Do you carry another tag also?

[ORJoe]

I look at it like this personally: if your out there, see no elk sign, your down on your luck and all of a sudden you see any other hunt-able species. Why not? I always buy extra tags especially if it’s only 100$ or so.


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I'm even further in this direction.
Last year I was following elk tracks opening morning, probably 3 hours behind this elk. Stop to look around, bear stumbles out of the bushes 100 yards away.
Bear in hand beats an elk in the bush!
Only cost about 1 total day, the second half of that day getting it out (shot around noon) and half a day later on breaking it down into the cooler.
Still got my elk the day after that.
Turns out that bear meat is really good!
Helps that tags are only $16 here.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Sometimes the side dishes are better than the main course.

 

[Dunndm]

If you’re not seeing elk sign then you REALLY need all of the time you can get and shouldn’t be wasting it on a bear. You’re giving up on your elk hunt! Yikes! I’ve killed bulls on the first day and the last and everything in between. If I ever go home with an unpunched elk tag I won’t want to be saying “I sure could’ve used those 2 or 3 days” Screw that!

I….. am an elk hunter. Focus!

So what happens if a bear stumbles out on you the last day of a hunt, last light and you don’t have a tag. Wish you did? To each there own I guess. I like to do it the way I stated. I know a lot of guys that will get an elk on there first day. They don’t want to go back to town and hike 30+ miles to there truck and they spend the rest of there time hunting a bear or whatever it is they bought.


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[Woodrow3]

I pick up a bear tag and hunt them in the spring mostly to learn new country and look for sheds. Always nice to get out of the house after a long winter. To take time away from elk in the fall it would have to be a pretty good bear.

 

[Indian Summer]

So what happens if a bear stumbles out on you the last day of a hunt, last light and you don’t have a tag. Wish you did? To each there own I guess. I like to do it the way I stated. I know a lot of guys that will get an elk on there first day. They don’t want to go back to town and hike 30+ miles to there truck and they spend the rest of there time hunting a bear or whatever it is they bought.


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I can answer those questions. Wish I had the tag? Nope. At last light on the last day I’m still elk hunting.

And if I kill an elk early in the hunt I’ll either do everything I can to help everyone in camp punch their elk tags or I’ll be exploring new elk country for the future… or both.

Yep… I’m an elk hunter hunting elk. Which is why it doesn’t usually come down to last light on the last day.

Plus it’s been years since I wanted to kill anything I didn’t plan on eating. I’m not particularly interested in eating a bear. Sticking to the plan results in a freezer full of elk so I don’t need to eat one. I’d rather eat a deer anyway.

I don’t have room for anymore mounts or rugs. And last…. Bears don’t have big giant dark antlers with bright ivory tips. I’m a bone collector! If I could hunt monster mulies where I hunt elk then ok… I might carry a secondary tag. But I’d only use it on a monster truly worth missing 2 days of elk hunting over. I guess I’m just an Elkoholic!

 

[TxTaurus74]

I would get one. In Colorado for $100 for archery it's a cheap add on after the elk tag and bear meat is good eating.

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[Hnthrdr]

The unit we are planning to hunt we can also buy a Bear tag.
it isnt a lot of extra coin but the harvest stats are pretty low.
Would you carry a bear tag along with your elk tag also?
Think the bear tag is like $103. seems to me like its at least a possiblility so why not get one.
What do you all think.

Absolutely! Co… which I think you are talking about has an overly healthy population of bears, they hammer fawns and calves in the spring, do your part and take down a sharp tooth! I couldn’t get a tag for the unit I’m hunting this year so 100% odds I will have one in bow range… when I have a tag I never see them haha

 

[Crowmangler]

If you kill an elk a bear will find the carcass pretty quick. And then you can fill both tags.

Did this very thing last year

 

[Sgtusmc14]

Saw 2 last year and none of the 4 of us had a bear tag. I bought one this year to make sure we don’t see any.

 

[Mojave]

Not in New Mexico season will most likely be closed.