Stone316_74

Cant afford to go this year but am hoping to head out for an Elk hunt in the fall of 2011. I've done the Idaho trip (unsuccessful) and I've done the Utah trip (also unsuccessful). Keep in mind both were unguided. Where should I try next? I was thinking maybe New Mexico....Any pointers in obtaining a reputable guide service (whether it there or wherever)?

Ol'Mongo

Try Wyoming (you can buy a preference point now and be ahead for next year if you hurry) or Colorado. I've repeatedly hunted with Table Mountain Outfitters (they advertise on this site) in Wyoming with great success, try them. Good luck.

SJAdventures

We offer quality guided elk hunts in WY, MT, CO, NM and British Columbia. Toll Free 1-877-647-9926 or email me at [email protected].

salukipv1

NM has no pref.pts, which makes for the chance to draw this year! or next etc...when you apply...

Is this a bowhunt? rifle?

buying a point in WY is a good idea, $50. Building pts everywhere is a good idea...
NM has better odds if you apply through an outfitter...I know a decent outfitter in NM, in the gila wilderness 16d I believe...pretty good odds.

MT has guaranteed tags I believe if you are going through an outfitter.

oldwest

We offer quality elk hunts in some great trophy units in the Big Horn Mountains of north central Wyoming. Big bulls without the Grizzly and wolves. Very high sucess. Go to www.oldwesthunting.com
[email protected]

RaghornHS

Ditto what's been written already. If you're going next year, get your points now!!

Alsatian

You didn't say what your elk hunting goals are or even what kind of hunt -- bow, muzzle-loader, rifle -- you are doing. If your goals are just to take any elk -- cow elk, any legal bull -- I don't know that switching areas is your best strategy. Most advice I see suggests that sticking to one area and learning to hunt that area well is your best strategy. Of course, your area needs to have elk in it, but presuming your area has elk in it, just going to another unit that also has elk in it throws away the opportunity to leverage what you have learned from experience in your unsuccessful hunts.

I don't know how you are hunting, but a good strategy for you to consider is hooking up with one or more experienced elk hunters and joining their elk camp. If you pay your own way and carry your own weight performing chores and you aren't extremely obnoxious or otherwise socially repulsive, chances are you can find some elk hunters to take you under their wing. This is a way to jump start that experience thing I talk about in paragraph 1 above.

Another thing to consider is going to your area and scouting it before the elk season. Go spend 5 days to a week in your elk hunting area in late August or even in mid-September and try to find where the elk eat, where they bed, how they get between these places. I know this is difficult to do for people with limited vacation time, but it helps reduce the number of years you have to come up empty, paying your dues as it were, before you figure out an elk hunting area and start harvesting elk. This is an alternative if you don't like the idea of joining forces with an experienced elk hunting group.

SJAdventures

If you do a guided hunt on private property in NM good chance your hunt will come with a landowner permit that will allow you to buy your tag OTC. Also if you do a guided hunt in NM and use the outfitter's number depending on unit applying for you should draw anyways. One of our outfitters who offers guided hunts in Units 51&52 in the Carson Natl forest has a near 100% draw success when using their outfitter's number when you apply. This is a bull one of our clients arrowed in unit 51 last season with this outfitter.