I know pretty much nothing about elk hunting and have always had tentative interest in doing it. But I'm exploring different options these years of things I can gain experience in and then redo for a reasonable amount of money on a frequent basis. I already have black bear in the Spring. I remember watching a Randy Newberg YouTube saying you can hunt elk every year. But can you successfully? Defining success as having a shot at something bigger than a spike most every year so you can get one most years and not seeing a lot of other hunters while you do it. As more info, I can live outside for multiple nights in a row and pack the typical 10 miles a day on trail and however fast I can bushwack off trail. I can climb hills. Does anyone have any experience for how hard it is to find a tresspass fee hunt? I know for pronghorn it's pretty hard.
Can you elk hunt every year... successfully?
- Thread starter shaffe48
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Coach Chris
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Elk hunting isn't exactly shooting fish in a barrel. Trophy bulls didn't get that way by accident. They're up against a lot of pressure.
Elk live in some pretty rugged country to which they're perfectly suited for.
I've had seasons where I just took my rifle for a hike.
If you watch the latest Elk Talk Podcast I think it will give you a good idea.
https://youtu.be/dmHYFaHP2kU
Elk live in some pretty rugged country to which they're perfectly suited for.
I've had seasons where I just took my rifle for a hike.
If you watch the latest Elk Talk Podcast I think it will give you a good idea.
https://youtu.be/dmHYFaHP2kU
I can go on hikes with my rifle without traveling or buying out of state tags. I'll take that as a no on public land at least. The problem with elk hunting is everyone wants to do it. I'm going pronghorn hunting this fall in an easy draw unit but I'm assuming this is going to remind me of what combat hunting means...and not combat with the antelope. Maybe I'll look into black tail hunting. I would pay a reasonable tresspass fee for elk but I'm not sure if that's easy to do either.
rmyoung1
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There are guys on this forum in their 50s with 60+ elk tags punched.... vast majority on public land. So, yep, it’s doable. The bigger challenge you’ll face is “how” and not “where”. Montana, Idaho, Colorado all offer really easy-to-obtain (or straight OTC) tags to nonresidents. The guys who kill elk every year in those places are really good elk hunters and have the “how” part down. But there are a lot of resources out there today. Randy’s and Corey’s platforms have a ton of stuff to help you figure out the “how.”
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Gerald Martin
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Define success. Define reasonable amount of money. If you want to be a successful elk hunter year after year, plan on spending 4-5 years learning an area and how elk in that area behave. You will not be successful every year unless you define success as spending a lot of hard work and a lot of time in amazing country chasing after those unforgettable encounters. If being unsuccessful means going home with more unpunched tags than punched tags, prepare to experience less success than failure for the first ten years.
Elk are not particularly difficult to kill. They can't see like muleys and antelope. They aren't as skittish as pressured whitetails. But they have very large home ranges and distribution is not usually as even as deer. Being herd animals, you might run into 25 one day and then hike dozens of miles without seeing another. In elk country there is a lot of country that won't be holding elk at the time you are hunting. Figuring out where elk are when you are there is a major part of the learning curve. Also one of the biggest difficulties most people face with elk hunting is the shear physicality of the hunt. Elk live in demanding habitat which they navigate with ease. Distance, rugged terrain and long days hunting wear every hunter down over the course of a hunt. Time is another major factor. If you can hunt 8-12 days, you'll be a lot better situated for success than if you only have a week off from work with 4-5 real hunting days. As a rule of thumb, I figure around twelve actual hunting days per chance to shoot at an elk. Of course that might be because I'm not a great elk hunter.
Elk are not particularly difficult to kill. They can't see like muleys and antelope. They aren't as skittish as pressured whitetails. But they have very large home ranges and distribution is not usually as even as deer. Being herd animals, you might run into 25 one day and then hike dozens of miles without seeing another. In elk country there is a lot of country that won't be holding elk at the time you are hunting. Figuring out where elk are when you are there is a major part of the learning curve. Also one of the biggest difficulties most people face with elk hunting is the shear physicality of the hunt. Elk live in demanding habitat which they navigate with ease. Distance, rugged terrain and long days hunting wear every hunter down over the course of a hunt. Time is another major factor. If you can hunt 8-12 days, you'll be a lot better situated for success than if you only have a week off from work with 4-5 real hunting days. As a rule of thumb, I figure around twelve actual hunting days per chance to shoot at an elk. Of course that might be because I'm not a great elk hunter.
Your statement "easy to do" sums up what public elk hunting isn't. Don't get me wrong it is easy to get a tag, easy to find a hunting area, and easy to not see any elk.
I have been fortunate enough to see elk while hunting every time, but some of those elk were a mile + away. I have eaten more bowls of tag soup than elk back strap! The places elk hunting takes me, enjoying Gods creation, and the people with the same intrest in these animals, that is what keeps me going back. I bust my butt, don't get much rest, eat crappy food just to keep me going, get frustrated when the elk don't read the play book, and spend all year planning, training, and dreaming about the next trip hunting elk.
Easy it is not but some people it gets in their blood the very first time they step into elk country and then they're hooked.
BlakeA
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Elk hunting isn't for everyone.
std7mag
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Around her you can't. While PA has an elk population, and does allow hunting, you first have to enter a "lottery".
Then if, and it's a big IF, you are drawn you may purchase an elk license.
Note there are only 120 ish people drawn in the lottery. Out of state has same chance as residents.
First week of Nov you may hunt only in your designated area. If no luck, 2nd week you may hunt anywhere.
There is no designated firearms/bow/black powder season. Hence you must wear orange. Can't remember if it's 250 sq inches or 350 sq inches. Makes bow hunting next to imposible.
If you get an elk, you must check it in.
Then you are not allowed to enter the lottery again for 5 years.
This is year 8 for me entering the lottery.
If i get drawn, then i'm playing the Power Ball!!
Then if, and it's a big IF, you are drawn you may purchase an elk license.
Note there are only 120 ish people drawn in the lottery. Out of state has same chance as residents.
First week of Nov you may hunt only in your designated area. If no luck, 2nd week you may hunt anywhere.
There is no designated firearms/bow/black powder season. Hence you must wear orange. Can't remember if it's 250 sq inches or 350 sq inches. Makes bow hunting next to imposible.
If you get an elk, you must check it in.
Then you are not allowed to enter the lottery again for 5 years.
This is year 8 for me entering the lottery.
If i get drawn, then i'm playing the Power Ball!!
If the goal is to kill an elk for the freezer, I can do it every year on public land in Montana. But that is from growing up there hunting it, and knowing the places I go very well. It’s not that the hunting is good, as it is the amount of experience we have with specific places. I think coming out from out of state and learning a place it would take several years or more to start consistently seeing success in terms of a harvest, unless considerable luck were involved. Elk hunts are usually ‘successful’ without a kill though.
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Which is why if you actually read my post you would see that "easy to do" is directly in reference to gaining access to private land even if you pay a tresspass fee not to hunting elk on public land.
I think this pretty much sums up what I suspected. You really need to learn the area. Or, up your odds by 'escouting' and putting miles and miles on checking different areas until you luck out and probably not luck out.
I'm up to the physical nature of the adventure. At least now. Perhaps I could locate some honey holes by the time I was too old and could only put in the miles to a single place and not walking constantly to several.
Yeah, I'll think about it. The first time I went bear hunting we walked through and up some pretty tough stuff and only saw one bear...from a long way off. The second time it went a little better, partly because I hired a transporter. Not hard to find some beautiful country to hunt bear in. Maybe I'll become a bear hunting expert and hunt them in the spring and fall. Or go for black tail deer. Antelope hunting and cow elk hunting might be good fall backs.
Hatchie Dawg
Well-known member
What Gerald said.
HD
HD
Well he said a lot of things. If you mean define success:. I did. If you mean define reasonable amount if money...well. You can go on a guided hunt for $5k which is more than I want for sure anyways. I can go to Alaska and chase blackie the bear some more for $2k. So I would say $2k would be an upward limit.
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Gerald Martin
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You can definitely hunt elk on your own each year with an $1500-2000 budget for the hunt. I could be wrong but I get a sense from reading your post that success in your mind is a filled tag with the animal you fill it with not the primary importance. If that’s the case that’s fine because you define what your idea of success is, but elk are probably the most difficult of all the species you named to kill year after year in changing conditions. Elk hunting is one of those “it’s about the journey more than the destination” kind of hunts and will probably be frustrating unless you approach it as such.
BlakeA
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Sounds like you don't do well with failing to fill your tag. I would pass on DIY public land elk hunting and stick to your black bears if I were you.
It sounds like you really don't want to hunt elk, and you are looking for reasons not to go already, and you have never been. Elk hunting is not for everyone, and there is nothing wrong with that. Bear hunting isn't for me - so I don't chase bears. If you can get a guide for $5k, go with a guide every other year or three years. Get the success you want and be done filling your tag and be the elk hunter you have set in your mind.
HighDesertSage
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You can kill cows every year on public land in CO if you are willing to not accumulate pref points and get a type A cow tag. That essentially means you cannot get a bull tag. So yes, you can, in CO, for cows. Some of the type A Cow tags in the state can be had with 0-1 points and are knock em over type hunts, if the weather cooperates.
The Hedgehog
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The answer to the question is absolutely yes. When the rubber meets the road - most guys are just too lazy, and expect it to be a lot easier.
treedagain
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If you know anything about general season Utah on public land the elk hunting is tough, with that said I filled every tag in the last 25 yrs except 2. very few in the same area. I have found the best way to get it done is cover ALOT of ground before the hunt and wack your bull when the sun comes up on opening day. 2 years ago I saw 14 legal bulls the 1st day within shooting range. did not kill one because I knew I could come back and kill a 6point. the next Saturday wacked a 280 6point and made it to my grandsons football game at 1130 am. another time I went thru 8 bulls before I took one within the 1st hr of the hunt. you need to hunt where the elk are not where you think they could be....I have killed 12 6pt or better public land bulls. it can be done if you think outside the box and turn over every rock.
