New to WY Elk

[MOHunter]

Okay guys, I need some coaching here. My group as gone to CO for years and we're finally burnt out on the crowds, skittish animals, and lack of quality. For a guy who doesn't use a guide or access private ground it's really tough. We bought our first points this summer.

I'm looking for a high action hunt. We don't need monsters, just decent bulls with good activity. We don't want a guide so units with wilderness areas aren't real high for us. I've been looking into units 19 and 23. It looks like the late season for 19 has pretty good draw results (2 pts) with good quality.

I've been thinking we might be able to do a reduced price cow tag the year prior to our bull tags to kind of scout the unit. Is that possible?

We don't necessarily have a preference for method (bow, rifle, muzzleloader). I am wondering how the muzzleloader seasons work. I can't seam to find dates for Type 0 licenses. In CO it coincides with the archery season.

Any guidance at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jenbickel]

We dont have a muzzleloader season in Wy.
I have read that it is easier to draw type 9 archery only tags.. Buying a reduced price cow tag the year before so you can kind of scout the unit would be a good idea. This year, they both have leftover tags for those areas but its also saying that those areas have difficult public access which may be part of the reason it has good drawing odds.
I have never hunted those areas so I dont have a clue, I'm just going off what the G & F website says. I wish I knew more! Hope that helps a little.

 

[ssliger]

I know of some people that have had success in 19, don't know anything about 23. Some other options for new elk hunters is 9,10,110, and 12. The snowy range holds quite a bit of elk. There are a lot of hunters but if you can get over a mile off a road you can get into elk. Area 110 has wilderness so maybe that won't work. These are OTC tags for residents so i don't know how non-residents draw them. Me and a buddy both got bulls last year and didn't set foot in the wilderness areas. A lot of the hunters just cruise the roads looking for tracks crossing. We started seeing sign and elk after just a 1/2 mile from the road. I drew a premium tag for Mule deer, so my elk hunting will be limited. But i will be hunting the Snowy's again, it's only 30-45 minutes away for me. Send me a pm if you want to get more info.

 

[ADavid]

I am actually a proud holder of the 19-2 and a 19-6 tag this year but if I had a choice between 19 and 23 I would choose 23. The quality of bulls is far higher and it has the rattlesnake mountain HMA went with a buddy a few years ago and he shot a 360 class bull. I live in Casper and like to stay close to home so based on resident draw odds of 20 percent for are 23 or 36 percent for 19 the choice is easy.

 

[kcaves]

u can also get the muddy mountain hma in unit 19, which opens up quite a bit over there, but other than that, there really isn't a lot of public ground, i've seen a lot of elk over there and the population is on the rise.