wyoming general unit elk

Kurtr

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Looking at diversifying my elk hunting i bought preference in wy this year and looking at different units trying to figure there system out. looks like with one point it is going to be a general unit. Question is do you put in for a harder to draw on the off chance you get lucky or do you just put in for the general right off the bat?
 


SupressYourself

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Shitty thing about Wyoming is that nonresidents must have a guide to hunt wilderness areas, which limits the options for back-country DIY-ers. However, we did general this year and found some nice elk in the units south of Jackson. That's some rough-ass country though.
I think Eastmans does a nice break-down of all the units with draw rates and amount / ease of public land access.
 

Migrator Man

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General units typically have a ton of hunters around especially during gun season. You can get away from crowds by backpacking further into the sticks but not everyone is willing to do that. Draw units take longer to get but is worth it imho.
 

ndlongshot

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Looking at diversifying my elk hunting i bought preference in wy this year and looking at different units trying to figure there system out. looks like with one point it is going to be a general unit. Question is do you put in for a harder to draw on the off chance you get lucky or do you just put in for the general right off the bat?

WY is preference points, meaning its NOT a lottery. If you dont have the right amount of points accrued it is NOT possible to get a tag in the primo areas. They do have whats called the special draw that you can apply for. Twice the amount of money, and increases your chances significantly.

I have hunted GEN units, low point units, and am now banking for high point units. I think you can find elk anyway about it. Hard work and luck go along ways when hunting elk. Funny how the harder you work, the luckier you get. But not always. I'll take lucky any chance I get.

When I cash in my points next time, I most likely will be going on a "boycott" of WY. I disagree with having to pay a guide to access wilderness as a non resident. It's BS. I pay federal taxes and have every right to be there as its public land. I can fish and hike their but as soon as you pick up a rifle/bow its too "dangerous" and you need to hire a local expert. F that! I'll be spending my money in MT going forward.

Forgot to mention. The WY hunt planner is extremely user friendly on the state GNF website for researching draw odds/units/public land. Id start there.
 

Flatrock

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WY is preference points, meaning its NOT a lottery. If you dont have the right amount of points accrued it is NOT possible to get a tag in the primo areas. They do have whats called the special draw that you can apply for. Twice the amount of money, and increases your chances significantly.

That's mostly true but not 100%. 75% of the tags go to the people with the most preference points. 25% though go into a random draw and so anybody can draw these tags. Even with 0 points.

As longshot mentioned, you can apply in the special draw which I think is $1,200+. To a large degree though, it doesn't make a huge difference on your draw odds. Lots of times it only is 1 point different from the regular draw. One other caveat. In some of the super primo units, they don't give out many tags and therefore, they might not even give out any tags in the random draw. Thus, your chances are 0% in the random draw.

As to your original question Kurtr, I guess it all depends. If you'd be happy with shooting just about any bull, then I'd say apply for the general tag, go hunt every other year or so, learn some units and you should be successful at some point. If you're going for a primo unit though, it might take 15-20 years to catch up to the point creep. I burned 7 points 2 years ago and had mid 60 degree weather in November and the hunting sucked. I had great info too from guys who had hunted the unit and my friend and I really struggled. Even in a good unit, it ain't easy.
 


JTSCHRO

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Check out this website. diy hunting maps has free tools to search for tags based on preference points or draw odds

https://diyhuntingmaps.com/huntinfo/find-your-next-western-big-game-hunting-tag.html


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DIY Map.jpg
 
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Kurtr

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thanks for the info guys and after three years of nothing in Idaho i am not picky i will shoot any legal elk.
 

Kurtr

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You should get a cow tag, easier and cheaper to shoot.

not taking the chance of the world record walking out in front of me. I want the opportunity to at least shoot over its back and scare it away f

There’s some nice hiking in the Wind River Range

i think I have mastered the hike part wouldn’t mind sprinkling in a little bit of killing
 


Flatrock

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You should get a cow tag, easier and cheaper to shoot.

Couldn't agree more.

I would highly recommend to research and find the unit you'd like to hunt, then try to draw some cow tags while you're building points for the bull tag. Going into any unit with no prior knowledge of it and killing a bull is a tough thing to do. If you could hunt a unit 2 or 3 times before you had the points to draw a bull tag, you would be in a much better position to kill a bull when you had the tag. Now if you decide to go with a general tag, then that somewhat goes out the window.

If you go with the general tag, also check into the general units on the east side of the Bighorns and also the Sierra Madres.
 

Kurtr

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East side of the bighorns would be close enough to do scouting trips so that would be good. I will always have idaho and colorado as a back up for otc units as i will be hunting elk every year till i physically cant do it.
 

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