Any adventurous members sneaking out of NY on an ELK hunt this year?

[Pygmy]

Enjoy the wonderful COUNTRY....Take the hunting as it comes....I was 39 before I did my first  out of state big game hunt ( other than deer in PA)….That was a two week DIY float hunt in Alaska for moose and caribou...

Over the next 25 years I hunted Colorado , New Mexico, Wyoming,  Alaska, NWT  in Canada, ( AWESOME),   New Brunswick,  Northern Quebec and Newfoundland....  Killed 2 moose, two elk, two mule deer, two pronghorns  and 13 caribou....All of my hunts were DIY except the Canadian ones that required by law that I hire a guide or outfitter.....

I consider myself a very lucky man to have experienced  all of those hunts in all of those wonderful places....

[Hunter007]

36 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Enjoy the wonderful COUNTRY....Take the hunting as it comes....I was 39 before I did my first  out of state big game hunt ( other than deer in PA)….That was a two week DIY float hunt in Alaska for moose and caribou...

Over the next 25 years I hunted Colorado , New Mexico, Wyoming,  Alaska, NWT  in Canada, ( AWESOME),   New Brunswick,  Northern Quebec and Newfoundland....  Killed 2 moose, two elk, two mule deer, two pronghorns  and 13 caribou....All of my hunts were DIY except the Canadian ones that required by law that I hire a guide or outfitter.....

I consider myself a very lucky man to have experienced  all of those hunts in all of those wonderful places....

So in your opinion what's the best state other then Alaska to try a DIY  hunt   and go for big game  besides whitetails ?

[Pygmy]

For elk, New Mexico has the best combo  of fairly easy terrain, big bulls and a fair chance of drawing a tag...

Any place in Arizona you can draw a tag is great for big bulls, but even residents can only realistically count on drawing a tag every 6 or 7 years...

Colorado is good for numbers of elk, but big ones are hard to come by in OTC units... Limited draw units have big bulls, but you have to wait years to draw a tag..Also, the terrain in CO is pretty extreme in many places...Good state to hunt if you  are not trophy hunting and simply want to kill an elk...

There is good mule deer hunting in most all of the western states, albeit most if not all areas are draw units...The two mulie bucks I shot were both very nice and were taken in Colorado, one on an early high country hunt near Eagle, and the other  in an early November hunt down around Nucla..

 

Both my pronghorns hunts were done in Wyoming, near Casper...Pronghorns are fun to hunt....Lots of action... There are more antelope in Wyoming than people..

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Pygmy

[607 HUNTER]

14 hours ago, 518BowSlayer said:

I leave 3 weeks from sunday for my maine moose hunt. couldn't be more excited. elk is next on the bucket list. take lots of pictures and good luck out there!!!

How exciting , same to you my friend ! Look forward to hearing about your hunt.

[607 HUNTER]

5 hours ago, crappyice said:

My buddy sent these the other day from his car. He lives in Evergreen, CO.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

very cool !!

 

[607 HUNTER]

4 hours ago, Cory said:

I will be going out. Frontier airlines had round trip direct flights for $222 I couldn’t pass up. I was iffy this year because of the whole you have to buy a small game tag to get any tag. 

Elk during 2nd season tend to be in heards with cows and the big boys being loners or running with other bulls. Breeding season is passed so you won’t hear any bugling going on. I have had luck calling in cows with my cow call in late season. So if you plan on bugling you probably won’t get any response. Spot and stalk is the game. 

How old are you? I really have no problem with the elevation. I’m 37 and have gone 7 times and never had any issue. You will be tired ass hell at night because you will put some miles on the boots. It tends to be kind of cold low 30’s in the mornings. But don't over dress no humidity up there it makes it feel a lot warmer. Don’t be surprised to see mid 70’s during the day!

if your driving and see what you are after remember it’s 50’ from the center of the road not 50’ from the side of the road. Trust me it makes a difference in time. 2 years ago one guy from camp took a beautiful 6x6 as 2 bulls were trotting across the road. As we were heading in for lunch. I missed the other bull. Lol

How cool ! How far will you be from Sandstone Creek Club in Vail ? 

Thanks for the info, I am not bringing a bugle being so late in the year. I am bringing a Hoochie Momma cow call if I want to try that now and then. But I am planning on starting high in the mornings, and doing everything I can to locate elk and move there way.

Sad story about the 50 feet, thanks for the info lol , I will be 33 next month.

Edited August 29, 2019 by 607 HUNTER

[607 HUNTER]

4 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

Funny........

Been on many out of state hunts, guided or DIY?

Funny ?

As my initial post states, this is my first out of state hunt. 

[607 HUNTER]

4 hours ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

Agree with both you 100%. If the OP is shooting first rack he sees, fine. But if he is looking for a "monster", odds are it won't come easy. It happens easy sometimes of course, but not likely.

I will be hunting with the same expectation as I do in NY, harvest an animal that I am proud to hang on my wall as a trophy for me and a freezer full of true organic meat for my family and I to enjoy. I personally have never shot a doe or buck under 2 1/2 in my 19 years of whitetail hunting, just my personal choice ( to each there own for every hunter out there).  

My goal is to harvest a mature 4x4 or 5x5, I don't plan on getting a " monster" , but I sure would be happy to bring one home if the opportunity presents itself lol. 

 

[Cory]

10 minutes ago, 607 HUNTER said:

How cool ! How far will you be from Sandstone Creek Club in Vail ? 

Thanks for the info, I am not bringing a bugle being so late in the year. I am bringing a Hoochie Momma cow call if I want to try that now and then. But I am planning on starting high in the mornings, and doing everything I can to locate elk and move there way.

Sad story about the 50 feet, thanks for the info lol , I will be 33 next month.

I just Mapquest it it’s about an hour. We camp at catamount in burns just northest of Vail. You will be fine in elevation. I would grab a blm topography map if you can. It’ll give you the lines for public and management lands so you don’t wonder on private land. 

On public access land there are markers on the ground that will give you the area layouts . Follow them so you don’t wonder on private land . I’m also going to shoot you a cell number . Just in case you need anything up there as a emergency or anything. It’s always good to have a local contact.

[607 HUNTER]

3 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Enjoy the wonderful COUNTRY....Take the hunting as it comes....I was 39 before I did my first  out of state big game hunt ( other than deer in PA)….That was a two week DIY float hunt in Alaska for moose and caribou...

Over the next 25 years I hunted Colorado , New Mexico, Wyoming,  Alaska, NWT  in Canada, ( AWESOME),   New Brunswick,  Northern Quebec and Newfoundland....  Killed 2 moose, two elk, two mule deer, two pronghorns  and 13 caribou....All of my hunts were DIY except the Canadian ones that required by law that I hire a guide or outfitter.....

I consider myself a very lucky man to have experienced  all of those hunts in all of those wonderful places....

I absolutely will, thanks for the kind words. Very impressive you did that all DIY.

[607 HUNTER]

11 minutes ago, Cory said:

I just Mapquest it it’s about an hour. We camp at catamount in burns just northest of Vail. You will be fine in elevation. I would grab a blm topography map if you can. It’ll give you the lines for public and management lands so you don’t wonder on private land. 

On public access land there are markers on the ground that will give you the area layouts . Follow them so you don’t wonder on private land . I’m also going to shoot you a cell number . Just in case you need anything up there as a emergency or anything. It’s always good to have a local contact.

Cant believe we will be so close, the public land I will be on will be about 30-60 minutes  North of vail , off of Red Sandstone Rd. Looks like thousands of acres of land up there.  Do you guys haul the Elk out yourselves or use an elk hauling service?  Thanks for the contact info !

[BizCT]

I will be hunting with the same expectation as I do in NY, harvest an animal that I am proud to hang on my wall as a trophy for me and a freezer full of true organic meat for my family and I to enjoy. I personally have never shot a doe or buck under 2 1/2 in my 19 years of whitetail hunting, just my personal choice ( to each there own for every hunter out there).  

My goal is to harvest a mature 4x4 or 5x5, I don't plan on getting a " monster" , but I sure would be happy to bring one home if the opportunity presents itself lol. 

 

Definitely do some research online on field judging mule deer. Some people get excited and shoot what they think is a big one and then see much bigger ones. If you want good score, you need deep forks


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[Lawdwaz]

45 minutes ago, 607 HUNTER said:

Funny ?

As my initial post states, this is my first out of state hunt. 

Your statement, "Going all the way to CO and getting tag soup would be a tough one" made me chuckle.

I didn't read the start of the thread so that explains my question about your experience, my bad.

Tag soup isn't the worst thing in the world as the scenery eases the pain.  Take lots of pictures and good luck!

[Cory]

32 minutes ago, 607 HUNTER said:

Cant believe we will be so close, the public land I will be on will be about 30-60 minutes  North of vail , off of Red Sandstone Rd. Looks like thousands of acres of land up there.  Do you guys haul the Elk out yourselves or use an elk hauling service?  Thanks for the contact info !

I never knew they had an elk hauling service.lol

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, 607 HUNTER said:

 and a freezer full of true organic meat for my family and I to enjoy.

 

Some buddies talked me into going on a DIY elk/mule deer hunt, about 70 miles north of that location about, 18 years ago.   They had taken elk on prior trips, which were very good eating.  The year I went, the weather was a little on the warm side and the elk were still holed up in the "dark timber" at high altitude.   Cold weather was approaching, and the mule deer were starting to migrate lower.  We killed (3) mule deer bucks but did not see any elk.   At that time, the OTC elk tags were $ 275 (bull with at least three points on a side I think) and mule deer buck tags were $ 125.   How much are the tags now ?  

 Make sure you bring your original hunter safety certificate because you need that to purchase your tags and you need to have it on you when you hunt.  They do not recognize NY hunting licenses but they do recognize NY hunter safety certificates. 

The mule deer was certainly the worst tasting deer meat I have ever had, and that effectively cured me from any desire to shoot another.   It tasted kind of like sage brush smells, which I suppose makes up much of their diet in the high desert area where we killed them.   For some reason, the elk from the same general area tasted spectacular.

It took me a couple of days to get use to the altitude diffence when I was in my late 30's.  When I killed my buck, on the 6th day, I was well-acclimated enough to drag it 5 miles thru the Rockies by myself (We all helped the guys who shot theirs on the first couple days).   I dragged that carcass along a creek (I was told that it was the same creek and waterfalls that is shown on a Coors beer can) most of the way, and I was very thankfulfor my canteen and a bottle of water purification tablets.  I must have drank 5 gallons of creek water during the 4 or 5 hours that it took me to get it to our truck.  Had I know how bad that thing would taste, I never would pulled the trigger or bought the $125 tag.

Looking back now, I am glad I went.  Now in my 50's, I would not want to do it again, unless it were somewhere where the odds of an elk was a lot higher..   Personally, I much prefer the scenery of NY's Adirondacks over the Colorado Rockies and whitetails taste way better than mule deer.   The drive out there with (4) guys in an extended cab pickup was long and uncomfortable.  We also stayed in a ski condo up in Steamboat Springs and got terrific off-season rates.         

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by wolc123

[Pygmy]

What time of the year did you hunt, Wolc…??...The reason I ask  is that  about 20 years ago a friend and I went on an early high country hunt  the first week of September...It was way before the rut and we both shot mature  4x4 s still in velvet..Mine had a spread of 28 "...Both of those bucks were  among the best  venison either of us have ever had... damn near as good as fat early September caribou, which  is wonderful...These bucks were well pre rut and grass fed above timberline....

My last hunt out there was a mid November hunt , at much lower altitude...The buck I shot was a big mature non typical with 15 scorable points..The rut was on and the landowner  suggested donating the meat because he said it would taste like crap so I donated it and came home with the cape and antlers... I   suspected that perhaps the rut  and the change in diet ( perhaps more sage) affected the quality of the meat... 

Perhaps they are similar to caribou...A late summer or early fall bull caribou is delectable,  and I have never hunted them during the rut, but the Alaskans say that a rutting bull caribou is so rank that dogs won't even eat it... I know that the few large rutting whitetails I have killed have tasted stronger than the yearlings and does that I usually shoot...

[Pygmy]

1 hour ago, Cory said:

I never knew they had an elk hauling service.lol

Many guides and outfitters will pack out an elk for a price....When I hunted elk near Creede in 2004, the guy we rented our cabin from was an outfitter, and he told us he would pack out an elk anywhere in unit 76 for $300... We did kill two bulls, hunting on our own, but  we were hunting on National Forest Land, and both were close enough  to a forest service road so that we could butcher them  and pack them out ( there were 3 of us) by ourselves..

When I shot my high country buck near Eagle, he was in a very steep area and my partner's back had gone out on him the previous day when we packed out HIS buck...I really didn't want to tackle it by myself,  but a few miles down the mountain there was a ranch owned by an outfitter...I went down to ask him if I could get a pack horse and some help,  but he was not home..His wife offered me the services of his two teenage boys....I quartered the buck up and bagged it and the three of us packed it out without too much trouble.. At least I didn't have a heart attack....I was in my early 50s then and was in pretty good shape..

[607 HUNTER]

2 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

Your statement, "Going all the way to CO and getting tag soup would be a tough one" made me chuckle.

I didn't read the start of the thread so that explains my question about your experience, my bad.

Tag soup isn't the worst thing in the world as the scenery eases the pain.  Take lots of pictures and good luck!

Thanks for the kind words Lawdwaz, I appreciate it.

[607 HUNTER]

2 hours ago, Cory said:

I never knew they had an elk hauling service.lol

HA Yup.. the guys I am going with hunted in Pagosa Springs 3 years ago. Two of the guys they went with each shot a bull in a very steep canyon as they described, they contacted every person they could with horses and no one would bring there horses down there.  They ended up finding someone with a helicopter who picked up there Elk's and brought them back for them.

I sure hope  I don't need a helicopter, and the plan is to pack everything out. But I would like to have a couple number of outfitters or pack elk out who do it for extra cash once I arrive in town incase the situation arrises I need some assistance.

 

[Five Seasons]

17 hours ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

Yup. They have certain dates they can shed hunt. They line and it's a full sprint. Been going on for years. I wasn't even shed hunting and found 9 nice mule deer sheds in a day once in wyoming.

and they're thinking about changing it because of the chaos and negative affects on the animals. Sometimes we think that it's just the shooting and killing that is bad for a heard, when in fact general stress and anxiety isn't too great either. Similar to how stress affects us humans. 

[Five Seasons]

On 8/28/2019 at 12:06 AM, 607 HUNTER said:

I agree with PA Core !!! Going all the way to CO and getting tag soup would be a tough one.

I guess I would suggest you take a different approach. Enjoy the amazing country and experience. If you get an elk, cherry on top right? But there was a good interview I read a while back with a long time guide. He said it's not much fun for him to guide anymore. In the past, guys would come out and enjoy the experience, but now it's all about results. They're sitting fireside on the side of a mountain in Alaska overlooking an amazing landscape as the sun goes down and disappointed? I can't grasp that. He did go on to point out that the cost of some of these hunts are in access of $20k and many of his clients aren't rich men, but save their whole lives for the hunt and understands why the pressure is there, that he understands your old lady and your buddies might not understand how you could have "wasted" all that money... but try to look at the positive side of it and enjoy the experience. 

[Five Seasons]

10 hours ago, wolc123 said:

The mule deer was certainly the worst tasting deer meat I have ever had, and that effectively cured me from any desire to shoot another.   It tasted kind of like sage brush smells, which I suppose makes up much of their diet in the high desert area where we killed them.  

this is a pretty wide held belief. It's not that it's bad, but it's on the lower end when ranking our hoofed friends meat quality.

[Al Bundy]

Excellent thread! I am watching this with serious interest. I have the time and $$ to do some of these types of trips but my hunting buddy does not.  I am starting to look into something such as this for next year.

[607 HUNTER]

12 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Some buddies talked me into going on a DIY elk/mule deer hunt, about 70 miles north of that location about, 18 years ago.   They had taken elk on prior trips, which were very good eating.  The year I went, the weather was a little on the warm side and the elk were still holed up in the "dark timber" at high altitude.   Cold weather was approaching, and the mule deer were starting to migrate lower.  We killed (3) mule deer bucks but did not see any elk.   At that time, the OTC elk tags were $ 275 (bull with at least three points on a side I think) and mule deer buck tags were $ 125.   How much are the tags now ?  

 Make sure you bring your original hunter safety certificate because you need that to purchase your tags and you need to have it on you when you hunt.  They do not recognize NY hunting licenses but they do recognize NY hunter safety certificates. 

The mule deer was certainly the worst tasting deer meat I have ever had, and that effectively cured me from any desire to shoot another.   It tasted kind of like sage brush smells, which I suppose makes up much of their diet in the high desert area where we killed them.   For some reason, the elk from the same general area tasted spectacular.

It took me a couple of days to get use to the altitude diffence when I was in my late 30's.  When I killed my buck, on the 6th day, I was well-acclimated enough to drag it 5 miles thru the Rockies by myself (We all helped the guys who shot theirs on the first couple days).   I dragged that carcass along a creek (I was told that it was the same creek and waterfalls that is shown on a Coors beer can) most of the way, and I was very thankfulfor my canteen and a bottle of water purification tablets.  I must have drank 5 gallons of creek water during the 4 or 5 hours that it took me to get it to our truck.  Had I know how bad that thing would taste, I never would pulled the trigger or bought the $125 tag.

Looking back now, I am glad I went.  Now in my 50's, I would not want to do it again, unless it were somewhere where the odds of an elk was a lot higher..   Personally, I much prefer the scenery of NY's Adirondacks over the Colorado Rockies and whitetails taste way better than mule deer.   The drive out there with (4) guys in an extended cab pickup was long and uncomfortable.  We also stayed in a ski condo up in Steamboat Springs and got terrific off-season rates.         

 

Congrats on your success ! Just like everything else, the rates sure have gone up I am into $1300 in tags.   I actually registered my NY Hunter safety course with CO so I won't need to carry it, thank you for that info though I feel like many don't know that info. 

I am really excited to try Mule deer, I am sure hope its not that Sagey, but we will see  !

[BizCT]

One thing to remember on "taste" of venison is that a huge factor is age and what that deer eats. Some of you farm guys are blinded by eating deer that get fat eating in AG fields all day long stress-free. Our east coast NY deer don't taste the same because they burning way more calories and busting their asses in the hardwoods looking for mast or bark to eat. The same logic for mule deer, but age is big too. You shoot a mature 5-6 year old rutted up mule deer, who has been eating sage his whole life isn't going to be great. Same goes for antelope. It depends on their age and feeding habits. Most people from the east coast dont make the long trip to out west to shoot a dink or doe for meat. They are shooting trophy animals that are old .