YOUR success rate on elk.

[YZF_88]

7 seasons total hunting for elk...5 bulls on the wall.
3 archery
2 rifle

 

[Wrench]

25 seasons, 28 or so, 5 or 6 years I took 2, 1 year I took 3. Rifle, pistol and archery. Never have used my stuffer for one. 97% are on public, or unlimited access private (timber co).

I spent a few years never even seeing a track and once I had it figured out....it became much easier. I have killed about 15 of this within a mile of the same couple of spots.

I have never drawn a bull tag...well once in about 2007 or so but wdfw had to re draw ad I ended up losing it.

 

[squirrel]

years 34
elk 32B 13C
all weapons
All public
never more than a pt or two most otc.

 

[Wdh76]

This past September was my first elk hunt , we had a group of 4 guys . OTC tags , we killed 3 bulls in in 8 days. Was the first trip for three of us.

 

[mcseal2]

2 elk on 5 tags. All public with rifle. Hunts I did not tag out I had opportunities. Once I was to cautious, that was my first western hunt. The other times I was looking for bigger bulls than I saw. I wasnt packing a raghorn out of those holes, I was holding out for a good one. My first 2 hunts were unsuccessful but what I learned has helped since.

 

[missjordan]

I’ve been elk hunting for 10 years. Took my first bull in 2011 then didn’t shoot another elk again until 2016 then shot an elk every year since and even got two this year. 1 cow and 5 bulls

Percentage wise 60% success. I hunt both archery and rifle combined but never been successful with a bow.

Personally I really only look at my success as an elk hunter from 2016 forward for one reason only. The elk in 2011 was harvested based off pure luck. The elk from 2016 forward we’re harvested off hard work and skills I’ve acquired as a hunter.


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[nphunter]

Started archery hunting in 2009, I’ve killed 4 bulls, First was a spike the rest have been 6 point bulls. Have passed up multiple bulls every year waiting for a big bull. So 40% for archery elk, All OTC in OR on Public Ground. I also turned in my archery tags for damage cow tags and shot cows the years I didn’t fill my archery tag.

Rifle hunted for 13 years. Killed 6 cows and 5 spikes might be a couple more cows don’t really remember that far back. So like 85% for rifle elk all OR either OTC or Cow tags a couple cows have been on private

Hoping to start archery hunting ID next year too. My goal is to have killed at least one bull for every year I’ve hunted with my bow. I have a little catching up to do. I haven’t applied for a rifle tag since starting archery.

Archery 15+ days a year when possible, lots of scouting too!! Rifle probably 5 days per year.

 

[rcfireninja]

3 elk tags for myself
OTC archery Colorado hunted 6 days tag soup
Draw rifle WY cow tag hunted 5 days successful
Draw combo tag MT archery bull success after hunting 6 days
All public land been hunting elk 3 of the last 5 years when I draw


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[TheCougar]

For my normal elk hunting partners (there are three of us), we are batting 100% since we started maybe 6 years ago. I don’t want to jinx it - I know I’m going to eat tag soup sooner or later. With the exception of Montana this year, every elk hunter in our camp - guest or core member - has tagged out. Almost all were draw tags in varying quality units, which certainly affects the success rate. Most of the bulls have come in the last few years, as we cut our teeth killing cows and learning early on. All were archery hunts except for two. All were Public, one rifle hunt was guided. What we are not good at is killing trophy bulls - none of us has killed a P&Y bull yet.

For our core group and guest hunters:
6 years hunting elk
5 x bulls (archery)
2 x rifle bulls
10 x cows (cow-only tags)
100% public
All tags were draw except for one of my bull tags
Average days hunting - cows 3 days, archery bulls 7 days. Rifle bulls 2 days.
My share of that is 3 archery bulls, 4 archery cows, plus “guiding” (for lack of a better term) on one of the archery bulls and one of the rifle bulls.

The goal now is to kill a P&Y bull. I agree with the OP - I think a small percentage of guys kill a disproportionate number of elk.

 

[Gapmaster]

I’ve taken 4 elk total on 11 trips. 100% public lands
2 elk with rifle, a 6pt bull and a cow in 2 trips. 100%
2 with bow, a 6 pt and a cow in 9 trips. 22%
All kills were in OTC Colorado units in 9 total hunts
I’ve bow hunted NM twice unit 16a and 6a without a harvest. 16a was unbelievable just couldn’t close the deal, 6a was also a fantastic hunt.
I feel like I’ve had good success, but not without tons of failures and mistakes!! My father bow hunted elk for 20 years without a “harvest” but I bet if he was here to say... that he would say that each hunt was always 100% successful!!!

 

[Elk97]

Hunted rifle season twice - 0 elk
Bow - 3 years - 1 bull
General tag MT
Average 7-8 days/year

 

[805Bowhunter]

Archery elk success rates run 10-12%. Rifle success often runs 12-25% depending on area.

I'm curious what some guys here run.

I'd love to hear:

- Years hunting
- Elk taken
- Archery, Rifle, ML?
- Public land or private
- OTC or draw?
- Days per year spent hunting

I suspect we'll see some interesting trends out of this if enough hunters chime in. My bet is that 20% of the hunters are taking 80% of the elk.

15 years elk hunting
8 elk taken (6 bulls 2 cows)
All archery
14 years public land/1 year private in Montana but not successful
Most technically "draw" but a lot of the "draw" hunts I was doing for many years was Montana general tag and Wyo gen tag. Ive never drawn UT, NV, or AZ (yet) and have hunted true OTC only twice (ID once/CO once).
I typically hunt 10 days/yr on one elk tag..I have never hunted two elk tags in a season as I want to focus on one elk hunt.

 

[Ynothunt41]

I'm 2 for 2.

2011 rifle hunt on private land shot a 6x6.

2019 archery hunt on public land shot a 6x5.

 

[Danny Hoey]

Idaho elk 1 for 3 with a miss and a bad hit. Archer, OTC.

Washington elk, 1 for 11, two misses sprinkled in there. One muzzy, a couple archery and the rest rifle.

 

[CMF]

100% ! Ready to go again in 2020! Doing OTC if we don't get drawn somewhere!

- Years hunting - 1
- Elk taken -1 BULL
- Archery, Rifle, ML? - ARCHERY
- Public land or private - PUBLIC, DIY
- OTC or draw? - NM DRAW
- Days per year spent hunting - Hunted 6, probably scouted 6

 

[CApighunter]

0 for 1
Years hunting elk- 1
Elk taken- 0
Weapon-rifle
Public land
Idaho limited entry cow tag.
4 days spent hunting.
To be fair, I did get sidetracked with the deer season opener and ended up moving units and punching my general deer tag on opening day.

 

[nidaho]

Hunted couple years with rifle no elk. Switched to archery 18 years 16 bulls most by my self.

 

[Jon Boy]

7 bulls and 3 cows sense I started taking elk hunting seriously in 2013. Rifle, bow, muzzleloader. Hunted for 5 or so years before that in high school but never put much effort into it.
I average 25-75 days a field each year between my tags and other peoples tags.

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[RCB]

Two rifle cow elk hunts. Harvested last year, killed one this year but didn’t find her until about two days later, meat spoiled.

 

[wind gypsy]

I'll lower the % with all these killers posting up.

3 years in NW MT General zones, avg of 15-16 days hunting per year, all but 3 days were during rifle season.

Year 1 - Tag punched on a young 6 point
Years 2 and 3 - Tag soup but took part in a few other bull pack outs.

Planning at least 18 days this year unless I tag out in WY and MT in less than that.

Interesting that this is back up. Either I'm all of a sudden lucky or I learned a lot my first few years.

2018 - Killed a nice WY general unit rifle 6x6 in 5 days of hunting
- Killed a nice MT general unit rifle 7x7 in 6 days of hunting
2019 - Killed a MT general unit rifle 5pt in 5 days of hunting
- Hunted Archery 1 day unsuccessfully but called for a friend for 5 days and he killed a MT General Unit 5 pt on day 5.

So total is 4 bulls for me in 64ish days of hunting on 6 total tags.
5 bulls on 69ish total days and 7 total tags if you include my friend's bull.