If you’re referring to me the answer is I’m a realist. Hoping to kill a 350 bull isn’t realistic for anyone pretty much no matter where you go. If someone can’t handle a reality check Rokslide isn’t the place to be. I didn’t bring up the mistakes made buy KHNC or others. Mistakes happen. I forgot to buy a deer point last year. A costly mistake. No body’s fault but mine. This thread jumped from 4/5 pages to 16 overnight. It took me awhile to catch up. When I finally did it amazed me.
If some hunters know as much about elk hunting and the area (not called “units” in Wyoming) that they picked to hunt the elk have nothing to worry about. It’s not that hard at all to learn the system. Wyoming has the best website out there. Montana is like a grade school finger painting compared to it. But you have to take the time to sit down and brush up a little.
Predicting point creep is the hard part. But you can make a fairly educated guess. To do that you have to study up a little too. Go back at least 5 years and look at the curve. Then do yourself a favor and by all means play it safe. I’m scratching my head right now at the guys who applied in the regular drawing with 3 or 3.5 points that are upset. If it meant that much to you why in the world would you not have taken the opportunity that the state of Wyoming offered you to pay more for much better odds with so few points? I’ll answer for you… priorities. What means more, a few hundred dollars or being able to hunt elk? If it’s the money then you should be jumping for joy because you just saved yourselves thousands by not going elk hunting at all. If elk hunting is priceless to you then omg what were you thinking!
The line has to be drawn somewhere right? It’s at the number of points where success wasn’t 100%. This year that line was at 3 points in the special draw and anything less than 4 in the regular. If you drew a license in those point categories, or in the random you were lucky.
So what’s next? Depending on luck to kill an elk too? If you drew a license it will probably be years until you hunt Wyoming again. Make it count! E scouting is like buying a pair of boots, or a bride online and hoping they fit! Maybe. Maybe not. I realize that most of us live far from where we plan to hunt. So back to priorities. What’s it worth to you to actually kill a bull? You might want to seriously think about that. How disappointed will you be if you come home with an unpunched tag? Or worse how depressed will you and your partners be if you don’t even see an elk? Do yourself a favor… go put boots on the ground. Yes it will cost money. Yes it will take time. But it’s not a cost. It’s an investment. An insurance policy. And it’s fun!!! How happy will you be if you do find elk where you plan to hunt? How happy will you be if you find out the place is worthless while you still have time to pick somewhere else to hunt? While you’re out there check out your spots number 2 and 3. It shouldn’t surprise you if number 3 turns out to be number 1.
I enjoy seeing success stories. People happy that they drew a license or thrilled that they killed an elk. But it’s not gambling. Gambling is a game of chance where you have zero control of the outcome. With elk hunting you are in control. You will get out of it what you put into it. You’re not going to find a great place to hunt from your couch at home. So don’t be like the guys who are pissed off at the state of Wyoming that they didn’t get a license this year if you don’t kill an elk. Wyoming is the Cowboy State not the miracle state. So if killing an elk is a dream of yours or just means a lot to you don’t just sit there with your fingers crossed. Make it happen! Don’t wait for opening day to give your one thousand percent. If you do you might learn a hard lesson.
