Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Wyoming public land elk

I was thinking along the same lines but didnt want to post it. Very very few of us here give up the luxury of modern technology to hunt with our own hand carved bows, wearing hides for closes and shoes. I know I dont. My bow is only used for carp fishing until I can learn to use it dependably.

This is indeed a weird thread.

I hunt every year in Montana (where I was born and raised) on public land for a wide variety of game animals, both birds and big game, and have done so now for 45 years. I have been pretty successful, too, and have packed out not just mule deer and elk but antelope on my back. The last is something that even a lot of macho guys simply aren't willing to do for "just" a pronghorn.

I have also paid for quite a few hunts over the years, either because it was some place/animal I couldn't hunt without a guide, or because the fee paid for access to really good country. On one occasion a guide even refused my monetary tip because I "helped" so much in packing out the game, and spotted as many animals as he did while we were hunting. (I did insist he take a good binocular I had along.)

I have also taken game with both recurve and long-bows, and know how to knap a stone point, though I haven't taken anything with one yet. Have also shot animals with "traditional" muzzleloaders, using actual black powder and hand-cast round balls. In fact the farthest I've ventured into modern muzzleloading is using a conical bullet.

But I fail to see the big red line between whatever the Internet Police perceive to be real hunters and something else. Maybe it has to do with being born and raised in a certain area. I dunno about that, but I do know that MOST of the people I've met who get violently upset about protecting the "real" Montana from other folks they consider interlopers have moved here within the last 30 years from places like Pennsylvania.

The native Montanans I know who get upset about the vast invasion from "rich outastaters" quite often just move to part of the state that's losing population. There are still a bunch of these areas, as there are in Wyoming. I know this because I have also lived in Wyoming, and hunt there quite a bit. Damn, guess I'm an outastater there!

John,

I hear you..

From 1989 through 1995 I would hunt on my own on the North fork of the Flathead river just west of Glacier Park.I had non- resident tags and was an Okie kid living his dream of hunting that area. In about six months ,I am about to move up to that area(Kalispell) for good.

During that time, I hunted a mix of state and railroad ground mixed in with very few private parcels. For the most part it was Public land.

I scouted and guided myself. I also hunted in a little red TWO WHEEL DRIVE Ford ranger pickup. I used my head when driving on the forest roads and walked in places I needed to. Most every year I pulled a legal bull Elk and a nice Whitetail out of that area.

I have many friends up in that part of the world and know some terrifically talented and knowledgeable hunters.. I also know many "local hunters" who would call it quits by the middle of the season because they simply could not find anything to shoot from the cabs of their jacked up 4x4s from the roads. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around MANY of them had their lazy asses in front of the TV watching football without an Elk or a Deer in the freezer. Being a "local" or a "native" does not give anyone any special dispensation to hunt anything well at all.

I guess my point is the game belongs to those who GET OUT AND HUNT. As long as they do it legally and ethically and truly apreciate the game they take- more power to them. No matter what state they actually live in or what they use to take the game with- as long as it is legal.

Guys, the sicko troll using the multiple identities is NOT a native from Wyoming! I've gotten some nice PM's, several from guys from Wyoming apologizing and assuring me the folks from Wyoming aren't that way, and no one knows that better than I. The troll is from the east, Pennsylvania as I recall, and for a time lived near Cody but I understand was "forced" to relocate and is probably in Colorado now.

bobski just ignore him trolls are a bane of this website. again kudos on the nice elk. I hope to find a nice cow or calf for the freezer this year. Passed up a nice bull 2 weeks ago because I was stupid and tried to break an ankle.

I hope the campfire can now cease to be a grand jury. I love all these posts. The people who post know what they have put into the hunt and what they got out of it. When they offer us a celebratory drink by sharing with us, let's not spit it back in their eye. Bobski, when (if) I am crowding eighty, I would be delighted to have half the spunk and savvy you do. Shoot, I would love to have it now. Good on ya.

Bobski and all..

I was respnding driectly to John Bs posts..

I went back and loooked at the begining of this thread and like him ,I am amazed at the turn it has taken.When I first saw the beginning of this thread several days ago, I thought, "good for those fellows"...

I was one of those wondering what rifle was used and how far the shots were etc..Since then I see that the Elk were taken close to a road..

BIG DEAL..

"Some come easy and some come hard." The scouting and homework took effort, so did the shots taken and the butchering afterwards... So what if there was not a lot of walking involved to take the actual shots..."

A gift from the goddess of the hunt...

I say good for you guys..I bet the Elk steaks taste great!!

Some are hunts are easier than others..

Jim,
I'm thinking it wouldn't be fair to have inquired of a native of a public access area about any big bulls because in the case that a guy had and was lucky enough to find one that he had been told about and took him that might not be proper.
Wonder if a 75 year old guy traveled 1500 miles in a twenty year old pickup arrived and bought a leftover tag then hunted on foot for 5 days in the pouring rain and snow, slept under a tarp every night, ran out of water on the third day and then found a nice bull and shot it with a .243 if that would qualify as fair chase on public ground?
IMHO Having the resources to purchase a good tag or access and/or to employ a guide doesn't make a guy any less a hunter or minimize his accomplishments. It is nuts that there are those that are obviously jealous posting here.
If a guy (those posting negatively)doesn't have something good to say then he might be well advised to eat more pie.

Dave

Bobski, regardless of the negative post I offer my congrat's on a beautiful animal. I also hope I still have the ability to get after them when I even get close to your age. My hat's off to you.

What bullet did that fellow use in a .243??

I have always liked the little round for deer and I know several folks in MT / Wy ho have killed Wapiti on a regular basis with it.

Darn nice bulls.Nicer than the one I took 20 years to get a tag to draw.

Like JB,I have carried out elk,deer, pronghorns ( but not far) I have also packed one heck of a lot of elk on livestock. All DIY ,with no guides, and no fees, except one in Alberta where a guide was required.So I take the easier ones when offered to me.

This deal about the truck stumps me. This year,I first walked about 2 miles, then a day or so later,I rode the mules about 2 miles,heard an elk bugle, worked it about 400 yards and then shot it at about 8 AM at about 60 yards. We had 4 mules with us and it would have taken us until dark to pack it all back to camp. There was an old ranch two track about 400yds from the downed elk which we rode the mules back out to the main road to find out where it led. Then we got my truckand drove the two track, and by moving a bunch of downed aspen and a few rocks,I was able to get within about 15 yards of the elk. We were back in camp by about 3PM.(This was legal on this particular land).All of this land is a mix of BLM, State Trust and Private which you sort out with land status maps.

Does that make this kill less than ethical?

About this land around Cody. I have a friend that lives in Powell ( about 10 miles north) and he has offered to guide me. A resident can guide two hunters a year, I believe, without being a licnesed guide. He would take me on a 27 mile pack trip to hunt elk. I can assure you if there was public land available to hunt and kill bulls like that,and std tags were available, he would not be doing any 27 mile rides to do so. He has been a resident of Cody and Powell for over 35 years. When younger,he cowboyed on most of the big ranches in the area, worked as a mechanic at the Cody Airport, ran a service station, managed properties for out of state owners and now runs bicycle tours. So I suspect he knows just about every bit of public land in the area and what tags are available.


I would just like to know what land the bulls were taken on. and if a fee was paid. This does not distract from the hunt, it just gives others the information as to whether they could aspire to do such a hunt.

Something in the write up could have been added that these bulls or bull was killed on so and so which required a XXX dollar trespass fee to access the public land they were shot on, if that was the case. No big deal here. I'd bet 95 % of the really big bulls we see posted here,or see on those TV shows are killed on land where a fee is paid for trespass,or are on private land guided hunts.I could have paid $200 an hunted the Unit adjacent to the one I did hunt which was easier counrty ,but I chose the one I hunted as I wanted to DIY myslef completely and I do not believe in trespass fees.

Another nice entry on all post would be to include if the hunt was guided or DIY.

As a PS. Following is typical of the country I was hunting in. All open,except for a few small clusters of aspen. So elk do in habit open space as shown in the posted photos.

What the heck, it's halftime and my team's winning so...

I do not begrudge anyone who can afford to do about anything they (legally) want. However, many of the folks that I've met or seen on TV (most any African show) that regularly pay for these big ticket hunts are not much of a "hunter" IMO. The guy that regularly fills his tag on his own, especially if it's public land, is much more of a "hunter" than many of those that have killed huge specimens or huge number's of species. Heck, Mr. Boddington has even addressed these types as 'serious collectors' in print! Not that I have anything against that, actually wish I could do it, but that does not make one a great "hunter"...

The area north and west of Cody has two private ranches; Trail Creek and Two Dot. Hunters can get free permits to cross Trail Creek in order to access state and blm land but the only big game hunting allowed on Two Dot is for a limited amount of cow elk. I have spent a lot of time on Trail Creek and have never seen a bull like Bobski got. A good friend did shoot a seven point there a few years ago but he is quite small. However, between these two ranches is a good road that goes up and over Monument Hill and into some public back country that soon becomes "wilderness." A non resident can hunt there as long as he has a Wyoming resident him and that probably is exactly what Bobski did. Anyone that really wants to hunt that area can do the same and I know there have been several very good bulls come from there in the past few years.

Then more to the north we have the Crandall Creek area. I think all this country with the exception of a few parcells of private land is open hunting for anybody with a permit for that area. Huge bulls come from there quite often. One friend, a few years ago, killed a huge bull that went either eighth or ninth in B&C. Beautiful bull that he has on display in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Stop in and see it some time.

So what I am saying is that you guys that are jealous of Bobski have nothing to go on. There is lots of public land and probably many more big bulls for the ones that want to put out the effort to go hunt them.

Saddelsore, I am not saying that you are one of the jealous ones but some of these other guys are.

Hell, I just hope that when I get to be Bobski's age, I'm still hunting. Period. Nice bulls, btw.

Well, I am almost as old as him but I done got too lazy to hunt.

Interesting.What does it entail to get a permit for those areas?

I don't want to hunt them,just curious.

I have no idea of the possibilities but the old application and drawing thing is how to get started. Lot of those areas are not hard hunting, especially if you got something to ride. Winter can be early and rough there.

Exactly!

There's also the Hoodoo.

You old feeble minded tool.Ric Horst would be shaking your hand,not calling bullsh!t on you.

Yes,they really inhabit that land when only a select group of paying customers get to hunt there,like bobski.