place for beginner elk hunting

Powder · Oct 30, 2016

I'm hoping some of you will be willing to help point me in the right direction. I'm an experienced hunter but new to elk hunting. I'm looking for a place for my Dad and I. I don't care about shooting a trophy...any legal bull would be acceptable. Rifle would best. Most likely states would be Montana, Wyoming and Colorado but I'd be open to other areas. We're driving from Minnesota so I don't really want to go much farther than that.

Can someone please PM me (I'd like to keep your help as private as possible) some possibilities? I'd prefer it to be a DIY trip. Other than horses, I've got everything else that would be needed.

Thanks!

DirtyTough · Oct 30, 2016

If you don't have any points I believe a general tag for Wyoming is out for next year. So that leaves Montana and Colorado.

If you narrow it up a little to the state, what type of terrain you want to hunt, car camping, motel, etc you will probably get more help.

Colorado has the most elk, no grizzlies to deal with, shorter season, further away.

Montana bigger elk, grizzlies, more expensive, closer, long season.

Good luck

BIGJOHNT · Oct 30, 2016

You may just want to hire a guide and go with a guided hunt. That way they have done all of the leg work for you. Find the elk, set up camp , provide food . All you have to bring is your gun and personal gear.

txhunter58 · Oct 31, 2016

Since you want to go DIY, a drop camp would be a possibility. They pack you in to a roadless are but you don't have to bring horses or camp stuff

I would look at Colorado 1st rifle season. Many can be drawn with 0 or 1 point. Only elk hunters (no deer) are in the field and less than the OTC seasons. Also, the elk are still in the last stages or rutting.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

mntman · Nov 3, 2016

>Since you want to go DIY,
>a drop camp would be
>a possibility. They pack
>you in to a roadless
>are but you don't have
>to bring horses or camp
>stuff
>
>I would look at Colorado 1st
>rifle season. Many can be
>drawn with 0 or 1
>point. Only elk hunters (no
>deer) are in the field
>and less than the OTC
>seasons. Also, the elk are
>still in the last stages
>or rutting.
>
>txhunter58
>
>venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore
>I am)

+100, do a 1st rifle hunt or even a mzldr hunt. 2nd, 3rd and 4th season hunts can be difficult at best, even worse for a new guy to elk...

Figure out the type of terrain you want to be in steep, flat or somewhere in between. Then narrow the units down to what you can draw with zero points and go from there. I'd look for a unit you can get at least 3 miles from any road/atv trail. Hard packout but easier to find elk. Sure there are places to shoot them next to road (nasty holes) but to be consistent at killing elk, you will need to be away from people most of time.

A drop camp can be good too, gets you back into an area generally away from people and hoping outfitter puts you in area with elk.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"

270Whatelse · Nov 3, 2016

+1000 on the 1st rifle tag! Do not Do not go 2nd season because it's just easier to buy the tag OTC. 2nd or 3rd season can be very hard to find elk unless you know the area.

gundog2 · Nov 6, 2016

Montana would give you 4 weeks of archery and 6 weeks of rifle hunting, no other state can match that. You are much more likely to see, hear, and have close encounters with elk during the September archery hunts, in any state, and I think you can also take cows or bulls on many archery hunt areas of Montana and Idaho. I think the Idaho general archery hunt is good and it is one of the only states where you can apply and have descent chance (maybe 1:5 TO 1:20) to draw limited entry rifle tags without having to deal bonus points or preference points. The general rifle hunts are tough any where you go.