Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Unit 21 Wyoming

I think I finally have a decent handle on the Wyoming Regs, looking at unit 21 somewhere from Bridger Peak west and maybe in the Huston Park Wilderness if my Wyoming buddy decides he wants to go. From the looks of things rifle season can be a circus, wondering about archery? what kind of pressure can we expect? Will there be enough pressure to push elk into the wilderness? If we pack in a couple of miles will we lose most of the other hunters? Thanks in advance!

I don't bow hunt.. Have friends that kill a lot of elk in 21 with crossbows.. I think it is pretty much a circus any time in that unit.. We have local guys who pack in to the wilderness.. They seem to do ok.. There are a lot of elk in 21, but the quality of the bulls is probably not great.. I seldom shoot a bull, if I can take a cow.. they had a a very long general cow season in that unit this year.. That is were I filled my general elk tag in Nov. One thing you must consider is getting an elk out in archery season.. It can be very warm then..

Understand the warm temp issue, there should be 3 of us, so hopefully it will be 1 trip back to the truck and out to get ice, or maybe dry ice if we can find it.

You will have processing plants in both Baggs and Encampment.. They should have dry ice.. Often local stores have dry ice at that time of year... I often try for a private land cow permit in my area.. It occurs in Sept., I don't fool around if I kill one, I get to the Encampment Meats processor immediately.. You will be high in the mts. at that time a will have cool to cold evenings.. The last 6-10 years, I have not cut up and processed my elk.. Used to, but these guys will let the elk hang 7-10 days, then cut it up and package.. It is a bit pricey, but nice to pickup my elk frozen, ready to be put in our freezer.. One of the bennies of being older..

I still do my own, well when I manage to shoot one . Quarter, pack them out and then when I get home cut them up. I know the older I get the more it takes its toll to get an animal out of the mountains, thats why come early this spring Im having quad trails cut just about everywhere on my property in WV, its so nice to just load a deer up on an atv and get it back to camp.

The area is a total circus. And the quality of bulls leans towards the sucks side. We could only manage to put 1100+ inches of horn in front of the tent this year.

Shoot one of the thousands of cows in this unit. They taste better anyway.

I was being my normal sarcastic azz self above. We had a tragic year of hunting elk in t-shirts and shorts.

WyoCoyoteHunter is correct in that parts of 21 are a complete flipping circus. Plan to get as far away from 70 as you can. Stay the hell out of Sandstone, Circle Bar and Battle Creek. Unless of course, you like the circus. These are great areas for mid week cow tipping though.

We saw two other hunters the entire week where we actually hunt. 21 has plenty of elk, some fair bulls and offers a great experience for a general tag unit if you are willing to put in a little work.

LOl, I got that Wyoelk. Thanks for all the info!!

Wyoelk

I was curious where you said you saw 2 other hunters during the entire week. Was this in the wilderness and archery or rifle?

Going to head up there or an adjacent unit for archery this year. Looking for a spot to get away from the crowds. Don't care about size more quantity and solitude. Don't want to go if it is wall to wall hunters. Kind of get mixed signals on 21.
Thank you!

Anybody have any input on these south central units such as 21, 13, and 15. I have scoured all the recent data and think I am going to give it a try for archery this year. Only a few more days to make my final decision or to head back to OTC CO but think I am ready for a change of scenery.

We hunt near and in wilderness. I would advise against thinking that wilderness will give you a pristine adventure in 21. Outfitters and horse hunting locals have large portions of the wilderness covered.

Focus on country near wilderness with few roads and lots of up.....

You can kill elk near 70 but you will be disgusted by the crowds. You won't need an alarm clock due to the constant atv traffic starting at about 4 a.m.

Get two miles away from that circus and you will find pretty good elk hunting. Three years ago we came out to the trailhead to find 20+ atv's parked. Two miles away, eight of us never saw another hunter that wasn't part of our group.

Thanks a lot. My maps are ordered. I don't have horses but do have an ATV. I don't want to hunt from it everyday but are there trails where it can be used to shuttle in camp away from a road where a truck can not travel? Would I be better off leaving it home and just hiking in from a truck road?

Thanks!

Old thread but curious about a this unit for cow tag 21-6? We plan to get away for crowds, even pack in and stay a few nights. Seems like a good place to hunt elk, minus the crowds. Looking for a decent place to cow elk hunt for 3 . Thanks.