Skunk Ape wrote:Hey Flags,is there anywhere left that a working man can afford a hunt out west without spending a fortune. I went 15 years ago to Wyoming and shot a Pronghorn and a Muley on private land. I camped when I was there pretty cheap and think I payed tresspass fees around400.00 and another 250.00 for tags.
You can hunt Colorado for the price of the tag and the gas to get out there. The northwest part of the state has a huge amount of public land around the town of Craig. The question is; What do you want to hunt? You can buy an over the counter bull elk tag and have at it. Problem with that is that legal bulls rarely account for more than 20% of the herds. So, if you hunt bulls, you're only hunting 20% of the elk. That's why just about everyone I know hunts cow elk. Cows comprise over 60% of the herd, with the balance being sub-adult bulls, which are protected. If all you want to do is enjoy elk hunting and lay in a bunch of really good meat, put in for a late season cow tag around Craig, Co. Should be easy to get the tag, and public land is everywhere. Don't have to bother with tresspass fees and you could camp on public ground. There are a lot of deer around there too, but a deer tag is a little harder to draw than an elk tag is.
Another option is looking into Wyoming's reduced price female tags. They have them for deer, elk and antelope. I did that hunt myself last Sept. I got 2 reduced price doe/fawn antelope tags for $48 each. We hunted public land north of Rock Springs and took 5 antelope in 2 days. It's a cheap out of state meat hunt. Buck antelope tags are limited in that area, and I saw a lot of really good bucks. So, I put in for a preference point so that in a year or 2, I can pull the buck tag and also have 2 doe tags. If you wanted to do that hunt, you could fly into Rock Springs, get a motel, rent a car and drive back and forth daily. It's abut 50 miles from Rock Springs to the area I was hunting, but you could probably do the same thing closer to town.
Montana also provides lists of landowners that welcome hunters to keep the deer and elk herds under contol on their land. All you have to do is get the tag and go hunting. If they are on the access program, they are not alowed to charge for tresspass because the state covers that at the end of the season. Wyoming has a very similar program.
Everyone should hunt the wide open spaces of the west at least once in their lives. I have to make a point to get back to my native country at least once a year. It's not as expensive as a lot of people think. If you have basic hunting skills, are willing to do the camp work yourself and are willing to invest a little time and effort, taking game is relatively easy and cheap.
Cheers
Flags
Artificial intelligence is no substitute for natural stupidity.
