Is WY worth it?

[slas]

Sitting here reading all of these stories and thinking how I can only wish I had the time, money and resources for the opportunity to hunt and get some elk meat in the fridge. With a family of 4 and all the bills and responsibilities that go with it, putting out several thousand dollars for a hunt is a pipe dream. I was looking at a local (OK) ad the other day offering an in state elk hunt on private property for $4000. Now, if it was $500 I might be able to swing it and justify the cost to the wife, for meat and all. Bottom line is if you're a regular Joe and you don't live close to where the elk roam you're pretty much out of luck. Maybe I need to start a non-profit for us poor working Joe's that can't afford what it now cost these days to put a little elk meat in the freezer?

 

[manitou]

Hey slas: Start planning and putting away a buck here and there. It adds up quick. Get with buddies to split the costs. I am betting you could pull a public land hunt off for about $1k and have a good time.

 

[chadholl]

Sitting here reading all of these stories and thinking how I can only wish I had the time, money and resources for the opportunity to hunt and get some elk meat in the fridge. With a family of 4 and all the bills and responsibilities that go with it, putting out several thousand dollars for a hunt is a pipe dream. I was looking at a local (OK) ad the other day offering an in state elk hunt on private property for $4000. Now, if it was $500 I might be able to swing it and justify the cost to the wife, for meat and all. Bottom line is if you're a regular Joe and you don't live close to where the elk roam you're pretty much out of luck. Maybe I need to start a non-profit for us poor working Joe's that can't afford what it now cost these days to put a little elk meat in the freezer?

Randy Newberg would disagree with your statements. I go every year for around 2k coming from Central Ky. Leave for Wyoming tomorrow for a cow elk and antelope doe tag tomorrow matter of fact.

Learning strategy of how the game is played and being flexible on weapon type/locale increase your odds of an opportunity greatly.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

I dont know about WY, I only hunt where I live. But in SW Mt. the mountains are packed in most places. Im not saying you cant get away and hike in, but you may just hike in with the horses. It is the reality of an entire country of hunters and a relatively small section of elk hunting. Id like to see more regulation on our local elk herds, maybe we would grow some better elk.

 

[memtb]

Well, I just got back from my Wyoming elk hunt. I had a good time, did a lot of hiking, covered a lot of ground, saw some beautiful country, and met some nice people. However, the amount of people I ran into was a little annoying. The woods were packed. Everywhere I went, there were people. I covered the area I was aloud to hunt very well, moved camp four times, slept in the truck one night, and really busted my hump to get as far in as possible. Im in pretty good shape, and even had people on horses ask how in the world I got were I was. On the third day, it was obvious that the elk had left the area prior to season, and of course I wasn't aloud back were it looked like they went. One day, after bush whacking for six hours, I stood on the trail going into the wilderness and talked to everyone that went in or came out. I wasn't on the trail head, I was back on the forest/wilderness border. I was only there for 2 hrs and couldn't believe the amount of people and pack strings I saw going in and out. And that was only one of the many enteries into the wilderness. The area really wasn't all that big. The trail heads were packed with vehicles and stock trailers. I talked to a few people that said they usually do pretty good in this area, but I don't personally consider one out of six hunters shooting an elk to be "pretty good". This was very different than what I'm used to in Colorado. I wouldn't mind going back to Wyoming, but I have no interest in hiring a guide.
So here's what I'm courious about- For those of you that know first hand, is Wyoming really worth it for a nonresident DIY hunter? Or, is access to the wilderness areas really needed?

My wife and I aren't "as young as we used to be", so we ride more (not horses), and hike less. We also hunt public land, though we try for "draw areas" close to home....and likely could kill at least one elk, almost every year! Just yesterday, we rode a few "two-tracks" in our area....saw two groups of elk. One, only 6 head (cows/calves), the other about 60 head....3 shootable bulls, a few spikes, the balance were cows/calves.
We're certainly "not" great hunters, but having a good area, some basic hunting skills, time and persistence....and tags can be filled. The perspective hunter, needs to do research all of the states areas....for hunter success rates, average quality of bulls, ease of hunter access, and type of terrain, and the hunter being honest about his/her physical limitations. It's the hunter's responsibility to evaluate all of the above, after all ....it's his/her elk hunt! memtb

 

[KyCarl]

Doesn't several strangers with high powered rifles in the same area bother you?
I'm afraid I would be too scared to relax.

 

[memtb]

Doesn't several strangers with high powered rifles in the same area bother you?
I'm afraid I would be too scared to relax.

Strangers with rifles, really don't bother me. It's people with rifles, that know me....terrify the "crap" out of me! memtb

Seriously though, the travel to and from the "hunting experience" far exceeds the danger of hunting! memtb

 

[memtb]

Sitting here reading all of these stories and thinking how I can only wish I had the time, money and resources for the opportunity to hunt and get some elk meat in the fridge. With a family of 4 and all the bills and responsibilities that go with it, putting out several thousand dollars for a hunt is a pipe dream. I was looking at a local (OK) ad the other day offering an in state elk hunt on private property for $4000. Now, if it was $500 I might be able to swing it and justify the cost to the wife, for meat and all. Bottom line is if you're a regular Joe and you don't live close to where the elk roam you're pretty much out of luck. Maybe I need to start a non-profit for us poor working Joe's that can't afford what it now cost these days to put a little elk meat in the freezer?

You are so correct, the Wyo. Game and Fish.....seem to be only interested in money. The money that they spend on our game and fish, is in the many millions, annually. Much of it brought about by, the "bunny huggers", and "activist" judges! If I remember correctly, our G&F has spent over 30 million dollars on grizzly research, relocation,etc. since the government declared them "endangered". Wolves are another multi million dollar expense on our G&F.

Then comes the routine, management of, all of our other game species, as well as the effect of predation as well as hunting, weather, environmental impacts.

If we could get the government and the courts out of our game management....I think that our license fees, could be substantially reduced! memtb

 

[CUTTER1]

I'm a Wy resident and take full advantage of it! With horses and knowledge of the area u are hunting, the success rates r very high.
Usually do 2-4 additional elk hunts per year in other states. Used to do most self guided but now with the difficulties of drawing in most states I play the game and hire guides and try to get the best tags I can!
And after more than 40 years of elk hunting access is more difficult and costs have gone thru the roof! The swing politically to the left is still our worst enemy and here in Wy, MT, &ID we had a legal grizzly hunt stopped the day before it opened by a liberal MT federal judge with the support of liberal California anti-hunting groups! These states have spent million in tax payer dollars to have them removed from the endangered list only to have this judge relist them and shut the whole thing down!
End result we have twice as many Grizzlies as the liberal originally agreed to with the reintroduction and they are expanding their range just like the non-native timber wolf! Result fewer moose, elk, and deer!
And the most tragic of all outcomes was the death of a wonderful young man (a guide) with 2 children and a wife, who was killed by a grizzly in the area where most of the Wy tags were issued just 2 days after this lawless judge stopped the hunt!
All of you should read about this! Maybe as hunters we should target these activists and their judges rather than each other! They have targeted us for years.

 

[Elkhunter1983]

I would be curious to what area you were in, I have seen the big horns pretty busy like that but most areas if you are willing to work, you will not see anything like that.

 

[Elkeater]

So we just got back Friday from antelope hunting in WY. Now we did hunt a unit with "difficult public access" but there was actually quite a bit of public land. Here was the problem. Massive amounts of hunters. I mean I have never felt that crowded in my life and I hunt OTC elk units. On opening morning we were set up on a couple does at 400 yards waiting for them to come off a ridge so they weren't skylined and this other guy with a lever action 30-30 ran up an adjacent ridge trying to get close and they busted out of there. Many of the large pieces of public land were cut off from public roads but we did end up filling 7 out of 8 tags. We shot most of those by watching a herd on private land and shot them when they came onto BLM. One green field had 327 deer and antelope in it. So was WY worth it? Not really. We had a great time hunting with friends and family and brought home several ice chests of meat but it would have been better if WGFD managed to get more access or offered less public land tags and more private land tags. We won't be going back to that unit.