Anyone ever elk hunt NW Wyoming?

[gilcarleton]

My elk hunting buddies would like to hunt NW Wyoming for elk next year. We have to put in for a draw in January but none of use have ever hunted there. We usually have hunted Oregon but there draw process is very expensive for non-residents and the seasons are very short...7-10 days. Anyway we would like to give Wyoming a shot but have no idea what unit to apply for. We will probably hunt in early November and apply for a bull tag but also have a unit that is fairly easy to buy a cow tag if we are not drawn. We will probably return if the hunting is good or potentially good so we want to find an area that we can learn. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or general helpful comments I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Gil

 

[Jaybo]

Call Kyle bell Folsom outfitter he put you in the bulls. Folsom outfitter.com.

 

[wapiti25]

look at the stastics on the units you are considering. Subscribe to "Hunting Fool" mag and Eastman's. Watch where the wolf's are and go somewhere else. Look at how many points are required to draw and look at draw odds for standard Vs special license. May not be any tags left after the draw in most good units, includes cows. Watch for private land, buy the GPS chip that will show private. Non-residents cannot hunt the wilderness without hiring a guide.

 

[gilcarleton]

Those are some good ideas. I have spent a lot of time looking over the Wyoming Fish and Game website and find a lot of it confusing. I could not even find a map that clearly defined the units to apply for. I never thought of looking for the stats so I will see if I can find them. As far as the wolves go, I certainly want to avoid them but I am not sure if the F&G site talks about that. That is the kind of info I hoped to pick up here. I have a good friend who hunted in Montana north of Yellowstone and the rode horses in about 5 miles, hunted for a week and never saw an elk. The guide told them that they migrate out of Yellowstone and since the wolf was re-introduced the elk population has dropped dramatically.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

The Wyoming G&F site is not very user friendly. But if you stumble around long enough the info is there.. Go to the hunting page and snoop around. The non-resident info for 2016 isn't posted yet..

And may I ask why you decided on NW Wyo?


Hunting menu: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/hunting

Area map: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Regulations/Regulation-PDFs/REGULATIONS_CH7_MAP

Season dates: https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Regulations/Regulation-PDFs/REGULATIONS_CH7

BLM map: http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wy/information/maps.Par.65389.File.dat/nfo.pdf

 

[gilcarleton]

Sure Zilla. Wyoming is very friendly to out of state hunters. In Oregon, where my son and one of my hunting buddies live, you first have to purchase an out of state hunting license before you can put in for a draw. This is non refundable and also very expensive. Montana has doubled their non-resident license and I am not sure if it is non-refundable. I have read a lot in a couple of forums I am in that people have been very successful in Wyoming, when we apply for a non-resident hunting permit, if we are not successful they will return all of the money except $14.50, if we don't get drawn for a bull tag, it seems fairly easy to get a cow tag, the season is much longer which gives us much more flexibility as to when we hunt (a long season in Oregon is 10 day, most are 7 days) the people are very nice in Wyoming and the country is beautiful. It is also a little closer for me and a couple of other hunters than driving all the way to the West Coast since I live in Alabama, one buddy lives in Texas and another in Missouri.

Thanks for the links. I have called the Dept of Fish and Wildlife and they helped me a lot more than the hours I spent wading through their web site.

 

[Keith Kilby]

I live in NW Wyoming...Cody to be exact. You also need to we aware that many of the elk hunt areas around here also have significant populations of grizzly bears. Depending on whether you draw a late tag or an early tag you may also have to contend with bears to claim your carcass! Any of the hunt areas in the Greater Yellowstone area are going to have bears. Non residents can't hunt wilderness designated areas without a guide or Wy resident along. Look at the BLM/Forest service maps to get an idea where these areas are.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

DOH.. I missed it.. NW Wyoming is northwest I was reading northeast.. As for the user friendly remark I was referring to the ease of use of the Wyo G&F website... Sorry bout that, bein old is a biatch at times..

 

[CHESSIEHUNTER12]

Hunted unit 70 in 2002. Great hunt. Saw 1 bear. The following year two of the men I hunted with went to the same area and had a terrible time with the bears. Its a good area to hunt but not for everyone. You have to be VERY alert at all times.