Recommendation for a DIY elk hunt

[J Elky]

What would you all recommend for a DIY elk? What state? cow or bull? My hunting partner and I have been on one DIY adventure to central Idaho. One of our group had a local contact who showed us around and gave us some pointers. We are kind of thinking about a reduced price cow tag in WY for rifle season. We have a tent trailer for camping purposes and we are not afraid to walk a bit. So what do you suggest for a couple flatlanders from Minnesota??

thanks....Jeff

 

[highmountian]

J elky what part of Idaho where you in and how did you do?

 

[J Elky]

We hunted behind the Dvorshak res. The nearest "town" was either Southwick or Kendrick, I can't remember which. One of the guys saw a bull from about 700-800 yards and a couple guys saw a few cows. We hunted the first 6-7 days of the season in early Oct.

 

[highmountian]

J elky would you ever do it again? You picked a pretty thick area to hunt. You looking at a different state or would you come back to idaho?

 

[J Elky]

I didn't pick the area. A good friend of mine had a friend that lives in the area and he offered to let us camp on his small piece of land and show us around a bit. It seemed like the preferred method to hunt was to drive you atv around and look for game. We may have been there too early in the season as well. One of the frist questions the local contact asked us was why we chose the beginning of the season as he had had better luck at the end of the season. I'm not sure I would go back to that exact spot, but I've got nothing against Idaho. It was a dam beautiful place and the locals were friendly and helpful. Heck we were elk hunting, it was hard not to enjoy it.

 

[highmountian]

Ya lots of good people up there. I know the area quite well too. Idaho has lots of elk but not that great for any size to them. I hunt elk very hard, being in on 7 kills between me and my friends with even some misses thrown in. it was a good year. Out of the seven only one 6x6 that wasn't that big at all. everything else smaller, bummer to me because looking for something bigger. if you find a 300 class bull around here you better shoot fast or there will be another guy right behind you after it. there are alot of elk in the state though so if I can help or answer question feel free.

 

[rosco]

My advice would be to learn every western states draw system that you want to hunt, and apply. Limited hunts are normally 10x better than over the counter.

OTC units in Colorado have good elk numbers, and it seems the preferred method is to drive around on atv's there as well. dont fall into that trap! All tho, using the road system to glass good looking country you want to hunt, sometimes miles off can be a good way to locate elk.

 

[NDHUNTER]

I just went on my first elk hunt in Colorado in October; DIY, public land. I took a nice bull and had a great experience. My tag was an OTC. I purchased maps from the Colorado DOW with the winter and summer ranges as well as the migration routes of the elk. I also purchased a map showing what was private & public land for the unit I hunted which was 28. I enjoyed my Colorado wexperience and would recommend it to anyone. I am a fellow "flatlander" from ND. Good luck to you. I will be happy to share any other info with you about my experience if you need!

 

[J Elky]

ND Hunter,
Where did you buy the maps on the DOW website? Thanks for the help.

 

[NDHUNTER]

J Elky-
You can bypass the DOW website and go directly to huntdata.com. If you go to the DOW you are linked to them anyway. The maps are a bit bigger than I would of liked but have great info on them. I would recommend choosing the laminated option for use in the field. The two maps I purchased were as follows: BLM Land Ownership Unit Maps- shows private vs public as well as SWA's
Elk Concentration Unit Maps- shows migration routes & feeding areas, & summer & winter concentration areas.
I believe the cost for both were $50. The maps show some of the major trail systems as well. It is a fantastic experience. Enjoy every minute of it. Also, get in as good of shape as you can. There is some serious country out there! Being from the flatland doesn't help much for this hunt.Good luck!

 

[J Elky]

ND thanks, those maps looks great.

 

[Khunter]

just depends on what you need. $50 is a lot of money for a couple versions of 1:100,000 BLM maps that can be purchased for $4-6 from BLM (called surface management status maps when have color coded owneship overlain on topography) or the Public Lands information Center--even if it has other layers added on top. Utility of having overlain elk concentration areas added--I am not so sure about for the price. Usually they are conventrated i obvious aareas you could almost guess the location of. Just depends on the complexity of the area but I'd be suprised if for many areas you could not just look at that data at DOW website and transfer a few key items to your BLM surface management map.

Maybe money is no object, in which case 'buy everything' otherwise your $$ may be better spent buying some 1:24,000 maps or map products for your chosen hunt area. MUCH more useful for map scouting and navigating day and night given the topo detail for areas with a lot of relief.

It is usually a simple matter to outline your unit on a basic BLM map, and thus that layer may not be a good reason to buy the huntdata map.

Of course first you gotta find the area you want to hunt, then sort out map options. That is always the fun part.

 

[JohnCushman]

COLORADO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Archery tags are over the counter for September hunts for just about the entire state. There are alot of units with OTC bull rifle tags for second and third rifle seasons in late October and early November. There's a TON of public land, national forest, and walk in access areas. There's alot of awesome fly fishing to pass time between letting blisters heal just about everywhere you'd hunt elk too.

http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/

 

[J Elky]

Thanks for the help guys. We have it narrowed down to a half dozen GMU's. WE always say, dreaming and planning is half the fun.

Jeff