WWYD

[Caseknife]

My sister lives in Tennessee and for the last couple years has been going on overnight backpacking trips by herself, it can be done. Start with day hiking the trails in the state parks and then graduate to overnight backpacking trips in those same parks or try a few day stint on the AT. Once you get your camping/backpacking skills built up then you can go out west and try a summer fishing trip in the wilderness areas of Wyoming and Montana. In the mean time start acquiring points in Montana and Wyoming with the thought of general tags or deer/elk combo, will probably need 3-5 years purchasing points to get close to drawing a tag. Colorado is OTC so you could start there after you get comfortable going on your own into the wilderness or expansive public land out west.

 

[MTGunner]

Drawing Moose, sheep or mountain goat tag anywhere within the lower 48 would be like winning the lottery. BUT, Montana has unlimited tag zones that a tag can be had. But, again another but, there is a quota for these zones and these zones are wilderness zones. I have accompanied a friend that purchased one of these tags. We spent a week prior to opening day looking for a legal ram BH. There were numerous hunters hiking and on pack trains going in each day. We were not daunted and continued on. The quota was filled the first day of the hunt. We saw no LEGAL rams. But, we did it.
Quite frankly I would key upon deer and elk with an outfitter initially. My friend did not take a legal sheep. We did see a real corker of a mountain goat, but no tag in that zone.
BTW, a cow elk is darn good groceries. You are young and have lots of experience to gain. Good luck. MTG

 

[sccritterkiller]

I grew up hunting, fishing, and camping in WV so I had some skills. I cut my teeth on leftover cow tags. Yep they were leftover not great units, not a lot of public land, ect..but between my buddy and I we killed at least one elk 3 years in row, by then we had enough points to draw some decent tags. We had a blast and learned a lot, you don't want your 1st LE tag to be your 1st hunt. Good Luck!

 

[Nick87]

Spring bear otc.

 

[Beignet]

My sister lives in Tennessee and for the last couple years has been going on overnight backpacking trips by herself, it can be done. Start with day hiking the trails in the state parks and then graduate to overnight backpacking trips in those same parks or try a few day stint on the AT. Once you get your camping/backpacking skills built up then you can go out west and try a summer fishing trip in the wilderness areas of Wyoming and Montana. In the mean time start acquiring points in Montana and Wyoming with the thought of general tags or deer/elk combo, will probably need 3-5 years purchasing points to get close to drawing a tag. Colorado is OTC so you could start there after you get comfortable going on your own into the wilderness or expansive public land out west.

I didn’t grow up in the game and this was essentially the secret sauce that worked for me years ago. Once you’ve got your bearings start going for a few nights in more trying (colder) conditions.

Smokies are a big chunk of roadless land with a well established trail system and campsites so it’s hard to get lost. Great place to cut your solo, multi-day camping teeth, not to mention beautiful country with some great fly fishing.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Drawing Moose, sheep or mountain goat tag anywhere within the lower 48 would be like winning the lottery. BUT, Montana has unlimited tag zones that a tag can be had. But, again another but, there is a quota for these zones and these zones are wilderness zones. I have accompanied a friend that purchased one of these tags. We spent a week prior to opening day looking for a legal ram BH. There were numerous hunters hiking and on pack trains going in each day. We were not daunted and continued on. The quota was filled the first day of the hunt. We saw no LEGAL rams. But, we did it.
Quite frankly I would key upon deer and elk with an outfitter initially. My friend did not take a legal sheep. We did see a real corker of a mountain goat, but no tag in that zone.
BTW, a cow elk is darn good groceries. You are young and have lots of experience to gain. Good luck. MTG

Those springbok look awesome.

 

[nrpate05]

I'd definitely do a western trip over the summer just to get familiar with the terrain and such. You don't necessarily have to backpack in either. I would car camp and then maybe backpack in for a night as well. You certainly don't need to backpack to kill an animal, although it can help with the crowds, but not always. There is also plenty of camping/backpacking in the east.

If you want to break into western hunting, I'd get an easy to draw deer tag. Deer are generally easier to find than elk and much easier to break down and pack out of the woods. Going with an outfitter is also a great idea, especially for your first trip.

 

[Bowildee]

Thank you all for the reply. I really appreciate it.

 

[Hunt&FishCO]

Knowing what I know now (I grew up in VT btw) I would.

- Pay an outfitter in Canada to do a Moose hunt
- I would start saving money and/or start putting in for AK sheep/goat hunts. Again go with an outfitter

This will all cost you about $125k and there’s no guarantees you’ll tag anything.

As others have stated; highly unrealistic you’ll be able to draw any of those hunts in 10+ years even if you lived in a Western state and started playing the draw odds/preference points game. Don’t take my word for it - subscribe to GoHunt and look at the odds/success rates yourself.

If you want to “explore” western hunting, start with mule deer doe, cow elk, Bear and see how much you like it after 5yrs; it’ll get in your blood and you’ll either move West to increase your draw odds slightly or realize you have more important goals to apply your time/money to.

 

[Zim]

I want to start off by saying I know something similar to this has been posted somewhere at some point. I just want to revisit it. I am 27 and from the East Coast. I have always been interested in big game hunting but have never really had to opportunity to do it. If y'all were in my shoes.... What tags would you start applying for? I am not necessarily looking to do something right now, this is more so of a what would a bucket list tag be. It is so overwhelming trying to figure out how each state does their draws, much less figuring out what unit to apply for. Again, forgive me if this has been over done.

You've missed the boat by about 20 years as far as trophy hunts. I started pre-internet 1996 just before social media blew up all the draw odds everywhere. Today the only realistic option is studying up on low tier units in WY, CO & AZ where you may able to draw every 5-8 years & hunt repeatedly over & over while getting super familiar with them. Other than that you just aren't going to draw high quality tags from the ground floor. Stay totally away from Oregon, Utah & Nevada. Those are all unrealistic starting at zero. Good luck.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I would love to get into public land stuff myself but man I’d be such a liability it would be dangerous. I’d have to try learn from an outfitter first.

You're not going to learn shit from an outfitter. Other than maybe how to better plan for another outfitted hunt.

 

[Hunt&FishCO]

You're not going to learn shit from an outfitter. Other than maybe how to better plan for another outfitted hunt.

x2, you’ll learn about 10% of what you need to know to DIY successfully. Outfitting big game is a lot more nuanced that hiring a charter boat captain to teach you to fish.

 

[Bowildee]

Ill probably just do a guided hunt in a few years and maybe do some cow elk hunts DIY after that. Seems like the best use of my time.

 

[Zim]

I would love to get into public land stuff myself but man I’d be such a liability it would be dangerous. I’d have to try learn from an outfitter first.

I did this for my first ever Western hunt back in 1996 VV NM archery elk. Got tired of several friends saying they would go but backed out. So booked a cheap outfitter and felt out of place almost immediately. I arrived 5 days early and went to about the unit. Actually stalked within archery range of three shooter bulls by myself shot with my video camera. When it came time for the hunt, 5 of the other 6 hunters in the cabin were wealthy attorneys or business owners. They knew less about elk than I did. My guide was good but with 2x1 that made 6 boots making noise and often busted us. I clearly saw I did better on my own in those 5 days scouting. Getting closer and could have easily scored. Each day they picked where I had to hunt, not me. I saw no advantages to the situation other than a nice cabin to stay in. After my hunt ended I stayed and camped, ended up stalking within range of a 330+ herd bull but shot 1” too far forward due to poor instructions from the outfitter. Told us to shoot 3” behind the shoulder bone after he had several clients gut shoot bulls. Had I held 5” I’d have easily taken that bull. My accuracy was at its peak then. Anyway, I went strictly DIY since then with great success. Today you can learn all you need to from YouTube videos. I did not have that advantage. Just get a good tent camping setup and water located and you will do just fine on your own from the get go. So much more info these days, and OnX to guide you. Hell I started with USGS maps and a compass. So easy today.

 

[EastCoast94]

Plenty of states out west to hunt deer, elk, and antelope in with only a few points. Montana and Colorado are good places to start for elk/deer. Lots of options for cow elk in pretty much every state