Domed doesn't work for me. I've tried some different ones over the decades, and at this point I use the Phelps Dragon Slayer for every elk sound that I can't make with my voice. YMMV
The timing also works well so cnelk can help remodel our house while we're gone for two months! Our RV spot is about 100 yards from the water, and we can fish without driving anywhere. Love leaving winter behind for awhile.
We will be landing on the Texas Gulf coast tomorrow afternoon to camp and fish by the water for the next two months. Love it. We live in the CO mountains at 8600', and March-April are usually our worst weather months.
Ironically we had to drive 50 miles through a hellacious snowstorm in Texas...
And reducing archery licenses by 10% "initially". Which means even more in the future. CPW hates bowhunters. That has been clear for a long time. They acknowledged that this was the least preferred alternative, but screw 'em, we don't care what the testimony, surveys, and public input say...
Lots of hunters do that in elk country. Don't worry about wallows - they won't be relevant in summer. Instead, focus on transition/travel routes between feeding and bedding areas. Edges of clear-cuts, edges of burns, edges of wet meadows are all good choices, as are well used waterholes...
One of the ranchers leading the charge on this initiative said the reason why he didn't want hunters coming in to thin the elk was because they would run the elk off his ranch. Ironic, since he purports to want elk off his ranch.
What he really means is that a bunch of hunters shooting cows...
I'm betting a large number of the "regulars" in those units are collecting points and after the die-off won't want to burn them there.
When deer went all draw, I burned a ton of points to to draw my longtime unit because I had a killer place to hunt big bucks with a bow. Would have drawn...
It's still "Bear Mountain Ranch" as far as I know. Has had several owners and name changes over the years but that sort of stuck. I have a friend who still guides for them, and he reports back to me every year. Still great hunting ranches, gobs of elk.
I have hunted and guided on what is now Bear Mountain Ranch off and on since the late 70s, until 2011. Much of it used to be BLM before several big land swaps, and the previous owners of the private allowed me to bowhunt after the land trades with the BLM. Then it sold and the new owners...
Bear Mountain Ranch near Kremmling CO will fit your bill. OTC licenses, beautiful lodge or a more rustic backcountry cabin, lots of elk, beautiful country. They may be booked for this year. Haven't checked prices lately but probably around $7500-$8000 (each) for a five day hunt.
$35 in 2000 is worth $63.79 in 2024. So one could make the point that resident tags are cheaper. I did a graph for Colorado once for an article, and found that big game tags were roughly the same now, inflation adjusted, as in 1970. But the opportunity and quality has really diminished.
I've lived in CO my whole life, and absolutely understand the politics. I've been involved in the bear initiative, trapping, wolves, and now this. But the difference is, nonresidents don't vote on our ballot initiatives, don't vote for our Leftist politicians, don't pay our property taxes...
Nope. Because NR hunters won't stop hunting western states. There will always be more demand than supply, even if prices continue to rise. But what I said was that nobody is making anyone come to the west to hunt, when they can stay home and hunt for cheap.
You are referring to nonresident western hunting when you say "hunting", I assume? Anyone can hunt their home state for not much more than the cost of a Starbucks and a bag of chips.
The pricing for tags is based on willingness to pay. WY is testing that threshold with the Special draw this year. Elk are a limited resource "owned" and managed by the state. The costs to run a government agency far exceed the cost to maintain the resource (which in the case of elk...
Yes. When I studied Natural Resouce Management back in the 70's we studied how to test the willingness-to-pay theeshold in most every public resource area. This is simply an extension, and other states will likely follow suit in some manner if it proves to achieve their goals.
The bigger issue is in reporting "huntable" elk populations. If a unit has, say, 3000 elk but 2500 of them live basically year round on big ranches with little or no public hunting, the reported stats are still "3000 elk". They also don't report the difference in success rates for public vs...