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Hunting elk in the Rockies

I was kind of wondering why you would limit your hunts to Colorado or Montana. It might actually be easier to get hunting tags in Wyoming. The other question is what kind of elk? I live in Oregon and we have two kinds of elk. Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt Elk. If you are a trophy hunter, you'll probably want a Rocky mountain elk because the antlers are more branched. If you are primarily after meat, you'll want a Roosevelt elk because they are considerably larger in the body. A bow hunting buddy killed a Roosevelt near Tillamook, OR a few years ago and the eyeguards had a 14 inch circumference at their base. Roosevelt bulls average 875 pounds but they get to almost 1300 pounds in Alaska. Most cows average about 700 pounds.

The reason I mentioned Wyoming is because they typically have a few unsold tags every year. One year a friend and I went to Wyoming to hunt antelope, bought our out of state hunting licenses...then we were each allowed to buy 4 antelope tags...we filled 7 out of our 8 tags. Elk taste better than deer, and antelope is even better than elk...
 
adam sr said:
Depends on the unit you want to hunt most of them you can buy a bull tag over the counter. 30.06 is good to use I have use one and my son used a 270. The guy I push one to last time was using a 308. I got mine with a 300 WSM. I have hunted them with a Marlin 45-70 and a S&W 460 too. I was hunting in the forest so there wasn't any long shots. I got a 6.5 creedmore for this trip. Some fields at the new place I'm going to. I will keep my shot inside of 300 yards probably even closer if it doesn't fell right I won't shot. I like a clean kill shot. Get the 300 Win Mag anyway take both so you have a back up gun, never know what might happen. I had fell and knock my scope off and missed a nice one shot over its back. Here is their web site cpw.state.co.us You will need a hunter education certification card must carry with you unless you were born before January 1, 1949.
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adam sr said:
Depends on the unit you want to hunt most of them you can buy a bull tag over the counter. 30.06 is good to use I have use one and my son used a 270. The guy I push one to last time was using a 308. I got mine with a 300 WSM. I have hunted them with a Marlin 45-70 and a S&W 460 too. I was hunting in the forest so there wasn't any long shots. I got a 6.5 creedmore for this trip. Some fields at the new place I'm going to. I will keep my shot inside of 300 yards probably even closer if it doesn't fell right I won't shot. I like a clean kill shot. Get the 300 Win Mag anyway take both so you have a back up gun, never know what might happen. I had fell and knock my scope off and missed a nice one shot over its back. Here is their web site cpw.state.co.us You will need a hunter education certification card must carry with you unless you were born before January 1, 1949.
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Here in Oregon, most people will say that a .270 is marginal for elk. Most commonly used cartridge is a .30-06. I shoot a .338 Winchester magnum because I hate chasing a wounded animal and keep a .30-06 as my backup gun. One hunt years ago had a friend and I looking at a herd running right in front of us in heavy cover. We both harvested animals...mine dropped like a sack of potatoes right where she was shot. My friend's ran up a hill about 110 yards. While we were gutting his cow we realized that the heart had been completely obliterated and it had still run that far on pure adrenalin.

BRING ENOUGH GUN!
 
Gerryc01 said:
I was kind of wondering why you would limit your hunts to Colorado or Montana. It might actually be easier to get hunting tags in Wyoming. The other question is what kind of elk? I live in Oregon and we have two kinds of elk. Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt Elk. If you are a trophy hunter, you'll probably want a Rocky mountain elk because the antlers are more branched. If you are primarily after meat, you'll want a Roosevelt elk because they are considerably larger in the body. A bow hunting buddy killed a Roosevelt near Tillamook, OR a few years ago and the eyeguards had a 14 inch circumference at their base. Roosevelt bulls average 875 pounds but they get to almost 1300 pounds in Alaska. Most cows average about 700 pounds.

The reason I mentioned Wyoming is because they typically have a few unsold tags every year. One year a friend and I went to Wyoming to hunt antelope, bought our out of state hunting licenses...then we were each allowed to buy 4 antelope tags...we filled 7 out of our 8 tags. Elk taste better than deer, and antelope is even better than elk...
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Mostly because I know the Woodland Park/Pine Junction, CO and Missoula, MT areas fairly well. I don't know Wyoming or Oregon at all, though getting a tag with ease would be great. I'm definitely going for the meat. A nice rack is cool and all but I want to bring home a lot of good, lean, tasty meat. I certainly appreciate the advice. I think I'll put my 30.06 in my brother's hands and get myself a new .300 Win Mag. That .338 must be a monster! I'd absolutely get one if/when I get a chance to go north of the lower 48 to take something seriously big.
 
benstt said:
Mostly because I know the Woodland Park/Pine Junction, CO and Missoula, MT areas fairly well. I don't know Wyoming or Oregon at all, though getting a tag with ease would be great. I'm definitely going for the meat. A nice rack is cool and all but I want to bring home a lot of good, lean, tasty meat. I certainly appreciate the advice. I think I'll put my 30.06 in my brother's hands and get myself a new .300 Win Mag. That .338 must be a monster! I'd absolutely get one if/when I get a chance to go north of the lower 48 to take something seriously big.
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The .338 WinMag is an old stainless Browning A-Bolt with the old BOSS shooting system (sort of a muzzle break and harmonic tuning device, the muzzle break helps reduce recoil and you can vary the barrel harmonics by screwing the BOSS attachment longer or shorter). Back when FN used to own both Browning and Winchester the BOSS system was available on either. At the shooting range you won't want to be on either the right or left of a gun with a BOSS system (with holes) because the muzzle blast is horrendous. But with the BOSS, you can tune your barrel to the load. Here in Oregon, most of my guns are stainless because of the rain...
 
I'm looking more into this hunt and CWD seems to be a problem in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Have any of you found good, non-CWD hunting areas?
 
benstt said:
Do any of you have any experience with elk hunting in Colorado of Montana? I feel the call of the mountains, and am listening for the bugle of an elk. My brother and I are thinking of a good hunting trip out west.
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I cannot help you with Colorado. We go to Northern Idaho and love it. The only problem is the deadline for 2020 controlled hunts was two days ago.

On the subject of guns, the terrain of where you will hunt will control what gun you will need. Where we go most shots are 350 yards or greater which requires different guns than woodland targets. I actually love a .270 when the yardage permits, (under 400 yards). Like anything shot placement is key. If your rifle skills aren't up to precision shooting, get something more powerful.

If you are going in by horseback, I would recommend two guns in case one gets screwed up getting there. All of my guns have iron sights as well as scopes just for that reason. Remember as well that you may be carrying that gun a lot once you get off of the horse and they get heavy, especially if you are not used to uphill climbing at altitudes you are not acclimatized to.
 
ChanceMcCall said:
I cannot help you with Colorado. We go to Northern Idaho and love it. The only problem is the deadline for 2020 controlled hunts was two days ago.

On the subject of guns, the terrain of where you will hunt will control what gun you will need. Where we go most shots are 350 yards or greater which requires different guns than woodland targets. I actually love a .270 when the yardage permits, (under 400 yards). Like anything shot placement is key. If your rifle skills aren't up to precision shooting, get something more powerful.

If you are going in by horseback, I would recommend two guns in case one gets screwed up getting there. All of my guns have iron sights as well as scopes just for that reason. Remember as well that you may be carrying that gun a lot once you get off of the horse and they get heavy, especially if you are not used to uphill climbing at altitudes you are not acclimatized to.
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I'm thinking next fall. With my A-Bolt 30.06 I'm very precise out to 300 or so. I can make the occasional shot out to 500 but I don't think I'd want to even try that when hunting. I'd hate to wound the animal and not be able to recover it; I view hunters that do that in a negative light. Maybe if I had optics with a mil-dot reticle I'd feel better about it but the basic VX-II 3-9 makes holdover unreliable that far out. I have a 45-70 with iron sights if I need a backup. I am looking at a Model 70 in .300 Win Mag as well. It's a nice light rifle but $1600+ with optics is a serious investment. Who knows if I'll go that route. I anticipate lots of walking and I do pretty well up to 12000 feet of elevation with a heavy pack. Right now I think hiring a guide for the hunting party will be a good idea.
 
I'm not a hunter, and I don't know if this article has previously been posted, but it was an interesting read on "Hunting the West" with suggestions and what each State had to hunt.

www.americanhunter.org

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Tips and Tactics for Hunting the West

For the hunter with courage, resourcefulness and a bit of skill, opportunities for hunting the West abound. Here’s how to begin turning your dreams into reality.
www.americanhunter.org www.americanhunter.org
 
Hunting in the West is really hard work if you do it yourself and only less so if you have an outfitter.

Tough country = steep terrain, higher elevations, varied weather (even locally), and varied vegetation conditions.

Getting a good shot under varied (non-bench rest) conditions.

The real tough work begins if you get something down, cut up & packed out. Easier if you have an outfitter on the latter.

Then there's the idiots that don't know what they're doing with a rifle & getting around without hurting themselves.

But it's sneaking up quick with bow season next month & the end of Oct for rifle season in western MT.

Keep in mind that not all the hunting situations in the West are the same.
 
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