finding any bull Elk worth shooting on public land ,takes a great deal of research and actually hunting the area you selected too hunt, this usually takes several days of intense scouting, a good deal of knowledge of the terrain, knowledge of the basics of how elk react to hunting pressure, accurate terrain maps, and your ability too shoot accurately from field positions, you obviously have options,where youll hunt what you consider a trophy, and licence costs, guide fees, etc.
Ill point out that theres free range public land hunts in national forest and BLM land and there are private land hunts on open ranches with private land , if youve ever hunted on public land youll have probably looked up the success ratios and found that its generally in the 15%-20% range in most open to the public areas.
professionally guided hunts on private ranches, or areas that require a lottery/draw tag can easily , boost the odds to over 50%
a few years ago one of the guys in our elk hunting club who had only taken one elk, in 4 years of hunting public land decided he wanted to take a guided hunt that guaranteed he would get at least one good chance at a decent 4x4 or better elk.
they charged him at the time about $4K for a 3 day hunt, with a personal guide.
he drove out with a buddy too Montana from Florida, only after he arrived did he find out that guided hunt was on a large ranch and the elk were in a 6000 plus acre enclosed area. (at no time was the fact the hunted area was fenced disclosed during several sales and contract discussions.......since he had already paid in full up front he decided to hunt, the guy he drove out with demanded a refund but the guy running the operation would only return 75% of his down payment ( he had sent 50% down and was to pay off the rest on arrival, ) as that was outlined several times in the contract
he stated he only saw the fence around one part of the area in the three days of hunting and he shot a 4x5 bull that while not a record was impressive.
he felt he had gotten his moneys worth, his partner stayed at the ranch and was totally pissed off, but did not throw a fit like some people I'm sure would have.
I think the lesson learned here is that before you book a hunt youll want to ask pointed detailed questions and ask for 5-6 previous hunters phone numbers to check out their opinions. and yes read the contract carefully
Last edited by hardcastonly; 01-17-2018 at 02:55 PM.