Kids First Elk Hunt recommendations?

[2rocky]

I am doing my homework on units to investigate for my daughters first Elk Hunt. She will be 12 in 2008 and I'm looking for recommendations for a DIY hunt where she can see plenty of elk and have an opportunity without having to hike miles and miles.

For hunters who have taken their daughters elk hunting, what advice do you have?

Some States I was interested in include:

Idaho: The youth mentored tag would allow her to hunt with her grandfather there. Any public land hunts worth looking at? yeah, I read the Pine creek post...

New Mexico: Late season hunts, easier terrain. Was concerned about tresspass fees for private ranches.

Arizona: Same thoughts as NM...

 

[Bura Nut]

Arizona: Put her in for the Juniors only cow tag....I took my 12 year old last year and there is a ton of elk and the terrain is not overly rough. We had a great hunt, he shot a great cow and the pack out was not far from the road............ Thanks, Allen Taylor......

 

[GilaJeff]

How about a NM youth hunt at Ft. Bayard? Lots of elk, easy terrain, and you can stay in town (Silver City). Pleasant weather year around to boot.

 

[HuntElk4Fun_]

Wyoming...

The General Elk tag is great and costs less for Youth. Great opportunity to hunt for 2-3 weeks. Can kill a cow easily, yet still can chase bulls too. Could even get lucky and tag a 300 bull. Lots of public ground, access, etc. Also, you can archery hunt for the entire month of Sept. and still go back for the rifle hunt (if she gets into archery maybe).

ODDNUT1
Kirt C.
Hunt Odds.com

 

[CAelknuts]

The Arizona youth hunts should be a great opportunity. I would also think that Colorado would have some nice opportunities for kids, but don't know any specifics. You might check into some of the areas up near Craig, as buddies of mine always tag a bunch of elk on those hunts and talk of seeing tons of elk every time. Easy terrain, they get pickups within a few hundred yards of most of those elk for loading.

You might also consider the Utah youth any bull hunt. Good draw odds for a non-resident. In fact, much better odds than resident. We had a really fun hunt up near Flaming Gorge in 2005 when my son drew that tag. He got to rifle hunt at the end of September. He didn't kill a bull, but he was picky and passed up several raghorn and spike bulls. The last day we got to within 75 yards of a 300+ herd bull, but he passed on the shot as there were a bunch of cows behind the bull, and he was afraid of a pass-through hitting another elk so he let the bull walk. We got to follow that herd for hours trying to get another opportunity, listening to all the bugling and carrying on, and came home with some great memories.

 

[PleaseDear]

If it is just for the hunt and experience and hopefully a harvest... try the Reduced Price Cow/calf in Wyoming.

Many units and area's in the state of Wyo. to choose from and not all the units are private ground issue's.

The Utah Youth Rifle elk hunt is fun and hardly no one on the mountain. It is with in the General Any Bull units and there is only like 220 tags offered via the draw.

What type of missing school issue would be involved?
What state ya coming from again?

Robb

 

[2rocky]

Thanks for the responses. I had not considered Utah since I've always applied for the LE tags, and thought it was an "Untouchable" Tag. I will look into that some more.

I'm coming from Northern California. My first choice every year is a general elk area in Wyoming. It has been 2 years now that I have not drawn an elk tag, and settled for a deer tag.

Last year was the first time that the area in WY offfered a Reduced price Cow hunt in our area. I was worried that it might be too tough for my daughters first big out of state hunt.

But we have some time to get her primed for it. Groun Squirrels and Turkey this spring. Plus Our Blacktail deer season is in August so a couple of seasons of that should give me an idea of what she can "endure"

Regarding school, she is a top student, and the school is willing to assign independant study for a full week absence. With 2 days going and 2 days returning for getting to any real good elk country, she should have plenty of time to work on school work. I wish my parents had taken me out of state at a young age, so I want to make sure she has the opportunity I didn't.....

She wants to go after the bull that dropped these a couple of years ago in WY....

 

[PleaseDear]

The Utah Youth Rifle is like $280.00

The Wyo. Youth Reduced Price Cow/calf is 112.00

The Wyo. Youth full price elk is like 260.00

Idaho has a sweet gig with a mentor paying full fee and youth way cheap, those are OTC till sold out...

Reads like you have a great kid and that is reflected by parenting.

Toss it around... tag price, travel cost, opportunity to actually harvest, physical demand.... ya know and then go for it! ha

I'm sure if she got a tag you will have alot of honest help from any of us with in that area.

Robb

 

[bschnoor]

Since you are in N Cal you could come up to Oregon. They have some great youth hunts, especially if you don't mind a cow. Brian

 

[elknut]

As stated above consider a private ranch hunt for cows.

>Pull any DWR site for private ranch hunts.
>Start calling them direct (avoid the middle man), most every ranch will have a cow allocation for sale; often if the ranch is smaller they will sale the cow tags at a much reduced price for a self-guided hunt, they don't advertise so call early (you may also be able to draw this same tag).

Why is this a very good option for kids?
>You?re on limited pressure land; the elk are less spooky providing more time for a young hunter to make a clean shot.
>Higher chance that elk will be on the land and not pushed off due to hunting pressure.
>The smaller rancher wants you to kill a cow, insuring his cow allocation for next year is not in question. The rancher will often put the hunter on elk with no additional guide cost - the sooner you're done the happier he will be.
>You will often see many elk, including very large bulls, and may decide to draw the ranch for a mature bull later.
>Its well worth the extra (apx $200) if you're already coming from CA, just to insure a very "high quality" hunt for your daughter.

I have always put my kids on CWMU's - and have had very good experiences. One more note - if you question the quality of the ranch (say it's a small ranch), look at the bull draw odds - harder draws = a good cow hunt even if permit numbers are low.

 

[Califelkslayer]

Don't miss out on the Utah youth elk hunt. 10% of the tags are reserved for NR and lots of folks that will take the kids along on an elk hunt, won't go on an out of state hunt just for their kids. In 04, the odds of drawing was 1 in 3 for a NR and 1 in 16 for a resident. You have to hunt the general units but you hunt in the rut before the regular rifle season. Should check to see if its still that way. Just the rutting activity will get a youngster stoked and unles you archery hunt, they'll probably never experence that.

 

[CAelknuts]

One thing I'll add is that the main, and only important objective for them is to have FUN. Doesn't matter where or what type of tag, just focus on them having a ton of fun and the rest will work out fine.

When my son drew the Utah youth any bull tag last year, PleaseDear was very helpful to us. We ended up having a great hunt due to his advice. It was a great experience, and we still talk about how much fun we had.