This past fall I had the opportunity to hunt for elk with my bow in the state of Washington with one of my wifes family members. I think I praticing shooting my bow more in the last year than the last five years and read at least a half dozen books to introduce myself to hunting elk. (My wife was happy I lost 40 pounds gettign ready for the season too.) I did not bring home any meat, but it was a wonderful experience. Near the end of my week hunting I had a nice 5x5 and his herd 60 yards away on a game trail(too far for me). Needless to say I've got the elk-bow-hunting-bug.

I am planning to apply for an elk bow tag in either Colorado or Wyoming this year. These states are a little more practical to drive to from Michigan than Washington.

I intend to hunt without a guide on public property. I am not hung up on shooting a 300+ bull; for that matter I would be happy to harvest a cow with my bow. I guess the less time I have to spend in the field searching for an elk herd, the more time I have within a one-week excursion to learn in the field from my own mistakes and successes. However, I would prefer to accumulative a preference point towards one of the more sought after game management regions within one of these states.

I am looking for information to help with deciding which state and which game management units to apply for. How do I understand what public land is available to hunt in the specific areas? Are there some elk density maps available online for these states? What other things should I take into consideration before apply for a non-resident tag?

For an elk hunt on public land and over the counter tags I would reccomend traveling to Colorado and hunting in the White River National Forrest. Colorado has more elk than any other state or province on this continent and the WRNF has a larger elk heard than any other heard in the country.

Colorado's archery tags are over the counter, with the exception of specific GMU's, and either sex. They are also good for the entire state not just a specific GMU.

Colorado's public land has great elk numbers and also good trophy oportunites if you do your homework and you want to persue them.

If you want to start accumulating preference points then apply for one of the trophy units and in the space where they ask what you want if unsuccessful just ask for the archery tag. Then you will still be able to enjoy the elk woods and build your preference points for that "lifetime" hunt one day.


I hunt in the WRNF myself and I can tell you that there is no shortage of elk in this area and there is no shortage of trophy class elk either.