Wyoming RIFLE bull dream!

[SmallTownArcher8]

Hello all! I’m looking for a bit of knowledge. I currently have 9 non resident elk points for Wyoming and will have 11 or 12 before I can make a trip. I don’t want to waste the years of building my points. It’s going to be a DIY hunt with only about a week to get it done. It will be a rifle hunt.
What area would everyone try to draw with that many points. Lower pressure and quality bulls. Thanks in advance!

 

[nrpate05]

I don't know what unit or how many points it took, but Id look at the unit Randy hunted with Matthew and Uncle Larry. That is probably at or near max points, no?

 

[dht]

I would research general areas. The points you have or will have, still puts you out of reach of most top limited quota areas. I think Randy stated there's around 124,000 non residents with elk points.

 

[Magnum Sherpa]

A lot probably depends on your idea of a quality bull. I currently have 10 points, and know I will likely never catch up to the premier units. I plan to use my points in 2 years on a unit I should be able to draw. The unit is mostly wilderness and has tons of grizzly bears. Due to the NR wilderness rule and simply due to the logistics of hunting such an area alone, I am hiring an outfitter. After this hunt, my plan will be general tags for WY elk.

 

[cmbbulldog]

I don't know what unit or how many points it took, but Id look at the unit Randy hunted with Matthew and Uncle Larry. That is probably at or near max points, no?

He doesnt have enough points.

 

[Buffs35]

He doesnt have enough points.

Besides there are no more elk in wyo, that's why i moved.

 

[Wy067]

He doesnt have enough points.

Yup. Way short and would probably be chasing for several years even in the Special draw.

 

[Wy067]

OP might get more responses if you'd let us know what areas you're looking at or researched. I know that a General tag will take around 3 points and the premier units for a "dream" hunt are already 12-13 points and you only have 9.

 

[sneakypete]

Watch Randy’s new video he put out yesterday on YouTube on Wyoming
application process. It’s very informative.

 

[SmallTownArcher8]

I appreciate all the insight from everyone.

 

[rmyoung1]

Yeah, realistically, if you’re going on that trip in a couple of years, you need to be looking at what tags you could’ve drawn last year with 8 or 9 points. Point creep is for real in WY and those tags will continue to trend up. But you have some options. It won’t be in 124 or 100 or 31 or 32 or those top-tier units, though. But you’ll definitely have some options for a good hunt! Have fun!

 

[Deleted member 16014]

A week to hunt during rifle, coming in cold, a quality bull and low pressure might be a tall order depending on what quality means to you.

 

[rwc101]

Yeah, 12 points is a lot to burn for 7 days of hunting. Start saving up those vacation days if you can.

 

[Jape]

You may want to get a cow tag, or another species tag, in the same unit so you can learn it. That will be more valuable than just trying to get a couple more points.

 

[2rocky]

A DIY Elk Hunt in a new unit is gonna take 3 full days to a week of boots on the ground scouting to really get to know what the whole unit's access, elk numbers and trophy potential is.

I've done pretty darn good on Elk in Wyoming in 3 different units and 5 different camps. Every time I went to a new unit, I spent 3-5 days scouting in the summer mainly just to know the lay of the land. I can honestly say that Escouting with GE, or some other digital map falls short of ground truth.

Now I've killed a fair number of bulls on first or second day of the season hunting in Late September. But I still remember the year I logged 125 miles in 5 days before I found a bull. And that was in a general unit I'd hunted successfully four times before that year.


I guess that's all a longwinded way of saying the unit is less important than the time you spend in it and your familiarity with how the animals move. Truly the best time to hunt Wyoming is always Last year....