2023 Wyoming Elk Draw Results

[Laramie]

23,210 total 1st choice apps this year according to my calcs, out of ~168,000 nr with Elk points. There are landowners but they don't show in the demand reports.
125,800 nr only bought an Elk point last year, never even applied for a hunt (97,295 in 2020).

Many people don't apply until they are fairly confident they can draw their target tag. 4 months notice isn't enough for many who need to plan vacation time and expenses more in advance.

 

[jmez]

For $2000 I’m going to put a Buffalo in the freezer and have meat for 3 years

Then you have to eat a stinking buffalo.

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[Rifleman86]

Good luck to everyone who drew… I withdrew my app(s) when I was successful for Montana.

Any idea when we will see the refund hit our cards? I remember hearing it was pretty quick last year.

 

[LostArra]

I don’t need antlers to hunt elk as a NonRes. Especially at $2000

Amen Brother! Hunting every year too!

 

[Thunder17]

Unsuccessful with 4 points in the special, dang it.

 

[FlareBlitz91]

Amen Brother! Hunting every year too!

Don’t tell them the secrets!

For real though i think a lot of these people are being doomsayers over nothing. A lot of people buy points and don’t hunt. They hoard points for that once in a lifetime experience or something. People who want to hunt elk regularly have good ways of doing so.

 

[Nontyp]

Back to back years in the Thorofare for me. I always told my wife when I hit my mid-life crises I would probably be going on hunts like crazy. I guess I’ve arrived. ID elk tag, WY elk, and Aoudad a few months ago. I still have one more app out for WY deer with 9pts. Probably need to step up my side hustle

 

[Slugz]

I ran out of popcorn. This thread validates my thoughts that the majority of hunters do not fully understand the actual rules or process of the draw they may be putting in for.

These next few years I think are going to be very interesting.

 

[RyanT26]

I ran out of popcorn. This thread validates my thoughts that the majority of hunters do not fully understand the actual rules or process of the draw they may be putting in for.

These next few years I think are going to be very interesting.

In what way?
Do you think people will lose interest?

 

[Slugz]

In what way?
Do you think people will lose interest?

I think not just in WY but all over the west there is so many different things going on. Price increase, tag allotments, people getting frustrated, wolf re-intro to name a few. I think its just gonna be a little harder to predict and plan for a few years until there is some kinda trend developed.

 

[DoubleDropMuley]

All you nonres wanting to hunt the general don’t forget there will be 3 different region general units next year , I bet that has an affect on odds also !!

 

[El_Duderino]

Has anyone that wasn’t drawn got their credit card refunded yet? No cow tag for me.

 

[Laramie]

Has anyone that wasn’t drawn got their credit card refunded yet? No cow tag for me.

It generally takes 7-10 days for all refunds to go out. I haven't heard of any refunds yet.

 

[lintond]

All you nonres wanting to hunt the general don’t forget there will be 3 different region general units next year , I bet that has an affect on odds also !!

I hadn’t heard about this. Are they splitting it into regions/zones like Idaho?


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[cnelk]

I hadn’t heard about this. Are they splitting it into regions/zones like Idaho?


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Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Taskforce Proposal - 7,250 Cap NR Elk Licenses

The Wyoming Wildlife Taskforce has developed a proposal to remove the 7,250 cap on nonresident elk licenses. Learn what the change would mean for hunters and tell us what you think.

wgfd.wyo.gov

 

[Laramie]

I hadn’t heard about this. Are they splitting it into regions/zones like Idaho?


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[lintond]

Wyoming Game and Fish Department - Taskforce Proposal - 7,250 Cap NR Elk Licenses

The Wyoming Wildlife Taskforce has developed a proposal to remove the 7,250 cap on nonresident elk licenses. Learn what the change would mean for hunters and tell us what you think.

wgfd.wyo.gov

Thanks! Will be interesting to see how that impacts application strategies.


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[Rifleman86]

I have zero doubt I will be able to hunt elk every year for the next 10-15 years on public land as a nonresident, despite any pending changes.

But some people still expect to hunt public land bulls in Wyoming every year or every other year as a nonresident like they did in the 90’s and 2000’s, and that just isn’t going to happen.

If big antlers are what matter to you, public land nonresident elk hunting isn’t your hobby, despite what you see on the gram.

Unfortunately, a lot of folks expectations haven’t caught up with reality.

The biggest problem is the point system isn’t working how it’s intended when people can buy points for that “someday” hunt for decades without applying. For all its problems, MT got it right with the “apply or lose your points” for their nonresident general tags. Creep is largely under control for now (until the outfitters come up with their next bad idea.)

 

[ScreamingPotato]

View attachment 555385

Probably gonna be 50 points to draw Southern, 2 points to draw Western, and Eastern tags will be reduced price. lol I kid

 

[johnsd16]

I consider myself pretty draw savvy and when the odds actually rolled out there wasn’t a tag in the random for the type 1 tag I put in for. Not heartbroken over it and it was hard to predict for this particular unit.

I agree that despite the price increase WY will have ZERO trouble selling out bull tags in the special but what will be interesting will be some of the type 2, 3 or 4 tags in the special. I doubt many will pony up $2k for a spike/cow.

I also think it will take a few cycles to see what the price increase does. I do think mid point tier guys will go special “once” just to get some of their value out but don’t know if they can justify year over year or get it by the wife again. It will be interesting for sure.