Budget elk hunt?

[huntin'monkey]

Elk in Oregon? There are no elk in Oregon. These are not the elk you are looking for. Move along.

 

[bz_711]

What do you guys think is a reasonable budget for a DIY over the counter or easy to draw elk hunt? I know the tag and license will run $500-$1000 depending on what state.

Could you hunt for $1500 per person? $2000? $2500?

I would be coming from CA so I would have to include transportation into the budget. What states should I focus on? We have one point in WY.

I would be open to backpacking, car camping, or cheep motel or cabin. I also have a travel trailer so I could bring that.

Archery or rifle would be fine. I just want a chance to get into some elk. Trophy quality doesn't concern me too much.

I would be sharing the cost with one or two other hunters.

I would not be including any new gear into the budget because I see that as more of an investment and I have most of the big ticket items already.

Most have already answered you, but just thought I'd add my experience.
IL to CO trip approx. 950 miles. Once gear is acquired, the only costs I have had is Tag $600, and split gas ($180-220) depending on 3-5 guys...so essentially $800 for CO archery hunt. We drive straight through, car camp in tents, and eat out of cooler (cheaper than when I'm home so I don't count food costs).

It is worth every penny and then some. My first year I was lucky enough to be invited to another camp so tent & cooking was provided, but even my 2nd trip with 3 buddies, we slept in crappy coleman nylon tents that we've had for years and froze in old sleeping bags...didn't matter to us, we woke up smiling each morning and loved every second in the mountains.

You really can keep this to basically tag and fuel if you want...elk don't care one bit if you have the best gear in the world or mark down camo from Wally world...go enjoy a mountain elk hunt, it will change your life!


Keep us updated on your progress!

 

[goldenarrow]

Thanks for all your input guys!

Sounds like I will be able to go elk hunting. Now I just have to figure out where. That and loose about 30 more pounds.

I sense that their is a disturbance in the elk force in Oregon. Lol

 

[mtnrunner260]

What about Utah? Shorter drive and maybe a little less on tag costs

 

[unchained]

Utah was a good time tags were under $500 and got into elk everyday in the Uintas

 

[dangerousD]

Utah was a good time tags were under $500 and got into elk everyday in the Uintas

Shhhh.

Seriously though, I agree and think Utah OTC tags are a bargain compared to several other states.

 

[elkbowkevin]

Utah has OTC tags??? Hmmmm did not know that was an option for archery.
I could point a person about where NOT to go to hunt elk in Oregon. Im good at that. LOL
Really though, for a first time elk hunter from Cali, Oregon is not bad as far as an option to get your feet wet (literally).
About 1/2 as much elk numbers as say WY and 1/3 as CO. BUT the positive is that with an OTC tag you can hunt nearly all of western oregon, All eastern oregon west of hwy 97, and about 70% of eastern parts east of hwy 97.

 

[realunlucky]

Only a couple units in Utah allow hunting of anything but spikes and cows

 

[poisonarrow]

"Archery or rifle. Either one is fine with me I just want to do something with a reasonable chance of success if I work hard enough."

Do not go if the kill is the most important thing. Starting from ground zero, your chances of killing something is pretty low.

You will need several years to become familiar with the area you hunt. Make sure your partner is also aware of this fact. Some people think that hunting shows are reality.

 

[rayporter]

there is much wisdom in poisonarrows post. now many words but much wisdom.

 

[goldenarrow]

Do not  go if the kill is the most important thing. Starting from ground zero, your chances of killing something is pretty low.

[/QUOTE]
Not the most important part for sure I would just rather not spend a week or so hunting in an area completely devoid of elk.

I usually hunt deer in a zone that boasts a whopping 4-7% success ratio. So I am very familiar with the taste of tag soup. It took me eight years of hunting before I got my first deer. The last eight years I have killed five deer. A big part of that is learning the zones that I am hunting. 

If I come back having seen elk but I just couldn't close the distance or get a shot or I got busted I would consider that a successful hunt.

 

[Jon Boy]

Not the most important part for sure I would just rather not spend a week or so hunting in an area completely devoid of elk.

I usually hunt deer in a zone that boasts a whopping 4-7% success ratio. So I am very familiar with the taste of tag soup. It took me eight years of hunting before I got my first deer. The last eight years I have killed five deer. A big part of that is learning the zones that I am hunting.

If I come back having seen elk but I just couldn't close the distance or get a shot or I got busted I would consider that a successful hunt.

You'll find with elk hunting more than half the battle is finding them. Once you find just kill em. It sounds ridiculous but it took me a lot of years to figure that out.

 

[TheJuice]

I'll second what Jon Boy said^^.
My experience after 2 years in the same unit.
Year 1, saw 82 elk- 4 shot opportunities in 5 days.
Year 2, saw 3 elk- 0 shot opportunities in 7 days.
Gotta be willing to pull camp and keep looking.

 

[slick]

Not the most important part for sure I would just rather not spend a week or so hunting in an area completely devoid of elk.

I usually hunt deer in a zone that boasts a whopping 4-7% success ratio. So I am very familiar with the taste of tag soup. It took me eight years of hunting before I got my first deer. The last eight years I have killed five deer. A big part of that is learning the zones that I am hunting.

If I come back having seen elk but I just couldn't close the distance or get a shot or I got busted I would consider that a successful hunt.

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but MT success rate for most districts is ~1%

 

[goldenarrow]

I just looked it up if I understand it correctly they figure their success rate per day hunted. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[wapitibob]

Not the most important part for sure I would just rather not spend a week or so hunting in an area completely devoid of elk.

I usually hunt deer in a zone that boasts a whopping 4-7% success ratio. So I am very familiar with the taste of tag soup. It took me eight years of hunting before I got my first deer. The last eight years I have killed five deer. A big part of that is learning the zones that I am hunting.

If I come back having seen elk but I just couldn't close the distance or get a shot or I got busted I would consider that a successful hunt.

I hunt out of OR almost every year. If I wasn't convinced I would punch my tag, I'd stay home. I can go on a nature hike anytime. If you want a "reasonable" chance to kill an Elk, don't come to this scrub state. Apply to NM and/or draw a GEN tag in the WY special side of the draw. 100% odds and will be for a few more years. NM units in the Gila or Sac's are better than anything we have here as far as quantity goes. No points so it's luck of the draw. The WY Gen units on the West side and southern border area of the state are slightly better than E Oregon units around John Day where all the NR tend to go but that special gen tag is $1100. NM Q/HD units will run about $800. Not really "budget" but being 2015 that's about the going rate. OR will run you about $700 and that's a joke compared to what you get in NM.
If I'm not into bugling bulls every day of the hunt I screwed up.

 

[elkbowkevin]

wapitibob of very right! oregon pales in comparison to most all other western states as fa as elk hunting goes. For public land oregon DIY you HAVE to spend alot of time scouting, figuring out what the elk do, where they go once pressured, how they act and why they dont bugle much at all anymore.
The ONLY plus in oregon is you get alot of land to hunt on but like I said before, 5% or more of that land holds no elk or they just pass thru it on the way to somewhere else.
Im currently looking into changing to western OR (more elk) or out of state. WY, CO or NM are on my list. Last 3 of last 4 years I hunted pvt ground 10K acres free range elk and was in elk every day but getting a shot was tough. Killed a 6 pt first year and not a shot the next two. This is an area that holds 1-300+ elk every fall during the rut.

 

[Jon Boy]

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but MT success rate for most districts is ~1%

Where are you getting that figure?

 

[slick]

The MT hunt planner. Now I could be interpreting it wrong, but this is the west side of the Crazies and what they list for Success %. It could be as goldenarrow pointed out and be p/day. My apologies if I'm wrong.

 

[Jon Boy]

That is a percentage of hunter days and success.
For that unit there was 451 elk killed and 2000 hunters hunted it making for a 22 percent success rate or there abouts.
I will say montana numbers are off due to the fact they don't have a required reporting system so they make an estimated guess based on check stations and a small percentage of hunters they call amd see what units they hunted. I've been called once in 4 seasons.