Area 99...

[ithunter]

Feel a bit like the dog that caught the car.

Buddies pulled tags for Area 99 elk. The plan is to go DIY and stay out of the wilderness area. Looking for some input on going to the national forest vs looking for bands of desert elk. I figure the weather will have as much to do with it as anything. Appreciate any input.

 

[ScottR]

Hey, honestly...book as much time as you can for the hunt. There are elk in the desert, but the NF will likely have higher density. I will get @heyjbales to give some insight as well.

 

[heyjbales]

Feel a bit like the dog that caught the car.

Buddies pulled tags for Area 99 elk. The plan is to go DIY and stay out of the wilderness area. Looking for some input on going to the national forest vs looking for bands of desert elk. I figure the weather will have as much to do with it as anything. Appreciate any input.

I would definitely suggest going forest if you are going to be there in archery or early rifle season, but if you can go late (like the last week of rifle) I think you'd have a better time finding bulls out of the Wilderness. The timber in there can be dirty nasty with deadfall, but if you run creek bottoms (not really the ridges) it can be doable getting around.

There are usually a few elk out in the desert that drift onto the hay fields at night, but I would only recommend hunting them if you have big optics and lots of time to catch them in a killable spot. Hope that's helpful!

 

[ithunter]

I would definitely suggest going forest if you are going to be there in archery or early rifle season, but if you can go late (like the last week of rifle) I think you'd have a better time finding bulls out of the Wilderness. The timber in there can be dirty nasty with deadfall, but if you run creek bottoms (not really the ridges) it can be doable getting around.

There are usually a few elk out in the desert that drift onto the hay fields at night, but I would only recommend hunting them if you have big optics and lots of time to catch them in a killable spot. Hope that's helpful!

Thanks for the reply. We haven't really decided when to head out...we have the optics covered if we can get to a decent vantage point. Going DIY, so we will be out of the Wilderness, but I assumed there would be enough forest before the wilderness to hold some elk, unless I'm misjudging.

 

[ithunter]

Let's toss it out there...Staying in the mountains is always a great time with memories and grandpa stories being made.

Unit-99 is a good elk unit for Wyo residents and an OK elk unit for non-residents. While it does share habitat and proximity to Unit-100 they are not the same. We were able to cover a considerable amount of ground during our time in the area, and although we heard several bulls, they were mainly located between the granite and the trees, tucked safely away from non-residents. And as is the case from time to time, there were a few places that were shown as public with OnX but had signs saying "private property" and "No Trespassing", which were in fact public after bumping into the area Biologist.

 

[ScottR]

First off, glad you had a fun hunt. I am sorry that you weren't able to get to the elk that you wanted to hunt.

Yeah, the desert elk aren't as prevalent as across the road. But I have watched them cross the highway....

Thanks for the update!

 

[ithunter]

Absolutely. As a DIY hunter, every trip is something different. And you are correct, just because they weren't across the road when we were there doesn't mean they never are.