Englishman Requesting Advice

[tommywright]

Hi All,

After watching many of Randy’s videos about elk hunting I want to give it a shot.

I don’t want to just pay a guide to show me a bull and I pull the trigger. I want to hunt “randy style”

I can get cheap flights to Denver from England, my plan is to buy an OTC tag (rifle) and go exploring

Can anyone offer any advice on units that would be a good starting point for novice elk hunter?

Many thanks

Tom

 

[Gr8bawana]

Welcome to the forum. I can't help you with OTC tags because my state by drawing only for all big game. I'm sure other members who live in states that do have OTC tags will chime in with some advice for you.

 

[bushman13]

I didn't think they let you guys have guns?
FYI you can hunt with a spear in Alabama.

In all seriousness coming out for the first time and doing OTC will put you among the yahoo's (yay-who's). It's a humbling experience to say the least. I've been hunting for 40 years and none of it mattered when it came to my first elk hunt in CO. Good Luck .
Don't go to unit 18 is my only actual advice.

 

[bobbydean]

PM Devon Deer. He did it.

 

[Kiwi]

Hi Tom, good on you for planning a trip to CO. Its an awesome place. I cant really help with specific advice but recommend buying Gohunt.com and also phoning the local biologist once you have narrowed down an area. Good luck.

 

[pojoaque40]

Hi Tom, good on you for planning a trip to CO. Its an awesome place. I cant really help with specific advice but recommend buying Gohunt.com and also phoning the local biologist once you have narrowed down an area. Good luck.

Gohunt is a valuable resource, but i'd recommend a combination of onx and elk101.com instead. I'd think you could find all the info gohunt offers by asking around. (Also if you wait until June you can probably get a month of gohunt for free.)

 

[Nick87]

Sending you a pm

 

[Pucky Freak]

Welcome to HT!

 

[406LIFE]

There is a siginificant learning curve. If you are coming from that far, you may want to at least consider a drop camp. They take you into a place, set you up with tent and gear, maybe food, and then you are left alone for the length of your stay. Probably worth it just so you don't have to buy/rent/ship gear here. Also, better cahcne of seeing animals than just throwing a dart at the board.

 

[Kiwi]

Or maybe try a hunt swap.

 

[davinski]

It would be time well-spent to research the hunters education class requirements. Each US state offers classes that generally transfer to any other state for qualification to purchase a hunting license. If you have something similar that one could reasonably expect to meet the qualifications, I would at least call the state wildlife department before assuming anything. If you don't have anything like that, it's definitely worth pursuing or you won't even be able to purchase a tag. Beyond that, Randy's information is all great, I wish it was out there 20+ years ago when I moved to CO and started chasing elk.

As another mentioned, there is no shame in an outfitted drop camp. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool DIY hunter, but have done that a couple times in new areas and been happy each time.

Have you traveled to the U.S. before? I have loads of stories from my extended family from the UK and their trips over here. It was always amusing what surprised them the most.

Best of luck to you!

Dave

 

[Pucky Freak]

I don’t want to just pay a guide to show me a bull and I pull the trigger. I want to hunt “randy style”

I can get cheap flights to Denver from England, my plan is to buy an OTC tag (rifle) and go exploring

Can anyone offer any advice on units that would be a good starting point for novice elk hunter?

If you truly want to hunt "Randy Style", you have to scout "Randy Style" - check out his videos on escouting. Probably the most useful information you'll find will be what is posted by a state's game and fish department, as this is usually very detailed, and contains info on game concentration, migration routes, success rates, number of hunters, breakdown by season, etc. The G&F websites an interactive maps are probably the best place to start, and after that, playing around with the 3D feature on Google Earth for endless hours. After working on all this for about 50-60 hours or more, should you choose to take on this task, you'll see that your original question posed to everyone of "which unit should I hunt?" is pretty irrelevant, as there is a nearly endless variation of units, and some will fit your needs and expectations better than others.

When doing this research you will likely run into specific terminology, vocabulary, concepts etc. that are confusing and foreign, and probably specific to the Western US - don't be shy to ask HT community and you'll find people more than willing to explain.

Good luck

 

[devon deer]

Looks like we scared him off!
Come on Tommy post up, if I can help will, although I have visited Colorado, I haven't hunted there, I have hunted in Montana though.
Cheers
Richard