What would you do?

[Rcates]

I have myself in a mental battle. I have been planning an elk hunt for Sept 2017 archery. My dilemma is this: I have 2 buddies that want to go with me. We have known each other for a long time and are all accomplished hunters and like minded. It all started with my plans for trying to get the wyoming general tag with colorado OTC as the backup plan if I don't draw. The 2 buddies really just want to go and help out and enjoy being in the mountains together. They want to go whether they have a tag or not.

So I can go OTC Colorado (where I have a few "mixed" leads on from family/friends who have been there) and we can all hunt, or I can try to get the Wyoming general tag and hunt an area I know nothing about. Neither of them have points in either state for any species. I have mixed feelings because it would be fun to learn an area together where we could hunt whenever, but at the same time my wife and I are building a family and there is no guarantee of getting to go after elk in 2018 or after. I would like to hunt elk every year but reality is that it probably won't happen that way.

With that being said, I only have 1 point for wyoming and I realize that my odds are pretty slim now days of drawing in the regular. But if I put in special draw as my 2nd choice I have very high odds and would keep my point? For me that just makes things harder for me to decide.

What would you do? Thanks

 

[NoWiser]

You won't draw Special General this year as a 2nd choice. You could probably put in for the special general as a first choice with your buddies and have a shot at drawing. Wapitibob is the guy to bounce this off of. He knows his stuff.

 

[Southern Elk]

Are you saying they will buy a tag in CO but can't in WY? If that's the case I would say the 3 of you should all hunt in CO. You would have better odds of somebody killing something if there are 3 hunters vs 1 hunter. I don't think that 1 point is going to give you much of an advantage in WY over a CO OTC unit.

 

[LuketheDog]

Hunt CO, all of you can buy a tag, shoot the first legal elk you see, all of you can help pack out an elk, all of you can go home with meat for the freezer.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Burn your point on a Wyoming Gen Tag, Special Draw, as first choice. Have your friends put in for points but still come along. Next year have one of them burn his point on a Gen Tag. You and the other friend put in for points and go hunting with him if you can. The next year you and/or your friend that didn't hunt the year before put in for Gen Tags. Just keep repeating this process over and over. Keep learning the same area year after year. Within a few years of hunting the same areas you will have learned so much. Three people tagging out on archery elk on one hunt in either State is a tall order. However, three friends hunting together to get one or two elk with a bow is easily do able. This way you can always bank on a hunt and you can bow out on years you cannot go but will make it easier to draw the subsequent year. I have hunted both CO OTC and Wyoming Gen and I would take a Wyo Gen tag over a CO OTC tag any day of the week. The CO OTC tags are good hunts but not the same as a Wyo Gen tag in my experience. Either way you go, good luck and have a fun hunt.

 

[Rcates]

Could someone direct me to where I can see accurate draw odds for wyo gen tag? All info I have seen evidently is inaccurate/outdated and wyo game and fish website is difficult for my small brain to process.

What chance would they have of drawing gen tag with 0 pts if 1st choice in special draw?

Also, the 3rd leg of this tripod won't buy a tag. He simply wants to help and learn. Will be running a camera and be our pack mule.

 

[Rcates]

Nevermind, I think I found it. Looks like 31.6% with 0 pts if 1st choice in special?

 

[Gerald Martin]

If you have dedicated hunting partners, I'd go where you all can have a tag. Very few people have partners dedicated enough to come along on the hunt even if they don't have a tag. It sounds like your group has a good recipe for success.

 

[npaden]

Hopefully WapitiBob will chime in on this as you can't get the accurate drawing odds on the general tag from the statistics on the WYGF website.

With that said, If you put in for the General tag as a party in the Special draw you would pretty much be guaranteed to all get a tag. You would average out to 1/3rd point each and anything more than zero points would get a tag in the preference point draw.

 

[LCH]

I definitely wouldn't leave a good hunting partner behind. If you want to do Wyoming, do a party app in the special draw with your buddy, so your point pool would be <1 (100% last year). Or, find an area where he could get a Type 6 cow tag or a deer tag. It should be very doable.

 

[LWC55]

Burn your point on a Wyoming Gen Tag, Special Draw, as first choice. Have your friends put in for points but still come along. Next year have one of them burn his point on a Gen Tag. You and the other friend put in for points and go hunting with him if you can. The next year you and/or your friend that didn't hunt the year before put in for Gen Tags. Just keep repeating this process over and over. Keep learning the same area year after year. Within a few years of hunting the same areas you will have learned so much. Three people tagging out on archery elk on one hunt in either State is a tall order. However, three friends hunting together to get one or two elk with a bow is easily do able. This way you can always bank on a hunt and you can bow out on years you cannot go but will make it easier to draw the subsequent year. I have hunted both CO OTC and Wyoming Gen and I would take a Wyo Gen tag over a CO OTC tag any day of the week. The CO OTC tags are good hunts but not the same as a Wyo Gen tag in my experience. Either way you go, good luck and have a fun hunt.

This would be my choice as well.

 

[Rcates]

Thanks guys I hadn't even considered a party app. Was hoping to start building points but I really want to hunt Wyoming so will likely go this route.

The areas I have been researching are 21 & 13 but my concerns are that without being able to enter wilderness it looks difficult to get very far away from roads to spike camp. Also concerned about the fire last year in 13 and wondered how available water is since we would like to spike camp. Any advice on these areas would be greatly appreciated. Looks completely different than the area of Colorado I have been looking at. Thanks