How do you guys do it?
 

It seems to me that a lot of guys have had plenty of opportunities on taking elk. It seems like some shoot elk anually. Can you get tags every year or every other year. We don't have elk in my area. If you live in the west can you hunt elk like we hunt deer.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

lots of states are draw only so I put in for at least 3 states plus Colorado .if I don't get drawn in Co I buy an over the counter tag. this year I got drawn for Wyo/NM and Colorado so its going to be a terrific year.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Here in CO., there are many units/areas that are hunted with draw permits only. Some of the best units may take 8, 10, or more years to draw a permit to hunt. BUT there are also many units that you can buy a tag OTC/over the counter and go hunt. Hunting isn't the best in these units for various reasons, BUT you can go hunt none the less!
Deer tags are all by drawing only. Antelope is much like elk, most units are by drawing only, BUT there are a few OTC units, especially if you bow hunt!
Once you get very familiar to an area, it isn't uncommon for some rifles hunters to kill an elk annually. BUT in the big scheem of elk hunting, the success ratio is not good, around, maybe below 20% for rifle hunters, and worse for archery hunters!

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

In Utah we have two types of units. Draw only and OTC. Like others have said the draw tags are the coveted tags. These are "trophy" units. The OTC tags are easy to get and in some ways is like a deer hunt. It can be done anually and you can hunt the same places every year if you like.

The problem is elk aren't like deer. They are very sensitive to pressure and they move around a lot. One year they can be thick as flies in an area and the next 3 years you might not even see a track in that same area. So to be able to get elk anually in Utah you MUST have private land or access to it where they aren't pressured, except by you of course. Or you gotta have a honey hole that is usually only accessible by horse oryou have to bewilling to back pack in many miles to get to it. I don't know of anyone around here that doesn't have horses and goes out to public land with an OTC tag and gets a bull every year.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

In Alberta ,there are many zones where over the counter tags are available that are good for 3 point or 6 point bulls.The rifle season opens mid September in one zone that I hunt ,so I am able to hunt elk in the rut with a rifle every year.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Here in Saskatchewan, while draws do exist for special zones or anterless elk tags. I can hunt elk every year with an over the counter tag. Archery season you can harvest an Either-sexelk(end of august first of sept), butduring the rifle season which runs middle of sept it is bulls only.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Where i hunt cow elk are draw but bulls are a general tag. So im guaranteed a tag every year and i pretty much get drawn for cows every year so i guess it all depends if im seeing lot of bulls or cows during my scouting which determines which tag i will buy.The thing with the general bull tags is in some areas they only have to be three points or better on one side and in some they have to be six on one side or better.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

It's a once a lifetime draw in north dakota. i got one in 99' and my dad drew in 00'

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

if i applied for a wyoming tag or montana would i have a good chance my first time to get a tag or would it take a few years. Here in michigan its once in a life. I've applied for four years now and found out today i didnt get one this year.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Here in Colorado, many in our camp get two tags each year (one early draw and one left over draw) [you can't do this in every area];usually one of these tagsis an either sex tag and the other a cow tag, sometimes it is two cows.

We tend to get the multiple tags each year so we don't have to get into the "moral"/legal debate over party hunting. If you are in our group and are luckyenough to get into some elk, then we expect you to hammer some elk booty like you mean business. Ours is largely a "tribal hunt" i.e. when we got enough elk down (as much as we can reasonably pack out and reasonably consume in a year) then we stop. Then most of us work as a group to pack out the meat using horses and get the meat cooled/refrigerated. Later, webutcher, process, package and freeze all of our meat right in camp and then split it evenly according to the number of licenses held.

On ocassion we have someone who really wants to focus specifically ongetting a big trophy bull andin those cases wecan have some folksstalking around for days. Folks usually go this routeafter they popa cow first and then they focus on the bull --- meantime we're packing out their cow with the horses.Sometimes luck plays its hand and the bulls are right there and itall goes down easy. Wehave been skunked though; not often, but it has happened.

That is about how we do it.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

I find that you get out of it what you put into it. It is way different than deer hunting. I am headed in to the back country at 3:00 a.m. to get ready and get them located. I am still one month now from hunting, but the preperation begins now. I can shoot either sex archery from aug 30th til almost the end of september.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Yes.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Here in Washington you can buy an elk tag every year.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

I hunt elk every year. Some years, like this one, I have 2 tags. It isn't like deer hunting at all. I can always go out and find deer. Elk usually requiremore effort. Getting into archery range on a mature bull requires a lot more effort.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

you can get 4 tags in CO if you do it right. 1 archery cow OTC,1 rifle bull OTC, 1 priv land draw leftover, 1 San Luis Valley summer elk hunt tag.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

"can you hunt elk like we hunt deer"
As a resident of Wyoming, we can buy an over the counter tag called a general. This is good for Elk in any area trat allows a general tag. Some elk areas are drawing only. Then there are the different type of licenses, but you can look that up on the G&F site.
We can get up to two elk tags. One would be the general or drawing only tag, in addition to that, there are some areas where they issue a Type 6 tag (drawing only) for cow/calf only - NOT "antlerless".
So we can legally take two elk a year if the elk gods are with us.
Harvest success for elk nationally is one in five years. For me, I do a little better than that, but I'm a meat hunter first and trophy second. I think 20% of the hunters harvest 80% of the elk. Some major reasons, they know the area they are hunting. They stay flexible in their location and tactics. They scout their area throughout the spring andsummer. And it doesn't hurtif you canhunt on private land, hunting pressure, or the lack of it, can strongly determine sucess.
I think a lot of a hunters lack of success is lazyness. "Tree stand" mentality doesn't work for elk. You can't sit n a trail or wallow for a week and expect to be successful. Elk just aren't programmed that way. They are movers. Originally plains animals, they are programmed to move. When they get into their "elk trot" you can forget about it. They can go all day and easily cover 20 miles while you are still huffing and puffing to get over that next ridge!
One last thing that I see a lot in both archery and rifle, is dead - untagged Elk. If you shoot, don't quit looking for it. They can go for miles with a hole in them.
I get a little windy when talking about elk. Sorry. Your other ??? was about getting tags every year. Yes, the general tags for residents. Non-residents must apply for an area every year and success rates vary. But consider the "leftover" drawings later in the summer and the Type 6 way to go also. Between all of those options, a guy could expect to get some kind of elk tag every year. And if you don't, there's always Colorado.

Good hunting . . .

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Washington has general season you can just buy tags every year. There are a few lucky people that tag out every year but I'm not one of them. We also have special tags that you draw for. These are generally in some of the same areas as the general hunt but good for any bull (OTC tags are spike-only).

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

Here in BC, we buy over the counter Bull tags. Most areas have a six point minimun and the season runs from Aug 15 through the end of Oct.
We can rifle hunt just about everywhere and this includes through the entire rut.Almost all of BC is public land and the province is bigger than California, Oregon and Idaho put together.
You can usually hunt elk and Bighorn in the south, or elk and Stone sheep in the north. These sheep tags too are over the counter.
Pretty much elk huntin heaven.

RE: How do you guys do it?
 

I hunt quite a bit with relatives and friends in several states. When I can I get over the counter tags. If not avaiklable I often go as camp cook. In these cases I just go for the time offf and relaxing. I have hunted elk many times with an outfitterin Sask with whom I have hunted for 27 years almost every year. A few years were just fishing and a few for just hunting. Many times for both.