ever decide to hunt for trophy antelope, deer and elk, or you aren't hard set on dyi, or are willing to pay for free ranging but limited harvest units, there are seemingly hundreds of other scenarios that could be considered, over the next 20 years.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-12-12 AT 09:57PM (MST)[p]#1 Colorado- Mule Deer
New Mexico - Antelope
Elk IDK
 

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