elk hunting 2015

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birdybritt529

New member
I am looking into doing an elk hunt/ mule deer combo hunt in 2015. Can anyone point me in the right direction for hunting with an outfitter? I see hundred online but wondering if anyone can vouch for any. I would probably be doing the rifle season. Thanks!
 
Why do you need to fill the pockets of an outfitter? Just do your homework and apply for a license in April (?). I'm a non-resident and I shoot an a Muley buck every year. I see elk all the time, but don't want to fork over the $450+ that they want for a license. I'd call the DOW and ask about harvest stats and preference points first. You may be able to find an area worth hunting on your own.
 
I hear ya about not spending the money. This would truly be a once in a lifetime trip for me. I would be traveling from MN. I had a friend head out this year in a group of 13 and only 2 people ended up with cows. He claims he only had invested 800 hunting on public land. He told me how another group camped in an area and sent the elk packing up the mountains. Since I would be making the travel expenses and giving up my PT time I just feel that dropping 4-5000 is the route I would like to go.
 
I'm not sure you could buy an elk/deer combo hunt for $4-5,000. It's just like pheasant hunting in SD, the rates have risen over the years. I know a good outfitter in the area I use to hunt elk on public land but their rates have gone through the roof. $8,500 for elk and $4,500 for deer. A Combo is $12,000. Good luck.
 
Dakotazeb said:
I'm not sure you could buy an elk/deer combo hunt for $4-5,000. It's just like pheasant hunting in SD, the rates have risen over the years. I know a good outfitter in the area I use to hunt elk on public land but their rates have gone through the roof. $8,500 for elk and $4,500 for deer. A Combo is $12,000. Good luck.
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Agreed - a fully guided combo (assume buck/bull, not does and cows) with a reputable outfit will usually go near/over 5 figures. Maybe less for a single-shingle guy that's truck-based.

There are a lot of outfitters who do semi-guided/drop camps. Pack you in to a wall tent camp with some maps and info, and haul you and your game out. One problem with combo hunts is oftentimes the deer and elk are in different areas, so it can be tough to hunt both effectively on foot from the same backcountry camp.

I would ask around on some of the big game forums as you'd be more likely to find info there. www.biggamehunt.net is one I lurk on fairly often. A question you should ask is do you want 'fully outfitted' or 'fully guided' - there's a big difference in cost and hunting activity between the two.

the Outfitter's association would be a good start, too: http://www.coloradooutfitters.org/

Good luck!
 
Birdybritt,

I live just north of you in Ramsey. I went last year with an outfitter out of Jackson Hole WY. http://www.horsebackadv.com/hunting/ I would highly recommend these guys!!!!!! Rifle hunt for $4,750 and a first class operation. Our camp went 4 for 4 the week I was there. Check out their success rates. The year before I went I think he had 52 hunters and shot 38 bulls! I will hunt with these guys again you will pay 10k-12k to get this type of hunt in New Mexico. You have to be able to sit on a horse for some long rides, but these guys know elk really well. PM me if you want more info.
 
goldenboy said:
Birdybritt,

I live just north of you in Ramsey. I went last year with an outfitter out of Jackson Hole WY. http://www.horsebackadv.com/hunting/ I would highly recommend these guys!!!!!! Rifle hunt for $4,750 and a first class operation. Our camp went 4 for 4 the week I was there. Check out their success rates. The year before I went I think he had 52 hunters and shot 38 bulls! I will hunt with these guys again you will pay 10k-12k to get this type of hunt in New Mexico. You have to be able to sit on a horse for some long rides, but these guys know elk really well. PM me if you want more info.
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I work in Jackson during the summers and would say it is probably a much better than a co hunt. If you do a colorado hunt don't waste $$$ on an outfitter. Save up some preference points and go on a good diy hunt.
 
Personally if I had the money and time, I would go with a semi guided drop camp in a wilderness area, or large road less area. I know several locations of these camps, and they are in prime public land areas, that are just straight up too hard to get into without horses. I have never used an outfitter, but I like where Half Moon Pass hunts, and they have camps in both draw units and over the counter units.
Just my two cents
 
I agree with MountainFarmer. To me, it's completely absurd to pay the kind of money the outfitters/guides want these days. But then, to me, it's more about the full experience than just "killing an elk" (even a trophy); same with phez hunting, really. I much prefer to figure it out on my own than to have someone "guide" me. I live on the southern end of the Uncompahgre Plateau, and there's no shortage of guides (or elk) around here, but even a novice can "go it alone" if they have some decent woods sense, stealth, and stamina. No guarantee, of course, but reasonable chance for sure. I got a nice 4x5 a couple weeks ago after 2.5 days hunting just a 1/2 mile into one of the wilderness areas south of here. There was so much elk sign, it truly looked like a barnyard - they were everywhere. That said, getting a shot without spooking them was another story!

Look at it this way - you could pay @ 10 large for a "once in a lifetime" hunt, or go 3-4 times for that same money on a drop-camp/self-guided deal.

Oh, and as for the deer - tons of public land all over the Western Slope with plenty of mature bucks. But as stated above, prime deer country is not the same as elk country. Figure several days devoted to each.

On the other hand - if you're looking for a record-book critter, go with a fully-guided private land hunt. The Flat Tops/Meeker area would be a good bet for that kind of thing.
 
I've elk hunted in Colorado well over a dozen time in the past 25 years. Never had a guide but have had the assistance of a friendly rancher on occasion. Only twice have I not come back with an elk.

BirdyBritt, if this is truly going to be a "once in a lifetime" hunt then I would pay the money and hire a guide. In 2001 I drew a bull moose tag in Wyoming in an area south of Jackson. I knew this would probably be my one and only moose hunt so I hired a guide. It was well worth the money and I took a nice bull moose.
 
cokid said:
Why? Not taking offense, just curious why you'd say that. That Jackson area has to be very commercialized, no? Less "space" to choose from as well, seems to me.
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There are lots of elk, tons of public land, and there is far less hunting pressure than in CO. If I was going to spend $$ and not save up pp I would go to Wyoming or Montana. I still hunt CO cuz I can't afford to go any place else. If I had the $$ north is where I would go.
 
cokid said:
Look at it this way - you could pay @ 10 large for a "once in a lifetime" hunt, or go 3-4 times for that same money on a drop-camp/self-guided deal.
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Ok, I have seen "drop camps" on a lot of sites. This is my first year at elk and I would love to camp and hunt horseback. This may not work for me this year as I attempt to figure it all out. However the question here is where do I get information on these drop camps. I am reading my way through the Elk 101 on the CPW site and have not figured this part out yet.
 
shaneatkinson82 said:
Ok, I have seen "drop camps" on a lot of sites. This is my first year at elk and I would love to camp and hunt horseback. This may not work for me this year as I attempt to figure it all out. However the question here is where do I get information on these drop camps. I am reading my way through the Elk 101 on the CPW site and have not figured this part out yet.
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Wow, where to start? Many of the fully-guided services offer drop-camp and/or semi-guided variations. I guess I'd recommend starting here: http://www.coloradooutfitters.org/. Looks like you can do a filtered search for various options (including drop camps). I'm not sure if you're saying you'd like to do horseback with the drop-camp, but I don't think anyone is going to offer that. I know a handful of outfitters/guides locally, but I haven't actually hunted with any of them, so wouldn't want to give a personal recommendation.

Regardless of what type of service you choose, you're going to need to decide if you want to pick a service first, or an area/GMU first. I'd recommend the latter, though I realize that can be tough when you can't visit the area first (I'm assuming). CO elk hunting techniques vary widely, from open-prairie scoping and typical long shots to dark timber stalking. I grew up being trained in the latter, and since I can't sit still for more than an hour or so, that's what I do, but the success rate is probably a bit better for the open-country elk - if you can find them. So, kinda think about what type of hunting you want to do, then try to narrow it down to a general area; is it all about harvesting an animal, or is the experience (and scenery) also important? Are you more interested in high country/early season hunting (most wilderness areas would fit here), or later season BLM/private land/open country hunting (more "road hunting", sit-n-spot, etc.). To me, avoiding high-pressure areas is a higher priority than finding a trophy, so I look for the lesser-known GMUs, but ones that still have healthy populations. You didn't really indicate you were after a trophy bull, but if so, there's a handful of places in CO that most people would recommend to you - the northwest corner/Flattops, units 61, 40, 76, maybe 85. But if that's not your top goal, there are a ton of places you can get into good numbers of animals. There's a reason CO has so many OTC license units! That said, if it is a trophy you're after, you might do better to look at NM, AZ or UT - CO is more a "quantity" state vs "quality", at least measured in # of points on the rack.

One more resource, if you haven't already looked at it - the CO DOW has some helpful "regional hunt guides" here: http://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/BigGameHuntGuides.aspx. These include statistics broken down by GMU, which are good general guides of success rate by season, etc. Definitely worth a look.
 
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