Wyoming General Archery or Rifle??

[TN VOL]

Hey guys, thanks to everyone thats helped me in the past.. I've thought this over a 1000x now, my sons will be 16 & 18 this coming elk season 2019 and they both are eligible to get the youth price license since my oldest won't be 18 until after draw. Really looking for anyones take on hunting the elk general units archery vs rifle. I've heard that archery is the best time due to the rut and easier to find elk etc. but the harvest rates are obviously higher in rifle. The thought of hunting a rutting bull with less pressure in archery is enticing...thoughts? ideas? I was told by biologist the hunting pressure is lower in archery but I've also read where its about the same...thanks again!
-TN VOL

 

[ssliger]

My vote would be archery. Even if the pressure is the same, once the elk start hearing rifle shots all bets are off on locating them anymore.


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[Prerylyon]

'TN,

As far as elk goes, I'm a total babe in the woods, so take what I offer in that context.
Hunting closer to or in the rut offers some real excitement that would appeal. The bugling bulls, giving away their location, and being able to get close to them is pretty kewl.

I was advised at one point to look into WY cow hunts that opened on Oct 1 to benefit from hopefully better weather (we didn't lol) and the possibility of bugling elk. I did just that in Oct 2017 and we had bugling elk almost every day and night, during the 2nd week of Oct, which is getting late, but it helped us locate elk and added a layer of interest to the whole experience. They weren't bugling real heavy like you see in videos taken earlier in Sep, but they were talking nonetheless. It got me thinking more about archery.

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[dan maule]

I’ve taken my boys both archery and rifle hunting in Wyoming. The nice thing about archery season is that it less likely that you will have to deal with extreme snow and usually a little more relaxing hunt from a battling the elements perspective. Also there is nothing in the outdoors that gets my blood flowing like a bull elk screaming at me from 50 yards. Personally if you can swing it I would go for archery and return for rifle. I know what my wife said when I told her that plan but she did get over it. Now my boys are starting college and It’ll be 4 to 5 years before we can out west.

 

[go_deep]

If your going to hunt hard during the archery season, just as likely to fill tags as the rifle season as long as your not picky. Odds are that you have better weather, but defiantly not a guarantee. I've been in white outs on Labor Day weekend.
Either way you can't go wrong, your elk hunting with your kids!

 

[TN VOL]

I like the idea of going back for rifle season if there tags aren’t filled..I want us to experience rutting bulls in archery..we’ve never hunted elk in archery.. in the regular draw they’re not guaranteed a tag with 2 points but we will see..thanks for everyone’s take

 

[HighPlainsHunter]

September in elk country is normally pretty nice time of year to be running around. Later in the season not so much as the wind and cold can make things more difficult. Look at it like a vacation with the boys and have a blast, if you get an elk great, but if not that's ok as well. I'd also recommend bringing your fishing poles as you never know when you might get a chance to wet a line.

 

[TN VOL]

Didn’t realize this until studying the general units last night, but there’s a youth rifle elk hunt in Unit 21 for 2 days prior to when rifle opens..in 2018 it was Oct 13-14 before the opener on the 15th. That’s the only unit I’ve seen have that..

 

[Prerylyon]

'TN,

Keep an eye on that 21/call the Bio on it; not sure what happened last year; but that was my 1st choice for a type 6 cow tag; anyhow, after I applied and before the nonres draw last Feb, they slashed the number of cow tags and my odds plummeted from what they generally had been in previous years. My buddy I and picked 21 because on paper, historically the type 6 odds in 21 were a little better than in an adjacent unit we had experience with. IIRC, they cut 48 tags to just 16. Granted, that's a reduced price cow tag that is randomly drawn, still, might be worth understanding what motivated the cow tag reduction and how the health of the herd is in there. I never looked into it at the time as I set my sites on planning for the doe deer and antelope draws.

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[Idhikker]

Success rates are always going to be higher in rifle in most areas. Bugling is fun too. You will get some bugling in Mid October so that can be a compromise.