What state gives you the best elk hunting...

[Mr.Redneck]

I am betting on Colorado for success, then will look at trying to get a big bull someday in about 3-4 years, but this year for likelihood of getting drawn and making sure it was in a moderately decent region as far as the numbers of animals, I will be in NW Colorado, but where would I be best off to go for a nice 350-class bull??? And what are the likelihoods of being drawn???

 

[wmidbrook]

For sheer numbers of elk, it's no secret that CO has the most elk in the U.S. But, I'm sure there are concentrations of elk in OR, WA, ID, WY, UT, AZ, Montana, and NM where success rates are as high as the best areas in CO--it's just that CO has more pockets of high concentration of elk. It's just, we never hear about such pockets holding large numbers of animals.

AZ, and Utah sure have some hard-to-draw units where bulls exceeding 380+ points are always harvested.

And then again you've got Chuck Adams pulling record book elk out of Montana every year or two and those can't be limited entry units since you only draw one of those every decade or two. So, who knows???

 

[COHunter]

Colorado Statewide success rate is about 25%, but thats including Cows and Calfs too. Bulls by themselves is 10-15%.

I believe I read somewhere that Wyoming had the highest success rate for a regular non-limited entry hunt.

 

[Mr.Redneck]

I don't know how he does it, but Chuck Adams is just unbelievable!!!! No doubt about it, I think he'd be the person I'd choose to hunt with if I could pick one person alive today to go on a hunt with.

 

[300wby]

I hunt private land in western Colorado so I'm generally quite satisfied.
Don’t believe all the number you hear from DOW on success rate. Truth is they really don’t know. If you don’t get a call from them after the hunt or if you butcher your own animal they will never know if you were successful or not.

 

[DAWG]

Reasonable draw odds for a hunt with a good chance at 350 class bull? In 3-4 years? Better either plan on lots of luck in the draw, or have lots of $$$ for a private land or auction tag. If a 300 class will do, you might find a few OTC areas in Idaho or CO that may give you a reasonable shot in 3-4 years of trying if you do your homework.

 

[wmidbrook]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Reasonable draw odds for a hunt with a good chance at 350 class bull? In 3-4 years?[/b]

....I think you're right that in most cases you're talking a fairly long (like 5+ years) wait to draw a tag that gives you maybe up to 10% odds of harvesting a 350 class bull....some Nevada, AZ, Utah, OR, Wyo, ID, MT, NM and CO units come to mind.

But, then again, there are probably a lot of units out there in the west with fairly low pressure (meaning some bulls do get old in the unit...like reaching 8 years old), good enough genetics, and reasonable draw odds....just don't expect the odds of success on a 350+ class bull to be better than 1 or 2 percent at best unless you've got a heck of a lot of scouting time or can afford to have someone scout for you...i.e. using a guiding service.

Then again, there are places that are general tags or OTC tags where some lucky guy lucks into finding a huge ol' bull in a place where you aren't supposed to find one like in a high production/high success unit.

 

[MikenSoCo]

How about Oregon's over the counter either sex archery tag? To me you can't beat it!

 

[YORT40]

Yikes,

I put in for a elk tag in Oregon years ago & it turned out to be a nightmare! An employee of mine said my brother & I could put in as a group with his in-laws who live in a high success area of Oregon. This family uses all their vacation time for their annual elk hunt, (a family tradition) they never miss a year. Well, after the draw, everyone was denied a tag. They found out that the 5% non-res. limit had been reached so the whole party lost out.

I have never met these people, but the calls we started getting left obsenities floating amuck in the telephone airways.

 

[younghunter]

How does Chuck Adams do it?

Well there are guides and outfitters all over the west scouting out the biggest bulls and then get old Chuck to come and havest them. Chuck didn't scout out these bulls, and on his last one he literally just flew over and poked it with an arrow. Still a great hunter but theres a lot more hands in the kettle with a chuck adam's bull besides his own.

 

[ElkChaser]

Colorado is managed for quantity, not quality. The true trophy class areas yield some pretty impressive bulls and there are a few really good bulls taken in some of the OTC units, but to get into some quality hunting where there are indeed some impressive bulls and very limited number of hunters, you'll have to accumulate a boatload of preference points. Not a lot of bulls ever reach maturity since the majority of immature raghorns (4x's and 5x's) get hammered once they reach that magical 4 point restriction.
If you're content on a freezer bull or a cow, Colorado is the place.
The elk only rifle season, along with the archery and muzzleloading seasons seem to be the best bet, depending on what unit you want to hunt. Third season can be a slaughter if you catch the animals moving down from the high country.
Anymore, I'll hunt an undersubscribed unit and pick up a leftover cow tag for a later hunt in hopes to keep from bumping into other hunters.