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BLUF: Looking for a Western hunt for 1 or 2 with... - OTC tags or high likelihood of successful draw - DIY on public land or with trepass fee; I might cover inexpensive guide costs for my partner - Walking/hiking is OK, but can't be a Bataan Death March Situation: My hunting buddy's in his 60's in good health, but on a fixed income from a LE pension. He's been waiting for me to retire (likely happening in June '20) so we can go out West. We'll likely hunt from where we can park and set up my comfortable tent/stove. I haven't put in for tags since the 90's and it appears demand for limited tags has gone way up. Interested in your thoughts... | ||
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First of all, what do you want to hunt? Zim 2006 Zim 2007 Namibia 2013 Brown Bear Togiak Nat'l Refuge Sep 2010 Argentina 2019 RSA 2023 Tanzania 2024 SCI Life Member USMC | |||
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You can still buy points in many States that will be valid next year. Money well spent in my opinion. | |||
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Leaning toward mule deer, antelope, or cow elk. Sorry, that would've been helpful. | |||
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Join gohunt.com, and start watching Elk Talk with Randy Newberg on Youtube. He has an entire series on youtube about doing exactly what you want to do. As far as points go buy Wyoming points right now. Montana is also either about to open or is open for points. Gohunt will help you figure out how many points you need. Most landowner tags for elk on privateland are $3500-7500 depending on quality plus the cost of guiding. Cow elk guided hunts could be done for $1000-2500. Guided antelope hunts with tags are $3000-6600 in New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Utah and California. Guided antelope hunts without tags in Wyoming, Colorado and Montana are about $1800-3000. | |||
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I would look at Wyoming and Idaho for deer and elk. There is a lot of public land. Idaho does not have a point system but you will need to buy a license. I am from Utah and will say that there are some good tags but many are tough to draw. However, a cow elk tag (NR) is a cheap route to go. They only down fall is that they are not always easy packing out... | |||
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PM sent ________________________________________________ Maker of The Frankenstud Sling Keeper Proudly made in the USA Acepting all forms of payment | |||
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I would start buying antelope points in WY. I about 4 years you should be able to draw a decent tag. Otherwise, cow elk hunts are fun and very affordable. Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Antelope Hunting is by far the easiest in both terms of accessibility and ease of hunt...Wyoming offers a TON of opportunity As to the rest, you will get a lot of good advice...first of which would be start getting points. Also as mentioned Idaho offers a lot of access too. | |||
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I'll second Antelope in Wyoming. I've hunted them several times in Eastern Wyoming. Never had to pay a trespass fee. Knocked on doors and asked for permission, most of the time got it. Wyoming has lots of Walk in Areas for antelope. Also on Wyoming's game and fish website there will be a list of landowners that allow hunting, some do charge a trespass fee. Your location says you are in South Carolina. If you do go to Wyoming for Antelope, carry some local grown fresh produce, if you can get it. I've carried apples from Boston, when I worked there and also sweet potatoes from Louisiana. They both were a BIG hit with the locals. I also would cook gumbo one night for everyone that let us hunt on their land, they all seemed to enjoy that also. | |||
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Colorado elk hunting. For the regular seasons in October and November otc tags are available everywhere and there is lots of public land to hunt. In NW Colorado (the Craig area) there are many reasonably accessible locations on public land without having to pack in by horseback, etc. | |||
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You could easily do a deer & antelope combo in Wyoming’s region C. Lots of private land that is easily accessible with reasonable trespass fees. Can be a high quality experience. Getting cow elk tags should also be easy and the Bighorn Mtns are in region C, lots of elk. | |||
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you might as well do what everybody else out west does. buy your deer tag and license, come on out, drive up a canyon [any one will do] and set up camp. then come into town and complain to my wife at the cash register of the local gas station that there ain't no damn deer round here. she will smile and take your money and tell you that she could have told you that. then you can get bored and get in line for the 5 mph road hunt conga that snakes it's way around and around the back roads through the national forest. I will smile and wave to you as I'm going the other direction after my grouse hunting is over. but you get to come out west, you get to pitch your tent, and you get to learn how to put tire chains on your truck after the first or second 10"s of snow falls. | |||
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Before getting too deep into things. Consider comparing the tag costs. Whyhoming is mighty damned expensive compared to others. None are cheap though. Good luck, George "Gun Control is NOT about Guns' "It's about Control!!" Join the NRA today!" LM: NRA, DAV, George L. Dwight | |||
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Thanks for all the suggestions and for the PMs. I like the suggestion to bring some home-state goodies for the hosts. Last time I hunted antelope in WY, I brought fixin's for she crab soup. It was a big hit. My buddy and I spoke and it looks like he'll be rebuilding his finances for a bit. He's in Miami getting his cancer treated -- all is good, but it ain't all free. I believe we'll end up doing some bird hunting and fly fishing and leave the big game for later. Well, except that I'm looking at some cow elk options. I have until January to make up my mind whether I'm retiring in June or toughing it out another year. 28 years in the military and 7 years (so far) as a high school teacher will wear a man out... | |||
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Best of luck to your friend! BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
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Idaho is really over rated as a big game state, and wolves and poor management is showing its ugly head...In the 800s non resident tags sold out about as soon as season closed..Today you can buy them over the counter up to the first day of season or after that...Success rate on both deer and elk is somewhat better with a guiding outfit but about 9% on DIY hunts. Certain draw hunts are excellent but hard to draw for that very reason, open hunts suck unless you have horses to pack in and know the country.. Texas is the most successful on Mule deer and whitetail with mostly 100% success..Non guided but the rancher shows you where to hunt and the border of your specific hunt area on his privately owned ranch..Beware of day hunts for mule deer, as those are the worst, but still have a modicum of success..LIcenses are cheap by comparison and Hunts vari for both Whitetail and Mule deer..White tail usually are on a lease by the acre these days, but its a negociations with an individual in every case..Some good, some great and some bad deals.. Finding a good outfitter or ranch lease or just a hunt takes time and patience, once you find one hang on to it.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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