With application season pretty much behind us, leftovers becoming available and hunting season just around the corner, most of us have our plans pretty well fleshed out. However, many of you may still be contemplating the leftover lists, looking for an opportunity to hunt.
I’ll mostly talk about the Wyoming and Colorado leftovers here, but the thought processes should apply elsewhere.
More often than not there’s a reason tags go unclaimed in the draw, and it’s not always because it’s a bad tag to have. But you need to do your research BEFORE you buy a tag. It all boils down to supply and demand, but we need to look into both variables to see why the tag has leftovers, and whether or not it’s worth having.
On the supply side, units with high game populations frequently issue a lot of tags. So just because the tags are available, it does not mean no one wants them. It’s just that there’s a tremendous number available. Here in Colorado, a unit with one of the highest deer densities and excellent trophy potential is available as leftovers most years. Areas with population problems often make it to leftovers. Colorado’s top elk density unit has tags available in leftovers for nearly every season. Areas that are just in a population maintenance mode, are rarely as good for a meat hunt as those whose populations are above objectives.
Sometimes there will be areas that traditionally to draw out, with a fairly steady number of applicants. But if the managing game department suddenly increases the tags, the public may not have been prepared and the unit will go undersubscribed. Check out the draw stats for both this year and last year. Was there an increase in the number of permits? That might indicate a growing population for you to take advantage of.
One of the big factors affecting demand would include public access. This is easy enough to figure out with a simple atlas or map showing public land ownership and the major county roads. The antelope tags I buy in Wyoming every year are always available as leftovers, but Wyoming Game and Fish discourages people from purchasing tags for that unit with their asterisk, meaning public access is poor. It may not be full of contiguous blocks of public land, but there’s enough, especially when you include Wyoming’s Walk In Access and Hunter Management Areas. And don’t overlook checkerboarded areas for deer and antelope hunting. My favorite parcel for antelope is just a single 640 acre (1 sq mile) section of BLM land. It always has a large herd of antelope on it after 10 am.
Wilderness and difficult terrain conspire to discourage many hunters. If you’ve purchased my full data sets, you’ll see that some of the best units are wilderness-heavy and/or incredibly steep, rugged country. In Wyoming, that’s a major issue for nonresidents, because you can’t hunt a designated wilderness without a guide, but it shouldn’t hold back a hardcore hunter in other states. Also, look closely to see what proportion of a unit is wilderness. Is there still enough country left to hunt outside of the wilderness area? Most hunters just don’t want to fool with backcountry camping. But if you’re willing to, you’ll open up tremendous possibilities for yourself. Road closures to popular areas also discourage some hunters who had traditionally hunted in a place they could drive to.
But, as often as not, a tag goes undersubscribed for good reason. Frequently the game numbers are way down, and even the locals are giving up on hunting the area. While most hunters don’t pour over the statistics, long term trends of poor success and infrequent game sightings go noticed eventually. Heavily pressured areas take a toll on those who are intolerant of “pumpkin patches”. Despite an areas popularity, few hunters dream about hunting elbow to elbow with other strangers. But tolerance to hunting pressure is relative. If you’re used to heavily hunted areas in your home state, what locals consider heavy pressure may not bother you at all.
Sometimes, it’s just the season that hunters don’t like. Here in Colorado, 2nd season deer tags and 4th season elk tags aren’t very popular; leaving some high quality tags available in places that you wouldn’t think would have leftovers. 3rd season is very popular for deer hunters, but low on most elk hunter’s priorities.
New hunts and new boundaries also create confusion or poor awareness amongst hunters. This year, with 3rd rifle season in Colorado being extended to a full nine days, you’d think more people would know about it. But many of the folks I’ve talked to had no idea. Also, keep your eye out for new late or early season opportunities that are outside of the traditional hunting seasons. Because game departments tweak their seasons and hunting opportunities each year, new hunts pop up without the knowledge of many long time hunters. In fact, I talked to an outfitter this year that had no idea that there was a new late elk season in his area. Many of those guys just don’t pay enough attention to the new regulations each year. Yes, they’ll know for next year, but having first crack at migratory herd in an area of heavy public land appeals to me, and there are leftovers of the tag I’m talking about.
Lastly, we usually have a few weeks between finding out what the leftover list looks like and the date the permits go on sale. So try to get a little scouting in if you can to verify that an area looks like it holds game and the public lands are accessible.
My point is that there are many factors that go into whether or not a permit is available as a leftover. Sometimes it’s a supply issue, other times it’s a demand issue. So make sure you do your due diligence when considering a leftover tag. Also, keep in mind that a limited permit isn’t always better than an unlimited one. But more often than not, we need to take advantage of leftover limited permits in order to maximize our hunting opportunities. They aren’t all marginal permits, some of them can be fairly desirable. Wyoming leftovers are on sale now, Colorado leftovers go on sale in person and over the phone August 10th. Good luck out there and do your homework.
Showing posts with label hunting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hunting. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Gear Talk, Part 3: Elk
In the last installment of Gear Talk, I discussed the variables of antelope habitat and hunting, and how it would affect your gear selection. Antelope habitat does not vary nearly as much as deer or elk habitat, so this time we are going to have to cover a wider range of hunting scenarios and habitats when discussing elk. While there is no “normal” elk country, it can be lumped into a handful of habitat types, which usually have an effect on hunting techniques, which should dictate which gear you bring, and which you should leave at home.
By now you should have an idea of what the country looks like, even if you don’t know a proper name for it. Within an individual hunting unit, elk country varies by time of year, snow levels, slope, aspect, vegetation cover types, altitude, latitude, region of the country and individual microclimates. Within the Continental US, the further north you go, the more precipitation you have, and therefore the forests are denser and more shade tolerant. Within a given latitude, your north and east facing slopes will also be denser than your west and south facing slopes. So, the Southern Rockies in New Mexico typically have sparser Ponderosa Pine forests at an equal elevation and aspect compared to Northern Idaho and Montana’s dense spruce-fir habitats. Those sparse Ponderosa Pine forests have excellent shooting and sight lanes, but the dense Douglas Fir and Lodgepole Pine forests throughout the Northern Rockies leave very little for shooting lanes.
Altitude has a very large effect on habitat types. Within most elk country, you can have low elevation cold desert and farmland winter ranges all the way up past timberline in the summer time. Timberline changes with respect to slope, latitude, aspect and precipitation. In the Northwest, where you have high precipitation (snowfalls are what’s important here), and higher latitude than say, Southern Colorado, timberline is closer to 10,000 feet. On the drier slopes in Colorado, timberline is over 11,500 feet, sometimes exceeding 11,700. As elevation approaches the tree line, the timber gets sparser, growth becomes stunted and twisted forming what is called krummholz (German for twisted wood). Extending below this tree line and the krummholz are your dense spruce-fir forests. The higher altitude increases precipitation and retains snow for a longer period of time, growing larger, more shade tolerant trees. Below this band of spruces and firs will be your typical pine and aspen habitats, depending on the successional stage that the mountain is in.
Because pines tend to burn frequently, the stands may still be in aspens or mountain mahogany and other shrubs, but the climax species below the spruce-fir zone tend to be in less dense, shorter pines where you have decent sight lines. Below most pine zones in the Rockies, the vegetation communies tend to be either Pinyon-Juniper, scrub oaks or various mountain shrub species. These areas are often winter range and late season hunting areas, though in some canyon country these communities are found through the highest elevations. These habitats tend to be much more conducive to spot and stalk hunting than the spruce-fir zones, though the visibility isn’t quite as good as when hunting in alpine and krummholz habitats.
ELK GUNS:
Where and how you hunt should play a large factor in your elk gun selection or build criteria. A standard factory sporter-weight .30-06 with 180 grain soft points and a variable 3-9x40 scope will be more than adequate for most situations. But since this article is about specialized gear, I’ll go over some features to consider when looking for an excuse to tinker with what you’ve got, buy something new or build something a little more festive than what you’re packing now.
Most of us can’t hunt with a rifle when elk are still above timberline, so the highest habitats we’ll be rifle hunting are the krummholz and spruce-fir zones. It takes over a foot of snow to really force the bulk of the elk herds to migrate much below that. So the reality of most elk hunting, is that shots can be very short. However, you must still be capable of handling a long shot across a large, wet meadow. I find short barrels to be of no real ballistic disadvantage, but I also don’t find that shortening a barrel helps in the handling very much. Shortening the length of pull on your stock tends to be of more help in handling a quick shot. Also consider that you will likely be wearing bulky clothes in late October or November, so a shorter stock will shoulder much more easily. A longer barrel will help you swing with a moving target. So if you are trying to build the best handling gun you can, barrel length is a tough compromise. A short barrel might be nice if you prefer to still hunt or track elk and hope to take short, quick, but stationary shot. The actual length should depend on the contour of the barrel, but the balance point for those stalking the dense spruce-fir zones should be right around the front action screw on a bolt action rifle so that it will swing properly. If you aren’t comfortable with a moving shot, then bring the balance point back to the middle of the receiver. Don’t forget to factor in the scope weight and position when trying to determine where a good balance point for you would be. Forward mounting a scope on the barrel will help the balance if you choose to shorten the barrel severely. Overall weight is less important than balance in this situation.
There are only a few places where a true long range elk rifle serves much of a purpose. Any rifle that can hold 1.5 MOA out to 600 yards will easily remain within the vitals of an elk, provided the shooter is up to such a shot. The only places where I could see the use of dragging around a dedicated long range rig would be for late season hunts on winter range, Wyoming’s Red Desert country, and some sparse canyon country. In BLM-heavy canyon country, you can occasionally see elk from extremely long distance, and roads may quickly get you to the edge of a canyon, where you would lose sight of the elk if you attempted to cross it. The danger of building such a specialized rifle is that you lose the versatility needed to handle the majority of elk hunting situations. A 12 or 15 pound, 30 inch barreled .338 Lapua with a 20X Nightforce scope and McMillan A5 stock is a poor choice of rifle for sneaking through the woods and climbing the mountains.
I think it is far better to improve your abilities at extended ranges with a more versatile rifle than to intend to hunt with something that specialized. If you think the country you hunt will present you with a situation where a 500 plus yard shot is possible, you’ll be better off having practiced those shots with your current rifle than be caught holding something wholly unsuited for a quick shot in the timber as you approach your vantage point. A good compromise is to stay with a high comb, sporter-style stock and not too heavy of a barrel. I’ve killed 3 elk in quick situations at under 100 yards with a 27.5 inch #3 contour(0.625 at the muzzle) .264 Win Mag with a 15 inch length of pull. I designed it as a somewhat long range deer rig, but I tend to use that gun for almost everything, as it is versatile enough to not be a handicap for quick, short range situations. If the elk in your area will stay in and around the krummholz for rifle season, longer shots may be presented, but you aren’t going to want to carry a heavy gun up and over 12,000 foot ridges. You’ll be happiest with a lightweight rifle with some long range capability. Fluting, skeletonizing, restocking, using a smaller scope, switching to lighter scope mounts and shortening barrels will work to cut out a significant amount of weight from most guns without reducing effective range.
I find bipods to be of little use for elk. In most timbered elk country, you can find a rest if you need it for longer shots. And a little ingenuity will give you more options to get a steady rest above the vegetation than a bipod. A bipod designed to be used from prone will rarely be used in areas with decent grass length or substantial shrubs. Shooting sticks are more useful, but even your binoculars will make a decent rest if need be. For those you that sit meadows and trails, a sitting length bipod or shooting sticks will work well to minimize the amount of movement necessary for a longer shot. I would take the bipod off when you are moving between areas or still hunting the timber. A sling is crucial. Not just to free your hands up when navigating difficult terrain, but also for steadying a shot from any position. Really wide, fat slings are comfortable, but of little use when trying to tighten up for a shot. A rangefinder is useful when sitting a meadow, as it can be difficult to judge distance in places that have very little vegetation. However, most shots must be taken before you have the time to judge the range.
I feel bullet selection is more important than cartridge selection. My basic guidelines are to use premium, controlled expansion type bullets with magnum cartridges. Basic cup and core bullets were designed for standard velocities and impacts below 2800 fps generally. I prefer heavy for caliber spitzers when using cup and core bullets, and light for caliber bullets in the monometals. You can choose too tough of a bullet and cartridge combination, just as you can choose too soft of a combination. A .308 Winchester and 200 grain Barnes TSX combination with a 400 yard shot into soft tissue is asking for trouble due to poor expansion. A .300 Weatherby Magnum shooting a 125 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip shot into heavy bone at 50 yards is another disaster waiting to happen. Nearly anything can kill an elk, but to do so efficiently and properly requires some forethought and understanding of operating windows for the bullet selected. Along that same line of thinking, if you have to ask whether your bullet and cartridge combination is up to the task of a severe quartering shot, it probably isn’t and you’ll be left wishing you chose a better bullet. My favorite rifle is my .264 Win Mag, but using my 3700 fps 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip antelope loads on elk would be irresponsible. In my .358 Norma Magnum, I wouldn’t use bullets designed for the .35 Remington velocities either.
Regarding muzzleloaders for rut hunting, keep them short and handy. Front globe sights are great for precision shooting, but cumbersome at short range. A peep rear and small, bright front dot works well in most conditions, but a larger, brighter front sight is useful in the dense timber. In Colorado, sabots aren’t permitted, but I wouldn’t use them anyway. I’ll stick with a heavy, solid lead conical.
OPTICS:
When scoping an elk rifle, you’ll want to think about the likely distances and conditions involved in the habitats you’ll be hunting, as well keeping an eye on the effect of weight and balance with your rifle. As mentioned before, a versatile 3-9x40 will handle nearly any situation well, just make sure you keep the setting at 3X unless you have time to set up for a long shot. There’s very little a simple fixed 4x scope wouldn’t work well for. The field of view allows quick shots, and the magnification is just good enough to be precise with your placement. I personally don’t like fixed 6x scopes, as I find the field of view a little limiting on short shots. A 4.5-14x or 4-12x works well, as long you keep the setting at low power. In reality, most guys could err on the side of low power variables, such as a 2-7x or 1.75-6x and be very happy with their nice, lightweight scope. The mid elevation pine-aspen and low elevation scrub oak/winter range hunter will have more long distance shot opportunities than the high elevation spruce-fir elk hunter, and might better appreciate slightly higher magnifications.
I was once guiding a hunter for mule deer in Western Nebraska, and two does and a decent buck came up out of a timbered draw, with the buck dogging the a doe 75 yards away. I pointed the buck out to my hunter and she said, “I can’t find him!”, turns out her scope was on 9 power and the field of view didn’t allow her to find the buck before he went up and over the ridge less than 50 yards away. We never got back on that buck after discovering her error. In short, if you have a variable power scope, check it to make sure you are on low power when you arrive in your hunting error. It’s common to leave your scope at max power after sighting in at the range.
Thick crosshairs are best for most elk hunting. Timber hunting dictates you find your crosshairs quickly on moving objects or in heavy shadows. Thick crosshairs are also useful for hunting during the typical primetimes of dawn and dusk for the meadow and trail sitters. If you like bullet drop compensators, realize those are typically designed to be used at maximum power, so if you have to take the time to figure out bullet drop, take the time to crank up your magnification. For the long rangers, custom reticles matched to your bullet drop or turret adjustments are great. But for most elk hunting situations, those are superfluous. Good eye relief is another important factor in an elk riflescope. We tend to choose hard kicking rifles and it helps to be able to keep sharp aluminum tubes from banging into your nose and eyebrow. But more importantly, long eye relief is great for fast target acquisition without too much of the “staring down a black hole” feeling.
I find spotting scopes useful for only two types of hunting: Road hunting in areas where you can see long distances, and when hunting from ridges above timberline in the early seasons. I know, I know, I should condemn the road hunters, but let’s get real, in some places that’s called hunting smart, and a lot easier than bumbling around the ridges. For the timberline archer or rifleman, a compact spotting scope can save you miles of walking by determining whether or not the small herd of elk you’ve spotted has a legal bull or a bull up to your standards. They are also great for peering into the krummholz and edges of the spruces and firs from above, while looking for bedded elk.
For most people, binoculars are all that is necessary. The big timber spruce-fir rifle hunter and bowhunter will do fine with a medium power 6,7 or 8x with a wide field of view. High magnification cab be a detriment if you’ve snuck up on elk in the timber. If you can’t find the elk, focus your binos and get a steady view of the antlers or what’s behind your target, they are worthless. Those hunting sparser country can benefit from greater magnification. In large aspen stands or dense scrub oaks you can often pick elk out easily with the naked eye, but will need powerful binoculars to make out the sex and antler size against the twiggy background. I’ve always used cheap glass, but only recently have come to regret it. I left my binoculars in my pack with a leaking water bladder and now one barrel of the binoculars are permanently fogged. Don’t make that mistake.
Part 4, the continuation of elk gear, including clothing, footwear and camping gear will be coming soon…
By now you should have an idea of what the country looks like, even if you don’t know a proper name for it. Within an individual hunting unit, elk country varies by time of year, snow levels, slope, aspect, vegetation cover types, altitude, latitude, region of the country and individual microclimates. Within the Continental US, the further north you go, the more precipitation you have, and therefore the forests are denser and more shade tolerant. Within a given latitude, your north and east facing slopes will also be denser than your west and south facing slopes. So, the Southern Rockies in New Mexico typically have sparser Ponderosa Pine forests at an equal elevation and aspect compared to Northern Idaho and Montana’s dense spruce-fir habitats. Those sparse Ponderosa Pine forests have excellent shooting and sight lanes, but the dense Douglas Fir and Lodgepole Pine forests throughout the Northern Rockies leave very little for shooting lanes.
Altitude has a very large effect on habitat types. Within most elk country, you can have low elevation cold desert and farmland winter ranges all the way up past timberline in the summer time. Timberline changes with respect to slope, latitude, aspect and precipitation. In the Northwest, where you have high precipitation (snowfalls are what’s important here), and higher latitude than say, Southern Colorado, timberline is closer to 10,000 feet. On the drier slopes in Colorado, timberline is over 11,500 feet, sometimes exceeding 11,700. As elevation approaches the tree line, the timber gets sparser, growth becomes stunted and twisted forming what is called krummholz (German for twisted wood). Extending below this tree line and the krummholz are your dense spruce-fir forests. The higher altitude increases precipitation and retains snow for a longer period of time, growing larger, more shade tolerant trees. Below this band of spruces and firs will be your typical pine and aspen habitats, depending on the successional stage that the mountain is in.
Because pines tend to burn frequently, the stands may still be in aspens or mountain mahogany and other shrubs, but the climax species below the spruce-fir zone tend to be in less dense, shorter pines where you have decent sight lines. Below most pine zones in the Rockies, the vegetation communies tend to be either Pinyon-Juniper, scrub oaks or various mountain shrub species. These areas are often winter range and late season hunting areas, though in some canyon country these communities are found through the highest elevations. These habitats tend to be much more conducive to spot and stalk hunting than the spruce-fir zones, though the visibility isn’t quite as good as when hunting in alpine and krummholz habitats.
ELK GUNS:
Where and how you hunt should play a large factor in your elk gun selection or build criteria. A standard factory sporter-weight .30-06 with 180 grain soft points and a variable 3-9x40 scope will be more than adequate for most situations. But since this article is about specialized gear, I’ll go over some features to consider when looking for an excuse to tinker with what you’ve got, buy something new or build something a little more festive than what you’re packing now.
Most of us can’t hunt with a rifle when elk are still above timberline, so the highest habitats we’ll be rifle hunting are the krummholz and spruce-fir zones. It takes over a foot of snow to really force the bulk of the elk herds to migrate much below that. So the reality of most elk hunting, is that shots can be very short. However, you must still be capable of handling a long shot across a large, wet meadow. I find short barrels to be of no real ballistic disadvantage, but I also don’t find that shortening a barrel helps in the handling very much. Shortening the length of pull on your stock tends to be of more help in handling a quick shot. Also consider that you will likely be wearing bulky clothes in late October or November, so a shorter stock will shoulder much more easily. A longer barrel will help you swing with a moving target. So if you are trying to build the best handling gun you can, barrel length is a tough compromise. A short barrel might be nice if you prefer to still hunt or track elk and hope to take short, quick, but stationary shot. The actual length should depend on the contour of the barrel, but the balance point for those stalking the dense spruce-fir zones should be right around the front action screw on a bolt action rifle so that it will swing properly. If you aren’t comfortable with a moving shot, then bring the balance point back to the middle of the receiver. Don’t forget to factor in the scope weight and position when trying to determine where a good balance point for you would be. Forward mounting a scope on the barrel will help the balance if you choose to shorten the barrel severely. Overall weight is less important than balance in this situation.
There are only a few places where a true long range elk rifle serves much of a purpose. Any rifle that can hold 1.5 MOA out to 600 yards will easily remain within the vitals of an elk, provided the shooter is up to such a shot. The only places where I could see the use of dragging around a dedicated long range rig would be for late season hunts on winter range, Wyoming’s Red Desert country, and some sparse canyon country. In BLM-heavy canyon country, you can occasionally see elk from extremely long distance, and roads may quickly get you to the edge of a canyon, where you would lose sight of the elk if you attempted to cross it. The danger of building such a specialized rifle is that you lose the versatility needed to handle the majority of elk hunting situations. A 12 or 15 pound, 30 inch barreled .338 Lapua with a 20X Nightforce scope and McMillan A5 stock is a poor choice of rifle for sneaking through the woods and climbing the mountains.
I think it is far better to improve your abilities at extended ranges with a more versatile rifle than to intend to hunt with something that specialized. If you think the country you hunt will present you with a situation where a 500 plus yard shot is possible, you’ll be better off having practiced those shots with your current rifle than be caught holding something wholly unsuited for a quick shot in the timber as you approach your vantage point. A good compromise is to stay with a high comb, sporter-style stock and not too heavy of a barrel. I’ve killed 3 elk in quick situations at under 100 yards with a 27.5 inch #3 contour(0.625 at the muzzle) .264 Win Mag with a 15 inch length of pull. I designed it as a somewhat long range deer rig, but I tend to use that gun for almost everything, as it is versatile enough to not be a handicap for quick, short range situations. If the elk in your area will stay in and around the krummholz for rifle season, longer shots may be presented, but you aren’t going to want to carry a heavy gun up and over 12,000 foot ridges. You’ll be happiest with a lightweight rifle with some long range capability. Fluting, skeletonizing, restocking, using a smaller scope, switching to lighter scope mounts and shortening barrels will work to cut out a significant amount of weight from most guns without reducing effective range.
I find bipods to be of little use for elk. In most timbered elk country, you can find a rest if you need it for longer shots. And a little ingenuity will give you more options to get a steady rest above the vegetation than a bipod. A bipod designed to be used from prone will rarely be used in areas with decent grass length or substantial shrubs. Shooting sticks are more useful, but even your binoculars will make a decent rest if need be. For those you that sit meadows and trails, a sitting length bipod or shooting sticks will work well to minimize the amount of movement necessary for a longer shot. I would take the bipod off when you are moving between areas or still hunting the timber. A sling is crucial. Not just to free your hands up when navigating difficult terrain, but also for steadying a shot from any position. Really wide, fat slings are comfortable, but of little use when trying to tighten up for a shot. A rangefinder is useful when sitting a meadow, as it can be difficult to judge distance in places that have very little vegetation. However, most shots must be taken before you have the time to judge the range.
I feel bullet selection is more important than cartridge selection. My basic guidelines are to use premium, controlled expansion type bullets with magnum cartridges. Basic cup and core bullets were designed for standard velocities and impacts below 2800 fps generally. I prefer heavy for caliber spitzers when using cup and core bullets, and light for caliber bullets in the monometals. You can choose too tough of a bullet and cartridge combination, just as you can choose too soft of a combination. A .308 Winchester and 200 grain Barnes TSX combination with a 400 yard shot into soft tissue is asking for trouble due to poor expansion. A .300 Weatherby Magnum shooting a 125 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip shot into heavy bone at 50 yards is another disaster waiting to happen. Nearly anything can kill an elk, but to do so efficiently and properly requires some forethought and understanding of operating windows for the bullet selected. Along that same line of thinking, if you have to ask whether your bullet and cartridge combination is up to the task of a severe quartering shot, it probably isn’t and you’ll be left wishing you chose a better bullet. My favorite rifle is my .264 Win Mag, but using my 3700 fps 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip antelope loads on elk would be irresponsible. In my .358 Norma Magnum, I wouldn’t use bullets designed for the .35 Remington velocities either.
Regarding muzzleloaders for rut hunting, keep them short and handy. Front globe sights are great for precision shooting, but cumbersome at short range. A peep rear and small, bright front dot works well in most conditions, but a larger, brighter front sight is useful in the dense timber. In Colorado, sabots aren’t permitted, but I wouldn’t use them anyway. I’ll stick with a heavy, solid lead conical.
OPTICS:
When scoping an elk rifle, you’ll want to think about the likely distances and conditions involved in the habitats you’ll be hunting, as well keeping an eye on the effect of weight and balance with your rifle. As mentioned before, a versatile 3-9x40 will handle nearly any situation well, just make sure you keep the setting at 3X unless you have time to set up for a long shot. There’s very little a simple fixed 4x scope wouldn’t work well for. The field of view allows quick shots, and the magnification is just good enough to be precise with your placement. I personally don’t like fixed 6x scopes, as I find the field of view a little limiting on short shots. A 4.5-14x or 4-12x works well, as long you keep the setting at low power. In reality, most guys could err on the side of low power variables, such as a 2-7x or 1.75-6x and be very happy with their nice, lightweight scope. The mid elevation pine-aspen and low elevation scrub oak/winter range hunter will have more long distance shot opportunities than the high elevation spruce-fir elk hunter, and might better appreciate slightly higher magnifications.
I was once guiding a hunter for mule deer in Western Nebraska, and two does and a decent buck came up out of a timbered draw, with the buck dogging the a doe 75 yards away. I pointed the buck out to my hunter and she said, “I can’t find him!”, turns out her scope was on 9 power and the field of view didn’t allow her to find the buck before he went up and over the ridge less than 50 yards away. We never got back on that buck after discovering her error. In short, if you have a variable power scope, check it to make sure you are on low power when you arrive in your hunting error. It’s common to leave your scope at max power after sighting in at the range.
Thick crosshairs are best for most elk hunting. Timber hunting dictates you find your crosshairs quickly on moving objects or in heavy shadows. Thick crosshairs are also useful for hunting during the typical primetimes of dawn and dusk for the meadow and trail sitters. If you like bullet drop compensators, realize those are typically designed to be used at maximum power, so if you have to take the time to figure out bullet drop, take the time to crank up your magnification. For the long rangers, custom reticles matched to your bullet drop or turret adjustments are great. But for most elk hunting situations, those are superfluous. Good eye relief is another important factor in an elk riflescope. We tend to choose hard kicking rifles and it helps to be able to keep sharp aluminum tubes from banging into your nose and eyebrow. But more importantly, long eye relief is great for fast target acquisition without too much of the “staring down a black hole” feeling.
I find spotting scopes useful for only two types of hunting: Road hunting in areas where you can see long distances, and when hunting from ridges above timberline in the early seasons. I know, I know, I should condemn the road hunters, but let’s get real, in some places that’s called hunting smart, and a lot easier than bumbling around the ridges. For the timberline archer or rifleman, a compact spotting scope can save you miles of walking by determining whether or not the small herd of elk you’ve spotted has a legal bull or a bull up to your standards. They are also great for peering into the krummholz and edges of the spruces and firs from above, while looking for bedded elk.
For most people, binoculars are all that is necessary. The big timber spruce-fir rifle hunter and bowhunter will do fine with a medium power 6,7 or 8x with a wide field of view. High magnification cab be a detriment if you’ve snuck up on elk in the timber. If you can’t find the elk, focus your binos and get a steady view of the antlers or what’s behind your target, they are worthless. Those hunting sparser country can benefit from greater magnification. In large aspen stands or dense scrub oaks you can often pick elk out easily with the naked eye, but will need powerful binoculars to make out the sex and antler size against the twiggy background. I’ve always used cheap glass, but only recently have come to regret it. I left my binoculars in my pack with a leaking water bladder and now one barrel of the binoculars are permanently fogged. Don’t make that mistake.
Part 4, the continuation of elk gear, including clothing, footwear and camping gear will be coming soon…
Friday, June 25, 2010
Gear Talk, Part 2: Antelope
In the introductory article on equipment pairing, I said I’d break down the articles by guns and loads, clothing and footwear, and camping equipment and specialized gear. But I think it makes more sense now to do it by species and habitats. I’m going to start off with antelope gear and the conditions under which they are normally hunted. If you’ve done your homework assignment from last week, hopefully you have an understanding of the terrain and vegetation in which you’ll likely be hunting. Terrain and vegetation are every bit as important considerations as the species being hunted when selecting or purchasing specialized gear.
As I mentioned in last week’s introduction, even antelope country varies, certainly not as much as deer or elk, but it’s important to understand the basic habitat features in your hunting area. I’m going to go over the major differences in each habitat and how your gear selection might be affected. The rangeland texts have 3 broad categories of range; deserts, prairies and grasslands, each of which have several subcategories. Of the deserts, you have Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Cold Desert (or Great Basin) deserts. Your prairies are generally categorized as tallgrass, mixed, shortgrass, Palouse and fescue. The grasslands are categorized as California, semidesert and mesquite-acacia woodlands. Each habitat is dominated by specific grass and brush species, some which can dictate your antelope gear and tactics. I’ll try to address these where the habitat difference may affect gear selection as we go.
The Antelope Gun:
I’m not going to get into archery equipment for antelope, other than to say you need to be prepared for longer shots. Archery equipment is also less fascinating to me, so I’ll focus on rifles, and throw in a little bit on muzzleloaders. When looking over your choices for what to take on a hunt, first know the legalities of the state you are hunting. Many states do not allow .22 caliber centerfires, even for antelope, most states have limitations on magazine capacities for semi autos, some states also have different minimum calibers for elk and larger game. We all know, or should know, shot placement trumps all talk of cartridge choice, action design, stainless vs blued or synthetics vs wood arguments. But I’m going to go through some scenarios and thought processes for elk, deer and antelope gun selections, including personal preferences, beliefs and feelings with the understanding that when I declare something better or more suited for the object at hand, it implies all other variables being equal.
As I mentioned before, not all antelope habitat is equal, and therefore some specialized guns are more suited to certain types of terrain. However, you should be prepared for windy country and long distance shot opportunities. The Interstate 80 region of Wyoming is the only gap in the Rocky Mountains, which acts to really focus winds more than anywhere else in the United States. And there’s a lot of antelope there. Antelope usually feel safest in areas with the least amount of cover so they can see danger coming. Antelope are also close to half the weight of deer and even more lightly built with a slightly smaller vital zone. This means that above all, you’ll want a rifle that allows you to be precise in your bullet placement. Magnums aren’t necessary, but because they flatten out the trajectory and higher velocity cartridges drift less in the wind (given equal weight and ballistic coefficient), they tend to be quite popular. Retained energy is of low priority when selecting a chambering for antelope, but it usually goes hand in hand with flat trajectories and minimal wind drift.
Other factors to consider when selecting or building an optimum antelope rifle includes stock style and rifle weight. Some specialized stocks, such as the newest generations of tactical stocks and many thumbhole stocks are designed to be shot from the prone position. A wide forend is also handy when resting the rifle over a pack, but awkward in shooting sticks. An oval forend is a good compromise over a round forend when it comes to using rests with a sporter style stock because they tend to roll less. I also recommend a longer length of pull for stocks you intend to shoot from prone. Your eye and forehead will be a little further from scope and less likely to be dinged in recoil, which is also a good reason to not go with too heavy of a cartridge.
One good thing about antelope hunting is the terrain is usually gentle enough that you won’t scratch up a beautiful gun. The stability of synthetics and laminates are nice for precision rifles, but properly sealed wood can be nearly as stable. So if you have a nicely stocked rifle, antelope hunting will give you the least amount of heartache. Rocky country can be hard on the gun, so use a tight sling when crawling to keep the gun off the ground (slung across your front). If it’s raining or snowing, the antelope will be difficult to find and you’re probably better off waiting until the storm passes. Therefore, blued steel is rarely a problem in antelope country either.
The most common and useful accessory in antelope country is the bipod. They are a wonderful aid in steady shooting from the prone position. The most stable versions will have you closest to the ground, but you are also limited by grass or shrub heights in some areas. When strategizing on your stalk, look for areas with bare ground, lower shrubs or small dips in the terrain to better utilize a short bipod. I find bipods that are designed to be used while sitting not particularly stable. Longer bipods are certainly better than an unsupported rifle, but a short bipod and shooting sticks seem a better combination. If you have a muzzle break on your rifle, be aware of the dust signature it will put off after you fire. If you place your shot well, it doesn’t matter if the antelope pinpoint your position, but the dust cloud may also obscure signs of a hit for you or your spotter. At a bare minimum place a handkerchief below the ports to minimize the dust.
When considering a bullet for antelope hunting, consider that the bullet needs to expand well at the reduced velocities that are a reality of long range shooting. A high ballistic coefficient is helpful to reduce drop and wind drift, but often requires stepping up in bullet weight, thereby negating the gains in BC. High ballistic coefficient bullets really shine at longer range than most are capable of shooting at, so study the ballistic charts to come up with a bullet that will shoot flat, but still expand. Few rifle bullets will expand reliably below 1800 fps, and even fewer below 1600 fps. Nosler Balllistic Tips and Hornady SSTs seem ideally suited as antelope bullets, provided impacts are kept below 3000 fps. Penetration is low on my list of concerns with an antelope bullet, as their chests are not much more than 12 inches wide and their bones are much lighter than deer’s.
Gun weight is of minor consideration in most antelope country. However, in terrain that is severely broken by breaks, coulees or badlands you may not want a very heavy rifle. Heavy rifles and heavy barrels are great for stable shooting, but a pain to lug around. Also pay attention to the amount of roads in your area. If there is contiguous public land 3 or 4 miles from a road, you’ll want to stay with a sporter weight rifle, something under 10 pounds.
For muzzleloaders, my top priority is a flat trajectory. In states that allow it, I’d consider a .45 caliber. If you’re stuck with a .50 caliber, drop bullet weight as much as possible in order to increase velocity and flatten trajectory to reduce your margin for error. Where scopes aren’t allowed, consider a combination of rear peep sights and front globe sights. The major disadvantage of globe sights, poor visibility in low light situations, is negated by the fact that antelope aren’t very active at dawn and dusk. A long sight radius is helpful in precise shot placement; so long barrels serve two functions here. They slightly increase velocity and increase sight radius, creating less margin for error in your shooting. Another way to increase your sight radius is to move your rear sight further back on the barrel. Most muzzleloaders are designed with a steep drop at heel for shooting from the offhand position. This will make proper sighting more difficult when shooting prone, so consider at least a leather cheek piece to raise your head on the stock to get better alignment with the sights.
Optics:
For rifle scopes on a specialized antelope rig, I like the higher magnifications. There’s little doubt that a 4x scope is sufficient for antelope hunting, but with a thick crosshair, it can be difficult to be precise with shot placement beyond 200 yards. If this gun is a dual purpose rifle and you want a smaller scope, go with a fine crosshair. A thick crosswire may appear to be the same thickness of an antelope’s leg at longer distances. Since you shouldn’t need to make a fast shot in low light on an antelope hunt, there’s no need for thick crosshairs. I’m not concerned about weight in antelope country, so 18-24 oz scopes don’t bother me. Large objectives aren’t necessary, but they often go hand in hand with high magnification. Turrets and bullet drop compensating reticles are also very handy, if you know how to use them.
In flat, open country, a rangefinder is extremely valuable. But the biggest drawback to most designs is the poor ranging of nonreflective targets (like antelope) at longer distances. Here’s where it pays to have the best you can afford. Beyond 300 yards trajectory matters and many of the cheaper laser rangefinders are worthless at those distances. If there are no large rocks in your area to get a good reading, investing in a higher quality rangefinder makes sense. Trying to get a reading on antelope, grass clumps and brush can be an exercise in futility.
Many people think a spotting scope is useful in antelope country, but unless you are good enough to trophy judge the difference between 13 or 14 inch long horns, or 70 versus 80 point B&C scores, leave it at home. Remember, antelope do not hide, so there is little need to try look under every sagebrush bush with a 60X lens.
Binoculars are useful if you are doe hunting. Does are obvious when they are standing next to a buck, but sometimes you’ll come up on a lone antelope and not have a reference for the black cheek patch and the ears may be obstructing smaller horns. 8, 10 or even 12X binoculars can be put to good use here. In hilly country with a good vantage point they are also useful for determining whether antelope spotted at long range are moving or lying down and helping to pick your visual cues for waypoints on a stalk. If there is any snow on the ground, antelope can sometimes be difficult to pick out when lying down.
Clothing and Footwear:
Here’s where the habitat really matters when antelope hunting. In some mixed grass prairies, you can get away with tennis shoes and shorts. In Great Basin sagebrush country, or with badlands, breaks or coulees, you’ll want something with better ankle support if you’re climbing in and out of minor drainages. While knee high snake boots aren’t normally necessary, they can give you a little piece of mind in early season hunts. If you’re hunting steep, rocky ground, get something closer to 8 or 9 inches high. In steep, rolling sandhills and sandsage, you’ll want high ankle support. Insulation really isn’t necessary in most antelope country and uninsulated boots will keep your feet cooler on longer hikes. Waterproofing isn’t necessary either, but I like it as I sometimes can’t quite clear a smaller creek. Typical upland bird hunting boots can be comfortable in the longer grass of the mixed grass prairie.
Regarding clothing, noisy clothes aren’t a big concern, but durability is when slithering around in the rocks and cactus. Knee and elbow pads are useful due to the 1 to 3 inch high prickly pear cactus that is so common in all but the mixed grass prairies and sandhills. If you aren’t planning on bringing elbow pads, a fleece or thick jacket and leather gloves may help ease the pain on some stalks. Scent proofing can’t hurt, but I wouldn’t purchase it just for an antelope hunt. Antelope do use their sense of smell at shorter ranges. I’ve underestimated their noses many times and have been frustrated by fickle winds when trying to get within 100 yards when guiding youth hunters. Sage-heavy camo patterns look odd in open prairies where the only thing resembling a shrub is a sharp yucca. Waterfowl camo blends well with most prairies, but not so much in the sagebrush deserts.
Packs and Camping Gear:
I frequently hear from people stating their desire or willingness to pack into some remote area to hunt antelope. That just isn’t necessary, and more than likely will be unproductive because you just can’t cover enough ground. Antelope are generally spotted and then stalked from a road. If they aren’t in the square mile you are presently in, you just drive on to the next piece of public land where they are visible or stalkable. Throughout most antelope country, the landownership pattern is too spotty for you to want to commit to one small area.
Due to the accessible nature of most antelope country, backpacking gear and horses are just a burden. Camper trailers and RVs can get you close to most of the country you might hunt. It’s unlikely you will experience a significant snowfall in early to mid October throughout most of the plains, so tire chains are probably superfluous.
A small backpack that you can use as a shooting rest is very convenient in antelope country. On rocky ground(typical in Cold Desert/Hot Desert/Great Basin or just overgrazed country), it is easier to get a steady rest over a pack than it is with a bipod. But if the grasses are over 6 inches high (anywhere outside of the deserts and shortgrass prairie habitats), it’s difficult to use a pack as a rest. You’ll rarely be out of sight of your truck for very long, so you don’t necessarily need a large pack that holds a lot of gear. A wheeled game hauler is a nice luxury but antelope are easy to drag with two guys. On longer stalks, it’s probably faster to just drag the antelope back with you rather than go back to the truck for the hauler. A portable game tripod and winch for skinning and butchering is a very useful addition to the camp gear. Cooling the meat off in warm weather and getting the meat into a cooler to keep it clean will make the meat much better for the table.
Other Specialized Gear:
I mentioned knee and elbow pads and snake boots in the clothing section and a rangefinder under the optics. But decoys and blinds are other pieces of gear to consider for the archer. Decoys should not be used during rifle season. Long sits in a blind are accepted by archers, but rifle hunters will benefit from being more mobile. Crow calls and doe bleats are often used by bow hunters to get a buck to stand still for a shot, but similar noises can be made with your mouth. A map and GPS with UTM grid coordinates is another useful tool. BLM lands are often illegally posted as private lands, but more often there is no sign at all. So it’s important to know exactly where you are. There will not always be a fence to help you differentiate between public and private lands, and sometimes a fence separating public land pastures will confuse you if you aren’t well equipped with maps.
Like most men, I find gear planning an integral part of hunt planning. Can you hunt antelope without any of the fun stuff mentioned above? You bet. Having general purpose gear allows you to handle a lot of hunting situations to some degree of adequacy. But if you’re looking for an excuse to purchase something new or specialized, or don’t know which categories of your gear cache could use the most updating; hopefully this article was of some use to you.
I’ll follow up with elk and antelope gear pairing articles in the following weeks.
As I mentioned in last week’s introduction, even antelope country varies, certainly not as much as deer or elk, but it’s important to understand the basic habitat features in your hunting area. I’m going to go over the major differences in each habitat and how your gear selection might be affected. The rangeland texts have 3 broad categories of range; deserts, prairies and grasslands, each of which have several subcategories. Of the deserts, you have Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Cold Desert (or Great Basin) deserts. Your prairies are generally categorized as tallgrass, mixed, shortgrass, Palouse and fescue. The grasslands are categorized as California, semidesert and mesquite-acacia woodlands. Each habitat is dominated by specific grass and brush species, some which can dictate your antelope gear and tactics. I’ll try to address these where the habitat difference may affect gear selection as we go.
The Antelope Gun:
I’m not going to get into archery equipment for antelope, other than to say you need to be prepared for longer shots. Archery equipment is also less fascinating to me, so I’ll focus on rifles, and throw in a little bit on muzzleloaders. When looking over your choices for what to take on a hunt, first know the legalities of the state you are hunting. Many states do not allow .22 caliber centerfires, even for antelope, most states have limitations on magazine capacities for semi autos, some states also have different minimum calibers for elk and larger game. We all know, or should know, shot placement trumps all talk of cartridge choice, action design, stainless vs blued or synthetics vs wood arguments. But I’m going to go through some scenarios and thought processes for elk, deer and antelope gun selections, including personal preferences, beliefs and feelings with the understanding that when I declare something better or more suited for the object at hand, it implies all other variables being equal.
As I mentioned before, not all antelope habitat is equal, and therefore some specialized guns are more suited to certain types of terrain. However, you should be prepared for windy country and long distance shot opportunities. The Interstate 80 region of Wyoming is the only gap in the Rocky Mountains, which acts to really focus winds more than anywhere else in the United States. And there’s a lot of antelope there. Antelope usually feel safest in areas with the least amount of cover so they can see danger coming. Antelope are also close to half the weight of deer and even more lightly built with a slightly smaller vital zone. This means that above all, you’ll want a rifle that allows you to be precise in your bullet placement. Magnums aren’t necessary, but because they flatten out the trajectory and higher velocity cartridges drift less in the wind (given equal weight and ballistic coefficient), they tend to be quite popular. Retained energy is of low priority when selecting a chambering for antelope, but it usually goes hand in hand with flat trajectories and minimal wind drift.
Other factors to consider when selecting or building an optimum antelope rifle includes stock style and rifle weight. Some specialized stocks, such as the newest generations of tactical stocks and many thumbhole stocks are designed to be shot from the prone position. A wide forend is also handy when resting the rifle over a pack, but awkward in shooting sticks. An oval forend is a good compromise over a round forend when it comes to using rests with a sporter style stock because they tend to roll less. I also recommend a longer length of pull for stocks you intend to shoot from prone. Your eye and forehead will be a little further from scope and less likely to be dinged in recoil, which is also a good reason to not go with too heavy of a cartridge.
One good thing about antelope hunting is the terrain is usually gentle enough that you won’t scratch up a beautiful gun. The stability of synthetics and laminates are nice for precision rifles, but properly sealed wood can be nearly as stable. So if you have a nicely stocked rifle, antelope hunting will give you the least amount of heartache. Rocky country can be hard on the gun, so use a tight sling when crawling to keep the gun off the ground (slung across your front). If it’s raining or snowing, the antelope will be difficult to find and you’re probably better off waiting until the storm passes. Therefore, blued steel is rarely a problem in antelope country either.
The most common and useful accessory in antelope country is the bipod. They are a wonderful aid in steady shooting from the prone position. The most stable versions will have you closest to the ground, but you are also limited by grass or shrub heights in some areas. When strategizing on your stalk, look for areas with bare ground, lower shrubs or small dips in the terrain to better utilize a short bipod. I find bipods that are designed to be used while sitting not particularly stable. Longer bipods are certainly better than an unsupported rifle, but a short bipod and shooting sticks seem a better combination. If you have a muzzle break on your rifle, be aware of the dust signature it will put off after you fire. If you place your shot well, it doesn’t matter if the antelope pinpoint your position, but the dust cloud may also obscure signs of a hit for you or your spotter. At a bare minimum place a handkerchief below the ports to minimize the dust.
When considering a bullet for antelope hunting, consider that the bullet needs to expand well at the reduced velocities that are a reality of long range shooting. A high ballistic coefficient is helpful to reduce drop and wind drift, but often requires stepping up in bullet weight, thereby negating the gains in BC. High ballistic coefficient bullets really shine at longer range than most are capable of shooting at, so study the ballistic charts to come up with a bullet that will shoot flat, but still expand. Few rifle bullets will expand reliably below 1800 fps, and even fewer below 1600 fps. Nosler Balllistic Tips and Hornady SSTs seem ideally suited as antelope bullets, provided impacts are kept below 3000 fps. Penetration is low on my list of concerns with an antelope bullet, as their chests are not much more than 12 inches wide and their bones are much lighter than deer’s.
Gun weight is of minor consideration in most antelope country. However, in terrain that is severely broken by breaks, coulees or badlands you may not want a very heavy rifle. Heavy rifles and heavy barrels are great for stable shooting, but a pain to lug around. Also pay attention to the amount of roads in your area. If there is contiguous public land 3 or 4 miles from a road, you’ll want to stay with a sporter weight rifle, something under 10 pounds.
For muzzleloaders, my top priority is a flat trajectory. In states that allow it, I’d consider a .45 caliber. If you’re stuck with a .50 caliber, drop bullet weight as much as possible in order to increase velocity and flatten trajectory to reduce your margin for error. Where scopes aren’t allowed, consider a combination of rear peep sights and front globe sights. The major disadvantage of globe sights, poor visibility in low light situations, is negated by the fact that antelope aren’t very active at dawn and dusk. A long sight radius is helpful in precise shot placement; so long barrels serve two functions here. They slightly increase velocity and increase sight radius, creating less margin for error in your shooting. Another way to increase your sight radius is to move your rear sight further back on the barrel. Most muzzleloaders are designed with a steep drop at heel for shooting from the offhand position. This will make proper sighting more difficult when shooting prone, so consider at least a leather cheek piece to raise your head on the stock to get better alignment with the sights.
Optics:
For rifle scopes on a specialized antelope rig, I like the higher magnifications. There’s little doubt that a 4x scope is sufficient for antelope hunting, but with a thick crosshair, it can be difficult to be precise with shot placement beyond 200 yards. If this gun is a dual purpose rifle and you want a smaller scope, go with a fine crosshair. A thick crosswire may appear to be the same thickness of an antelope’s leg at longer distances. Since you shouldn’t need to make a fast shot in low light on an antelope hunt, there’s no need for thick crosshairs. I’m not concerned about weight in antelope country, so 18-24 oz scopes don’t bother me. Large objectives aren’t necessary, but they often go hand in hand with high magnification. Turrets and bullet drop compensating reticles are also very handy, if you know how to use them.
In flat, open country, a rangefinder is extremely valuable. But the biggest drawback to most designs is the poor ranging of nonreflective targets (like antelope) at longer distances. Here’s where it pays to have the best you can afford. Beyond 300 yards trajectory matters and many of the cheaper laser rangefinders are worthless at those distances. If there are no large rocks in your area to get a good reading, investing in a higher quality rangefinder makes sense. Trying to get a reading on antelope, grass clumps and brush can be an exercise in futility.
Many people think a spotting scope is useful in antelope country, but unless you are good enough to trophy judge the difference between 13 or 14 inch long horns, or 70 versus 80 point B&C scores, leave it at home. Remember, antelope do not hide, so there is little need to try look under every sagebrush bush with a 60X lens.
Binoculars are useful if you are doe hunting. Does are obvious when they are standing next to a buck, but sometimes you’ll come up on a lone antelope and not have a reference for the black cheek patch and the ears may be obstructing smaller horns. 8, 10 or even 12X binoculars can be put to good use here. In hilly country with a good vantage point they are also useful for determining whether antelope spotted at long range are moving or lying down and helping to pick your visual cues for waypoints on a stalk. If there is any snow on the ground, antelope can sometimes be difficult to pick out when lying down.
Clothing and Footwear:
Here’s where the habitat really matters when antelope hunting. In some mixed grass prairies, you can get away with tennis shoes and shorts. In Great Basin sagebrush country, or with badlands, breaks or coulees, you’ll want something with better ankle support if you’re climbing in and out of minor drainages. While knee high snake boots aren’t normally necessary, they can give you a little piece of mind in early season hunts. If you’re hunting steep, rocky ground, get something closer to 8 or 9 inches high. In steep, rolling sandhills and sandsage, you’ll want high ankle support. Insulation really isn’t necessary in most antelope country and uninsulated boots will keep your feet cooler on longer hikes. Waterproofing isn’t necessary either, but I like it as I sometimes can’t quite clear a smaller creek. Typical upland bird hunting boots can be comfortable in the longer grass of the mixed grass prairie.
Regarding clothing, noisy clothes aren’t a big concern, but durability is when slithering around in the rocks and cactus. Knee and elbow pads are useful due to the 1 to 3 inch high prickly pear cactus that is so common in all but the mixed grass prairies and sandhills. If you aren’t planning on bringing elbow pads, a fleece or thick jacket and leather gloves may help ease the pain on some stalks. Scent proofing can’t hurt, but I wouldn’t purchase it just for an antelope hunt. Antelope do use their sense of smell at shorter ranges. I’ve underestimated their noses many times and have been frustrated by fickle winds when trying to get within 100 yards when guiding youth hunters. Sage-heavy camo patterns look odd in open prairies where the only thing resembling a shrub is a sharp yucca. Waterfowl camo blends well with most prairies, but not so much in the sagebrush deserts.
Packs and Camping Gear:
I frequently hear from people stating their desire or willingness to pack into some remote area to hunt antelope. That just isn’t necessary, and more than likely will be unproductive because you just can’t cover enough ground. Antelope are generally spotted and then stalked from a road. If they aren’t in the square mile you are presently in, you just drive on to the next piece of public land where they are visible or stalkable. Throughout most antelope country, the landownership pattern is too spotty for you to want to commit to one small area.
Due to the accessible nature of most antelope country, backpacking gear and horses are just a burden. Camper trailers and RVs can get you close to most of the country you might hunt. It’s unlikely you will experience a significant snowfall in early to mid October throughout most of the plains, so tire chains are probably superfluous.
A small backpack that you can use as a shooting rest is very convenient in antelope country. On rocky ground(typical in Cold Desert/Hot Desert/Great Basin or just overgrazed country), it is easier to get a steady rest over a pack than it is with a bipod. But if the grasses are over 6 inches high (anywhere outside of the deserts and shortgrass prairie habitats), it’s difficult to use a pack as a rest. You’ll rarely be out of sight of your truck for very long, so you don’t necessarily need a large pack that holds a lot of gear. A wheeled game hauler is a nice luxury but antelope are easy to drag with two guys. On longer stalks, it’s probably faster to just drag the antelope back with you rather than go back to the truck for the hauler. A portable game tripod and winch for skinning and butchering is a very useful addition to the camp gear. Cooling the meat off in warm weather and getting the meat into a cooler to keep it clean will make the meat much better for the table.
Other Specialized Gear:
I mentioned knee and elbow pads and snake boots in the clothing section and a rangefinder under the optics. But decoys and blinds are other pieces of gear to consider for the archer. Decoys should not be used during rifle season. Long sits in a blind are accepted by archers, but rifle hunters will benefit from being more mobile. Crow calls and doe bleats are often used by bow hunters to get a buck to stand still for a shot, but similar noises can be made with your mouth. A map and GPS with UTM grid coordinates is another useful tool. BLM lands are often illegally posted as private lands, but more often there is no sign at all. So it’s important to know exactly where you are. There will not always be a fence to help you differentiate between public and private lands, and sometimes a fence separating public land pastures will confuse you if you aren’t well equipped with maps.
Like most men, I find gear planning an integral part of hunt planning. Can you hunt antelope without any of the fun stuff mentioned above? You bet. Having general purpose gear allows you to handle a lot of hunting situations to some degree of adequacy. But if you’re looking for an excuse to purchase something new or specialized, or don’t know which categories of your gear cache could use the most updating; hopefully this article was of some use to you.
I’ll follow up with elk and antelope gear pairing articles in the following weeks.
Scouting Tips-The Secrets to Success
Originally published for the Colorado Division of Wildlife Elk Hunting University:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/ElkHuntingUniversity/EHULessons/EHUScoutTips.htm
We all have to come to a decision on where to hunt somehow. But deciding where to hunt is dictated by how we like to hunt, how the weather is affecting the game and what we expect the game to be doing. Since most people live near a population center of some sort, and are far from the areas they intend to hunt, some form of scouting or research must be conducted to find a specific place to hunt. This is called scouting. The purpose of scouting is for the out-of-area hunter to gain local knowledge to increase his odds of finding and harvesting elk. Let's go through a couple of scenarios to determine how one might come to a conclusion about where to hunt. Each person will have different priorities based on where they are in their hunting career. Inexperienced hunters typically just want to harvest a legal animal, next we have the trophy hunter, and then the hunter who is just looking for an outdoor adventure or enjoyable experience. While scouting efforts are generally focused on finding game, don’t overlook finding a campsite and coming up with new tactics based on the terrain or manmade features in the area.
The novice:
The novice’s first task is to just select a unit and season. Previous articles have been written on the subject, so we won’t get into that at this time. Let’s say you’ve settled on a unit during a rifle season, now what? As with all scouting for any animal, you need to focus on the habitat needs of elk in order to find them. They need food, water and cover. Whichever is in the shortest supply in our area needs to be our primary focus. Elk are not evenly distributed throughout a mountain range; they are in large pockets with some small scattered herds. We are looking to maximize our chance of harvesting, and are therefore attempting to find the larger herds of elk. So keeping in mind that we need to feed, water and conceal large herd animals, it’s time for a little remote scouting so we can better focus our efforts when we finally set foot on our hunting grounds.
Let's first start with our paper maps. Elk receive a lot of hunting pressure, and it doesn’t take much to force them to move to less pressured grounds. So take a fat highlighter and outline each maintained road, looking for large gaps in the highlighted areas. The highest pressured areas will be maintained roads that connect to other maintained roads. A slimmer highlighter is also useful for the unmaintained and 4WD roads. Hunters will use them, but the more difficult the road, the less traffic you'll have. Unmaintained roads that connect two maintained roads receive more pressure than those that dead end. You'll also want to pay attention to the ATV rules for your area and look for locked gates blocking access to old logging roads that don't need to be highlighted. Lastly, find any marked or developed campground, and use your highlighter to mark off a two-mile radius from that campground. So without even looking at the aerial photos or topography, we now have a just a few major areas to focus our search for a great hunting spot.
Let's take a closer look at these roadless areas. Whether it is federally designated wilderness, or just an expanse of wild country, in a pressured area it is generally recommended that you hunt at LEAST 1 mile from the road. Two miles is much better in the heavily hunted units if you are looking for unpressured animals. Google Earth is a beautiful tool, so learn to use it in conjunction with your maps. It has color photos laid on top of a 3-D image of the earth. Once you learn to “ground truth” what you think you are looking at in Google Earth, you can get a very accurate feel for what the hunting area looks like. Now let's look at the topography and aerial photos. It takes a lot of forage to feed an elk herd, so areas near a large amount of grass or brush is important. We should be able to identify some open areas where the elk will be feeding at night, as there isn’t much forage in heavily timbered areas. Elk can be anywhere between timberline (11,700 feet) and about 7,000 feet in Colorado during the 4 primary rifle seasons. Generally, the warmer it is, the longer the grass will stay palatable in the high country. As the frosts begin to hit the mountains in mid September, the grass will begin to desiccate (go dormant till spring), and only areas with cool season grasses and wetter areas will retain palatable grasses and sedges before the elk must switch to eating brush. Elk are slaves to their stomachs and must eat at least every 8 hours or so. But during hunting season, an elk's first priority is to save its hide, so it will need cover. Don't place much hope on finding elk out feeding in a high pressure unit; you need to find their escape routes and hideouts. Water is rarely lacking during the rifle seasons, so pinpointing elk usage solely by locating water is a little more difficult.
OK, so we've identified a couple of meadows using maps and aerial photos, preferably one with a small creek; not for the water, but for the greener, more palatable grasses. Many of these areas are right near roads or trails. Elk usually won't use these places during daylight, but if there aren't many options available, they will still use them. But since we're looking for a place to hunt on opening morning and we know there will be a lot of pressure on these roads near the meadows, we need to take advantage of that pressure by anticipating how the elk will react to it.
Now let's try to find an open saddle in the timber along a ridge as close to one of these meadows as possible. Try to stay within a mile or so. Saddles are just one of many types of bottlenecks that naturally funnel pressured elk. Drainages leading into and out of major canyons and junctions of several drainages (usually there is good water at these points also) are other great places to focus pressured elk.
So, out of all of our meadows we should be able to find a nearby saddle (or drainage junction) that is at least a mile from a road, with a feeding area between the saddle and the road, below timberline, and that has some sort of opening for shooting lanes and dark coniferous timber nearby that elk may be heading to in order to hide.
Once you’ve identified 3 or 4 good saddles or drainage junctions, it’s time to lace up the boots and spend a weekend or two out scouting. In August, it is unlikely that the main elk herds will be low enough to be using the meadows we’ve targeted. But some units do not have true alpine country for elk to summer in, so it just depends on the unit. Don't be discouraged if you don't see a lot of fresh sign. Instead, look for old sign that indicates elk may have used these meadows. Look at the encroaching brush along the edge of the meadow. Do the ends of the twigs show old browsing pressure? Are the encroaching aspens or pines partially dead for some reason (from browsing pressure and elk rubs, hopefully not bark beetles)? What about the old brown grass from last year or earlier this year? Are the ends of it clipped off like a lawn mower? Elk and deer browsing signs on brush and aspens or other small trees often have a "flag" due to their not having upper incisors. The "flag" is just an outer bark layer left behind after elk or deer bit the stem, and then pulled up, leaving the "flag". Are there any small shrubs that look “stressed”, meaning many dead twigs protruding beyond the few live twigs that still have leaves on them? Or is the shrub no longer round? Stressed shrubs and small trees lose their natural shape when they are subjected to intense pressure from herbivores. Are there any old trails leading up to your saddle? What about the old sign around your saddle or drainage junction? Your hunting area should at least have some of these signs to let you know you are on the right track.
If the vegetation appears “hedged”, where the bottom of the junipers, aspens, scrub oaks and similar trees and shrubs are all the same height, you are likely looking at winter range. That’s fine if you are hunting during the late seasons, but elk rarely present in such concentrations to create hedged environments during the normal rifle seasons. Otherwise, you need to be scouting higher elevations if you aren’t planning a late season hunt. If you are finding shed antlers while scouting, you may also be looking too low.
You likely won’t be able to spot and stalk elk in heavily pressured areas, but from a good vantage on an open saddle you may be able to pinpoint where elk are heading to escape from other hunters. Don’t be afraid to stalk the timber, as elk spend more time in there than the open. If your escape route doesn’t produce for you, you’re going to have to have to go into the timber and pursue the elk. Coordinating a timber hunt with a partner is often more productive, especially if it’s possible to attack the patch from more than one side, pushing elk towards each other.
If trying to pick a patch of timber to still-hunt, the first places you need to investigate will be the flat timbered benches. These are often bedding areas and should show signs of elk usage during your scouting trips. Here, you won’t be looking for signs of browsing, just old tracks and feces. Old rubs are great too. If the area smells like fresh urine, or like cattle are in there, that’s another great sign. Many of these benches also have small ponds that are not marked on any map, but are visible from aerial photos. Focus your efforts near these spots.
Another type of productive timber for still hunting is burned or thinned timber. Both types of timber can be great for cover and feed. Elk tend to feel very comfortable in burns, especially if the trees haven’t fallen yet. They feel concealed, yet are readily apparent to hunters, and the lush new growth offers great forage so they have no need to expose themselves in larger meadows. Along the same lines are thinning operations. These areas have additional light hitting the forest floor, initiating grass and brush growth, but live trees are still in great abundance offering good cover to the elk. However, these areas tend to have good shooting lanes and visibility through the timber for the hunter. To find burns, you’ll need to use your aerial photos, but old logging operations are sometimes difficult to pick out. Instead, look for short spur roads coming off a main road. Many of those small roads will be gated off, blocked with boulders or the entrance to them will be bulldozed. When scouting, give extra bonus points to the roads that cannot be driven on. Aerial photos may not give you an adequate feel for the age of a burn and the amount of standing or down timber, so you need to scout it and decide whether it offers good feed and concealment to elk. And keep looking for sign. Old droppings are good, so are heavily browsed or stressed shrubs, and since the grass is often too long to reveal good trails, look for places where elk hooves have worn down or chipped away the downed logs when they cross them.
If you’ve exhausted the escape routes, the obvious hide-outs, and scouted the timber, yet still can’t find elk sign, it’s time to either choose a new area, or head down into the steep canyons and focus on the heavily timbered north and east facing drainages.
The Trophy Hunter:
Pressured units can be tolerated by the trophy hunter, as long as there aren’t too many roads and access is limited in some areas. Designated wilderness isn’t a necessity, but it helps separate the wheat from the chaff in a real hurry. However, it’s difficult to access many wilderness areas in the later seasons. So you need to have a plan in mind, when choosing which season to hunt the unit. Let’s assume we are hunting 1st rifle season here.
Occasionally, elk can be above timberline during 1st season, but it’s rare. Finding large pockets of unpressured land is our best option here. We don’t want pressure to ever reach the elk we are hunting, but it wouldn’t hurt if pressure would send additional elk our way. But first, we need to have a “measuring stick” so we know what kind of bull is possible in this area. It’s time for you to get up into the high country and glass elk on their summering grounds in July through mid August. In classic high mountain elk country, once the bachelor herds are found and trophy potential is determined, it’s now a matter of figuring out where they might be during hunting season. From archery season through 1st rifle, they will likely be within the same drainage or neighboring drainage where you found them, just at lower elevation. However, the bulls will either be nursing their wounds or still in the rut, so where they are in this stage will dictate how to focus on potential areas to hunt them. If they are still in the rut, they will be with the cows, which means there are a lot of mouths to feed. Only the larger meadows will offer sufficient forage, so you must focus on the lower reaches of the drainage where several creeks begin to form the primary river or creek in the area. This will usually be the largest meadow in the area and the focus of most of the cows and the dominant herd bull. These meadows are best found several miles into a wilderness area. Large south facing slopes on high mountains can also hold the herds, but only with a good source of nearby water.
In canyon country, pinpointing where a herd bull will be during the rut is more difficult. However, water can be scarce here. So, search for good meadows within a mile of water, but isolated from the roads by over a mile. Typically, canyon country elk herds are smaller and more evenly dispersed near the major water sources.
If the elk have quit bugling, you need to instead focus on smaller secondary meadows where the bulls will be trying to recover as much weight as possible to survive the winter. The very best places are the rare north and east facing meadows when it is warm out. These are often very small meadows, less than 200 yards wide, surrounded by heavy timber and good water. Level benches for bedding areas are not important for finding solitary bull bedding areas. The only thing in the world these bulls want is to be left alone, so they can eat and rest. Your focus here needs to be over 2 miles from the nearest major road and over a mile from any secondary road. These small pockets don’t have to be north or east facing, but they do need to have good forage. During a warm year, the bulls may go back up to higher country if there is still good feed available.
Lone bulls are also much more likely than cow/calf groups to use steep hillsides. Below most steep mountains is a slide area, with strips of timber between the slides, springs, small ponds and creeks at the base, and open grassy hillsides in places where the slide is sufficiently old. These little pockets provide all the food, water and cover a lone bull will need for the month or so before winter really sets in and he is forced to descend to lower elevations.
Because their potential meadow locations are so varied, spot and stalk hunting is much more critical, especially if you have trophy standards. Your scouting efforts should be focused on vantage points overlooking as many of these basins, meadows, and hillsides as possible, rather than trying to pinpoint a single small meadow. From one vantage point, many old slide areas can usually be seen, as well as the small pockets in the timber below. Road access to your vantage point is fine only if the points you are glassing are a long way off. If there is a tempting terrain feature to hunt immediately below your vantage point, and no barrier like a ridge or creek for a hunter to cross to reach that area you are glassing, you’ll need to find a different vantage. There must be very little disturbance reaching the area you will be glassing during hunting season.
The “Quality Experience” Hunter:
This hunter is one who is just looking to see wildlife and feel like he has some ground to himself. Trophy quality may not matter to this person and he will be combining tactics of both the trophy hunter and the meat hunter. This person is looking to enjoy the experience and isn’t necessarily looking for an armed death march to the furthest peak.
If you’ve settled on your unit, it’s time to decide how you want to hunt it. Some people like to find good roads to drive and glass the distant hillsides; others prefer a solitary still-hunt into the dark timber, while still others prefer to hike a nice vantage point to see what Mother Nature brings them. This hunter will also be conscious of the season to hunt. In some places, first rifle season has the least pressure, in other areas it’s the 4th season. Even 3rd season in some over-the-counter units can have fairly light pressure, but 2nd season is almost never the best choice for this hunter. As an archer, this hunter wouldn’t bother going out during the first several weeks of the season, and would rather pick his time to coincide with the peak of the rut. Here in Colorado, the third and fourth weeks of September are as good as it gets. And most of the bowhunters and muzzleloader hunters have already packed it in for the year. If we assume this hunter is a 3rd season rifle hunter, he can generally count on the roads still being accessible and snow in the high country pushing elk a little further down the mountain. This hunter is more focused on the honey holes outside of the wilderness, along migration corridors and pockets of public land near private lands. Depending on how you hunt, consider hunting the longest ridges extending from the high peaks. Many of these are easily accessible from the roads, and often provide a downhill hike (at first). The longest finger ridges usually have several saddles for migrating game or those seeking refuge from other hunters. Those same ridges usually have one or two good places to glass the surrounding ridges or meadows below. The trick here is to just keep walking further than most hunters and get an earlier start. The best places during the later seasons will have vantage points or will be above south and west facing brushy slopes. We can’t count on the grasses being palatable during the late seasons, so we need to be mindful of secondary food sources like scrub oaks, bitterbrush, sagebrush, serviceberry and mountain mahogany. Water is less important during the later season hunts, but will still be utilized. Standing water will likely be frozen over, even if there is no snow. Summer scouting should focus on these brushy food sources that can be seen from a safe distance without disturbing the elk during hunting season.
Utilize the tips on finding browsed and grazed plants that were described earlier when examining these hillsides during the summer. Buck deer rubs are useful signs in these areas, even if you are elk hunting, because deer are primarily browsers (as opposed to grazers), and the presence of deer rubs indicates late October and early November preferential usage in those brushy areas. If hunting for elk, focus mainly on the grass availability on exposed south facing hillsides above running creeks. These creeks will likely still be running during the late seasons, offering more reliable water sources.
In many parts of the west, irrigated private croplands are adjacent to public lands. Those private lands rarely have sufficient cover to hold elk, but the forage is irresistible to them. Use your aerial photo to look for any croplands next to public lands. Elk and deer will likely be feeding at night and early in the morning, but at some point they will reenter adjacent public lands. When scouting, look for sagging barbed wire, downed fencing, clear trails, hair snags on the wire, and other sign to indicate likely entry and exit points to these fields. But be certain you are on public land when attempting to hunt these locations.
Not all hunters have the stamina to hunt the backcountry. So finding isolated pockets that pressure will rarely touch near a road should be the focus if the above sounds like the Trail of Tears to you. For those who can exert themselves over short periods, but cannot sustain the effort, use your maps and aerial photos to find places close to, but not visible from the roads. Oftentimes, a road will pass just a quarter mile underneath a ridge, and many hunters will never bother to look at what’s on the other side. Sometimes, a difficult terrain feature such as a creek with steep banks separates the road from an unseen meadow. In most mountainous country, a road winds back and forth as it gains elevation. These gaps between the roads are also useful for short hunts, especially when coordinated with a partner or two who will park the vehicle at the bottom for you to hunt toward. Some maps do not show the road windings in sufficient detail and many aerial photos fail to show the roads underneath the timber, so scouting is crucial here. If there is ever more than a ¼ mile gap between the roads, consider it huntable.
Last Minute Scouting:
For those who can’t put the boots to the ground in elk country during the summer time, it is strongly recommended you give yourself at least one full day of scouting prior to the season opener before seriously hitting the hills. You’ve presumably narrowed down your hunting area by various remote scouting methods, whether by paper map, aerial photos, interviews, etc. But let’s say you are trying to narrow down your hunting area near two drainages where you’ll be camping. Your first order of business is not to spook game out of the country. You must minimize your intrusions at this time. You’ll have to walk with your eyes more than your legs at this time, so dawn and dusk should be spent glassing or driving the roads and glassing. When driving snow covered or dirt roads, keep a careful eye out for any trails indicating elk crossing the road. Note whether elk appear to be crossing back and forth on this road, or whether it was a one-way trip. If the snow is less than a day old, consider following those tracks. During the late morning and early afternoon, skirt any timbered potential bedding area as well as you can and do not skyline yourself when coming over ridges. Don’t be too concerned if there are elk carcasses in your new spot, consider it validation.
Unlike the summer scouting, the freshest sign wins when you’re only a day or two from the start of the season. When reading fresh sign, a little additional knowledge will tell you what the elk are eating and the likely sex of the animal you found. When elk are feeding on green grasses, their feces tend to be clumped and extremely soft. When elk have switched their feed to brush, their droppings become much harder and individual pellets tend not to clump together. If you think they are feeding on grasses, the elk are probably feeding in a wet meadow. If you think they are feeding on brush, it is likely on a south or west facing hillside. Some people can’t tell deer or moose sign from elk sign. Cow elk and small bulls tend to have tracks about 3 inches long, more mature bull elk have tracks around 3.5 inches long. A standard, factory loaded .30-06 cartridge (and most standard and belted magnums) is 3.3 inches long, .308s and other short action cartridges (including the short magnums) are 2.8 inches long. So, if the track is longer than a short action cartridge, but shorter than a standard, It is likely that of a cow elk. Anything significantly longer than a .30-06 is probably a bull, except when you are in moose country. However, moose tracks are much larger than elk tracks, often closer to 5 inches long. Their droppings are almost always slightly red, grainy and elongated from the willows that they prefer to eat.
In many ways, hunters need to be amateur biologists in order to properly read the signs the elk are leaving. If you are unsure of what you are looking at and how to interpret the signs, take a picture so you can show someone more experienced than yourself. Be prepared to ask specific questions of everyone you encounter while out scouting, but if you haven’t done your homework you won’t know when to disregard and when to accept information as gospel. You are at a severe disadvantage if you haven’t set foot in your hunting area before the season starts. The only way to move yourself further along the learning curve is to spend more time in the elk woods. The local, area-specific knowledge you gain from doing so is worth infinitely more than reading generic books and articles. Understanding what the sign is telling you and what do with that sign is a crucial step in becoming a good elk hunter. Our hunting seasons are short, so you will not get the necessary field time to become a knowledgeable elk hunter by spending only 5 days in the woods each year. Get out there, scout intelligently, learn your hunting grounds, become a more successful hunter.
http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/ElkHuntingUniversity/EHULessons/EHUScoutTips.htm
We all have to come to a decision on where to hunt somehow. But deciding where to hunt is dictated by how we like to hunt, how the weather is affecting the game and what we expect the game to be doing. Since most people live near a population center of some sort, and are far from the areas they intend to hunt, some form of scouting or research must be conducted to find a specific place to hunt. This is called scouting. The purpose of scouting is for the out-of-area hunter to gain local knowledge to increase his odds of finding and harvesting elk. Let's go through a couple of scenarios to determine how one might come to a conclusion about where to hunt. Each person will have different priorities based on where they are in their hunting career. Inexperienced hunters typically just want to harvest a legal animal, next we have the trophy hunter, and then the hunter who is just looking for an outdoor adventure or enjoyable experience. While scouting efforts are generally focused on finding game, don’t overlook finding a campsite and coming up with new tactics based on the terrain or manmade features in the area.
The novice:
The novice’s first task is to just select a unit and season. Previous articles have been written on the subject, so we won’t get into that at this time. Let’s say you’ve settled on a unit during a rifle season, now what? As with all scouting for any animal, you need to focus on the habitat needs of elk in order to find them. They need food, water and cover. Whichever is in the shortest supply in our area needs to be our primary focus. Elk are not evenly distributed throughout a mountain range; they are in large pockets with some small scattered herds. We are looking to maximize our chance of harvesting, and are therefore attempting to find the larger herds of elk. So keeping in mind that we need to feed, water and conceal large herd animals, it’s time for a little remote scouting so we can better focus our efforts when we finally set foot on our hunting grounds.
Let's first start with our paper maps. Elk receive a lot of hunting pressure, and it doesn’t take much to force them to move to less pressured grounds. So take a fat highlighter and outline each maintained road, looking for large gaps in the highlighted areas. The highest pressured areas will be maintained roads that connect to other maintained roads. A slimmer highlighter is also useful for the unmaintained and 4WD roads. Hunters will use them, but the more difficult the road, the less traffic you'll have. Unmaintained roads that connect two maintained roads receive more pressure than those that dead end. You'll also want to pay attention to the ATV rules for your area and look for locked gates blocking access to old logging roads that don't need to be highlighted. Lastly, find any marked or developed campground, and use your highlighter to mark off a two-mile radius from that campground. So without even looking at the aerial photos or topography, we now have a just a few major areas to focus our search for a great hunting spot.
Let's take a closer look at these roadless areas. Whether it is federally designated wilderness, or just an expanse of wild country, in a pressured area it is generally recommended that you hunt at LEAST 1 mile from the road. Two miles is much better in the heavily hunted units if you are looking for unpressured animals. Google Earth is a beautiful tool, so learn to use it in conjunction with your maps. It has color photos laid on top of a 3-D image of the earth. Once you learn to “ground truth” what you think you are looking at in Google Earth, you can get a very accurate feel for what the hunting area looks like. Now let's look at the topography and aerial photos. It takes a lot of forage to feed an elk herd, so areas near a large amount of grass or brush is important. We should be able to identify some open areas where the elk will be feeding at night, as there isn’t much forage in heavily timbered areas. Elk can be anywhere between timberline (11,700 feet) and about 7,000 feet in Colorado during the 4 primary rifle seasons. Generally, the warmer it is, the longer the grass will stay palatable in the high country. As the frosts begin to hit the mountains in mid September, the grass will begin to desiccate (go dormant till spring), and only areas with cool season grasses and wetter areas will retain palatable grasses and sedges before the elk must switch to eating brush. Elk are slaves to their stomachs and must eat at least every 8 hours or so. But during hunting season, an elk's first priority is to save its hide, so it will need cover. Don't place much hope on finding elk out feeding in a high pressure unit; you need to find their escape routes and hideouts. Water is rarely lacking during the rifle seasons, so pinpointing elk usage solely by locating water is a little more difficult.
OK, so we've identified a couple of meadows using maps and aerial photos, preferably one with a small creek; not for the water, but for the greener, more palatable grasses. Many of these areas are right near roads or trails. Elk usually won't use these places during daylight, but if there aren't many options available, they will still use them. But since we're looking for a place to hunt on opening morning and we know there will be a lot of pressure on these roads near the meadows, we need to take advantage of that pressure by anticipating how the elk will react to it.
Now let's try to find an open saddle in the timber along a ridge as close to one of these meadows as possible. Try to stay within a mile or so. Saddles are just one of many types of bottlenecks that naturally funnel pressured elk. Drainages leading into and out of major canyons and junctions of several drainages (usually there is good water at these points also) are other great places to focus pressured elk.
So, out of all of our meadows we should be able to find a nearby saddle (or drainage junction) that is at least a mile from a road, with a feeding area between the saddle and the road, below timberline, and that has some sort of opening for shooting lanes and dark coniferous timber nearby that elk may be heading to in order to hide.
Once you’ve identified 3 or 4 good saddles or drainage junctions, it’s time to lace up the boots and spend a weekend or two out scouting. In August, it is unlikely that the main elk herds will be low enough to be using the meadows we’ve targeted. But some units do not have true alpine country for elk to summer in, so it just depends on the unit. Don't be discouraged if you don't see a lot of fresh sign. Instead, look for old sign that indicates elk may have used these meadows. Look at the encroaching brush along the edge of the meadow. Do the ends of the twigs show old browsing pressure? Are the encroaching aspens or pines partially dead for some reason (from browsing pressure and elk rubs, hopefully not bark beetles)? What about the old brown grass from last year or earlier this year? Are the ends of it clipped off like a lawn mower? Elk and deer browsing signs on brush and aspens or other small trees often have a "flag" due to their not having upper incisors. The "flag" is just an outer bark layer left behind after elk or deer bit the stem, and then pulled up, leaving the "flag". Are there any small shrubs that look “stressed”, meaning many dead twigs protruding beyond the few live twigs that still have leaves on them? Or is the shrub no longer round? Stressed shrubs and small trees lose their natural shape when they are subjected to intense pressure from herbivores. Are there any old trails leading up to your saddle? What about the old sign around your saddle or drainage junction? Your hunting area should at least have some of these signs to let you know you are on the right track.
If the vegetation appears “hedged”, where the bottom of the junipers, aspens, scrub oaks and similar trees and shrubs are all the same height, you are likely looking at winter range. That’s fine if you are hunting during the late seasons, but elk rarely present in such concentrations to create hedged environments during the normal rifle seasons. Otherwise, you need to be scouting higher elevations if you aren’t planning a late season hunt. If you are finding shed antlers while scouting, you may also be looking too low.
You likely won’t be able to spot and stalk elk in heavily pressured areas, but from a good vantage on an open saddle you may be able to pinpoint where elk are heading to escape from other hunters. Don’t be afraid to stalk the timber, as elk spend more time in there than the open. If your escape route doesn’t produce for you, you’re going to have to have to go into the timber and pursue the elk. Coordinating a timber hunt with a partner is often more productive, especially if it’s possible to attack the patch from more than one side, pushing elk towards each other.
If trying to pick a patch of timber to still-hunt, the first places you need to investigate will be the flat timbered benches. These are often bedding areas and should show signs of elk usage during your scouting trips. Here, you won’t be looking for signs of browsing, just old tracks and feces. Old rubs are great too. If the area smells like fresh urine, or like cattle are in there, that’s another great sign. Many of these benches also have small ponds that are not marked on any map, but are visible from aerial photos. Focus your efforts near these spots.
Another type of productive timber for still hunting is burned or thinned timber. Both types of timber can be great for cover and feed. Elk tend to feel very comfortable in burns, especially if the trees haven’t fallen yet. They feel concealed, yet are readily apparent to hunters, and the lush new growth offers great forage so they have no need to expose themselves in larger meadows. Along the same lines are thinning operations. These areas have additional light hitting the forest floor, initiating grass and brush growth, but live trees are still in great abundance offering good cover to the elk. However, these areas tend to have good shooting lanes and visibility through the timber for the hunter. To find burns, you’ll need to use your aerial photos, but old logging operations are sometimes difficult to pick out. Instead, look for short spur roads coming off a main road. Many of those small roads will be gated off, blocked with boulders or the entrance to them will be bulldozed. When scouting, give extra bonus points to the roads that cannot be driven on. Aerial photos may not give you an adequate feel for the age of a burn and the amount of standing or down timber, so you need to scout it and decide whether it offers good feed and concealment to elk. And keep looking for sign. Old droppings are good, so are heavily browsed or stressed shrubs, and since the grass is often too long to reveal good trails, look for places where elk hooves have worn down or chipped away the downed logs when they cross them.
If you’ve exhausted the escape routes, the obvious hide-outs, and scouted the timber, yet still can’t find elk sign, it’s time to either choose a new area, or head down into the steep canyons and focus on the heavily timbered north and east facing drainages.
The Trophy Hunter:
Pressured units can be tolerated by the trophy hunter, as long as there aren’t too many roads and access is limited in some areas. Designated wilderness isn’t a necessity, but it helps separate the wheat from the chaff in a real hurry. However, it’s difficult to access many wilderness areas in the later seasons. So you need to have a plan in mind, when choosing which season to hunt the unit. Let’s assume we are hunting 1st rifle season here.
Occasionally, elk can be above timberline during 1st season, but it’s rare. Finding large pockets of unpressured land is our best option here. We don’t want pressure to ever reach the elk we are hunting, but it wouldn’t hurt if pressure would send additional elk our way. But first, we need to have a “measuring stick” so we know what kind of bull is possible in this area. It’s time for you to get up into the high country and glass elk on their summering grounds in July through mid August. In classic high mountain elk country, once the bachelor herds are found and trophy potential is determined, it’s now a matter of figuring out where they might be during hunting season. From archery season through 1st rifle, they will likely be within the same drainage or neighboring drainage where you found them, just at lower elevation. However, the bulls will either be nursing their wounds or still in the rut, so where they are in this stage will dictate how to focus on potential areas to hunt them. If they are still in the rut, they will be with the cows, which means there are a lot of mouths to feed. Only the larger meadows will offer sufficient forage, so you must focus on the lower reaches of the drainage where several creeks begin to form the primary river or creek in the area. This will usually be the largest meadow in the area and the focus of most of the cows and the dominant herd bull. These meadows are best found several miles into a wilderness area. Large south facing slopes on high mountains can also hold the herds, but only with a good source of nearby water.
In canyon country, pinpointing where a herd bull will be during the rut is more difficult. However, water can be scarce here. So, search for good meadows within a mile of water, but isolated from the roads by over a mile. Typically, canyon country elk herds are smaller and more evenly dispersed near the major water sources.
If the elk have quit bugling, you need to instead focus on smaller secondary meadows where the bulls will be trying to recover as much weight as possible to survive the winter. The very best places are the rare north and east facing meadows when it is warm out. These are often very small meadows, less than 200 yards wide, surrounded by heavy timber and good water. Level benches for bedding areas are not important for finding solitary bull bedding areas. The only thing in the world these bulls want is to be left alone, so they can eat and rest. Your focus here needs to be over 2 miles from the nearest major road and over a mile from any secondary road. These small pockets don’t have to be north or east facing, but they do need to have good forage. During a warm year, the bulls may go back up to higher country if there is still good feed available.
Lone bulls are also much more likely than cow/calf groups to use steep hillsides. Below most steep mountains is a slide area, with strips of timber between the slides, springs, small ponds and creeks at the base, and open grassy hillsides in places where the slide is sufficiently old. These little pockets provide all the food, water and cover a lone bull will need for the month or so before winter really sets in and he is forced to descend to lower elevations.
Because their potential meadow locations are so varied, spot and stalk hunting is much more critical, especially if you have trophy standards. Your scouting efforts should be focused on vantage points overlooking as many of these basins, meadows, and hillsides as possible, rather than trying to pinpoint a single small meadow. From one vantage point, many old slide areas can usually be seen, as well as the small pockets in the timber below. Road access to your vantage point is fine only if the points you are glassing are a long way off. If there is a tempting terrain feature to hunt immediately below your vantage point, and no barrier like a ridge or creek for a hunter to cross to reach that area you are glassing, you’ll need to find a different vantage. There must be very little disturbance reaching the area you will be glassing during hunting season.
The “Quality Experience” Hunter:
This hunter is one who is just looking to see wildlife and feel like he has some ground to himself. Trophy quality may not matter to this person and he will be combining tactics of both the trophy hunter and the meat hunter. This person is looking to enjoy the experience and isn’t necessarily looking for an armed death march to the furthest peak.
If you’ve settled on your unit, it’s time to decide how you want to hunt it. Some people like to find good roads to drive and glass the distant hillsides; others prefer a solitary still-hunt into the dark timber, while still others prefer to hike a nice vantage point to see what Mother Nature brings them. This hunter will also be conscious of the season to hunt. In some places, first rifle season has the least pressure, in other areas it’s the 4th season. Even 3rd season in some over-the-counter units can have fairly light pressure, but 2nd season is almost never the best choice for this hunter. As an archer, this hunter wouldn’t bother going out during the first several weeks of the season, and would rather pick his time to coincide with the peak of the rut. Here in Colorado, the third and fourth weeks of September are as good as it gets. And most of the bowhunters and muzzleloader hunters have already packed it in for the year. If we assume this hunter is a 3rd season rifle hunter, he can generally count on the roads still being accessible and snow in the high country pushing elk a little further down the mountain. This hunter is more focused on the honey holes outside of the wilderness, along migration corridors and pockets of public land near private lands. Depending on how you hunt, consider hunting the longest ridges extending from the high peaks. Many of these are easily accessible from the roads, and often provide a downhill hike (at first). The longest finger ridges usually have several saddles for migrating game or those seeking refuge from other hunters. Those same ridges usually have one or two good places to glass the surrounding ridges or meadows below. The trick here is to just keep walking further than most hunters and get an earlier start. The best places during the later seasons will have vantage points or will be above south and west facing brushy slopes. We can’t count on the grasses being palatable during the late seasons, so we need to be mindful of secondary food sources like scrub oaks, bitterbrush, sagebrush, serviceberry and mountain mahogany. Water is less important during the later season hunts, but will still be utilized. Standing water will likely be frozen over, even if there is no snow. Summer scouting should focus on these brushy food sources that can be seen from a safe distance without disturbing the elk during hunting season.
Utilize the tips on finding browsed and grazed plants that were described earlier when examining these hillsides during the summer. Buck deer rubs are useful signs in these areas, even if you are elk hunting, because deer are primarily browsers (as opposed to grazers), and the presence of deer rubs indicates late October and early November preferential usage in those brushy areas. If hunting for elk, focus mainly on the grass availability on exposed south facing hillsides above running creeks. These creeks will likely still be running during the late seasons, offering more reliable water sources.
In many parts of the west, irrigated private croplands are adjacent to public lands. Those private lands rarely have sufficient cover to hold elk, but the forage is irresistible to them. Use your aerial photo to look for any croplands next to public lands. Elk and deer will likely be feeding at night and early in the morning, but at some point they will reenter adjacent public lands. When scouting, look for sagging barbed wire, downed fencing, clear trails, hair snags on the wire, and other sign to indicate likely entry and exit points to these fields. But be certain you are on public land when attempting to hunt these locations.
Not all hunters have the stamina to hunt the backcountry. So finding isolated pockets that pressure will rarely touch near a road should be the focus if the above sounds like the Trail of Tears to you. For those who can exert themselves over short periods, but cannot sustain the effort, use your maps and aerial photos to find places close to, but not visible from the roads. Oftentimes, a road will pass just a quarter mile underneath a ridge, and many hunters will never bother to look at what’s on the other side. Sometimes, a difficult terrain feature such as a creek with steep banks separates the road from an unseen meadow. In most mountainous country, a road winds back and forth as it gains elevation. These gaps between the roads are also useful for short hunts, especially when coordinated with a partner or two who will park the vehicle at the bottom for you to hunt toward. Some maps do not show the road windings in sufficient detail and many aerial photos fail to show the roads underneath the timber, so scouting is crucial here. If there is ever more than a ¼ mile gap between the roads, consider it huntable.
Last Minute Scouting:
For those who can’t put the boots to the ground in elk country during the summer time, it is strongly recommended you give yourself at least one full day of scouting prior to the season opener before seriously hitting the hills. You’ve presumably narrowed down your hunting area by various remote scouting methods, whether by paper map, aerial photos, interviews, etc. But let’s say you are trying to narrow down your hunting area near two drainages where you’ll be camping. Your first order of business is not to spook game out of the country. You must minimize your intrusions at this time. You’ll have to walk with your eyes more than your legs at this time, so dawn and dusk should be spent glassing or driving the roads and glassing. When driving snow covered or dirt roads, keep a careful eye out for any trails indicating elk crossing the road. Note whether elk appear to be crossing back and forth on this road, or whether it was a one-way trip. If the snow is less than a day old, consider following those tracks. During the late morning and early afternoon, skirt any timbered potential bedding area as well as you can and do not skyline yourself when coming over ridges. Don’t be too concerned if there are elk carcasses in your new spot, consider it validation.
Unlike the summer scouting, the freshest sign wins when you’re only a day or two from the start of the season. When reading fresh sign, a little additional knowledge will tell you what the elk are eating and the likely sex of the animal you found. When elk are feeding on green grasses, their feces tend to be clumped and extremely soft. When elk have switched their feed to brush, their droppings become much harder and individual pellets tend not to clump together. If you think they are feeding on grasses, the elk are probably feeding in a wet meadow. If you think they are feeding on brush, it is likely on a south or west facing hillside. Some people can’t tell deer or moose sign from elk sign. Cow elk and small bulls tend to have tracks about 3 inches long, more mature bull elk have tracks around 3.5 inches long. A standard, factory loaded .30-06 cartridge (and most standard and belted magnums) is 3.3 inches long, .308s and other short action cartridges (including the short magnums) are 2.8 inches long. So, if the track is longer than a short action cartridge, but shorter than a standard, It is likely that of a cow elk. Anything significantly longer than a .30-06 is probably a bull, except when you are in moose country. However, moose tracks are much larger than elk tracks, often closer to 5 inches long. Their droppings are almost always slightly red, grainy and elongated from the willows that they prefer to eat.
In many ways, hunters need to be amateur biologists in order to properly read the signs the elk are leaving. If you are unsure of what you are looking at and how to interpret the signs, take a picture so you can show someone more experienced than yourself. Be prepared to ask specific questions of everyone you encounter while out scouting, but if you haven’t done your homework you won’t know when to disregard and when to accept information as gospel. You are at a severe disadvantage if you haven’t set foot in your hunting area before the season starts. The only way to move yourself further along the learning curve is to spend more time in the elk woods. The local, area-specific knowledge you gain from doing so is worth infinitely more than reading generic books and articles. Understanding what the sign is telling you and what do with that sign is a crucial step in becoming a good elk hunter. Our hunting seasons are short, so you will not get the necessary field time to become a knowledgeable elk hunter by spending only 5 days in the woods each year. Get out there, scout intelligently, learn your hunting grounds, become a more successful hunter.
Nonresident's Guide to Western Hunting
Originally published with photos here:
http://www.biggamehunt.net/sections/Elk/Nonresidents-Guide-to-Western-Hunting-02081010.html
The following is designed to be a not-so concise look at the opportunities available to those who have decided to come out West for an elk, deer or antelope hunt and don’t know where to start. This won’t address bighorn sheep, mountain goats, or moose as those are typically once-in-a-lifetime hunts. This is also designed for DIY hunters, not for those looking for private land or outfitted hunts, as there are various other aspects regarding transferable tags that could also be addressed. To the best of my knowledge this information is up to date and accurate. Let’s take a look at each state, one at a time, the tag procurement processes, license fees, competitive advantages and disadvantages compared to other states, and various things that make each state unique.
First a few definitions regarding the major public lands that may not be familiar to those who do not live in the West:
USFS: The United States Forest Service, these are the lands where most hunters hunt. They are typically higher elevation lands open to most recreation with a few limitations. There are also National Grasslands that are run by the USFS, and hunting is permitted here as well. There may be, and in fact frequently are, private inholdings within the administrative boundaries of these lands where you cannot hunt. Make sure you have a good map that shows the actual land ownership, not just the administrative boundary.
BLM: The Bureau of Land Management. These are federally owned public lands, but they are not indicated on your typical road atlas. BLM lands are notorious for not being marked or being marked as private lands when they are in fact public. Once again, you need a good map.
Wilderness: This does not mean woods or forest. Federally designated wilderness areas can occur on either USFS or BLM lands. Wilderness areas on BLM lands are referred to as Wilderness Study Areas or WSAs and are treated the same as a USFS Wilderness Area. The important thing to know about Wilderness Areas is that there is no motorized access permitted. If you are looking for a horseback hunt, backpack hunt or want to just ensure there are no ATVs, these are the areas to focus on. Also, there is no wheeled vehicles of any sort allowed, which includes mountain bikes and game carts. Another important note is that the state of Wyoming does not permit nonresidents to hunt big game in wilderness areas without a guide.
State Trust Lands: Throughout most of the west, section 16 and 36 in each township is designated as a State Trust Land, also School Lands. These lands are not always publicly accessible and vary from state to state. In many states, they are treated as private lands, controlled by those who own the grazing lease on these lands.
One other issue regarding public access: You cannot cross private land to access public land. If there is no public road access to a block of land, you may as well consider it private ground. You are trespassing if crossing private lands. Also, in areas where checkerboard landownership patterns exist, it is generally illegal to cross from one corner of land to the next because the law assumes you must have been trespassing, even if briefly in order to hop from one piece of land to the next.
ARIZONA
Arizona has a national reputation for trophy deer and elk hunting, but they also have spectacular trophy antelope hunting despite not having the antelope numbers of places like Wyoming and Montana. Arizona, along with New Mexico and Texas are the only opportunities for Coues deer in the US. While the image most folks have of Arizona being a desert is mostly true, a strip of mountains running northwest to southeast holds most of the elk habitat and National Forest lands. There are large holdings of BLM land in the rugged western and northern deserts, and probably more state land than any other western state (13% of the state). Indian Reservations make up a large percentage of the lands in eastern Arizona. There is a small wolf population in the Blue Range.
Due to the requirement of purchasing a $150 hunting license before the drawing, Arizona has surprisingly good draw odds for a state whose trophy opportunities are so well published. The elk and antelope applications are due February 9th, 2010. Deer applications are normally due in June. You are required to pay the full fee of the $150 hunting license plus whichever species you are attempting to draw; $595 for elk, $485 for antelope and $232 for deer. Arizona does not have a preference system, but rather a bonus system to increase the odds for repeat applicants. The draw is different than most other states, utilizing what they call the 3 passes. The first is the bonus point pass, where up to 20% of the permits are issued, where those with bonus points through repeat applications, hunter education or group applicants have additional chances to be drawn. The remaining permits are allocated in the 2nd pass by attempting to randomly fill applicants’ 1st and 2nd choices. The 3rd pass does the same thing with 3rd, 4th and 5th choices. For hunters who feel “stuck” with a $150 license they aren’t likely to use if unsuccessful in the drawing, Arizona has some very diverse upland game bird opportunities that cannot be found in the East, including chukar, blue grouse, Gambel’s quail, California quail, Mearn’s quail, and scaled quail.
Elk seasons vary quite a lot, but nearly every unit has a rifle season from November 26th to December 2nd. There are also rifle seasons during the rut, and a wide variety of archery seasons. Antelope seasons are almost all from September 3-12. Deer seasons rarely overlap with elk seasons, and most of the rifle deer seasons occur for 10 days in late October through early November.
Scopes, sabots and inlines are legal for muzzleloader hunting in Arizona.
State lands can be hunted. A valid hunting license grants you access to those lands. They are frequently posted, “No Trespassing without valid permit” or something similar.
CALIFORNIA
Hardly on the radar of most travelling hunters, California has more opportunities than some might realize. While sometimes considered California’s most popular game animal, there is a lot more to the state than wild hog hunting. The huge state offers a wide variety of blacktailed and mule deer hunting opportunities, including several subspecies of mule deer not found anywhere else in the West. California is also the only state in the West to have three sub species of elk to hunt, and there are also limited opportunities for antelope. And don’t forget the stellar black bear hunting. Northern California is mostly heavily timbered, low elevation mountains, with large tracts of Forest Service and some commercial timber lands, but also home to the largest Columbian Blacktails. The Central Coast is also semi-mountainous terrain, but much drier than the North, with shrublands and smaller trees dominating the landscape. There are very few big game opportunities in the Central Valley, which is almost entirely private. The Sierra Nevadas make up much of Eastern California, and extend to over 14,000 feet, with Mt. Whitney being the tallest peak in the lower 48. Southern California isn’t just the LA Basin; it is surrounded by a mountain range, with some peaks that extend over 10,000 feet. East of those mountains is the Mojave Desert, a rugged desert, owned primarily by the BLM.
Applications for all big game species are due in early June. There is a preference system, with 90% of the tags going to those with the most points, and 10% going to a random draw for the so-called Premium Deer Tags. The Premium Deer Tags are primarily in the Sierra Nevadas and Cascades for mule deer. The elk tags are a long shot at best for a nonresident and ridiculously priced like Nevada. Those tags not considered premium are available first-come, first served. A $141 hunting license is required before applying, and the full $242 deer license fee is required up front. Elk, antelope and sheep tags do not require the full fee up front, just a $7.50 application fee. Elk tags, if drawn are $1,062 and only one is available to nonresidents per year.
One interesting thing about California is that you can buy two buck tags. The second cannot be a Premium tag, but the opportunity is available if you want to spread out that $141 hunting license fee. Another interesting opportunity for the hunter who is bored out of his mind in midsummer is that California offers an August rifle deer season along the Coast Range. Most of the other seasons are in September and October, although a few extend into November. Another nice aspect to California’s deer seasons is that they are often over 1 month long, except the Premium mule deer units, none of which are less than two weeks. And if you’re really looking for something different, you can bow hunt in July along the Coast. The muzzleloader opportunities are special hunts and relegated to just a few places.
Outside of the National Forest and BLM, there are very few opportunities (but there is a lot of BLM and National Forest land). A handful of state wildlife areas offer big game hunting, and private land access is rare.
COLORADO
This is the state most people think of first when they think about Western hunting. Colorado has the largest elk population and with a diverse selection of management philosophies, there is something for everyone regarding elk. The mule deer hunting opportunities are more limited, and all deer tags are controlled, but even without applying there are numerous units with leftover tags each year. While antelope are present here, this is not a great state to hunt them for a nonresident. The tags are very difficult to draw, and the populations are nothing compared to Wyoming.
Part of what makes Colorado so popular is the availability of unlimited over-the-counter elk tags for over half of western Colorado (that’s where most of the elk are, the eastern 1/3 is prairie. In general the far western 1/3 is rugged desert, mesa and canyon lands, the central 1/3 is the mountainous area most people envision). Archery tags, 2nd rifle season and 3rd rifle season are the only seasons with unlimited tags. 1st and 4th rifle season are draw only, but there are sometimes high quality tags available as leftovers. The units that are not unlimited are managed with one of two management philosophies: crowd controlled, or quality managed. The crowd controlled units are mostly near the main urban centers of the Front Range, and are limited to prevent overcrowding. By reducing the crowding, those units also tend to have decent trophy potential, but without the steep price in preference points of the trophy units: 2, 10, 201, 40, 61 and 76.
Presently, nonresident elk tags are $550 for bulls and $350 for cows. There is no separate hunting license needed. Colorado has 6 seasons in most units, plus special late and early rifle seasons in a few units, but those tend to be for cows only. Deer tags $326 and are draw only, but there are often leftover tags. If planning a combo hunt, it is most convenient to try to draw a deer tag in an OTC elk unit during 2nd or 3rd season so you don’t have to plan on drawing both tags.
Colorado’s draw process is by a pure preference system: those with the most points get the tags. Don’t worry, most hunts don’t require any preference points to draw. The application deadline is April 6, 2010. You may apply as a party, and there is no limit to group size. The best units will likely fill with the first choice, but look at the drawing summaries to find units whose tags are still available during 2nd and 3rd choice so you don’t waste your draws if you are trying to get a limited tag. If you don’t fill your first choice, you will be granted a preference point for next year’s drawing. If you still want a tag, other than one in the main drawing, the next step is the leftover draw. Do not forget to check the box that asks if you wish to be eligible for the leftover drawing. After the drawing, a list of units with leftover tags will be available first to those in the leftover draw in June. If there are still tags leftover, and there always will be, there is a first-come, first-served basis for distributing them in August. If you miss out on all these, or would prefer to be secure in the knowledge that the tag you want is going to be available to you, there is always the OTC archery, 2nd and 3rd rifle season tags for elk. Deer seasons are primarily during 2nd and 3rd season, there is no 1st rifle deer season, and there are very few 4th season tags (mule deer rut). One other intriguing tag for hardcore hunters is the early rifle deer tags. Those tags restrict hunters to a wilderness area in early September and usually require more than 1 preference point.
You may have two Colorado elk and deer tags each, but at least one of each of those species must be List B. List B tags are listed in the regs booklet and are always female tags, but not all female tags in all units qualify as List B, typically only those with population problems. So you may have either two female tags or one male and one female tag for both elk and deer.
2010 archery season is August 28-Sept 26. The first weekends are very popular due to Labor Day, but not a good choice as the elk rut doesn’t hit high gear until much later in the season. The last two weekends are usually the best, but the elk have already been pressured for several weeks. These tags are available over the counter in unlimited numbers for much of the state, but there are some draw only areas that are worth the effort.
Muzzleloader elk season is Sept 11-19, and the peak of the rut usually falls during this time. All muzzleloader tags are limited, and draw only. Colorado does not allow scopes or sabots during muzzleloader season.
1st rifle season is limited to draw only, but there are some tags, especially for cows that make it to leftovers 1st season is usually the highest success rate and will be Oct 16-20 in 2010. 2nd season offers unlimited bull tags throughout much of Colorado is the most popular season to hunt. It is also the first available deer season, and will be Oct 23-31 2010. This is the lowest success deer season and 3rd highest success elk season, but it’s popularity was partly due to the fact that it was traditionally the only season with two weekends. 3rd season is Nov 6-14, and for the first time will now span two weekends. This is traditionally the lowest success elk season, and one of the best deer seasons. 3rd season bull elk tags are available OTC for many areas. 4th season is only 5 days, like 1st season and is Nov 17-21 in 2010. Where available, these are typically the best deer tags, but require many preference points in most units. This is typically the second best elk season, and a great season for a low pressure hunt.
Colorado’s late seasons are for cows only and vary from Thanksgiving weekend to the middle of January. These can be tricky hunts as they attempt to span a migration period and are not recommended for anyone who doesn’t have local knowledge and access because the elk will be on lower elevation lands that are often private.
Colorado has both Forest Service and BLM lands in abundance in Western Colorado. There are also a handful of state wildlife areas to hunt on. Not all state school trust lands can be hunted. There is a booklet produced by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the State Land Board that indicates where publicly accessible state lands are located. State lands not designated as such should be treated as private lands. Private land in Colorado, and most of the West does not have to be posted.
IDAHO
I believe this to be one of the unsung states for western hunting. Colorado, followed by Montana and Wyoming may be the most popular places to hunt, but Idaho is one of the better options for elk and deer due to their over-the-counter tags and abundant public lands. The statewide deer tags are capped and may be used in much of the state. Several of the elk hunting units are also capped for nonresidents, but are available first come first served and worth considering. A large swath of Southern Idaho is desert or prairie, but the eastern and southeastern edges also have significant Forest Service lands. Northern Idaho is primarily dense forest, with National Forest and commercial timber lands. This is excellent whitetail country. East and Central Idaho is the large rugged, sparsely populated area most people focus on for deer and elk hunting. In recent years, wolves have reduced the game populations, but there is still good hunting to be had. For anyone looking for a wilderness adventure, central Idaho, in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area, is the place to go. Unlike most wilderness areas, there are many air strips throughout the 2.3 million acre wilderness, so for about $450 round trip you can penetrate the wildest country in the lower 48. Southern and western Idaho offer antelope hunting, but it tends to be better in Oregon, Wyoming or Montana. There are a few places where you can have a combination deer and antelope hunt if interested.
Idaho does require hunters to purchase a $154 hunting license prior to the price of a $416 elk and/or $301 deer permit. This puts their elk license price on par with most states, but the deer permit is far more expensive than nearly any other state if the hunting license price is not spread out between both elk and deer. There are both general and controlled deer and elk tags, but the vast majority are first-come first serve general tags. The general deer tag is essentially statewide, not including the controlled hunts, the elk tags are broken up regionally, with some of the higher demand areas having nonresident caps. The controlled hunt application deadline is in early June, with draw results in July. Idaho does not have a preference system, so the drawing is completely random, giving everyone at least some chance of drawing a tag. Due to the requirement to first purchase a $150 hunting license, the draw odds are quite good. The general elk tag is offered in two types, A or B. The B tag is primarily for rifle hunters, the A tag is primarily for archers, but each unit has a different set of rules for each tag regarding sex, antler restrictions, weapon restrictions and season dates. The archery seasons generally fall in mid September, lasting 3-4 weeks, the rifle seasons are typically two weeks in mid October (2010 regs are not yet published). The notable exceptions to these are the Middle Fork and Selway B tag which allows rifle hunting during the September elk rut. Deer seasons vary also, but are generally more than 3 weeks long and are often concurrent with the elk seasons.
A muzzleloader season for elk is usually offered after the general rifle season with some A tags and some B tags. Scopes, sabots, 209 primers and pelletized powders are prohibited.
In addition to the elk and deer hunts, Idaho does offer extremely inexpensive black bear hunting and is worth a look, as the tags are just $31.75 for a nonresident in some units. Also, in select areas, the deer tag may be used to take a black bear. Idaho has over 400,000 acres of accessible private lands managed under the Access Yes! Program.
MONTANA
Montana is a great state for nonresident hunters. Eastern Montana is primarily rolling prairie, with scattered areas of rugged badlands or breaks and sparse timber, with abundant BLM lands in some areas, and scattered checkerboards of public lands in other areas. Western Montana has large Forest Service holdings, some large, rugged wilderness areas, with the Bob Marshall, Absaroka-Beartooth and Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness areas being the largest and most famous. Northwest Montana is great whitetail country, but mediocre at best elk country. West-Central and Southwest Montana should be the primary focus for elk hunters. Deer hunting can be had throughout the state, with the river valleys and Northwest forests being dominated by whitetails, and the prairies, badlands and southern mountains by mule deer. Most antelope hunting is done Eastern Montana, but there is some decent antelope hunting to be had in the valleys of the Southwest.
Like Western Idaho and Northern Wyoming, Southwest and West-Central Montana is now home to wolves. The game populations have declined, but there are still plenty of elk, with excellent hunting to be had. And you can always add a wolf tag for an interesting trophy.
Montana has a different system for acquiring tags than most other states. First, you must acquire a general deer or elk tag through the drawing. Then once that tag is acquired, you may put in for a limited permit. There is a bonus system, not a preference system, and those without bonus points can usually draw the combination elk/deer ($643,) elk ($593) or deer ($343) about 50% of the time. There are also guaranteed outfitter sponsored tags for an additional cost. The application deadline is March 16, 2010 for the general tag, and June 1st for limited tags (if you’ve drawn the elk or deer general) and antelope tags.
One of the great things about Montana’s general tags is that they offer great flexibility and long seasons. With a general elk or deer tag, one may hunt from the early September through late November. Archery season is early September through mid October, rifle season is mid October through late November. The same permit is good for both archery and rifle season. There is no muzzleloader season. Another wonderful opportunity for the hardcore hunter are Montana’s Backcountry seasons, which usually open September 15th, only requiring a general tag. This allows you to take advantage of high country mule deer and rutting bull elk, but accessing these units is extremely physically demanding.
To hunt on Montana’s School Trust lands, one must purchase a $10 permit. Montana also has what is called the Block Management Program, which allows hunters access to private lands. Sometimes, access is completely unregulated, just requiring that you sign in and out, other places it works off a reservation system. This is great system, especially in the East, where public lands are somewhat limited.
NEW MEXICO
New Mexico is considered a top trophy state for elk and mule deer, but they also have good Coues whitetail antelope hunting. Eastern New Mexico is mostly shortgrass prairie and scrublands, and private ranchlands, but there are some small National Grasslands and larger state lands, plus large blocks of BLM in the Southeast. Large portions of New Mexico are owned by either Indian Reservations or the US Military, especially in the Northeast and South-Central portions of the state. The two largest Forest Service holdings are mostly in the Southwest and North Central portions of the state. New Mexico does have a small wolf population in the Gila National Forest and they are currently federally protected. One other interesting hunting opportunity in New Mexico, not found in other places is the chance to hunt oryx.
For 2010, New Mexico has altered their draw process by requiring the full fee up front from applicants. By only charging a$12 application fee and no preference system, New Mexico had terrible draw odds, but everyone had at least a slim chance of drawing a trophy tag. With the new change, there will likely be fewer applicants, but since there is no preference system, a first time applicant has as good a chance as anyone else of drawing a tag. New Mexico has standard priced tags, and high priced tags for their quality and high demand units. Standard deer licenses are $297, and quality/high demand tags are $382. Standard elk licenses are $562 for bull, $352 for cows, and $787 for quality/high demand.
Seasons vary by unit for elk and deer, and are typically just 5 days. Like Colorado, New Mexico offers a series of short seasons to reduce hunting pressure during any one season. Most rifle deer seasons take place in late October through mid November, most rifle elk seasons occur in early to mid October. There is generally no overlap in the elk and deer seasons. New Mexico has both late and early archery deer seasons, and the archery elk seasons are mostly during the mid-late September rut. Muzzleloader elk seasons are mostly after archery and before the rifle season, allowing hunters to catch the tail end of the rut. The highest demand hunts are usually the first rifle hunt offered for each species. If you are willing to accept a slightly lower success rate on animals that have already been hunted, you can typically increase your draw odds.
New Mexico has both primitive and modern muzzleloader seasons for deer, and modern muzzleloader hunts for elk. The modern muzzleloader hunts allow scopes and sabots. Restricted muzzleloader deer hunts require open sights, and prohibit in line ignition, pelleted powder, sabots, and belted bullets.
Hunting on state trust land is permitted. New Mexico also has a private land access program called Open Gate.
NEVADA
Nevada is rarely thought of as a big game state, but it offers tremendous mule deer hunting and some limited elk hunting opportunities. There is no shortage of public land in Nevada and access is excellent except for the I-80 BLM checkerboard where every other square mile is private land. Believe it or not, there are mountains ranges and high elevation National Forest Lands. Most of Nevada’s largest mountain ranges are in the middle of the state. One other unusual opportunity in Nevada is the Himalayan Snow Cock, an introduced upland game bird, much larger than a grouse in the Ruby Mountains.
Nevada requires hunters to purchase a $140 hunting license before applying. But you are not required to pay for your tags up front, just an application fee, so it makes some sense to apply for nearly everything, including antelope, bighorn sheep, elk, and mountain goats. Nevada operates on a bonus point system, so you have a chance at drawing a tag without waiting for several years of points to accumulate. If you are only interested in deer hunting, you may opt out of paying for the hunting license, but you lose the chance to earn a bonus point for future draws. This makes the Nevada mule deer draw one of the least expensive opportunities in western hunting. Applications are due in early April, deer tags are $240, antelope $300, bighorn sheep, mountain goat or bull elk $1,200, cow elk $500 and are charged to you after you draw.
Deer seasons vary, but most take place throughout most of the month of October. Some of the more popular units have both a late and early season. The popularity of those seasons varies somewhat by terrain. Those with accessible high country tend to have popular early seasons, while those units with difficult to access high country have stiffer draw odds for the late seasons. Muzzleloader seasons occur in mid September, for the most part, archery season throughout most of August and early September, although late archery hunts also exist. There are only a handful of elk units, and most have a rifle season lasting two weeks between early and mid November. Deer and elk seasons rarely overlap. Muzzleloader elk season is late October through early November, archery is from mid August through early September. There are no hunts during the peak of the elk rut.
Sabots, inlines and centerfire primers are permitted during muzzleloader seasons, but scopes and pelletized powder are prohibited.
Nevada has very little state owned land to hunt, but with the amount of Forest Service and BLM land available, accessing public lands is not an issue.
OREGON
Oregon is an incredibly diverse state, with temperate rain forests in the West to high deserts in the East. That diversity creates an enormous number of hunting opportunities; from Columbian Blacktails, Mule Deer, Whitetails (including the endangered Columbian Whitetail, which you can hunt because it is overpopulated in some areas, imagine that?), Roosevelt(the largest bodied sub species) and Rocky Mountain elk, antelope, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats, and an incredible array of upland bird species. This is not a state on the list of most Eastern hunters, but it really should be. While not known as a trophy state, there are some well-managed opportunities for both elk and deer. The amount of public land is simply staggering, with large amounts of BLM in the eastern basins, National and State Forests throughout the mountainous western and central regions, and another impressive, isolated series of mountains in the Northeast. Combine those opportunities with the commercial timber lands and you have no shortage of hunting land.
Oregon has both unlimited general and controlled tags for deer and elk, and all antelope tags are controlled. The controlled hunt application deadline is May 15. The fees were greatly increased for 2010, and you are required to purchase a $140 hunting license, but are not required to pay for a permit up-front. So if you don’t draw the controlled tag, you are still stuck with the license, at which point you really should consider purchasing the general tag or at least checking out the interesting bird hunting opportunities. If you draw the permit, you may decide at that time whether or not to accept it. Oregon’s preference point system allots 75% of the tags to those with the most preference points, and 25 % in a random drawing. Combined with the high up front $140 license fee, your draw odds are very good. Elk permits are $500 and deer are $375, antelope $333.
Oregon’s general deer seasons vary by location, but the Cascade region has a split season from October 2-15, the breaks from October 16-22 for the Cascade bull elk season, resuming from October 23-November 5, 2010. The Coast buck season is unbroken and goes from October 2-November 5. The Rocky Mountain elk seasons are split, the first being a 5 day season in late October, the 2nd being a 9 day season in Mid November. The Coast bull elk season is also split from November 13-16, then November 20-26. Deer and elk archery seasons are from late August to late September. One of the more interesting exceptions to all these seasons, and a great adventure opportunity is the High Cascade buck hunt, occurring in mid September, and it never draws out with the 1st choice applicants. It is a wilderness hunt, great for backpackers and horsemen. Antelope hunts are typically in August, but there are exceptions. Muzzleloader hunts are offered but the seasons vary.
Scopes, sabots, jacketed bullets, centerfire primers, pelletized powder, and in line ignition systems are prohibited on muzzleloader hunts.
Oregon has a private land access program, state wildlife areas and many state trust lands that are open to hunting.
UTAH
Utah is on most trophy hunter’s radar, and is well known for their trophy bull elk hunting and trophy mule deer hunting. They also offer antelope hunting in the eastern and western deserts, but Montana and Wyoming are much more popular for that species. The state is bisected by a mountain range, approximately ¼ the width of the state. Eastern Utah has flat, arid deserts, deep canyons, and high mesas. Western Utah is primarily desert with smaller, isolated mountain ranges. Like Colorado, the state’s population centers are all along an interstate corridor. In Utah’s case most live just west of the mountains, in the cities and suburbs between Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden in North Central Utah, where hunting pressure can be intense. Nearly 2/3 of Utah is public land, with over half of that land open to hunting.
One convenient aspect of Utah’s drawing system is that you do not have to pay for the elk or deer license fees up front. You are, however required to purchase a $65 hunting license, which is nonrefundable. The low up-front costs and trophy reputation make drawing a high quality tag difficult in some parts of Utah. Now for the confusing part, Utah offers general tags, limited tags and what they call premium tags. You are only allowed to apply for either elk or deer, not both, with one exception, the Northern Region Bull/Bull combo. The deer and elk seasons do not overlap, except for with that combo license. The combo license is $651, general elk is $388, general deer is $263. Limited entry elk is $795, premium limited entry elk, which allows you to hunt rifle, archery or muzzleloader season is $1,500. Limited entry deer is $463, and the two premium limited entry deer units are $563. Applications are due by March 1st.
Utah’s general deer tags have a quota, but they allow you to hunt several units, and are restricted to one of 5 regions in the state. Utah’s general elk tags also have a quota, and allow you to hunt even in the premium units, but are restricted to spike bulls only in those units. You do need to apply for these tags, but there are often leftover Northern Region deer tags. An archery deer tag allows you to hunt any region in the state, but not in the limited units. Deer seasons run from Aug21-Sep 17 for archery, Sept 29 to Oct 7 for muzzleloaders, and Oct 23-27 for rifles. Elk archery is roughly the same as deer, rifle season is Oct 9-21, muzzleloader is after the rut in Utah; Nov 3-11. The special northern region combination license runs Oct 9-21, the same as the general elk season.
Utah does have a fledgling walk-in access program on private lands, but at this time is only 70,000 acres. Unlike most National Monuments, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is open to hunting. Utah has over 100 state owned Wildlife Management Areas open to hunting. Hunting is permitted on Utah’s State Trust Lands with some minor exceptions based on land usage.
Muzzleloaders are permitted to have a scope with up to 1x magnification, sabots and pelletized powder are permitted, but not bonded as 1 piece.
WASHINGTON
Washington is a state managed for maximizing hunter opportunities and has few real trophy hunts. What they do offer that is of interest to the nonresident hunter are plentiful tags, public land and a variety of species. Whitetail deer, mule deer, black tail deer, Roosevelt elk, Rocky Mountain elk, moose, mountain goats and bighorn sheep are all available. Most of Central Washington is mountainous, with plenty of Forest Service land. Western Washington is known for temperate rain forests and commercial timber lands. Much of Eastern Washington is private ranch and farm land, with exceptions to the mountainous northeast and a small pocket of mountains in the southeast. Unlike most western states, the BLM has a fairly limited amount of land. While 400,000 acres may seem like a lot, the BLM owns 15 million acres in Oregon.
Washington forces a hunter to commit to hunting in Washington when applying for a permit. You must purchase a general elk or deer tag before you can apply for a special limited tag. So why would you hunt here? Well for one thing, they offer a guaranteed elk and deer combo tag for $616, which makes Washington the least expensive state to hunt. The deer and elk permits are $396, so an elk hunt here is among the cheapest options, but the deer hunt is among the most expensive. Another interesting option is the High Buck Hunt, which is a general tag, allowing you to rifle hunt high elevation wilderness areas in mid September. The special permit applications are due in late May.
The typical buck deer seasons are two weeks from mid October through late October. Elk and deer seasons do not overlap (which would be a downfall to that combo tag), but a late Western Washington deer season opens after the 2.5 week mid November elk season. Archery seasons do overlap throughout most of the month of September and there are two days of overlap (or there were in 2009) for the muzzleloader seasons, which are in late September through early October for deer, and early October for elk.
Sabots are allowed, but inlines and scopes are generally not permitted.
Washington does have some very large state land holdings that are open to hunting, some of which exceed 50,000 acres and are worth investigating.
WYOMING
Wyoming is not an easy state to get started in for elk hunting, but the deer and antelope tags are readily available to first time nonresident hunters. Wyoming has very limited opportunities for archery elk hunters and forbids nonresidents from hunting big game in wilderness areas without a guide. The elk hunting is excellent, but if you are looking for a DIY, wilderness backpack hunt, this is not the state for you. Eastern Wyoming is primarily shortgrass prairie with scattered BLM holdings. Northeast Wyoming has some National Forest and National Grasslands also. Southwest and Central Wyoming are is cold desert, prairie, badlands and minor mountains with large BLM holdings, including the infamous Red Desert Checkerboard along 1-80, where literally every other square mile of land is BLM, which runs east-west for 200 miles and north-south for 50 miles. Northwest Wyoming, North Central Wyoming and South Central Wyoming have large Forest Service holdings. Most of the designated Wilderness areas are in the northwest, near Yellowstone National Park, so be careful when selecting a unit to stay out of those areas if you don’t plan to hire a guide. The wolves are mostly in Northwest Wyoming and there currently is no open season on them.
Wyoming has both general and limited elk tags for nonresidents, but the general tag is capped and only available through a drawing, with a deadline traditionally on January 31st. Wyoming has a confusing draw process, so bear with me as I try to explain it: Of the nonresident tag allocation, 60% are regular price, 40% are “special” price. The special price is nearly double the regular price to increase the drawing odds for those willing to pay the price. Now, within both the regular price tag and special price tag allocations, 75% of the tags go to the preference point drawing, where those with the most points, get the permit. 25% of both the regular and special price tags are available in a random draw, ensuring there is always at least some chance of drawing a highly coveted permit. Even the Wyoming general elk tag requires a preference point to draw, unless you pay the special price, in which case it should be guaranteed. There are only a little over 20 units that have a specific, limited archery season.
Tag prices are as follows: $591 regular priced elk, $302 for cows and calves, $1,071 special elk, $326 deer, $566 special deer, $286 antelope, $526 special antelope, $48 for doe/fawn deer and antelope. The deer and antelope drawing deadline is March 15, 2010. Antelope tags are all allocated to specific units. General deer tags are broken up into regions, allowing a nonresident to hunt one of several units within each region. Many of the best units in a region are limited quota, and cannot be hunted with a general tag, so be careful when applying. If you want to hunt the limited quota unit, apply for it, but the odds are generally much stiffer than the general regional tag. Also, the many of the general deer tags are undersubscribed and are available as leftovers.
Seasons vary from unit to unit, but most antelope rifle seasons are open from late September to late October, rifle elk seasons are usually two weeks to a month long in beginning anywhere from early October to mid November, deer seasons are also two weeks to a month and have at least part of the season concurrent with elk seasons. A notable exception to the generalities above is that there are some September rifle bull elk seasons in Northwest Wyoming. While these allow you to hunt the rut, most are in wilderness areas, requiring a guide. For the most part, there are no muzzleloader seasons, except for a few antelope units.
Nearly all of Wyoming’s state trust lands are open to hunting if they can be accessed by public road. Wyoming also has several access programs for the public to hunt on private lands. Some are called Walk-in areas, some are Hunter Management Areas. No matter what they are called, or how they are run, these areas are often your best bet to get access to good hunting grounds, especially in the East, where large blocks of public land are rare.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE TRAVELLING HUNTER
The states immediately east of those mentioned above all offer at least some mule deer hunting opportunities to nonresidents on public land. North Dakota has mule deer hunting and public land in the Little Missouri Grasslands. South Dakota has the Black Hill National Forest, Custer National Forest, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and Grand River National Grasslands with mule deer, although whitetails make up a high percentage of the deer in those places. Nebraska’s Pine Ridge is one of the few places in the state with significant public land and mule deer. The Nebraska National Forest and Oglala National Grasslands are the largest public holdings in the state. Mule deer hunting in Kansas is mostly restricted to small, isolated state properties with the exception of the Cimarron National Grassland. Oklahoma’s mule deer hunting is mostly by draw only on state wildlife areas and the ODFW runs drawings to hunt on federal properties like the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. Texas has a little bit of federal land that can be hunted for mule deer, but the best places are available by drawing on large state properties in the Big Bend region.
And then there’s Alaska! But since the primary focus of this piece was on “Western” species like mule deer, blacktails, elk and antelope, I’ll just focus on those species in Alaska. For starters, there are no antelope, but there are Roosevelt elk and Sitka Blacktails on several of the larger islands. On some islands, the elk permits are by draw only, others are available without a draw. Deer bag limits vary by island, or group of islands, but some allow up to four bucks to be harvested. Some of the island chains have moose which you could hunt in conjunction with deer or elk, but most do not, so you’ll have to stick to bears if you want a combination hunt.
And while we’re on the topic of moose, three more states, which most certainly are not Western states should be mentioned. Since drawing a moose tag is so difficult in the West, one should consider drawing in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. The draws are inexpensive, as you aren’t required to pay for the permit up front, and you can have multiple applications to increase your draw odds.
http://www.biggamehunt.net/sections/Elk/Nonresidents-Guide-to-Western-Hunting-02081010.html
The following is designed to be a not-so concise look at the opportunities available to those who have decided to come out West for an elk, deer or antelope hunt and don’t know where to start. This won’t address bighorn sheep, mountain goats, or moose as those are typically once-in-a-lifetime hunts. This is also designed for DIY hunters, not for those looking for private land or outfitted hunts, as there are various other aspects regarding transferable tags that could also be addressed. To the best of my knowledge this information is up to date and accurate. Let’s take a look at each state, one at a time, the tag procurement processes, license fees, competitive advantages and disadvantages compared to other states, and various things that make each state unique.
First a few definitions regarding the major public lands that may not be familiar to those who do not live in the West:
USFS: The United States Forest Service, these are the lands where most hunters hunt. They are typically higher elevation lands open to most recreation with a few limitations. There are also National Grasslands that are run by the USFS, and hunting is permitted here as well. There may be, and in fact frequently are, private inholdings within the administrative boundaries of these lands where you cannot hunt. Make sure you have a good map that shows the actual land ownership, not just the administrative boundary.
BLM: The Bureau of Land Management. These are federally owned public lands, but they are not indicated on your typical road atlas. BLM lands are notorious for not being marked or being marked as private lands when they are in fact public. Once again, you need a good map.
Wilderness: This does not mean woods or forest. Federally designated wilderness areas can occur on either USFS or BLM lands. Wilderness areas on BLM lands are referred to as Wilderness Study Areas or WSAs and are treated the same as a USFS Wilderness Area. The important thing to know about Wilderness Areas is that there is no motorized access permitted. If you are looking for a horseback hunt, backpack hunt or want to just ensure there are no ATVs, these are the areas to focus on. Also, there is no wheeled vehicles of any sort allowed, which includes mountain bikes and game carts. Another important note is that the state of Wyoming does not permit nonresidents to hunt big game in wilderness areas without a guide.
State Trust Lands: Throughout most of the west, section 16 and 36 in each township is designated as a State Trust Land, also School Lands. These lands are not always publicly accessible and vary from state to state. In many states, they are treated as private lands, controlled by those who own the grazing lease on these lands.
One other issue regarding public access: You cannot cross private land to access public land. If there is no public road access to a block of land, you may as well consider it private ground. You are trespassing if crossing private lands. Also, in areas where checkerboard landownership patterns exist, it is generally illegal to cross from one corner of land to the next because the law assumes you must have been trespassing, even if briefly in order to hop from one piece of land to the next.
ARIZONA
Arizona has a national reputation for trophy deer and elk hunting, but they also have spectacular trophy antelope hunting despite not having the antelope numbers of places like Wyoming and Montana. Arizona, along with New Mexico and Texas are the only opportunities for Coues deer in the US. While the image most folks have of Arizona being a desert is mostly true, a strip of mountains running northwest to southeast holds most of the elk habitat and National Forest lands. There are large holdings of BLM land in the rugged western and northern deserts, and probably more state land than any other western state (13% of the state). Indian Reservations make up a large percentage of the lands in eastern Arizona. There is a small wolf population in the Blue Range.
Due to the requirement of purchasing a $150 hunting license before the drawing, Arizona has surprisingly good draw odds for a state whose trophy opportunities are so well published. The elk and antelope applications are due February 9th, 2010. Deer applications are normally due in June. You are required to pay the full fee of the $150 hunting license plus whichever species you are attempting to draw; $595 for elk, $485 for antelope and $232 for deer. Arizona does not have a preference system, but rather a bonus system to increase the odds for repeat applicants. The draw is different than most other states, utilizing what they call the 3 passes. The first is the bonus point pass, where up to 20% of the permits are issued, where those with bonus points through repeat applications, hunter education or group applicants have additional chances to be drawn. The remaining permits are allocated in the 2nd pass by attempting to randomly fill applicants’ 1st and 2nd choices. The 3rd pass does the same thing with 3rd, 4th and 5th choices. For hunters who feel “stuck” with a $150 license they aren’t likely to use if unsuccessful in the drawing, Arizona has some very diverse upland game bird opportunities that cannot be found in the East, including chukar, blue grouse, Gambel’s quail, California quail, Mearn’s quail, and scaled quail.
Elk seasons vary quite a lot, but nearly every unit has a rifle season from November 26th to December 2nd. There are also rifle seasons during the rut, and a wide variety of archery seasons. Antelope seasons are almost all from September 3-12. Deer seasons rarely overlap with elk seasons, and most of the rifle deer seasons occur for 10 days in late October through early November.
Scopes, sabots and inlines are legal for muzzleloader hunting in Arizona.
State lands can be hunted. A valid hunting license grants you access to those lands. They are frequently posted, “No Trespassing without valid permit” or something similar.
CALIFORNIA
Hardly on the radar of most travelling hunters, California has more opportunities than some might realize. While sometimes considered California’s most popular game animal, there is a lot more to the state than wild hog hunting. The huge state offers a wide variety of blacktailed and mule deer hunting opportunities, including several subspecies of mule deer not found anywhere else in the West. California is also the only state in the West to have three sub species of elk to hunt, and there are also limited opportunities for antelope. And don’t forget the stellar black bear hunting. Northern California is mostly heavily timbered, low elevation mountains, with large tracts of Forest Service and some commercial timber lands, but also home to the largest Columbian Blacktails. The Central Coast is also semi-mountainous terrain, but much drier than the North, with shrublands and smaller trees dominating the landscape. There are very few big game opportunities in the Central Valley, which is almost entirely private. The Sierra Nevadas make up much of Eastern California, and extend to over 14,000 feet, with Mt. Whitney being the tallest peak in the lower 48. Southern California isn’t just the LA Basin; it is surrounded by a mountain range, with some peaks that extend over 10,000 feet. East of those mountains is the Mojave Desert, a rugged desert, owned primarily by the BLM.
Applications for all big game species are due in early June. There is a preference system, with 90% of the tags going to those with the most points, and 10% going to a random draw for the so-called Premium Deer Tags. The Premium Deer Tags are primarily in the Sierra Nevadas and Cascades for mule deer. The elk tags are a long shot at best for a nonresident and ridiculously priced like Nevada. Those tags not considered premium are available first-come, first served. A $141 hunting license is required before applying, and the full $242 deer license fee is required up front. Elk, antelope and sheep tags do not require the full fee up front, just a $7.50 application fee. Elk tags, if drawn are $1,062 and only one is available to nonresidents per year.
One interesting thing about California is that you can buy two buck tags. The second cannot be a Premium tag, but the opportunity is available if you want to spread out that $141 hunting license fee. Another interesting opportunity for the hunter who is bored out of his mind in midsummer is that California offers an August rifle deer season along the Coast Range. Most of the other seasons are in September and October, although a few extend into November. Another nice aspect to California’s deer seasons is that they are often over 1 month long, except the Premium mule deer units, none of which are less than two weeks. And if you’re really looking for something different, you can bow hunt in July along the Coast. The muzzleloader opportunities are special hunts and relegated to just a few places.
Outside of the National Forest and BLM, there are very few opportunities (but there is a lot of BLM and National Forest land). A handful of state wildlife areas offer big game hunting, and private land access is rare.
COLORADO
This is the state most people think of first when they think about Western hunting. Colorado has the largest elk population and with a diverse selection of management philosophies, there is something for everyone regarding elk. The mule deer hunting opportunities are more limited, and all deer tags are controlled, but even without applying there are numerous units with leftover tags each year. While antelope are present here, this is not a great state to hunt them for a nonresident. The tags are very difficult to draw, and the populations are nothing compared to Wyoming.
Part of what makes Colorado so popular is the availability of unlimited over-the-counter elk tags for over half of western Colorado (that’s where most of the elk are, the eastern 1/3 is prairie. In general the far western 1/3 is rugged desert, mesa and canyon lands, the central 1/3 is the mountainous area most people envision). Archery tags, 2nd rifle season and 3rd rifle season are the only seasons with unlimited tags. 1st and 4th rifle season are draw only, but there are sometimes high quality tags available as leftovers. The units that are not unlimited are managed with one of two management philosophies: crowd controlled, or quality managed. The crowd controlled units are mostly near the main urban centers of the Front Range, and are limited to prevent overcrowding. By reducing the crowding, those units also tend to have decent trophy potential, but without the steep price in preference points of the trophy units: 2, 10, 201, 40, 61 and 76.
Presently, nonresident elk tags are $550 for bulls and $350 for cows. There is no separate hunting license needed. Colorado has 6 seasons in most units, plus special late and early rifle seasons in a few units, but those tend to be for cows only. Deer tags $326 and are draw only, but there are often leftover tags. If planning a combo hunt, it is most convenient to try to draw a deer tag in an OTC elk unit during 2nd or 3rd season so you don’t have to plan on drawing both tags.
Colorado’s draw process is by a pure preference system: those with the most points get the tags. Don’t worry, most hunts don’t require any preference points to draw. The application deadline is April 6, 2010. You may apply as a party, and there is no limit to group size. The best units will likely fill with the first choice, but look at the drawing summaries to find units whose tags are still available during 2nd and 3rd choice so you don’t waste your draws if you are trying to get a limited tag. If you don’t fill your first choice, you will be granted a preference point for next year’s drawing. If you still want a tag, other than one in the main drawing, the next step is the leftover draw. Do not forget to check the box that asks if you wish to be eligible for the leftover drawing. After the drawing, a list of units with leftover tags will be available first to those in the leftover draw in June. If there are still tags leftover, and there always will be, there is a first-come, first-served basis for distributing them in August. If you miss out on all these, or would prefer to be secure in the knowledge that the tag you want is going to be available to you, there is always the OTC archery, 2nd and 3rd rifle season tags for elk. Deer seasons are primarily during 2nd and 3rd season, there is no 1st rifle deer season, and there are very few 4th season tags (mule deer rut). One other intriguing tag for hardcore hunters is the early rifle deer tags. Those tags restrict hunters to a wilderness area in early September and usually require more than 1 preference point.
You may have two Colorado elk and deer tags each, but at least one of each of those species must be List B. List B tags are listed in the regs booklet and are always female tags, but not all female tags in all units qualify as List B, typically only those with population problems. So you may have either two female tags or one male and one female tag for both elk and deer.
2010 archery season is August 28-Sept 26. The first weekends are very popular due to Labor Day, but not a good choice as the elk rut doesn’t hit high gear until much later in the season. The last two weekends are usually the best, but the elk have already been pressured for several weeks. These tags are available over the counter in unlimited numbers for much of the state, but there are some draw only areas that are worth the effort.
Muzzleloader elk season is Sept 11-19, and the peak of the rut usually falls during this time. All muzzleloader tags are limited, and draw only. Colorado does not allow scopes or sabots during muzzleloader season.
1st rifle season is limited to draw only, but there are some tags, especially for cows that make it to leftovers 1st season is usually the highest success rate and will be Oct 16-20 in 2010. 2nd season offers unlimited bull tags throughout much of Colorado is the most popular season to hunt. It is also the first available deer season, and will be Oct 23-31 2010. This is the lowest success deer season and 3rd highest success elk season, but it’s popularity was partly due to the fact that it was traditionally the only season with two weekends. 3rd season is Nov 6-14, and for the first time will now span two weekends. This is traditionally the lowest success elk season, and one of the best deer seasons. 3rd season bull elk tags are available OTC for many areas. 4th season is only 5 days, like 1st season and is Nov 17-21 in 2010. Where available, these are typically the best deer tags, but require many preference points in most units. This is typically the second best elk season, and a great season for a low pressure hunt.
Colorado’s late seasons are for cows only and vary from Thanksgiving weekend to the middle of January. These can be tricky hunts as they attempt to span a migration period and are not recommended for anyone who doesn’t have local knowledge and access because the elk will be on lower elevation lands that are often private.
Colorado has both Forest Service and BLM lands in abundance in Western Colorado. There are also a handful of state wildlife areas to hunt on. Not all state school trust lands can be hunted. There is a booklet produced by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the State Land Board that indicates where publicly accessible state lands are located. State lands not designated as such should be treated as private lands. Private land in Colorado, and most of the West does not have to be posted.
IDAHO
I believe this to be one of the unsung states for western hunting. Colorado, followed by Montana and Wyoming may be the most popular places to hunt, but Idaho is one of the better options for elk and deer due to their over-the-counter tags and abundant public lands. The statewide deer tags are capped and may be used in much of the state. Several of the elk hunting units are also capped for nonresidents, but are available first come first served and worth considering. A large swath of Southern Idaho is desert or prairie, but the eastern and southeastern edges also have significant Forest Service lands. Northern Idaho is primarily dense forest, with National Forest and commercial timber lands. This is excellent whitetail country. East and Central Idaho is the large rugged, sparsely populated area most people focus on for deer and elk hunting. In recent years, wolves have reduced the game populations, but there is still good hunting to be had. For anyone looking for a wilderness adventure, central Idaho, in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area, is the place to go. Unlike most wilderness areas, there are many air strips throughout the 2.3 million acre wilderness, so for about $450 round trip you can penetrate the wildest country in the lower 48. Southern and western Idaho offer antelope hunting, but it tends to be better in Oregon, Wyoming or Montana. There are a few places where you can have a combination deer and antelope hunt if interested.
Idaho does require hunters to purchase a $154 hunting license prior to the price of a $416 elk and/or $301 deer permit. This puts their elk license price on par with most states, but the deer permit is far more expensive than nearly any other state if the hunting license price is not spread out between both elk and deer. There are both general and controlled deer and elk tags, but the vast majority are first-come first serve general tags. The general deer tag is essentially statewide, not including the controlled hunts, the elk tags are broken up regionally, with some of the higher demand areas having nonresident caps. The controlled hunt application deadline is in early June, with draw results in July. Idaho does not have a preference system, so the drawing is completely random, giving everyone at least some chance of drawing a tag. Due to the requirement to first purchase a $150 hunting license, the draw odds are quite good. The general elk tag is offered in two types, A or B. The B tag is primarily for rifle hunters, the A tag is primarily for archers, but each unit has a different set of rules for each tag regarding sex, antler restrictions, weapon restrictions and season dates. The archery seasons generally fall in mid September, lasting 3-4 weeks, the rifle seasons are typically two weeks in mid October (2010 regs are not yet published). The notable exceptions to these are the Middle Fork and Selway B tag which allows rifle hunting during the September elk rut. Deer seasons vary also, but are generally more than 3 weeks long and are often concurrent with the elk seasons.
A muzzleloader season for elk is usually offered after the general rifle season with some A tags and some B tags. Scopes, sabots, 209 primers and pelletized powders are prohibited.
In addition to the elk and deer hunts, Idaho does offer extremely inexpensive black bear hunting and is worth a look, as the tags are just $31.75 for a nonresident in some units. Also, in select areas, the deer tag may be used to take a black bear. Idaho has over 400,000 acres of accessible private lands managed under the Access Yes! Program.
MONTANA
Montana is a great state for nonresident hunters. Eastern Montana is primarily rolling prairie, with scattered areas of rugged badlands or breaks and sparse timber, with abundant BLM lands in some areas, and scattered checkerboards of public lands in other areas. Western Montana has large Forest Service holdings, some large, rugged wilderness areas, with the Bob Marshall, Absaroka-Beartooth and Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness areas being the largest and most famous. Northwest Montana is great whitetail country, but mediocre at best elk country. West-Central and Southwest Montana should be the primary focus for elk hunters. Deer hunting can be had throughout the state, with the river valleys and Northwest forests being dominated by whitetails, and the prairies, badlands and southern mountains by mule deer. Most antelope hunting is done Eastern Montana, but there is some decent antelope hunting to be had in the valleys of the Southwest.
Like Western Idaho and Northern Wyoming, Southwest and West-Central Montana is now home to wolves. The game populations have declined, but there are still plenty of elk, with excellent hunting to be had. And you can always add a wolf tag for an interesting trophy.
Montana has a different system for acquiring tags than most other states. First, you must acquire a general deer or elk tag through the drawing. Then once that tag is acquired, you may put in for a limited permit. There is a bonus system, not a preference system, and those without bonus points can usually draw the combination elk/deer ($643,) elk ($593) or deer ($343) about 50% of the time. There are also guaranteed outfitter sponsored tags for an additional cost. The application deadline is March 16, 2010 for the general tag, and June 1st for limited tags (if you’ve drawn the elk or deer general) and antelope tags.
One of the great things about Montana’s general tags is that they offer great flexibility and long seasons. With a general elk or deer tag, one may hunt from the early September through late November. Archery season is early September through mid October, rifle season is mid October through late November. The same permit is good for both archery and rifle season. There is no muzzleloader season. Another wonderful opportunity for the hardcore hunter are Montana’s Backcountry seasons, which usually open September 15th, only requiring a general tag. This allows you to take advantage of high country mule deer and rutting bull elk, but accessing these units is extremely physically demanding.
To hunt on Montana’s School Trust lands, one must purchase a $10 permit. Montana also has what is called the Block Management Program, which allows hunters access to private lands. Sometimes, access is completely unregulated, just requiring that you sign in and out, other places it works off a reservation system. This is great system, especially in the East, where public lands are somewhat limited.
NEW MEXICO
New Mexico is considered a top trophy state for elk and mule deer, but they also have good Coues whitetail antelope hunting. Eastern New Mexico is mostly shortgrass prairie and scrublands, and private ranchlands, but there are some small National Grasslands and larger state lands, plus large blocks of BLM in the Southeast. Large portions of New Mexico are owned by either Indian Reservations or the US Military, especially in the Northeast and South-Central portions of the state. The two largest Forest Service holdings are mostly in the Southwest and North Central portions of the state. New Mexico does have a small wolf population in the Gila National Forest and they are currently federally protected. One other interesting hunting opportunity in New Mexico, not found in other places is the chance to hunt oryx.
For 2010, New Mexico has altered their draw process by requiring the full fee up front from applicants. By only charging a$12 application fee and no preference system, New Mexico had terrible draw odds, but everyone had at least a slim chance of drawing a trophy tag. With the new change, there will likely be fewer applicants, but since there is no preference system, a first time applicant has as good a chance as anyone else of drawing a tag. New Mexico has standard priced tags, and high priced tags for their quality and high demand units. Standard deer licenses are $297, and quality/high demand tags are $382. Standard elk licenses are $562 for bull, $352 for cows, and $787 for quality/high demand.
Seasons vary by unit for elk and deer, and are typically just 5 days. Like Colorado, New Mexico offers a series of short seasons to reduce hunting pressure during any one season. Most rifle deer seasons take place in late October through mid November, most rifle elk seasons occur in early to mid October. There is generally no overlap in the elk and deer seasons. New Mexico has both late and early archery deer seasons, and the archery elk seasons are mostly during the mid-late September rut. Muzzleloader elk seasons are mostly after archery and before the rifle season, allowing hunters to catch the tail end of the rut. The highest demand hunts are usually the first rifle hunt offered for each species. If you are willing to accept a slightly lower success rate on animals that have already been hunted, you can typically increase your draw odds.
New Mexico has both primitive and modern muzzleloader seasons for deer, and modern muzzleloader hunts for elk. The modern muzzleloader hunts allow scopes and sabots. Restricted muzzleloader deer hunts require open sights, and prohibit in line ignition, pelleted powder, sabots, and belted bullets.
Hunting on state trust land is permitted. New Mexico also has a private land access program called Open Gate.
NEVADA
Nevada is rarely thought of as a big game state, but it offers tremendous mule deer hunting and some limited elk hunting opportunities. There is no shortage of public land in Nevada and access is excellent except for the I-80 BLM checkerboard where every other square mile is private land. Believe it or not, there are mountains ranges and high elevation National Forest Lands. Most of Nevada’s largest mountain ranges are in the middle of the state. One other unusual opportunity in Nevada is the Himalayan Snow Cock, an introduced upland game bird, much larger than a grouse in the Ruby Mountains.
Nevada requires hunters to purchase a $140 hunting license before applying. But you are not required to pay for your tags up front, just an application fee, so it makes some sense to apply for nearly everything, including antelope, bighorn sheep, elk, and mountain goats. Nevada operates on a bonus point system, so you have a chance at drawing a tag without waiting for several years of points to accumulate. If you are only interested in deer hunting, you may opt out of paying for the hunting license, but you lose the chance to earn a bonus point for future draws. This makes the Nevada mule deer draw one of the least expensive opportunities in western hunting. Applications are due in early April, deer tags are $240, antelope $300, bighorn sheep, mountain goat or bull elk $1,200, cow elk $500 and are charged to you after you draw.
Deer seasons vary, but most take place throughout most of the month of October. Some of the more popular units have both a late and early season. The popularity of those seasons varies somewhat by terrain. Those with accessible high country tend to have popular early seasons, while those units with difficult to access high country have stiffer draw odds for the late seasons. Muzzleloader seasons occur in mid September, for the most part, archery season throughout most of August and early September, although late archery hunts also exist. There are only a handful of elk units, and most have a rifle season lasting two weeks between early and mid November. Deer and elk seasons rarely overlap. Muzzleloader elk season is late October through early November, archery is from mid August through early September. There are no hunts during the peak of the elk rut.
Sabots, inlines and centerfire primers are permitted during muzzleloader seasons, but scopes and pelletized powder are prohibited.
Nevada has very little state owned land to hunt, but with the amount of Forest Service and BLM land available, accessing public lands is not an issue.
OREGON
Oregon is an incredibly diverse state, with temperate rain forests in the West to high deserts in the East. That diversity creates an enormous number of hunting opportunities; from Columbian Blacktails, Mule Deer, Whitetails (including the endangered Columbian Whitetail, which you can hunt because it is overpopulated in some areas, imagine that?), Roosevelt(the largest bodied sub species) and Rocky Mountain elk, antelope, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats, and an incredible array of upland bird species. This is not a state on the list of most Eastern hunters, but it really should be. While not known as a trophy state, there are some well-managed opportunities for both elk and deer. The amount of public land is simply staggering, with large amounts of BLM in the eastern basins, National and State Forests throughout the mountainous western and central regions, and another impressive, isolated series of mountains in the Northeast. Combine those opportunities with the commercial timber lands and you have no shortage of hunting land.
Oregon has both unlimited general and controlled tags for deer and elk, and all antelope tags are controlled. The controlled hunt application deadline is May 15. The fees were greatly increased for 2010, and you are required to purchase a $140 hunting license, but are not required to pay for a permit up-front. So if you don’t draw the controlled tag, you are still stuck with the license, at which point you really should consider purchasing the general tag or at least checking out the interesting bird hunting opportunities. If you draw the permit, you may decide at that time whether or not to accept it. Oregon’s preference point system allots 75% of the tags to those with the most preference points, and 25 % in a random drawing. Combined with the high up front $140 license fee, your draw odds are very good. Elk permits are $500 and deer are $375, antelope $333.
Oregon’s general deer seasons vary by location, but the Cascade region has a split season from October 2-15, the breaks from October 16-22 for the Cascade bull elk season, resuming from October 23-November 5, 2010. The Coast buck season is unbroken and goes from October 2-November 5. The Rocky Mountain elk seasons are split, the first being a 5 day season in late October, the 2nd being a 9 day season in Mid November. The Coast bull elk season is also split from November 13-16, then November 20-26. Deer and elk archery seasons are from late August to late September. One of the more interesting exceptions to all these seasons, and a great adventure opportunity is the High Cascade buck hunt, occurring in mid September, and it never draws out with the 1st choice applicants. It is a wilderness hunt, great for backpackers and horsemen. Antelope hunts are typically in August, but there are exceptions. Muzzleloader hunts are offered but the seasons vary.
Scopes, sabots, jacketed bullets, centerfire primers, pelletized powder, and in line ignition systems are prohibited on muzzleloader hunts.
Oregon has a private land access program, state wildlife areas and many state trust lands that are open to hunting.
UTAH
Utah is on most trophy hunter’s radar, and is well known for their trophy bull elk hunting and trophy mule deer hunting. They also offer antelope hunting in the eastern and western deserts, but Montana and Wyoming are much more popular for that species. The state is bisected by a mountain range, approximately ¼ the width of the state. Eastern Utah has flat, arid deserts, deep canyons, and high mesas. Western Utah is primarily desert with smaller, isolated mountain ranges. Like Colorado, the state’s population centers are all along an interstate corridor. In Utah’s case most live just west of the mountains, in the cities and suburbs between Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden in North Central Utah, where hunting pressure can be intense. Nearly 2/3 of Utah is public land, with over half of that land open to hunting.
One convenient aspect of Utah’s drawing system is that you do not have to pay for the elk or deer license fees up front. You are, however required to purchase a $65 hunting license, which is nonrefundable. The low up-front costs and trophy reputation make drawing a high quality tag difficult in some parts of Utah. Now for the confusing part, Utah offers general tags, limited tags and what they call premium tags. You are only allowed to apply for either elk or deer, not both, with one exception, the Northern Region Bull/Bull combo. The deer and elk seasons do not overlap, except for with that combo license. The combo license is $651, general elk is $388, general deer is $263. Limited entry elk is $795, premium limited entry elk, which allows you to hunt rifle, archery or muzzleloader season is $1,500. Limited entry deer is $463, and the two premium limited entry deer units are $563. Applications are due by March 1st.
Utah’s general deer tags have a quota, but they allow you to hunt several units, and are restricted to one of 5 regions in the state. Utah’s general elk tags also have a quota, and allow you to hunt even in the premium units, but are restricted to spike bulls only in those units. You do need to apply for these tags, but there are often leftover Northern Region deer tags. An archery deer tag allows you to hunt any region in the state, but not in the limited units. Deer seasons run from Aug21-Sep 17 for archery, Sept 29 to Oct 7 for muzzleloaders, and Oct 23-27 for rifles. Elk archery is roughly the same as deer, rifle season is Oct 9-21, muzzleloader is after the rut in Utah; Nov 3-11. The special northern region combination license runs Oct 9-21, the same as the general elk season.
Utah does have a fledgling walk-in access program on private lands, but at this time is only 70,000 acres. Unlike most National Monuments, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is open to hunting. Utah has over 100 state owned Wildlife Management Areas open to hunting. Hunting is permitted on Utah’s State Trust Lands with some minor exceptions based on land usage.
Muzzleloaders are permitted to have a scope with up to 1x magnification, sabots and pelletized powder are permitted, but not bonded as 1 piece.
WASHINGTON
Washington is a state managed for maximizing hunter opportunities and has few real trophy hunts. What they do offer that is of interest to the nonresident hunter are plentiful tags, public land and a variety of species. Whitetail deer, mule deer, black tail deer, Roosevelt elk, Rocky Mountain elk, moose, mountain goats and bighorn sheep are all available. Most of Central Washington is mountainous, with plenty of Forest Service land. Western Washington is known for temperate rain forests and commercial timber lands. Much of Eastern Washington is private ranch and farm land, with exceptions to the mountainous northeast and a small pocket of mountains in the southeast. Unlike most western states, the BLM has a fairly limited amount of land. While 400,000 acres may seem like a lot, the BLM owns 15 million acres in Oregon.
Washington forces a hunter to commit to hunting in Washington when applying for a permit. You must purchase a general elk or deer tag before you can apply for a special limited tag. So why would you hunt here? Well for one thing, they offer a guaranteed elk and deer combo tag for $616, which makes Washington the least expensive state to hunt. The deer and elk permits are $396, so an elk hunt here is among the cheapest options, but the deer hunt is among the most expensive. Another interesting option is the High Buck Hunt, which is a general tag, allowing you to rifle hunt high elevation wilderness areas in mid September. The special permit applications are due in late May.
The typical buck deer seasons are two weeks from mid October through late October. Elk and deer seasons do not overlap (which would be a downfall to that combo tag), but a late Western Washington deer season opens after the 2.5 week mid November elk season. Archery seasons do overlap throughout most of the month of September and there are two days of overlap (or there were in 2009) for the muzzleloader seasons, which are in late September through early October for deer, and early October for elk.
Sabots are allowed, but inlines and scopes are generally not permitted.
Washington does have some very large state land holdings that are open to hunting, some of which exceed 50,000 acres and are worth investigating.
WYOMING
Wyoming is not an easy state to get started in for elk hunting, but the deer and antelope tags are readily available to first time nonresident hunters. Wyoming has very limited opportunities for archery elk hunters and forbids nonresidents from hunting big game in wilderness areas without a guide. The elk hunting is excellent, but if you are looking for a DIY, wilderness backpack hunt, this is not the state for you. Eastern Wyoming is primarily shortgrass prairie with scattered BLM holdings. Northeast Wyoming has some National Forest and National Grasslands also. Southwest and Central Wyoming are is cold desert, prairie, badlands and minor mountains with large BLM holdings, including the infamous Red Desert Checkerboard along 1-80, where literally every other square mile of land is BLM, which runs east-west for 200 miles and north-south for 50 miles. Northwest Wyoming, North Central Wyoming and South Central Wyoming have large Forest Service holdings. Most of the designated Wilderness areas are in the northwest, near Yellowstone National Park, so be careful when selecting a unit to stay out of those areas if you don’t plan to hire a guide. The wolves are mostly in Northwest Wyoming and there currently is no open season on them.
Wyoming has both general and limited elk tags for nonresidents, but the general tag is capped and only available through a drawing, with a deadline traditionally on January 31st. Wyoming has a confusing draw process, so bear with me as I try to explain it: Of the nonresident tag allocation, 60% are regular price, 40% are “special” price. The special price is nearly double the regular price to increase the drawing odds for those willing to pay the price. Now, within both the regular price tag and special price tag allocations, 75% of the tags go to the preference point drawing, where those with the most points, get the permit. 25% of both the regular and special price tags are available in a random draw, ensuring there is always at least some chance of drawing a highly coveted permit. Even the Wyoming general elk tag requires a preference point to draw, unless you pay the special price, in which case it should be guaranteed. There are only a little over 20 units that have a specific, limited archery season.
Tag prices are as follows: $591 regular priced elk, $302 for cows and calves, $1,071 special elk, $326 deer, $566 special deer, $286 antelope, $526 special antelope, $48 for doe/fawn deer and antelope. The deer and antelope drawing deadline is March 15, 2010. Antelope tags are all allocated to specific units. General deer tags are broken up into regions, allowing a nonresident to hunt one of several units within each region. Many of the best units in a region are limited quota, and cannot be hunted with a general tag, so be careful when applying. If you want to hunt the limited quota unit, apply for it, but the odds are generally much stiffer than the general regional tag. Also, the many of the general deer tags are undersubscribed and are available as leftovers.
Seasons vary from unit to unit, but most antelope rifle seasons are open from late September to late October, rifle elk seasons are usually two weeks to a month long in beginning anywhere from early October to mid November, deer seasons are also two weeks to a month and have at least part of the season concurrent with elk seasons. A notable exception to the generalities above is that there are some September rifle bull elk seasons in Northwest Wyoming. While these allow you to hunt the rut, most are in wilderness areas, requiring a guide. For the most part, there are no muzzleloader seasons, except for a few antelope units.
Nearly all of Wyoming’s state trust lands are open to hunting if they can be accessed by public road. Wyoming also has several access programs for the public to hunt on private lands. Some are called Walk-in areas, some are Hunter Management Areas. No matter what they are called, or how they are run, these areas are often your best bet to get access to good hunting grounds, especially in the East, where large blocks of public land are rare.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE TRAVELLING HUNTER
The states immediately east of those mentioned above all offer at least some mule deer hunting opportunities to nonresidents on public land. North Dakota has mule deer hunting and public land in the Little Missouri Grasslands. South Dakota has the Black Hill National Forest, Custer National Forest, Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and Grand River National Grasslands with mule deer, although whitetails make up a high percentage of the deer in those places. Nebraska’s Pine Ridge is one of the few places in the state with significant public land and mule deer. The Nebraska National Forest and Oglala National Grasslands are the largest public holdings in the state. Mule deer hunting in Kansas is mostly restricted to small, isolated state properties with the exception of the Cimarron National Grassland. Oklahoma’s mule deer hunting is mostly by draw only on state wildlife areas and the ODFW runs drawings to hunt on federal properties like the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge. Texas has a little bit of federal land that can be hunted for mule deer, but the best places are available by drawing on large state properties in the Big Bend region.
And then there’s Alaska! But since the primary focus of this piece was on “Western” species like mule deer, blacktails, elk and antelope, I’ll just focus on those species in Alaska. For starters, there are no antelope, but there are Roosevelt elk and Sitka Blacktails on several of the larger islands. On some islands, the elk permits are by draw only, others are available without a draw. Deer bag limits vary by island, or group of islands, but some allow up to four bucks to be harvested. Some of the island chains have moose which you could hunt in conjunction with deer or elk, but most do not, so you’ll have to stick to bears if you want a combination hunt.
And while we’re on the topic of moose, three more states, which most certainly are not Western states should be mentioned. Since drawing a moose tag is so difficult in the West, one should consider drawing in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. The draws are inexpensive, as you aren’t required to pay for the permit up front, and you can have multiple applications to increase your draw odds.
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