The vast majority are private land or outfitters. It may actually be slightly higher than the 10 to 1 ratio I quoted in Colorado.
You're just wrong on this one. Hell, take a gander at all the guys that post just on this forum alone and see just how many of us are successful, year in and year out, all DIYer's. Killing elk on public isn't some magically hard thing to do on public ground. Sure the guys hunting private/guided have a higher success, but sure as hell the public DIY hunters are way more successful then you're giving them credit for.
No, you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm saying the success rate is shokingly low for DIYs, not zero. There's a difference.
The private land guys are able to say things like this:
"There are a ton of elk on this hunt and you will be in bucks every day deciding which one you will be shooting."
"These ranches are well roaded an you don’t have to be super fit to hunt this. Hunting is mostly out of UTV’s..."
"So whatever time frame you want to hunt we can get you in elk. If we get good snow the late hunt (fourth rifle) can be so insane with literally hundreds and hundreds of elk and your choosing the bull you want."
(taken from a random Craig outfitter... and not high fence)
While the DIY guy
Knew another dude from back east, serious DIY dude, who killed an absolute MONSTER bull on public land....on his 23rd attempt.
Decide which of those two hunting experiences you want, and pay accordingly.
As a DIY guy that hauls the meat out of public land myself, on my back... by myself... I have eaten a few tags... But I'm still running north of 65% on public land elk kills between Colorado and Wyoming. If you want to be successful..
See my post under the "Accuracy of Colorado Hunting Stats" and it will be self explanatory.
