Great site! 1st post

scrape · Jan 31, 2007

This is my first post on your great site. Hello to all!
I'm an east coast guy who up until recently has just been bow hunting whitetails, but man I have got a burning desire to go after some elk. I'm here to learn from some of the experts on here and hopefully get pointed in the right direction for my first elk hunt.

muzz · Jan 31, 2007

Welcome to the site, look forward to hearing from you.

Flatlandr · Jan 31, 2007

Welcome aboard scrape! Lots of great folks on here to learn from.

YukonDall · Jan 31, 2007

WELCOME, YOU'LL HAVE ALOT OF FUN HERE PLANNING AN ELK TRIP. YD.

FamilyMan · Jan 31, 2007

Welcome to the site scrape. Its a lot of fun and can be informative too.

Mark

Slide · Jan 31, 2007

Welcome to the site and good luck with your Elk hunting.

Slide

Roy · Jan 31, 2007

Welcome!

UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)

scrape · Jan 31, 2007

Thanks everyone, good to be here. I will say I am learning one thing real fast - that just getting a tag in a high quality area may be the most challenging part of elk hunting!

Califelkslayer · Jan 31, 2007

Top tier archery hunts are draw in alot of states (Az, Nv, Co) and may require playing the Preference point game but as an archer, there are many states and many units that are OTC. Beauty of OTC is that if you hunt them repeatedly, you learn the country, elk habits etc and you can plan your hunt early, before the draws.

You'll love the site. TIP: Read everything by BOBCATBESS, those around you will wonder why you are laughing. Welcome.

scrape · Jan 31, 2007

Thanks for the tip, I will keep an eye out for those posts. I've already started applying for AZ and I intend to apply for NM. I am debating going ahead and biting the bullet and booking a hunt with an outiftter in NM and getting a land owner tag. I spoke with John Olivas from JACO outfitters in NM about hunting in the Gila and I also have been in contact with Ute Creek Outfitters in northern NM about a hunt as well. I enjoyed talking with John from JACO he helped me understand the draw process in NM and the landowner tag deal, as well as, the genetic difference of bulls from northern NM compared to the Gila area. I received an informative email from Lee Vigil from Ute Creek as well and it sounds as if they offer a pretty high end hunt on private land.

Ideally, I would like to do a self-guided hunt, but I am thinking that for my first hunt guided may be best, because I am not familiar with any of the hunting areas and getting into where the animals are plus I lack the experience of dealing with an animal that size once it is on the ground, the process of skinning and packing it out.

hornaddiction · Feb 1, 2007

Welcome aboard!!

Horn
www.trophiesonthewall.com

Roadtrip · Feb 1, 2007

Welcome Scrape! Don't worry about being an east coaster or a flatlander. My elevation is 12' at Low tide! I've been addicted since my first elk hunt now I go solo and DIY. You can't get any further east than me without getting wet. A word of caution, once you get on your first screaming bull, you'll never get it out of your system.

Lots of good folks in these parts...and a wealth of info.

Cheers, Roadtrip

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son" Dean Wormer, Animal House

YukonDall · Feb 1, 2007

SCRAPE, ONCE YOU GET A BIG BULL TO COME IN YOUR DONE. FROM THAT POINT ON ITS ELK FEVER & THERE IS NO CURE EXCEPT A COUPLE OF ELK TAGS A YEAR. I WENT TWICE THIS LAST YEAR SAW 29 BULLS, SOME VERY CLOSE...BUT NOT SHOOTERS. SHOT A FAT COW THE LAST DAY, GOOD EATS,....YD.

scrape · Feb 1, 2007

I've already got elk fever in my system bad! It is really all my wife's fault. She and my good buddy's wife hatched a plan to send us on an exotic hunt for a Christmas present. Up until that point I was perfectly content chasing whitetails around home and going on one or two guided hunts for whitetails a year, you know for big bucks in the midwest. Well after I went on the exotic hunt and got a taste of spot and stalk for russian boars and hunted for and took a pretty good fallow deer, I realized there was a whole world of different animals out there. While a was hunting the enclosure I ran into some real big bull elk and had a red stag bull hang out under my tree stand and beat up on the limbs I trimmed off the tree I was in for a good while (pictures posted below). After that it was on, I could have taken a stag or elk bull while there, but they would not have been nearly as challenging as the fallow deer or the boar. It was in the stand with the stag under me that I decided an elk hunt was imminent.

Anyway, I will definately be a regular visitor to this message board. And Roadtrip, I would really appreciate the opportunity to pick your brain about your DIY hunts, especially considering I am right down the road from you in Myrtle Beach.