Elk hunt help

I’ve been looking into an Elk hunt for a couple years now but just haven’t had enough information to go ahead with it. What have others on here done or continue to do? Do you go on guided hunts, DIY, or what? I’m looking for a bow hunt when they are bugling. What do people recomend? I’m up for hard hiking so that’s not a limiting factor. Thanks for your opinions.

Michael

I lucked into a group that has been doing DIY hunts for over 20 years. It’s my brother in laws, a nephew and some buddies of theirs. One brother in law, could not swing the trip this year, so after my years of begging, they let me join for the next 2. I was like you, no clue on how to go about it, so basically, I got lucky. See if you can find anybody in your area that does it, maybe at a local archery club or something like that, and mention you would like to try. Maybe they would put you on the list of potential fill ins, in the future

My brother and I are headed out to Colorado in two weeks for an archery hunt. We have been planning this since Jan of 2008. Researched several dozen outfitters before making our final decision. This is a non-guided hunt, but the outfitter will provide us with maps, knowledge of the area and where he has been seeing the elk. We also booked horses so we can get as far away from other hunters as possible. What I have been told, we should be hitting the peak of the rut when we are out there (Sept 19 – 26). Bulls should be screaming and we can not wait! The nice thing about the area we are hunting is you can purchase elk tags over the counter and avoid having to draw. Good luck.

Good luck on your trip and report back on how things go. I have always found that it takes a couple years in an area to learn what the animals are going to do, it’s tough going somewhere new without some kind of local info. A friend of mine just relocated to Utah in past year but he’s not too far from Salt lake city so not a lot of Elk where he’s at. He does have Mule deer and Moose so I told him to give it a try this year and I would come out next year and go hunting with him. The bad part is he will only be in the area a couple years, unless he makes the mistake of finding a woman and settling down out there, but not likely.