Private land IL whitetail and turkey hunt in exchange for public or private land WY archery elk hunt.

[Levajo]

Hello,

I am gauging what the interest is like out there for a hunt swap for elk on public wilderness or private land in Wyoming for a private land deer and turkey hunt. My dad would be happy to take any bull elk with his crossbow.

I used to live in MT and archery elk hunted there quite a bit. Thankfully, I was successful every year calling in bulls and took six elk during my time in MT. I attempted to get my dad on a bull in MT during rifle season, but that was when he had his previous heart and was unable to hoof it through the snow. Now with his new heart, he is able to hunt and helped me pack out my elk in MT in 2021 and he did great. I have since moved to Missouri.

My dad had a heart transplant last year and due to a car crash in the 90s, he is unable to use his compound bow anymore due to muscle loss in his right shoulder, but still can use a cross bow. I have been buying both him and I WY elk preference points for the last few years and am ready to burn them. He is 63 years old and not getting any younger.

My family owns 110 acres that borders 800 acres of land owned by the Parklands Foundation (similar to the Nature Conservancy). Another farm that borders the parklands is around 500 acres and they plant food plots too and manage for trophy deer. We invest a lot of money and time in food plots each year and have over 30 tree stands hung in our woods along with a heated redneck blind and have some great bucks around thanks to all of our bordering neighbors managing for quality whitetails as well.

My dad has never killed an elk and I refuse to let him spend 9,000$ on a guide. If you are a WY resident and feel like you have a reasonable spot-on wilderness public land or private land to get him a bull, please feel free to message me. We would pack all our own gear, tent, and food. Him and I could pack out his bull ourselves. In exchange for the hunt regardless of success, this person would be invited to come hunt private land in IL for fall whitetails or turkeys in the spring for about a week or so. We would provide lodging and food, and have a heated enclosed shed with floor drains, a ceiling winch, and stainless-steel sink for processing game.

I have posted some pictures of some of the bucks on our land. While we could not guarantee a buck, I could nearly guarantee you would see and likely have opportunities at some shooter bucks if you came in mid-November when the rut is kicking in. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

My name is Levi Umland.
Email: [email protected]

 

[Addicting]

Is he a veteran? How many points does he have?

 

[ccc23454]

You specified wilderness and that you can handle the packing. How many horses do you plan to bring? What tags can he draw on points (wyoming is a big state) matters where your trying to go.

 

[Brad W]

Do veterans have an advantage in Wyoming? Asking for a friend

 

[PaulRevere]

 

[ccc23454]

Do veterans have an advantage in Wyoming? Asking for a friend

Disabled vets do

 

[Levajo]

Is he a veteran? How many points does he have?

No, he is not a veteran. I have 4 and he has 2 points. Next year if/when we applied, we would each buy one more giving us an average of 4. Looking at the draw odds, I guess we would be lucky to draw general tags with 4 points.

 

[Levajo]

You specified wilderness and that you can handle the packing. How many horses do you plan to bring? What tags can he draw on points (wyoming is a big state) matters where your trying to go.

I specified wilderness due to a WY resident being able to take us onto wilderness. Also, from experience in MT, hunting in wilderness provides the chance to get away from roads.
We have electric bikes, but if needed would be open to renting llamas. We packed my elk 2.5 miles out of the breaks in Montana last year on foot. I have limited experience riding horses. I have looked at a unit in the Bighorns and my old elk bunting partner in MT has given me some intel on some units around the park.

I have not yet narrowed it down to a single unit. I am still doing some e-scouting and researching other forums online for more information. I may make a scouting trip this summer to burn some boot leather.

 

[cahunter805]

No, he is not a veteran. I have 4 and he has 2 points. Next year if/when we applied, we would each buy one more giving us an average of 4. Looking at the draw odds, I guess we would be lucky to draw general tags with 4 points.

Next year you will have an average of 3 points. Wyoming doesn’t add the point you buy to your total until after November each year.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

Wish you both luck! Look forward to seeing your upcoming posts about success this fall, and would love to see someone take you up on this, and see their hunt in IL as well! This is an opportunity for great camaraderie!

Do you have the story about the 2021 breaks elk up on here?

 

[BuzzH]

I specified wilderness due to a WY resident being able to take us onto wilderness. Also, from experience in MT, hunting in wilderness provides the chance to get away from roads.
We have electric bikes, but if needed would be open to renting llamas. We packed my elk 2.5 miles out of the breaks in Montana last year on foot. I have limited experience riding horses. I have looked at a unit in the Bighorns and my old elk bunting partner in MT has given me some intel on some units around the park.

I have not yet narrowed it down to a single unit. I am still doing some e-scouting and researching other forums online for more information. I may make a scouting trip this summer to burn some boot leather.

Ebikes aren't legal in designated wilderness. Also not legal on non motorized FS trails and gated roads. There are lots of places outside the designated wilderness that have excellent elk hunting.

I don't think you have the points to draw general, even special fee, but could get lucky in the random.

Couple things to consider is putting in separate you would likely draw with 4 points. Get a general tag and go hunt it. Have your Dad continue to build points and you'll be able to go back and be way ahead of the learning curve.

Also keep in mind NRs are going to be limited to regions most likely on general elk tags in 2024...that may change some things with draw odds (maybe better maybe worse.)

 

[Levajo]

Next year you will have an average of 3 points. Wyoming doesn’t add the point you buy to your total until after November each year.

Good to know.

Thanks for letting me know that!

 

[Nick87]

Also keep in mind NRs are going to be limited to regions most likely on general elk tags in 2024...that may change some things with draw odds (maybe better maybe worse.)

I'm either reading this wrong or missing what your saying can you elaborate Buzz?

 

[Levajo]

Ebikes aren't legal in designated wilderness. Also not legal on non motorized FS trails and gated roads. There are lots of places outside the designated wilderness that have excellent elk hunting.

I don't think you have the points to draw general, even special fee, but could get lucky in the random.

Couple things to consider is putting in separate you would likely draw with 4 points. Get a general tag and go hunt it. Have your Dad continue to build points and you'll be able to go back and be way ahead of the learning curve.

Also keep in mind NRs are going to be limited to regions most likely on general elk tags in 2024...that may change some things with draw odds (maybe better maybe worse.)

I have never used an e-bike on an elk hunt before, but I passed a guy in the Crazies in Montana that was using one. He claimed he packed out his bull with it, but that trail was 7 miles long and had many downed trees on it.

I watched Randy's video on the changes coming for WY in 2024 and was hoping to burn our points prior.

Thanks for the advice. I plan on applying for the Missouri elk draw this coming year too.

 

[Levajo]

Wish you both luck! Look forward to seeing your upcoming posts about success this fall, and would love to see someone take you up on this, and see their hunt in IL as well! This is an opportunity for great camaraderie!

Do you have the story about the 2021 breaks elk up on here?

Wish you both luck! Look forward to seeing your upcoming posts about success this fall, and would love to see someone take you up on this, and see their hunt in IL as well! This is an opportunity for great camaraderie!

Do you have the story about the 2021 breaks elk up on here?

The year I moved to Kentucky (2021) to start my master's degree on Silver Carp, I drew the 410 archery permit with 2 points. Dr. Outlander in Murray, KY gave me a spot he had hunted in 410 prior to OnX maps being readily available. He talked about how easy it was to call in a couple bulls every morning and usually a bull every afternoon. He passed many sub 340" bulls.

I worked as a technician for the Montana Cooperative Fisheries Research Unit (Tanner Cox) for the summer of 2019 and lived in a camper at James Kipp. I found my first elk shed on some nearby state land and new the area along the river pretty well since I was up and down it every day on a jet boat working with the Endangered Pallid Sturgeon (see pictures below).


Note sheep on the shore in the above picture. Our boat was beached on a sandbar here until the region 4 fish biologist (Luke Holmquist) came to the rescue.

I way pointed every area of the river that I observed sheep in in 2019 and applied and drew an ewe permit my last year (2020) prior to graduating from Montana State University in Fish and Wildlife Management and Ecology.

The summer of 2020, I accepted a job working with Dr. Pat Braaten on Pallid Sturgeon again on the Missouri and Yellowstone River below Fort Peck Reservoir with the USGS and lived out of a motor home with my wife and daughter in Fort Peck, MT. On this job we spent weeks sampling for free drifting larval Pallid Sturgeon.
A picture of I believe was an ephemeropteran latched onto a Golden eye larvae.
Here



Blue Sucker


Burbot captured in our benthic trawl

Adult Pallid Sturgeon in the Yellowstone River.

Of course when I was not working I went and fished Fort Peck.
My first Lake Trout

30.5" Walleye
My wife's biggest Walleye 27"

Our daughter fishing with us.

Fall of 2020, Dad burned his antelope points and shot his first antelope.
He also accompanied me on my sheep hunt. We called a local in the area of the breaks and he told us the roads to access the river would be impassible due to all the rain. A few hours later, I called him again and he said with the sun and wind, he thought it would be possible. So, we hopped in our trucks and made the 4 hour drive up from Belgrade. Arriving at about 2am, there was a 50% chance of rain, so we didn't dare drive the truck down to the river and slept in the back of a suburban. The next morning, we woke up to a dry road and drove our trucks down and parked one then drove the other truck upriver and launched our 11ft dingy of a john boat that my old HS teacher gave to me years ago. He told me stories of fishing out of this boat during the 1960s. He made me promise to never get rid of it. After launching at sunrise, we made it a little bit downstream to bird rapids where we took on a little bit of water. My Dad was not pleased at all and said later he didn't think we were going to make it. This was late October, and the water was frigid! Shortly after, 2 jet boats came blowing by us with everyone dressed in camo, with disappointment, I paddled on and shortly after heard a gun shot ring out about a mile down river. We had packed enough gear to spend the night, but with my dad having a terrible heart, it was not the goal as he gets cold so easily.

I continued to paddle and came up on the hunters. I knew this was all public land and I have always tried to maintain a positive attitude no matter what happens on my hunts. I paddled over to shore and talked to them some to see what they had shot. To my relief, it was youth season and they had killed a 3x3 buck. They also mentioned they had seen an ewe. After taking a quick hike in the direction they said it traveled in, I hiked back to the boat and met back with my dad. My dad's heart was so bad at this point that he could not walk more than a few dozen yards from the boat and then would have to sit down to catch his breath. I wanted him to be a part of the hunt, so I didn't want to hike more than a mile or so away from him.

Further downriver is where the majority of my sheep waypoints were at anyways. So, away we went. A couple of hours went by, I was paddling while my dad glassed. With excitement, he told me to stop and claimed he had seen some sheep. I quickly grabbed my binos and looked and did not see anything at all. All the while the current was moving our boat further and further downstream. I was hesitant to believe he knew what he saw, but quickly paddled over to shore and we both climbed out of the boat to hop up on the riverbank to glass some more. After a few moments, I briefly saw an ewe sheep disappear down into a basin maybe 3/4 of a mile back up a drainage. I grabbed my rifle and pack and took off while dad tried to find a nearby high spot to glass from. I inherited his heart condition (ARVD) and had to stop part way to catch my breath. I was dehydrated, tired from only a couple hours of sleep, and we had skipped breakfast that morning. The sheep offered me a chip shot at nearly 60 yards. I almost felt guilty when I squeezed the trigger. The sheep saw me and knew I was there, but really was not that spooked. It only took a couple of bounds and stopped to look back at me. I probably could have pegged it with my bow had I brought it.

I dropped her where she stood and quickly quartered her and met my dad back at the boat. He had said he heard a shot and figured I was successful but knew he wouldn't have been able to make the walk to me to help butcher. After looking at the time, I tried to calculate how soon we could make it to our truck downriver. I knew the river well and was comfortable navigating the remaining section in the dark. We piled in all our gear and I took off rowing us at a pretty decent pace as I didn't want to row in the dark for long. We encountered another jet boat with some hunters that were traveling upriver from the area where my sheep waypoints were from the summer of 2019. They had said they were hunting ewes too and they had not seen anything and asked if we had any luck. With a grin, I proudly held up my ewe's head and said I just shot one about a 1/2 mile upriver. They seemed stunned for a few moments and then congradulated me. I had advised them to kill their outboard and drift while glassing. They admitted they were being impatient.

We continued to paddle and only had to paddle about an hour into the dark. Hearing water churning over rocks while you are drifting down river in an overloaded 11ft boat was, I will admit somewhat scary. Of the 30 miles we floated, I killed the only ewe sheep we saw in my unit. I thanked my dad for joining me and told him it meant a lot that he had joined me.

Dad had his heart transplant 3 months after this picture in Chicago.
We had a chance of snow that night, so we drove our truck up and out of woodhawk back to the fairy before going to sleep.

Wish you both luck! Look forward to seeing your upcoming posts about success this fall, and would love to see someone take you up on this, and see their hunt in IL as well! This is an opportunity for great camaraderie!

Do you have the story about the 2021 breaks elk up on here?

 

[Levajo]

The year I moved to Kentucky (2021) to start my master's degree on Silver Carp, I drew the 410 archery permit with 2 points. Dr. Outlander in Murray, KY gave me a spot he had hunted in 410 prior to OnX maps being readily available. He talked about how easy it was to call in a couple bulls every morning and usually a bull every afternoon. He passed many sub 340" bulls.

I worked as a technician for the Montana Cooperative Fisheries Research Unit (Tanner Cox) for the summer of 2019 and lived in a camper at James Kipp. I found my first elk shed on some nearby state land and new the area along the river pretty well since I was up and down it every day on a jet boat working with the Endangered Pallid Sturgeon (see pictures below).View attachment 257574View attachment 257575View attachment 257576View attachment 257577View attachment 257572
View attachment 257594
View attachment 257591View attachment 257592
Note sheep on the shore in the above picture. Our boat was beached on a sandbar here until the region 4 fish biologist (Luke Holmquist) came to the rescue.

I way pointed every area of the river that I observed sheep in in 2019 and applied and drew an ewe permit my last year (2020) prior to graduating from Montana State University in Fish and Wildlife Management and Ecology.

The summer of 2020, I accepted a job working with Dr. Pat Braaten on Pallid Sturgeon again on the Missouri and Yellowstone River below Fort Peck Reservoir with the USGS and lived out of a motor home with my wife and daughter in Fort Peck, MT. On this job we spent weeks sampling for free drifting larval Pallid Sturgeon.View attachment 257589
A picture of I believe was an ephemeropteran latched onto a Golden eye larvae.
Here

View attachment 257582

Blue Sucker

View attachment 257605
Burbot captured in our benthic trawl
View attachment 257604
Adult Pallid Sturgeon in the Yellowstone River.

Of course when I was not working I went and fished Fort Peck.View attachment 257603View attachment 257602
My first Lake Trout
View attachment 257601
30.5" WalleyeView attachment 257600
My wife's biggest Walleye 27"
View attachment 257606
Our daughter fishing with us.

Fall of 2020, Dad burned his antelope points and shot his first antelope.View attachment 257607
He also accompanied me on my sheep hunt. We called a local in the area of the breaks and he told us the roads to access the river would be impassible due to all the rain. A few hours later, I called him again and he said with the sun and wind, he thought it would be possible. So, we hopped in our trucks and made the 4 hour drive up from Belgrade. Arriving at about 2am, there was a 50% chance of rain, so we didn't dare drive the truck down to the river and slept in the back of a suburban. The next morning, we woke up to a dry road and drove our trucks down and parked one then drove the other truck upriver and launched our 11ft dingy of a john boat that my old HS teacher gave to me years ago. He told me stories of fishing out of this boat during the 1960s. He made me promise to never get rid of it. After launching at sunrise, we made it a little bit downstream to bird rapids where we took on a little bit of water. My Dad was not pleased at all and said later he didn't think we were going to make it. This was late October, and the water was frigid! Shortly after, 2 jet boats came blowing by us with everyone dressed in camo, with disappointment, I paddled on and shortly after heard a gun shot ring out about a mile down river. We had packed enough gear to spend the night, but with my dad having a terrible heart, it was not the goal as he gets cold so easily.

I continued to paddle and came up on the hunters. I knew this was all public land and I have always tried to maintain a positive attitude no matter what happens on my hunts. I paddled over to shore and talked to them some to see what they had shot. To my relief, it was youth season and they had killed a 3x3 buck. They also mentioned they had seen an ewe. After taking a quick hike in the direction they said it traveled in, I hiked back to the boat and met back with my dad. My dad's heart was so bad at this point that he could not walk more than a few dozen yards from the boat and then would have to sit down to catch his breath. I wanted him to be a part of the hunt, so I didn't want to hike more than a mile or so away from him.

Further downriver is where the majority of my sheep waypoints were at anyways. So, away we went. A couple of hours went by, I was paddling while my dad glassed. With excitement, he told me to stop and claimed he had seen some sheep. I quickly grabbed my binos and looked and did not see anything at all. All the while the current was moving our boat further and further downstream. I was hesitant to believe he knew what he saw, but quickly paddled over to shore and we both climbed out of the boat to hop up on the riverbank to glass some more. After a few moments, I briefly saw an ewe sheep disappear down into a basin maybe 3/4 of a mile back up a drainage. I grabbed my rifle and pack and took off while dad tried to find a nearby high spot to glass from. I inherited his heart condition (ARVD) and had to stop part way to catch my breath. I was dehydrated, tired from only a couple hours of sleep, and we had skipped breakfast that morning. The sheep offered me a chip shot at nearly 60 yards. I almost felt guilty when I squeezed the trigger. The sheep saw me and knew I was there, but really was not that spooked. It only took a couple of bounds and stopped to look back at me. I probably could have pegged it with my bow had I brought it.

I dropped her where she stood and quickly quartered her and met my dad back at the boat. He had said he heard a shot and figured I was successful but knew he wouldn't have been able to make the walk to me to help butcher. After looking at the time, I tried to calculate how soon we could make it to our truck downriver. I knew the river well and was comfortable navigating the remaining section in the dark. We piled in all our gear and I took off rowing us at a pretty decent pace as I didn't want to row in the dark for long. We encountered another jet boat with some hunters that were traveling upriver from the area where my sheep waypoints were from the summer of 2019. They had said they were hunting ewes too and they had not seen anything and asked if we had any luck. With a grin, I proudly held up my ewe's head and said I just shot one about a 1/2 mile upriver. They seemed stunned for a few moments and then congradulated me. I had advised them to kill their outboard and drift while glassing. They admitted they were being impatient.

We continued to paddle and only had to paddle about an hour into the dark. Hearing water churning over rocks while you are drifting down river in an overloaded 11ft boat was, I will admit somewhat scary. Of the 30 miles we floated, I killed the only ewe sheep we saw in my unit. I thanked my dad for joining me and told him it meant a lot that he had joined me.
View attachment 257608View attachment 257609
Dad had his heart transplant 3 months after this picture in Chicago.
We had a chance of snow that night, so we drove our truck up and out of woodhawk back to the fairy before going to sleep.

Springing forward to the fall of 2020, I found myself driving from Kentucky with my wife, dad, and a good friend back to the breaks for my archery elk hunt. I was the only one with a tag and felt a bit of pressure since everyone was there to help me pack and glass. Unfortunately, I was the only one who knew how to call, but I was not turning down the help.

I knew the unit would not be what Dr. Outland had explained, but I was not prepared for the number of people I encountered. Unit 410 was packed. The few areas that I had been told to go look in had hunters with campers parked there. Remember, 2020 was a bad drought year, so I drove a ways and made my way closer to a water source and immediately saw elk, but also more hunters. With it being the day before opening day, I put together a plan to do a 10 mile hike into the high country and hit different water holes. My wife and I took our time glassing shady greener areas as we made our way to different water holes. Two of the three were dry and the one with water had no tracks around it at all. The game warden later explained to us that the water had sat stagnant for so long the animals would drink from it? As if it had turned poisonous? Later that afternoon my wife grew impatient and hungry from glassing, so i pointed her in the direction of a road that she would eventually hit and told her she could easily find camp once she hit the road. I continued to glass until dark and let out some bugles. As I was walking between glassing spots, I crossed a creek and was stopped by a young rattle snake rattling at me. Of my nearly 4 years in MT, this was the first rattle snake I had rattle at me.

 

[Levajo]

Springing forward to the fall of 2020, I found myself driving from Kentucky with my wife, dad, and a good friend back to the breaks for my archery elk hunt. I was the only one with a tag and felt a bit of pressure since everyone was there to help me pack and glass. Unfortunately, I was the only one who knew how to call, but I was not turning down the help.

I knew the unit would not be what Dr. Outland had explained, but I was not prepared for the number of people I encountered. Unit 410 was packed. The few areas that I had been told to go look in had hunters with campers parked there. Remember, 2020 was a bad drought year, so I drove a ways and made my way closer to a water source and immediately saw elk, but also more hunters. With it being the day before opening day, I put together a plan to do a 10 mile hike into the high country and hit different water holes. My wife and I took our time glassing shady greener areas as we made our way to different water holes. Two of the three were dry and the one with water had no tracks around it at all. The game warden later explained to us that the water had sat stagnant for so long the animals would drink from it? As if it had turned poisonous? Later that afternoon my wife grew impatient and hungry from glassing, so i pointed her in the direction of a road that she would eventually hit and told her she could easily find camp once she hit the road. I continued to glass until dark and let out some bugles. As I was walking between glassing spots, I crossed a creek and was stopped by a young rattle snake rattling at me. Of my nearly 4 years in MT, this was the first rattle snake I had rattle at me.

I walked back to camp somewhat frustrated I did not turn up any fresh sign or hear any bugles. I spoke with my buddy who did his own 8-mile scouting and glassing trip and he did not turn up anything either. Plan B was to hit a different area and the next day. After encountering many other hunters, I was able to kill my first archery elk and had my wife about 100 yards behind me. She helped me quarter the elk and pack it the 2.5 miles back to the truck where we met up with my buddy and my dad who accompnaied me back in for the rest of the meat.
View attachment 257615View attachment 257616View attachment 257617View attachment 257618View attachment 257619
(I have called some big bulls into bow range in the crazies, storm castles, and beaver heads, even drawn on 3 different bulls, but never was offered a clean shot. I killed elk with my rifle every year though.) During this hunt, I had promised my wife I would arrow the first legal elk I had in range. I had passed a few cow elk with my bow in years prior, but this was my last tag as a resident and wanted the meat.View attachment 257620

The rest of the week I spent chasing mule deer and head about a 12 yard encounter with the biggest black bear I had ever seen. It had no clue it was walking right at my dad and I until I finally talked at him. He ran off to around 50 yards before standing up to look back at what he walked into.

I have since finished my master's in Kentucky and am now a Ph.D. student working with Lake Sturgeon recruitment in tributaries of the Missouri River in the state of Missouri. My wife and I still get asked why we left MT. We tell everyone we plan to return to ID, WY, or MT once I finish school.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

A great write up thank you for sharing! Congrats on the masters, the ewe, and the elk! I’m in Belgrade also! You can do great things for Montana we look forward to having you back.