Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Europe Excellent Elk Hunting Find1

It never fails to amaze me at the knoweldge base and experience of the members on these forums!

It obviously worked for 99FEVER, he seems happy. Maybe it was 1,000 tree infested acres.

Might not be everybodys' cup of tea, no reason to take a cheap shot at 99.

As a younger guy I hunted elk out west on public land for 4 years and learned the entire time. Because of my stumbling, newby efforts, only in the 4th year did I get close enough to see and hear a shootable elk. I did shoot mule deer along the way and I consider those experiences priceless.

Expat

I was seeing elk, and lots of them, and some of them damn close, including a couple nice bulls, in my first season elk hunting. Pretty much the same thing the next year...Unfortunatly, none were spikes. It wasn't until my 7th season that I killed an elk.

Elk hunting is hard! It's supposed to be hard. I have a difficult time seeing a penned elk hunt, as an elk hunt. An elk SHOOT, sure.

Just IMHO.

Aw come on Jeff, finding something the size of a decent sized horse, and that goes around in herds, can't be difficult...getting the bugger out after you've shot it, I'll 100% agree with, but not finding them..

If you think find Elk are hard to spot, you should try finding Muntjac (which are about collie sized) in our neck high bramble and cloudberry patches!

Anything the size of a horse has got to be much easier to spot!

That depends, Pete. Depends on where you are hunting them. In some terrain, sure, especially when it's not hunting season. Most of the places I personally have hunted elk you can't see the ground on one hill, from the hill next to it. Just treetops. That's in the Cascades and also in eastern Oregon where we hunt. I use my binocs a lot but it's for the same reasons I use them blacktail hunting- to probe into the timber that I'm actually hunting.

If seeing elk is your thing, God help you in the Coast Range hunting Roosevelts. Unless you catch them in a clearcut, which in hunting season is very unlikely during daylight hours, then you are right in some of the thickest chit you can imagine. So are they, but if they aren't within 30-40-50 yards, you'll never see them!

I'd imagine what you say is true for a lot of elk country, but for the tags I've hunted, it's not.

That ties into the next thing- tags. Are there places in Oregon where elk are relatively easy to spot? Sure! It only takes 6-8-10 years to draw the tag! Tags were my nemesis those early years especially. First two years I saw several branch-antler bulls, one a gorgeous 6x6 across a meadow about 80 yards away. He was with 10-12 cows. In most states- kaboom! I had a spike tag... same thing the next year; great country, lots of elk, but a spike is a [bleep]-up thing to be looking for. Very small ratio of elk are spike bulls. So then we get bull tags the next year and- no elk in the whole area that year.

Elk hunting is hard, man! At least it is around here.

From the pricing page on the ElkWorld website: "For those of you that are not fully knowledgeable about what a 300" S.C.I. bull is, 90% of all bulls killed in the western U.S.A. are well below this size. Few are 6 x 6 and you probably will never meet anybody who has taken a bull over 325" S.C.I. Most of the bulls taken on our ranch are this size and larger."

I must be pretty lucky, as I have met a lot of guys that have killed bulls well in excess of 325". If only I was one of them.

The best I can tell only one person's comments here are from actual experience at elkworld.com As is usual on these forums there are many highly opinionated comments from folks with absolutely no first hand knowledge of what they are commenting on. If you pass judgement on something that you KNOW NOTHING about and then proceed to tell the world of your biased judgement I can only hope that the reader of your verbage has better judgement than you.
My western hunting began in 1961 which gives me some 51 years of experience hunting the Rockies. I have hunted from Arizona to Montana. All DIY I might add on public land. No guided hunts, no private lands. I rarely miss a Sept. chasing elk over the high country. I have taken only one elk with a muzzle loader, and only a half dozen with modern rifles, but I have taken fifteen with a long bow and wooden arrows. The longest bow kill was twenty three yards and most were less than fifteen yards. For twenty years I have guided other hunters and did the calling for them, with more elk taken by my hunters than I have taken. That amounts to a fair number of elk in most anyones book.
I take my own horses and pack myself and my hunting friends into the back country where we do our hunting and where we seldom see another hunter. I think that I would qualify as a public land, do it yourself hunter with a half century of experience at "REAL" elk hunting.
The circumstances that led to my first hunt at Elkworld are varied but include a recent bout with cancer. Like most folks I had great concerns over the high fence thing. After all I was a REAL elk hunter and could not picture myself hunting caged , defenceless animals. But after much wrestling with myself I decided to go give the place a look see. I would not actually shoot one of these poor critters of course, just look things over and perhaps get to see several nice elk trying to find something to hide behind. I would take my camera and do my "shooting" with it.
When I drove through the gate I was certain I would not like this "hunting" at all. Nothing like the Rocky Mountains for sure. I am not too proud, nor too opinionated, nor too stubborn, to admit that I was TOTALLY WRONG.
To be sure by western standards the property is small. However size alone does not tell the whole story. It is actually easier to hunt most of the open and semi open country of the west with it's multitude thousands of acres, than it is to hunt the woods and thickets of elkworld. In the past 25 years alone I have spent a total combined time of over one and a half years camped in the high country of Colorado's wilderness areas chasing elk. I have now been to ELKWORLD for three hunts, and notice I said "hunts", not "shoots". I can tell you from experience, and not from biased opinion totally devoid of experience, that the bulls at Elkworld behave exactly like the bulls of the back country of any of the western states public lands. There is no difference at all in their behavior. They react to the presense of a hunter exactly the same way. The cows are with out a doubt the spookiest cows I have ever seen in my life. The cows are not hunted and no doubt have vast experiene with hunters, and so become exceedingly difficult to even get a glimps of. I do not ever hear anyone downplay the hunting on private ranches in the west. Many of these ranches have resident elk that live there all year. They are protected by the rancher jealously and have very limited hunting pressure and are generally in rather open country. The result is a bull with behavior much like National Park elk. Talk about easy hunting!!! And you pay high dollar for the opportunity to hunt these private ranches that are usually leased up by some "Outfitter". These same outfitters also charge big bucks to hunt public lands. And either way public lands or private it is rather pricy regardless of your success or lack of success. Not so at Elkworld. You pay a $900 deposit. If you do not like what conditions you encounter then simply do not shoot and that is all you pay. It could not be any more fair than that.
Rather than sit back and pass judgement on something you know nothing about, and especially if you have not even seen the place, you could plunk down your $900 and at the very worst have yourself a wonderful time with good folks at a great place and enjoy great meals. Then if you decide it is not for you, then fine. But at least give it a fair shake befor you draw your conclusions.
I know that there are people who have more experience hunting elk than I have, but not many. And I am telling you as one who has followed the elk over varied terrain over much of their habitat that the hunting at Elkworld is just that , HUNTING. Period.

My dad owned a high fence operation while I was in high school and it was bigger than the outfit in question.
Say what you will but it isn't hunting at all and making a kill is only difficult if the "hunter" makes it so.

Again, have you been there? If not then you still have no real idea of what is there. Be fair. Visit the place then your opinion will hold water, Dad or no Dad.

I dont need to step in dog chit to know Id prefer not to step in dog chit.
There are very real and valid reasons that animals shot on high fence operations are not considered for the B&C book.

And there are valid reasons why there are other record book's other than B&C as there probably should be. However there still remains the undisputed fact of a total lack of first hand experience and an unjustified negative response. Fairness seems to elude some folks, and besides that, that chit you refer to may not belong to a dog. My only concern is when I see someone degrading something that they have no first hand knowledge of, such as Elkworld, it just does'nt sit well. As I said earlier, it took a whole string of events to even get me to consider going to a place like this, but once there and seeing for myself what the place is really like, I have to say I have completely changed my mind. Is it high country Rocky Mountain elk hunting, of course not. Would I want to give up my western back country elk hunting, not on a bet. Is it a quality elk hunting experience, it certainly is. Blonds, brunetts, or redheads? Mercury or Mars? Something for everyone, or one size fits all? This is the only fenced place I have ever set foot on and I highly doubt it is typical. Now here I am speaking of something I know nothing about really when I say I doubt it is typical. It could be that it is very typical but I still doubt it. If you go to their web site and read it all , then go to the grounds themselves, you will see that there is no exageration at all. It is accurately represented. So far I have had 8 (eight) close friends, all of whom have hunted the west many, many times, hunt Elkworld. All have called it the hunt of a lifetime. But it could be possible that they have open minds, in which case there is no hope for them. An old elk hunting friend who lives in Colorado once said that he felt sorry for the beer drinker who only drinks one brand of beer. "Just look at all the flavor they are missing". The same could be said of elk hunting.

As said above I have expiereanced high fenced hunting, and for many years. Its not hunting, period.
I am sure ao guy could wondering around 1000 acres and not find elk, but thats indicative of the "hunter" not the toughness of a high fence operation.

Justify it however you want in order to save face in front of your friends, but don't try to tell us it is something that it isn't. You have your reasons for going there, and I'm ok with the fact that something like this exists for you, however, there are very few people who would ever equate an operation like that with the real thing.
1,000 acres of high fences is not another flavor of elk hunting. Pennsylvania or Michigan or Tennessee is another flavor of elk hunting. Irrigated hay meadows, damage control hunts, bow hunting, backpack hunts, horseback hunts, rut hunts, late season hunts, road hunts, canyon country hunts, sage flat hunts, etc are different flavors of the real thing, with no high fence, no assurance that your game is within a mile or so of you, hasn't escaped and meets your trophy standards.

Wow! 96% success rate? That must be "real" elk hunting. I mean just look at the clients, they look like very experienced hunters, some of them even used primitive weapons. That sounds like like our stats out here in Colorado. I'm pretty sure our combined bowhunting, rifle and muzzleloader success is 96%

And one fellow appears to even be wearing a more modern version of moccasins, aka sandals and he's killed at least two of those super bulls. Quite the hunter... And another couple of gentlemen certainly look like they probably have medical conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, arteriosclerosis and a few other issues that might make them superior hunters that help boost those success rates.

Some very complimentary quotes too from some people implying that the hunt was almost as challenging as a whitetail hunt.

If you are associated with this place, I'm sure you can do better than to advertise here by coming to the defense of the OP. You won't get a sympathetic ear

And again comments from those who have never been there. Such loftiness and closed mindedness. Oh well, I wish you luck in your elk hunting but, for those with a little less high minded ways, do you self a favor and book a hunt and ignor the detractors who have never been there. Some you will never change. Logic , truth, and fair play are not part of their short sighted vision. Elkworld exists. It is a wonderful place. Why cheat yourself of a great experience. The place is there for all to go see for themselves. You don't have to take my word for it or anyone elses. Go see for yourself. The truth is self evident. Enough said.

Wow, how much did they pay you?

Maybe I wasnt clear. My dad owned a high fence hunting facility, that at the time was the biggest, acreage wise in MI. I worked there and seen these psuedo "hunts". Its not hunting, period.
IIRC montanas success rate is around 20% IIRC. This places advertises 96%? The question I have is what kind of morons make up the 4%...

Once again the point is folks degrading an operation that they have never seen. The place is there for all to see. Go there, then if you still feel the same way, then so be it. To each his own I suppose. But to throw mud at something you have no personal knowledge of is small of anyone. Any way it is a great place. Do your self a favor and give it a try. Or just hold on to your beliefs and be happy as a bug. No skin off my back.

I didnt need to rub elbows with pedophiles to know I dont like em. Ditto high fence hunting...