Unit Choice Factors

[Iabow]

For you guys that have hunted or hunt the west, namely WY, CO, how do you go about picking the unit you want to hunt?
I see points narrows the field greatly but what other factors do you consider? Would you pick units that public land seem to be landlocked except maybe by water ( less hunter pressure ) or go with better access units? How do you find out what roads are open to travel and which are closed?

Mainly for elk and pronghorn. I would be more concerned with a great experience and harvesting a legal animal then trophy status. Just looking ahead, thanks. My aunt has a ranch in the Black Hills of WY and that is some beautiful country to see.

[tbunao]

Know the species you choose to go after. How do those animals live? Time frame of year? Etc
Elk I’m looking at north facing slopes with cover, drainages, burns, water and meadows. Just like whitetail there are over looked spots.

I personally listen to more western hunting podcasts than anything else. Something Corey Jacobson had said on the East meets West podcast was 95% of his hunting he has never stepped foot in. It’s all cyber scouting. Idk if you know of him but he is extremely successful. I’m sure being a champion elk caller doesn’t hurt but you still have to put yourself in the right areas.

Harvest numbers, odds of draw, are other things to take note.
CALL the local game officers and talk to them about a unit of interest. CALLthe area biologists.

[jwilkstn]

The GoHunt Insider membership is fantastic. It really consolidates alot of information into one super easy to use place that allows you to quickly narrow down spots by draw odds, public land, season dates, and more. It's not cheap, but pays for itself in the time saved and the tags you draw vs not...

For my Wyoming antelope hunt last year, the county I applied and drew for had an online map of the public roads. It aligned well with onX, but provided certainty of the areas you could access vs those off-limits. Crucial information.

[AfootTrack56]

Another vote for GoHunt. OnX maps will be your best friend. Look at what units give decent access to areas with some leg work. Shy away from the “trophy” units unless you’ve got the points to get it. Do some research on what units the locals are targeting most. Find out where the animals will be the time of year you are gonna hunt (winter range/summer range) or in between. Getting ahold of the biologist for that area will be a huge help. You can find the road closures online. Also, you’ll wanna find out what the compliance is like for road closures. Lots of guys ignore em. Look for forest fires from the last 7 years. Those will have the best feed in the area. Bull to cow/ buck to doe ratios and success rate for the area. You can always just pick one, and go. See what happens. It’ll make it more of an adventure.

[Iabow]

Awesome advice, thanks guys. Been listening to Randy Newberg and the Elk Talk podcast with Corey Jacobson, lot of helpful info from those 2 guys. I enjoy the videos of out west hunting more then deer, they are more like Dan's videos of teaching and not climb in the same blind day after day. Again thanks guys and hope you have a great season!

[elk yinzer]

Find good habitat and terrain that is going to eliminate competition first and foremost. I sorta look at harvest stats, mostly trying to avoid what appear to be the top units because that's what every Tom, Dick and Harry looks at and flocks to. I do look at trends in harvest numbers and hunter numbers. Harvest rates are largely skewered by private ranches too.

Research access, there is a lot of public out West that literally is landlocked, and if you try to access through a ranchers property you'll end up with a hefty trespassing charge. I tend to prefer not dancing around property boundaries out West, it's just not the whole Western experience. But the big wilderness areas are quite a draw for the rookie Sitka athlete type crowd too, so there are some sweet spots in between for sure.

Even with some pressure, if the habitat is there, the animals will be. But I would rather hunt unpressured animals. I google the prospective areas and pray the search results don't turn up anything. I've never called the game warden or biologists either. They may have some good perspectives about general trends, but you gotta realize, again, that advice is so ubiquitous they are telling hundreds of other guys the exact same thing. You're not likely going to get any information to put you ahead of hard work and experimentation you do on your own.

Then I just go and learn the area. Don't get too invested in small features like you would whitetails. Elk have huge ranges and you need to cover ground to find them more than keying in on small features. Example, whitetails, I may look at a topo and say, here's 5 spots along a ridge where I can scout and probably set a stand in one or two. Elk, I say, here's a range of a few hundred feet elevation, with a series of benches 3 miles long where there's probably a herd hanging out. That's a pretty big area, now go find them. Don't get too invested in an area and always have about a half dozen backup plans.

[Iabow]

Elk thank you, you put a lot of thought in that, very helpful. I really appreciate the great advice, hope in the next year or 2 will have some pictures to share. For sure alot to consider when picking a unit to start to narrow down areas.

[Chris Conroy]

This applies for Wyoming as this is how I did it. I can't help you with Colorado. The easiest way is to look at the draw odds section of the Wyoming G&F website for last years draw odds for the amount of points you have. I assume you have none, so depending on the type of hunt and species, you may be limited. Don't worry about points if you don't have any, there are plenty of tags you can draw and still have a fun hunt. Pick all of the units that had 100% draw odds last year. After that you go to the interactive map on the hunt planner (on WG&F site) and look at those units in more detail. You will see roads, closeness to towns, type of land ownership, terrain, etc. This should help you narrow down your choices quite a bit. OnX Maps will be a big help in determining landownership types and access as well. You can also use GoHunt to help speed up the process.