You could hunt pronghorn antelope in Wyoming. Tags are easy to obtain in the drawing, if you put in for the correct unit. Find a unit that is undersubscribed AND which has public land. You can hunt on public land; you have to pay to hunt on private land, and that can be expensive. Drawing in Wyoming is early in the year, maybe in early January. I no longer remember, but be mindful of the fact that there is a deadline.


You could hunt elk in Colorado. Tags are easy to obtain in the drawing, if you put in for the correct unit. Colorado has the most elk of any state. Find a unit that is undersubscribed AND which has public land. Be advised that the elk are up high usually in public land just below treeline early in the year and are down low usually on private land after heavy snows in the mountains drive them down, maybe by early to mid-November. You need to choose an undersubscribed unit with public land that can be expected to have elk WHEN you are hunting. Just as a guess, I'm thinking first rifle season which takes place mid-October. Do further research on this topic. Drawing is first part of April, so have a plan by early March.


I don't know anything about hunting deer out west. Probably most deer are Mule Deer. They behave differently from whitetail deer -- most particularly by migrating. Unlike whitetail deer which generally are uniformly distributed (every square mile will have approximately the same number of deer in many whitetail environments), I think mule deer may be clumped up more. Do your research, don't assume mule deer behave like whitetail deer.


Do-it-yourself pronghorn hunting is very manageable, and success rates for pronghorn antelope is about 95% in Wyoming. DIY elk hunting in the Rocky Mountains is manageable but more challenging than pronghorn hunting. Partly this is because elk are hunted at significantly higher elevation than deer and camping is more of an ordeal up high than down low. Additionally, elk are such bigger animals. If you kill an elk, getting it out is a major undertaking. You have to cut it up on the spot and move it out in several separate loads. If you go elk hunting, have a plan to get your elk out. Said in other words, if you hunt your elk downhill 1,500 feet and 3 miles from your truck, you will have to carry 200 LBS of elk meat 1,500 feet uphill 3 miles.