Jordansprad

Hello Westerners!!!!

I'm from good ole Florida, and have only dreamed of being able to go out to the west and and draw a bead on an elk, or big Mule, Black Tail, or Whitetail Deer.

I'm planning to take the trip fall 2018, as I said before I've never actually hunted out there and need all the help I can get. I'm waiting for a friend to get me some info from some friends of his who live near Driggs, ID. I'd be happy with hunting anywhere in ID, MT, or WY.

I started doing a little bit of looking and there's just SOOOOOO much land and it was a little overwhelming. So if anyone has advice on narrowing down a location. Also, I'm not used to the tag lottery and how that works. From what I saw there were tags for certain regions. Would I just be better finding an area with over the counter tags.

Also, I did a tiny bit of looking at just going with a guide. I don't know if this would be the best option or not. I can for certain say I don't think I will have $5k to spend on one, so I may have to find someone else lol.

Any helpful hints, tips, or tricks would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jordan

mrbb

MY suggestion is this, MAKE a trip up to PA for the GREAT OUTDOORS SHOW,
https://www.greatamericanoutdoorshow.org/
its worth the trip if your looking to BOOK a hunt, will be hundreds if not a thousand or more outfitters there from the west and like places
Airfare shouldn;t be that costly, and you can call it a MINI vacation if that helps!

many parts of Florida from pa can be about 200 bucks for round trip airfare!
or about a 17 hr drive for many parts of FL.

BUT between then and NOW< ask yourself WHAT animal, or animals you want to hunt, and with what weapon
then spend time looking at each state you'd consider going to, if you want rocky Mt's type scenery, the 4 are going to be, mostly, MT, WY, ID and CO.
parts of UT, and even NM and AZ and NV can have it too, but, the 4 above are the prime one's
m,any parts of the state are NOT very scenic, some are, some are not, so, LOOK at tourism sites too on area';s

then, LOOK at season dates, if you can time the leaves changing colors, the scenery is even better for first timers out west, but that is more an archery time of yr on things?/

Once you find again places/areas in each state you'd consider based on land type, mountains, flat lands, prairie like or??
you can then see season dates, and WHAT or IF any tags are over the counter or draw

from there you can see if you can find a place you like with over the counter tags(makes life easier , but NOT all places have them or have better game quality or success rates)

the more you can narrow down a area, the better your odds are of finding exactly what you want.
PLANNING is a HUGE part of planning a trip out west, you get what you put into it!

again, once you figure out what area's
you can contact game depts and ask for info in these area's, and even ask for outfitters in these area's
as I am gathering you are planning a guided hunt, over a DIY type hunt??
then ask them about good or BAD outfitters, you'd be surprised how much info you can get from a game warden if you approach them right!

next and back to the show, once you have area's picked out, you can actually TALK in person to these outfityters and others from "X" area's and get up to date info, on LAST yrs season and game numbers, as the season just ended, and that will be the most accurate into
JUST keep in mind these folks are TRYING to sell you there services, so ask questions and try and ask in ways you get honest answers and not what they THINK you want to hear

THEN narrow down a few outfitters and DO MORE looking, get lists of previous hunters, BOTH successful one's and not, and from last yr to a few yrs back, the more you ask , the better feel your going to get for the outfitter, its YOUR money and YOUR job to spend it wisely, so that fall's on you to do the homework and TRY and get the best hunt you can .
do NOT leave out basic's
NOT everyone hunts the same way, so make sure its a hunt type YOU want
do you walk a LOT climb mt's, ride a horse? are you in shape, can you MAKE a 300 yard shot
, do you have gear that works

what gear will the outfitter have you WON"T need to bring with you< or what do THEY recommend

again, the better the planning you do before you GO, the higher the odds the outcome of the hunt will be a positive memory for you!
failure to do your part can leave you a very unhappy hunter out a LOT of cash!

and be very realistic with all things, from YOUR condition health wise, to what QUALITY of game you will expect to MAYBE get, and WHAT if you DON"T get anything!
more hunters come home empty than not!
its HUNTING not shooting,
so again, the more you do, BEFORE going, the better your odds are period!
take NO one person's word, unless you trust them with your life LOl

Jordansprad

Thanks, that helps a lot. I guess I just need to continue my research and make a bunch of calls. I just turned 30, but I'm planning to start training now for the mountain hiking . We don't have a lot of mountains in South Fl, but I figure if I put 60 or 80 pounds in my pack and start walking with that and maybe an incline on the treadmill, that should help.

I also think I have determined that we are probably just going to have to drive. It seems that getting meat and or horns back would just be a nightmare and cost half the amount of the trip to send back.

So I may have to give up MT or ID and plan somewhere a little closer to 20 hours away, instead of 36hours away.

mrbb

thats a great idea walking with a pack on your back with weight, if you can get on a stepper with that too, that will help
have to remember, a LOT of hunting for many things out west happens at elevations you ain't got in FL. too, and to many flat landers that thin air is a work out in itself, better shape you will be in , the better you will be when you get out there,

I also think you really need to PICK a animal you want to hunt too?
there are many critters closer than MT
but again if you want the BIG west experience and scenery, you need to drive them extra hours to get it?

SD has some great mule deer hunting, but the scenery is far from what you have out west in a ELk hunt or MT mule deer hunt

if you want to go SD, look at some of the Indian reservation' s lands, tags can some times be easier to get, and you can then TRY and DRAW a state rifle tag(if rifle hunting is your goal), and then you can make the trip into a two buck trip? making it maybe more easy to swallow the costs and time to drive out?

Alsatian

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.

Big Uncle

Many states use a preference point system for drawing tags. You can obtain one point for each species each year either by unsuccessfully applying for a license or simply purchasing a point. People with preference points have a much better shot of drawing a good tag than those that do not.

If you are considering Wyoming you would be best served by going to the Wyoming Game & Fish website and buying a preference point for the species you wish to hunt. You still have time. Drawing tags is definitely not an easy task for a unit with quality game and good public access. The better units take a hatful of points or amazing luck to draw. The easy to draw units are easy for good reasons. Normally the easy units have poor public access which pushes the crowds into the limited area available, and has a lower than average success rate..

Colorado's better units take many preference points to have a chance at a tag but there are opportunities in other units with no points if you are tough (legs and lungs) and/or lucky.

Good tags are absolutely not easy to draw. Unfortunately much of the better hunting is the result of either time or money.

You have been well advised to pick one game animal and concentrate your efforts.