Where should hunters go when they visit YELLOWSTONE?

TFrank

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Joined
Dec 9, 2020
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316
The park is awsome. It is sad when my most vivid memory there was when someone decided to block traffic by parking his car at an exit.
Ok maybe he was just picking someone up temporarily I will give it a few. Nope dude just sat there in the car.
After having been in the park for three days, I was sick of all the people and just became irate over this dude. I chewed this guys ass informing him he wasn’t the only one on vacation. My poor wife was so embarrassed.
He had so many other option didn’t have to block the exit….

of course you gotta check out the thermal features. They are so amazing. I may never go back, but you have to see that unique park at least once in your life.
 
Joined
Jan 3, 2020
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Becker Ridge, Alaska
I used to live in Logan, UT and we made the trip to Yellowstone twice every year.
We like May when the crowds are thinner and calfs are dropping.
And Sept. when the crowds are thinner and bulls are bugling.
Never been there in the summer...my favorite National Park.
 
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Feb 9, 2015
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654
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SE Michigan
Good thread as my wife and I were contemplating the same type of day trip if we tag out early.


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Joined
Aug 16, 2018
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Alaska
Don't plan on practicing your elk calling while in the park, apparently it's against the law. Don't ask how I know.
I was there in July and the jack wagons were driving around hanging their head out the window cow calling every 5 seconds..super annoying..
I don't see why It would be against the law in September though. Maybe back in the back country. Could be fun!
 

grfox92

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Mar 14, 2017
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NW WY
I just got home from Yellowstone. Went through the easy hate at 730am and there was very little traffic until around 10 am, then the park exploded. No parking in any parking lots and lines if traffic to get into every single hot spring and attraction.

I know this year is an exception, but I'll never go on a weekend again.

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grfox92

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Mar 14, 2017
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NW WY
Don't plan on practicing your elk calling while in the park, apparently it's against the law. Don't ask how I know.
I got pulled over in 2009 in October, in the park. We were wearing some camo as we were on our first mule deer hunt (outside the park obviously) but took a day off to go see Yellowstone.

He asked what we were doing there and we explain bed we were taking a break from hunting to see the park. First thing he said after that was "do you guys have any game calls in the car." That's when I learned it was illegal. We didn't anyway but I was still surprised.

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young7.3

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May 16, 2017
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Hayden and lamar valley for wildlife. If you want to hike away from people grand teton has the best views


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WCB

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Jun 12, 2019
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Honestly I avoid the park at all costs. Too many people and I can just go hit some trail heads or roads outside the park the other 1,000s of places in ID, WY, and MT and be alone in the wilderness. Now if you are just passing through and in the area the Museum in Cody is a good spot. Drove through Jackson WY for the first time in a long time 2 summers ago and debated on running red lights and stop sign to get outta there as fast as I could. Over crowded and over rated now days.
 
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Messages
832
Location
Glendale, AZ
Any suggestion of must-see places in Yellowstone that outdoorsmen would find more interesting than the caravans of RVs?

If this Antelope hunt ends quick I want to take my brother and my three adult sons to see a bit more of the west! Maybe get our lines wet. Maybe breath some thin air!

Thanks for any suggestions!

Jake from NC
During the summer months, the park is VERY crowded. It thins a bit in Sept. when the kiddies return to school. I always planned my annual trips for late Sept. when the elk rut kicks in. About every meadow in the park will have a a bunch of elk with a herd master & a few wannabe bulls.

Visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. It's a fantastic place with one of the largest collections of firearms in the world, some superb art from the western masters such as Remington & Russell & lots more.
 
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Joined
Aug 23, 2020
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Glendale, AZ
Very cool place.
You will get tired of seeing Buffalo.
Asians must love the place.
Dont corner any animals, inadvertently or otherwise. They will run over you!!
If walking around keep your head on a swivel. Stuff shows up in the darndest places.
Tell me about it!

For about 15 years running in 1980-90s, I always spent 3-6 days in YNP taking photos during the elk rut. The bad boy (below )tried to tear a hunk outta my butt near the campground in Mammoth.

When I started shooting, he and his harem of about 20 cows were 30-50 yards away, but the cows kept coming my way. Finally one of them meandered over to me and stood less than 5 feet from me. The bull didn't like that one bit. He pinned his ears back and came at me on the dead run as I scrambled to get a tree in between him and me. I dodged behind a pine with about a 6" trunk, put my hand on it and stood back at arms length as he butted up against it with his antlers on either side just missing me. My legs were literally shaking, and I had to keep control of the two cameras strapped around my neck. We did circles around the tree for about 3-5 minutes until he just turned and meandered off. My buddy was standing on the road above us and took quite a few photos. He gave me one, but it's 35mm slide buried in my files somewhere.

One other time I was taking pix of a bull moose along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. We were on a sloping hill between the main road and the water. It was probably about 25 yds. between them. I had the moose all to myself until a van load of Japanese tourists pulled up and parked. With cameras in hand about six of them proceeded to close in on the moose from behind it. I was on the other side in front of it. At first it didn't seem to bother him, but when he felt pressured, here he came. Fortunately, there was good-sized downed tree about six feet behind me where the trunk was up off the ground a couple feet. I quickly ducked under and through the opening to the other side as the moose closed in. He stopped coming, reared up and started pawing the air with his front legs. Tired of that, he decided to go down to the water and wade around the tree. That was my opening to get my a$$ outta there and up to the road where my truck was sitting.


elk5.jpg
 
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Joined
Aug 23, 2020
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Glendale, AZ
I got pulled over in 2009 in October, in the park. We were wearing some camo as we were on our first mule deer hunt (outside the park obviously) but took a day off to go see Yellowstone.

He asked what we were doing there and we explain bed we were taking a break from hunting to see the park. First thing he said after that was "do you guys have any game calls in the car." That's when I learned it was illegal. We didn't anyway but I was still surprised.

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In a somewhat related and amusing aside, in the late 1980s, I had driven to BC to hunt moose and caribou north of Liard Hot Springs. After the hunt, I left the antlers and well-salted hides there with the outfitter while I headed to Denali NP in AK to shoot wildlife pix.

On the way home, I picked up my stuff. The caribou antlers went inside my camper shell, but I had to leave room for the rest of my gear and for me to sleep. So the hides were put into a heavy fiber-reinforced bag, which I tied to the underside of my Coleman Scanoe that was mounted upside down on a roof rack. I fastened the 60" moose antlers to the top of the canoe.

My plan was to stop by YNP for some elk pix before heading to Durango, Colo. where my oldest son was getting married in a few days.

Right after I crossed into Montana near Cutbank, a black pick-up got on my tail and eventually lights in the grill began flashing. It was a MT game warden. He checked my Canadian paperwork, and after having a nice chat, I was on my way again.

I entered YNP through the gate at West Yellowstone, and the gal in the booth never mentioned anything about the highly visible moose antlers. BUT...I hadn't gone three miles before a park ranger pulled me over, checked my paper work and went on his way.

Unfortunately, that was only the first of four stops that morning. By now I was getting just a bit annoyed with it all. On the 4th stop, I finally said to the ranger something like:

"Look, I know all of you guys have radios in your vehicles. So can you please do me a favor and put out an all-points bulletin to tell every ranger that there's a blue Nissan pickup with a green Scanoe and moose antlers on top that has already been checked four times. So leave him be to carry on his visit."

The ranger laughed and said, "I'll do just that."

That was the last time I was stopped over the next two days.
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2014
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Tulsa Ok
I like yellowstone, but Grand Teton is much less crowded. So easy to stay there and do day trips to yellowstone when you feel like heading into that circus.
 
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
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Idaho Panhandle
The regular driving around stuff gets old pretty quick. I went with family once, and my wife and I ditched them when we found an outfit that took us across the park on horseback with a night spent in the backcountry. Now that was awesome.
 
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