Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Best State to Elk Hunt for a Non Resident?

Which state for a do it yourself or outfitter at a reasonable price to harvest and elk for a non resident? Cost ideas for it? Thanks. It use to be Colorado but their tags have gone up quite a bit from years past.

Probably still colorado, easy over the counter tag, lots of elk, And trophy potential with 20 points.
There is no reasonable priced outfitter.
Colorado is still one of the cheapest.

I would say Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana in that order. CO and ID have OTC tags and you can hunt every year. ID has had wolf issues in some units but there are still good opportunities from what i read. MT has the best trophy potential of those 4 but tags are much more expensive.

WYOMING never yet been skunked in Wyoming. I have not hunted Colorado or Montana but all of the rest of the western states. Esox357, if you want to hunt elk, and are not after a trophy send me a pm.

I'd say Colorado, lots of OTC tags and the state with the largest number of elk!

Colorado and Wyoming

Probably Colorado. If you have a lot of time to hunt, or want more flexibility, other states may be better due to longer seasons. In Wyoming, Type 1 tags are good for a month and type 4 & 6 are good for 2 months. I have friends in Wyoming and it's an easy day's drive, so it is the best state for me.

Thanks guys for the info. Elkmen I will keep that in mind.

Colorado and Wyoming, IVE hunted both, Wyoming has better potential in my opinion, but COLORADOS far easier to get tags in most years

After seeing the stats for hunter success if I was from out of state it would be Wyoming. The success rate for Wyoming averages 40%, Colorado last year it was 21%.

Success rates can be misleading at times. Population trend surveys and population composition surveys tend to provide a more clear picture in relation to actual opportunity. When coupling that information with hunter density and man days of effort and subsequent success rate, then you begin to get a clear picture as to which unit per whatever state offers the best opportunity.

Yep, success rates by themselves are meaningless stats. Gotta put them in perspective with lots of other things. % Wilderness/access/roads, vegetation density and terrain all effect success rates.

Does seem consistent with what those who have hunted both say, such as Elkman and 340 mag. I also have two friends in the Cheyenne area and they get elk almost every year. I can't say that about myself or any of the numerous elk hunters I know of in Colorado.

Also -- Colorado seasons are generally very short, about 5 days. Wyoming generally gets at least 14 days, so you don't have as many people in the forest. Lot's more hunters in Colorado. Grew up in Wyo and live and hunt in Colorado. Colorado has more mountains and thus more elk.

Washington, across the counter tags, and the prices are realistic, and they have a large population on public land.

Success rates are meaningless. If you can hunt elk then you will kill elk.

A State could have 100% success but if it means only a few people get to hunt and the cost is out of range of middle class people, then you don't really have good hunting.

I don't hunt Colorado because there is great hunting closer to home. But, I do hunt CA, OR, ID, WY, WA, and UT. And I love Eastern OR like a step sister, a good looking one at that, but WA is my favorite for elk.

You should go to CO, NM,or AZ, - LOL.

Colorado's 2nd and 3rd season are 9 days, two weekends,as is ML season.Archery is about 1 month

1st&4th season is 5 days.

Figure 44400 elk killed, 21% sucess,that is about 200,000 + hunters. A tad crowded at times,especially 1st season.

Not exactly true.

Archery...30 days
Muzzy......9 days
Plains....30 days
1st rifle...5 days
2nd rifle...9 days
3rd rifle 9 day
4th rifle..5 days