WY GEN $2K Raghorns you shooting?

grossklw

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 24, 2017
Messages
226
Location
Wisconsin
I chased a 350 on a gen tag several miles one year and had him within 60 yards several times. It didn't work out.

2 days later I called a rag into 7 yards screaming in my face and I killed him, and I had absolutely no reservations about it. I should draw again here shortly, and I may change my tune but I was a happy with a rag in 19 and I'll likely be happy with a rag in 24 or 25. To each their own.
 
Joined
Feb 17, 2013
Messages
2,267
I think there are two ways of looking at it. I spent two grand on this tag I’m not going home empty-handed. Or….. I spent two grand on this tag I’m not shooting anything small.

It comes down to this. If you have elk hunting experience and you have a good elk hunting area and know it well and are confident you’ll get opportunities you might hold out for all or at least part of your hunt for a bigger bull. If you either don’t know anything about elk hunting or are going to an area you’ve never hunted before you might want to answer the door if opportunity knocks.
 

Hnthrdr

WKR
Joined
Jan 29, 2022
Messages
2,657
Location
Co
For most hunts for a lot of people I think it boils down to unit quality and time to hunt. If I have 30 days to bow hunt in a unit that I know holds a decent amount of mature bulls not shooting a dink in the first 15-20 days probably. Now if I’m in an otc unit and have a total of 4-7 days to hunt, different story. I probably won’t be passing up any legal bull
 

Lytro

WKR
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Messages
522
I'm an opportunist when it comes to elk hunting, but the only way I would be killing a raghorn on a $2K tag would be if it was the afternoon of the last day and it was close to a road. Personally, I wouldn't even spend $2K on a landowner voucher with a high likelihood of killing a 300"+ bull though.
 
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
8,382
For those of us who dont live in a state we can elk hunt, the cost of a tag is the cost of an elk hunting experience. Had a $1200ish Special tag this year. If it were a $2k tag it wouldn't have changed a thing about what i considered a shooter.

I've gotten pretty good at eating tags lately. If there's plenty of meat in the freezer the choice between shooting a little raghorn that needs packing miles off the mountain, work caring for the meat from the mountain til it's processed and frozen, possibly needing to gift meat to friends/family so I dont waste it - and telling people i didn't shoot anything on a $2k tag, that's an easy choice. If the freezer is getting bare or I haven't shot an elk in a couple years, raghorns are much less safe.
 

Laramie

WKR
Joined
Apr 17, 2020
Messages
2,619
Many are making the point of picking up a cow tag. If it's "brown it's down" why not just pick up a cow tag?

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Great post.

I have killed a quite a few bulls in my past and have 3 on the wall that I'll likely never best. What keeps me chasing them is the thrill of a bugling bull coming in. Cow hunts just can't replace that. Is it worth 2k for a raghorn experience? Absolutely.
 
Joined
Nov 26, 2018
Messages
1,209
Location
Ohio
Some sound like a whole new group of hunters is going to jump at this 2K opportunity. The majority of this group of applicants will be those that have hunted WY before, probably most have paid the Special before(even though much cheaper), but realize the sign of the times, and that is you either pay more to hunt more, or sit at home for years while you get older, and get points for a fleeting Gen. And it’s not like it’s going to be a 2 K expenditure every year, because you’re not going to draw it every year.
Sig line is appropriate.
 
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