Looking to take a trip out west with a teenager for a first out west hunt?

[Ridgetoptrail]

I’ve looked up some various trips and seem to find some age restrictions. New on this forum so I thought I’d throw it out there. Looking for an exciting and decent priced hunt to try and make it an enjoyable and memorable experience for my son.

 

[Rock’N Tacos]

Budget?

 

[hereinaz]

I’ve looked up some various trips and seem to find some age restrictions. New on this forum so I thought I’d throw it out there. Looking for an exciting and decent priced hunt to try and make it an enjoyable and memorable experience for my son.

What kind of hunt?
Guided or DIY?

 

[BRDHUNTER]

Spring bear is a good starter hunt. Pick the state that intrigues you the most and go make it happen.

 

[Chris in TN]

After a small handful of both guided and unguided hunts over the years, I took my oldest daughter this fall, on a public land bull elk hunt, in a not-hard-to-draw unit.

Had a blast. Absolutely, had a blast. Didn't kill an elk. Had some ups and downs on the trip. Would do the whole trip over again but would likely change some details.

One sentence summary: Just do it.

 

[Wellsdw]

Antelope hunt. My parents surprised me with a trip for my senior graduation. (Although technically it was the start of my senior year). one of my best memories.

 

[Ridgetoptrail]

What kind of hunt?
Guided or DIY?

I feel if it is to be a hopeful success it may need to be a guided trip. Not knowing an area or going for the first time I don’t necessarily want it to be unsuccessful. I’m sure the experience would be great with a successful hunt or not, but one always wants success.

 

[Ridgetoptrail]

After a small handful of both guided and unguided hunts over the years, I took my oldest daughter this fall, on a public land bull elk hunt, in a not-hard-to-draw unit.

Had a blast. Absolutely, had a blast. Didn't kill an elk. Had some ups and downs on the trip. Would do the whole trip over again but would likely change some details.

One sentence summary: Just do it.

How old was your daughter and time spent on the hunt? I’m on the east coast as well.

 

[Chris in TN]

I feel if it is to be a hopeful success it may need to be a guided trip. Not knowing an area or going for the first time I don’t necessarily want it to be unsuccessful. I’m sure the experience would be great with a successful hunt or not, but one always wants success.

If you believe that - and I am not saying you are wrong, by any stretch - then find him a guided antelope hunt that you can afford, and/or that you can afford for both of you (it's often hard to find a guided hunt for two people with one hunting and the other tagging along, and I didn't want us to kill *two* elk this year, which sort of led us to do unguided).

Just know that if you go unguided for the first trip you'll end up with a ton of camping/hiking gear that can be reused if you both take a liking to western hunting.

 

[hereinaz]

I feel if it is to be a hopeful success it may need to be a guided trip. Not knowing an area or going for the first time I don’t necessarily want it to be unsuccessful. I’m sure the experience would be great with a successful hunt or not, but one always wants success.

Are you prepared to handle an “adventure” and would it be fun for you?

If yes, you can glean a lot and do DIY, and it’s always a success.

Bear and rifle elk/deer seem to be good choices.

 

[Chris in TN]

How old was your daughter and time spent on the hunt? I’m on the east coast as well.

She turned 14 right after the hunt. That was October (CO 1st rifle elk season). This is November 2025, here at home:



You could, uh, say she was born into the sport. This was before she turned 5, and the picture is not staged.




ETA: We were gone 15 days. Probably too long, but honestly she handled it better than I did.

 

[North of 60]

I would ask their preference of game (elk, deer, bear, antelope, etc) and start there.

If don't have the time or inclination for increasing your odds on a DIY hunt and you want to spend the $, by all means go on a guided trip.

I took my senior in high school to NM and we got a bull on a DIY public land tag hunt after much due diligence on my part to figure out our best options. That requisite due diligence was part of the fun/challenge for me.

 

[Meshnasty]

Spring bear is a good starter hunt. Pick the state that intrigues you the most and go make it happen.

I disagree only because if someone has never bear hunted the odds of success aren’t great and are even worse in an area they aren’t familiar with.

Spending a week glassing for bears and not seeing much would be the opposite of exciting for some folk.

 

[D_wit22]

are you looking to Kill or Hunt? There is a big difference between the 2. I remind my son(7) of that all the time. Hunting is still worth it even if there isn’t a kill. I’d vote for DIY for the hunting experience

 

[Boltgun]

Pronghorn pronghorn pronghorn.

They prefer open visible areas, which means you should see plenty of the target species. A new (to that style) hunter can handle failure pretty easily if they are seeing game and recognize that with better hunting skills they could succeed.

Take that same hunter and spend a week or two seeing very little, and it’s tough to overcome. I have taken new hunters out west and experienced both, and the former is WAY better.

 

[Ridgetoptrail]

Are you prepared to handle an “adventure” and would it be fun for you?

If yes, you can glean a lot and do DIY, and it’s always a success.

Bear and rifle elk/deer seem to be good choices.

I like an adventure and live in the eastern states in the blue ridge mtns.

are you looking to Kill or Hunt? There is a big difference between the 2. I remind my son(7) of that all the time. Hunting is still worth it even if there isn’t a kill. I’d vote for DIY for the hunting experience

We would be there to hunt. There is a huge difference in my opinion on that topic. That’s all part of the experience and going hunting.

 

[BRDHUNTER]

I disagree only because if someone has never bear hunted the odds of success aren’t great and are even worse in an area they aren’t familiar with.

Spending a week glassing for bears and not seeing much would be the opposite of exciting for some folk.

I don't know where you are hunting bears, but heading up into the mountains in search of bears is quite the enjoyable experience. Talk to the local biologist or look at success reports to find an area to focus your time. If you are comfortable in the mountains, then backpack in and it will increase your enjoyment and success.

I get what you're saying though, if I spent a week in NW Oregon looking for bears it wouldn't be that much fun in terms of hunting. However, if I backpacked into the mountains of Eastern Oregon or Idaho I would have an unforgettable experience and glass up bears daily.

 

[Maverick1]

Probably the most clever way a FNG has broken the rules, without directly breaking the Rokslide forum rules, and saying "not looking for anyone's honey hole".

To the OP: your initial focus should be on where you can draw two tags, then the budget, then guided or DIY.

Good luck on your adventure. Hope you and your imaginary teenage son have a great camping trip!

 

[JohnJohnson]

Pronghorn or coues deer would be two good ones. Pronghorn is basically constant sightings since they're active all day. Coues is a very active form of deer hunting in an awesome environment and is (so far at least) my favorite type of western hunting. You generally see a lot of deer too but the middle of the day is certainly tougher to spot them since they're not moving.

If you do guided for either of those you're normally looking between $2,750 - 3,000 per person. The caveat being they're definitely more long-range oriented species.

 

[6mm Remington]

PRONGHORN ANTELOPE:

Antelope is a great starter all the way. The season typically runs before elk, deer, and bear. Weather is usually pretty nice. Sometimes too warm though so plan on getting meat to a game processor to take care of it. Nice fall weather is a huge plus.

Antelope terrain is typically not overly difficul and can be navigated on foot easily enough. Spotting from two track roads, vantage points, and then sneaking on them is a lot of fun. Look for water holes in places you will be hunting.

Antelope is incredible eating game. I have never had a bad one and I have taken a lot of antelope. The meat is delicious and tender. A European mount of the antelope taken is not overly expensive and looks very nice. A perfect addition to a young hunters bedroom and a way to honor the animal.

Light recoiling cartridges work well on antelope and don't beat up new shooters and make them gun shy. If you reload or want to build a great rifle it's hard to beat the 6mm Remington! You knew that was coming! That being said, I have seen antelope do some amazing things even after perfect shot placement on them. Pound for pound they are elk tough in my opinion.



Picture on the right is a buck my buddy holding the Remington Rolling Block 45-70 shot at 200 yards. Hit him in the lungs and he never reacted to the shot that we could see. He took off running and went about 100 yards before he went down from a 405 gr. bullet. Did I say they are tough animals. Yes they are.