Use Outfitter or Not?

[Deleted member 28227]

I'm an adult onset hunter as well, '12 was my first season. My first season I went out with my father-n-law who has hunted his whole life and he basically gave me a crash course, we didn't kill an elk that season and I haven't hunted that unit again. I don't think there is a set answer to your question it really depends on you, your goals and how you like to do things. Personally I grew up backing packing with my dad, I was 9 months old on my first backpacking trip and have spent at least 10-20 nights in a tent every year since. Therefore, my first hunt was a backpack hunt and I have continued to prefer hunting that way. I think backpacking/bivy hunting was a big advantage for me, I had no idea where elk were going to be and moving camp every night gave me the ability to see a lot of different terrain and made it easier for me to be in good locations during 'prime time'.

My advice would be to go DIY and figure out what kept you from being successful last time and try to fix that issue.

As far as unit selection, I would not pick the flat tops. As a beginner I had no idea were elk would be, couldn't call worth crap (still can't) so the most important thing for me was being able to glass elk. The flat tops are a huge area so I'm sure there are spots that lend themselves well to glassing, but in general I like units that are straight up and down as it makes it easier for me to find elk, getting to them becomes a chore... but at least I know where they are and can plan a stalk. There are lots of good 0pt units in CO I'm not sure if I would mess with the leftover list.

As others have said going outfitted might be worth it, I've never done a guided big game hunt, but I've done other guided activities. We are all hunting on our vacation time and there is something to be said about being able to just show up and have the logistics figured out for you, also you will probably kill and elk... so there's that as well.

 

[jtm307]

For the amount of money you'd spend on an outfitter, you can go on multiple DIY hunts. Ignore the harvest rates. You can't control everything, but YOU are the single biggest factor in whether you kill an elk.

 

[88man]

going with an outfitter might speed up the learning curve

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I'm not sure I would still be elk hunting if I hadn't been invited by a mentor who greatly shortened my learning curve. Even with that mentor I got my @ss handed to me for a few years, wouldn't have had the confidence to keep grinding it out if not for him.

I think you're looking at things the right way. Having elk encounters and seeing how someone with experience capitalizes on those encounters is a huge step in being successful, especially for people more familiar with hunting eastern whitetails. Finding an outfitter that hunts in a manner that resembles how you could do it DIY and allows you the most opportunity to be involved in elk encounters/harvests might be worth the investment in your case. Hunting a private ranch that is more a "pick one and shoot it" type of situation wont shorten the learning curve much.

 

[Addicting]

If it’s money you were not planning on go for broke! Hire the outfitter what do you have to loose!

 

[SPDSpappy]

Yes, private land Chama, NM. We drove in so far and hiked in the rest of the way. Nothing like public land hunting though. You can pick any time from archery season September, rifle October 1 clear through Dec. 31. 5 day hunt, unit 4 private land only. It was no where near that cost though. About $6600. We chose a December 1 migration hunt, minus the migration! Weather was a bit warm and no snow up high. Still saw 2-300 elk daily, though big bills were reluctant to get out of the high country. One thing you may want to consider too is if you get one down now with the injured shoulder, how you are going to get it out, unless you have a packer.

Very cool!!! I'm being told by the doc I should be good to go w/in 4-6 months from my surgery and that was December. I'm praying I'll be good as new come May!!!

 

[SPDSpappy]

True... but sometimes a guided hunt leads to "on your own adventures". At least in my case. Some of us need a jump start .

Agreed! I need all the help I can get....

 

[SPDSpappy]

FWIW - if you have the cash, I would do outfitted first and then take the learnings (I know they will not be the same, but if you are new to hunting there will be many transferable learnings) and then hunt a lifetime DIY public. YMMV

Valid points!!

 

[SPDSpappy]

As a noob, I do worry I'll give up before I figure it out. Fortunately I usually have success hunting whitetails locally so maybe that will help buffer the disappointment. A guided hunt would probably be beneficial but I'm not going to wait around for 5 years saving money to hunt elk. I'll just take my lumps on the unused tags and consider them camping and hiking trips with a gun.

I actually said something very similar when I came from from my first trip out west this past October. I said many people spend lots of money to go backpacking/hiking in CO and that's basically what it ended up being.

 

[SPDSpappy]

Speaking in general here, not just elk.

I've done mostly DIY hunts, but have spent the money a few times for a guided hunt. Many of my DIY hunts have resulted in notching a tag, filling the freezer, putting some antlers on the wall.

All of my guided hunts have resulted in notching that tag.

I take great satisfaction in a good DIY hunt. Am 62 years old, been hunting quite some time. I know what to do for my local mule deer, and have largely been successful at taking them. There is a tremendous satisfaction from planning your own hunt, making it happen, particularly when it ends up with meat in the freezer.

A guided hunt sometimes offers a unique opportunity to see some interesting places, difficult to reach otherwise. To meet and hunt with some fellows (your guides) who really know the area and the animal. Can pick up an awful lot of good info from them. The accommodations are generally pretty decent; a big tent with a wood stove is awfully nice compared to my backpacking tent!

I've found that the hunting can be equally strenuous and demanding. Either way I'm climbing steep ridges, I'm up before dawn, I'm cold, I'm hot, I'm hungry or thirsty. Guided or unguided, I've worked just as hard. Except on the pack-out... I will admit that it's been real nice to have a young, strong guide there to help get the meat, antlers, hide, etc back to camp.

Take a look at the guided option, it might well be one heck of a hunt, and if your experience mirrors mine, you're quite likely to take game.

Regards, Guy

Great to hear about your experience and how you're still getting after it at 62!! I worry about how much longer I will be able to do this, much like Big Fin talks about.

Thankfully, my CO hunting buddy has a wall tent w/ a wood stove. I think I'll be buying one as well here shortly to use on trips when we're not together.

 

[SPDSpappy]

I'm an adult onset hunter as well, '12 was my first season. My first season I went out with my father-n-law who has hunted his whole life and he basically gave me a crash course, we didn't kill an elk that season and I haven't hunted that unit again. I don't think there is a set answer to your question it really depends on you, your goals and how you like to do things. Personally I grew up backing packing with my dad, I was 9 months old on my first backpacking trip and have spent at least 10-20 nights in a tent every year since. Therefore, my first hunt was a backpack hunt and I have continued to prefer hunting that way. I think backpacking/bivy hunting was a big advantage for me, I had no idea where elk were going to be and moving camp every night gave me the ability to see a lot of different terrain and made it easier for me to be in good locations during 'prime time'.

My advice would be to go DIY and figure out what kept you from being successful last time and try to fix that issue.

As far as unit selection, I would not pick the flat tops. As a beginner I had no idea were elk would be, couldn't call worth crap (still can't) so the most important thing for me was being able to glass elk. The flat tops are a huge area so I'm sure there are spots that lend themselves well to glassing, but in general I like units that are straight up and down as it makes it easier for me to find elk, getting to them becomes a chore... but at least I know where they are and can plan a stalk. There are lots of good 0pt units in CO I'm not sure if I would mess with the leftover list.

As others have said going outfitted might be worth it, I've never done a guided big game hunt, but I've done other guided activities. We are all hunting on our vacation time and there is something to be said about being able to just show up and have the logistics figured out for you, also you will probably kill and elk... so there's that as well.

Thank you for your insight! I didn't grow up camping or hunting and never did either until I had my son and we joined scouts.

I had thought about going to a different unit this year, but we really did run into a great bunch of folks at the campsite we chose and we saw elk. I believe it won't take many more trips to at least harvest a cow elk. Like you said though, this area makes it extremely difficult to identify where they're going to be and glass for elk. I'm hoping I get a NM tag as well so I get to hunt with a different buddy and the terrain will be more suited for identifying areas and glassing.

 

[SPDSpappy]

I'm not sure I would still be elk hunting if I hadn't been invited by a mentor who greatly shortened my learning curve. Even with that mentor I got my @ss handed to me for a few years, wouldn't have had the confidence to keep grinding it out if not for him.

I think you're looking at things the right way. Having elk encounters and seeing how someone with experience capitalizes on those encounters is a huge step in being successful, especially for people more familiar with hunting eastern whitetails. Finding an outfitter that hunts in a manner that resembles how you could do it DIY and allows you the most opportunity to be involved in elk encounters/harvests might be worth the investment in your case. Hunting a private ranch that is more a "pick one and shoot it" type of situation wont shorten the learning curve much.

I completely concur about having mentors! Thankfully, I found quite of few people who helped me get started whitetail hunting and it still took me 4 seasons to harvest my first critter. Being at such a distance from the west, it's significantly harder to get that group of folks to help me along the path. The buddy I found through this site last year definitely helped me on the last hunt, but as I said, I know I have a long way to go. I think you're right about being selective in the outfitter and investing in accellerating my progress along the learning curve.

 

[SPDSpappy]

If it’s money you were not planning on go for broke! Hire the outfitter what do you have to loose!

I'm a Dave Ramsey guy, so going broke is a big no-no. This being said, we're on BS6 and it's not like I have all this debt hanging over my head I need to take care of.

 

[Gr8bawana]

You have to decide do you want to hunt/ harvest an elk or do you want to be an elk hunter?

By all means if you have the $$$ go on guided elk hunt. You may or may not shoot an elk but in the years after you won't be wondering if you should have done it.
On the other side of it, what will you have learned from it by having someone else do the hard work for you? It probably won't help make you a better DIY hunter.

 

[Chester]

Yeah, I know what you're saying about learning the process. I may not have more in my brain about elk hunting, but I probably have more notes taken than most. My OneNote elk portion of my hunting notebook has 59 sections, many with multiple pages... I went through the Elk & Elk ecology book, Jump Start Elk Hunting, Seasons of the elk, UEH, and the CO elk hunting class and took copious notes...

Outside opinion here, you might be overthinking this. There are a lot of places elk live . Work on picking one area , take a few scouting trips before season, and give yourself time in season to be successful. Once you figure out 1 area you can apply what you learned to other areas and find success.

Applying in every state is giving you a small chance across a big area , if you find an area and pour your resources into figuring out the elk in that one are you’ll greatly increase your odds. Elk are Elk all the time spent learning new area could be better spent learning Elk. You can only get so much from a book.

 

[SPDSpappy]

By all means if you have the $$$ go on guided elk hunt. You may or may not shoot an elk but in the years after you won't be wondering if you should have done it.
On the other side of it, what will you have learned from it by having someone else do the hard work for you? It probably won't help make you a better DIY hunter.

You are correct about if I don’t go guided now and go years without getting one, I’ll be extremely frustrated I didn’t take the opportunity to go with a guide at the chance of advancing along the learning curve.

 

[SPDSpappy]

Outside opinion here, you might be overthinking this. There are a lot of places elk live . Work on picking one area , take a few scouting trips before season, and give yourself time in season to be successful. Once you figure out 1 area you can apply what you learned to other areas and find success.

Applying in every state is giving you a small chance across a big area , if you find an area and pour your resources into figuring out the elk in that one are you’ll greatly increase your odds. Elk are Elk all the time spent learning new area could be better spent learning Elk. You can only get so much from a book.

I live 1000+ miles from where I hunt, so if I’m going to make that drive, I’d rather spend it hunting something. Also, going in different times of year for scouting won’t really be extremely helpful from what I understand because elk are in different places at different points of the year based on what I’ve heard Randy discuss, what I’ve read, as well as what folks on this forum have discussed. I may need to head out sooner to give more days right before the season opens though. Also, the folks in the camping area we stayed in have stuff set up for days ahead of the opener...

 

[Steelhead]

You could buy one of those hunt map package thingies that people sell nowadays with gps coordinates and such?

 

[Steelhead]

I honestly dont know why people who just want an elk don’t just hunt high fence ranch hunts more...
You want an elk...you’re gonna get an elk.

 

[Chester]

I live 1000+ miles from where I hunt, so if I’m going to make that drive, I’d rather spend it hunting something. Also, going in different times of year for scouting won’t really be extremely helpful from what I understand because elk are in different places at different points of the year based on what I’ve heard Randy discuss, what I’ve read, as well as what folks on this forum have discussed. I may need to head out sooner to give more days right before the season opens though. Also, the folks in the camping area we stayed in have stuff set up for days ahead of the opener...

I agree, look into places with spring bear, wolves , or even turkey. I like to scout with a weapon and a tag in my pocket.
I spend a lot of time trying to spend time around the Elk in an area I’m gonna hunt. They don’t all migrate. Cows may have bulls with them when season opens . Sheds will show you were they winter, if you see them higher you can narrow down where they go. And it’s a great time to pay attention to what they prefer in the area. All that helps me notch my tags when the time comes.