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Hunters have a variety of hunts to choose from
By Tim Renken Of the St. Loouis Post-Dispatch
06/15/2002
In our search for elk hunting, we were surprised to find how many different kinds of hunts are available.
In one place, hunters pay $1,800 for the opportunity to hunt on a private ranch in Colorado. The hunt was described thusly:
Hunters stay at a motel in town and each morning drive out to the ranch so as to be hiding in a barn at dawn. There they watch for elk that sometimes come down and out of the woods to graze with the cows.
If a bull they wanted came close enough to the barn, the hunters could bang away at it from the barn. They were advised to stay in the barn until they shot, at risk of spooking the elk back into the woods and onto another property. The elk leave the pasture anyway by 9 a.m. and the hunters are advised to go back to town to occupy themselves somehow until evening, when the elk might come back to the pasture.
Another place we heard from was a luxurious lodge on an Alaskan island inhabited by Roosevelt elk, the largest of the species. Hunters get around mostly by boat. It rains a lot there.
Very popular, apparently, are lodge hunts. Hunters stay at night in a comfortable lodge or cabins with heat, home-cooked meals, etc. Each day the hunters ride out with their guides to hunt.
We also found advertisements for "elk ranches" at which you can shoot captive elk with huge antlers for $3,500-$6,500, depending on the Boone & Crockett score. One of the ranches on its Web site said, "We can usually get you your elk or antelope within a day or so, leaving time for enjoying the wonderful country."
Guides are optional in most of the hunts offered. But, generally, hunters use guides in order to obtain the use of riding horses and pack stock.
So-called drop-camp hunts seem to be fairly popular all over the West, especially Colorado, which is the state chosen most often by Midwestern hunters like us.
In drop-camp hunts, the outfitter provides stock and wranglers to haul the hunting party and gear out to a camp spot usually chosen by the outfitter. Most outfitters also provide tents, cots, etc., and can even furnish food and firewood. Some groups hire a guide to check in on them periodically and advise them during the hunt. The hunters stay out at the drop camp for a certain time, usually five or six days, and then the outfitter comes to take them out. The cost of drop-camp service is modest most places, $1,500-$2,500.
This service may or may not include trophy and meat service, which involves getting any elk or deer out of the woods to the trailhead. Some outfitters provide on-call pack-out service, charging $200-$400 to get an elk out of the woods.
Many outfitters offer hunting for wild elk on exclusive private ranches. Many offer hunts on state or federal land, including national forests and wilderness areas.
Next: The differences between elk and deer hunting.
This is the sixth in a series that will appear every other Sunday, about a once-in-a-lifetime elk hunt my son and I will make, our Big Deal Hunt.
By Tim Renken Of the St. Loouis Post-Dispatch
06/15/2002
In our search for elk hunting, we were surprised to find how many different kinds of hunts are available.
In one place, hunters pay $1,800 for the opportunity to hunt on a private ranch in Colorado. The hunt was described thusly:
Hunters stay at a motel in town and each morning drive out to the ranch so as to be hiding in a barn at dawn. There they watch for elk that sometimes come down and out of the woods to graze with the cows.
If a bull they wanted came close enough to the barn, the hunters could bang away at it from the barn. They were advised to stay in the barn until they shot, at risk of spooking the elk back into the woods and onto another property. The elk leave the pasture anyway by 9 a.m. and the hunters are advised to go back to town to occupy themselves somehow until evening, when the elk might come back to the pasture.
Another place we heard from was a luxurious lodge on an Alaskan island inhabited by Roosevelt elk, the largest of the species. Hunters get around mostly by boat. It rains a lot there.
Very popular, apparently, are lodge hunts. Hunters stay at night in a comfortable lodge or cabins with heat, home-cooked meals, etc. Each day the hunters ride out with their guides to hunt.
We also found advertisements for "elk ranches" at which you can shoot captive elk with huge antlers for $3,500-$6,500, depending on the Boone & Crockett score. One of the ranches on its Web site said, "We can usually get you your elk or antelope within a day or so, leaving time for enjoying the wonderful country."
Guides are optional in most of the hunts offered. But, generally, hunters use guides in order to obtain the use of riding horses and pack stock.
So-called drop-camp hunts seem to be fairly popular all over the West, especially Colorado, which is the state chosen most often by Midwestern hunters like us.
In drop-camp hunts, the outfitter provides stock and wranglers to haul the hunting party and gear out to a camp spot usually chosen by the outfitter. Most outfitters also provide tents, cots, etc., and can even furnish food and firewood. Some groups hire a guide to check in on them periodically and advise them during the hunt. The hunters stay out at the drop camp for a certain time, usually five or six days, and then the outfitter comes to take them out. The cost of drop-camp service is modest most places, $1,500-$2,500.
This service may or may not include trophy and meat service, which involves getting any elk or deer out of the woods to the trailhead. Some outfitters provide on-call pack-out service, charging $200-$400 to get an elk out of the woods.
Many outfitters offer hunting for wild elk on exclusive private ranches. Many offer hunts on state or federal land, including national forests and wilderness areas.
Next: The differences between elk and deer hunting.
This is the sixth in a series that will appear every other Sunday, about a once-in-a-lifetime elk hunt my son and I will make, our Big Deal Hunt.
