Which state is the toughest?

MT Elk Hunter

New member
Jul 21, 2015
26
Anybody out there have an opinion about which state is toughest to elk hunt in general? I'm referring to general hunts on public land. I live in MT and I have consistent success here...but it just seems like we have to damn near kill ourselves to punch our tags. There's tons of pressure, major issues with predators, and the elk seem less and less responsive to calling techniques every year. I've heard some people claim that MT is a lot tougher hunting than other states such as ID, WY, CO...that doesn't make a lot of sense to me but I haven't hunted any other states. Just curious what others think. Cheers everyone.
 
Idaho Lolo Units. Good luck finding an elk. I saw 2 sets of tracks, no droppings and no old rubs in a week of hard hunting. Moved to a different state and had 3-4 bulls screaming the first night. Called 5 inside of 40 yards with no clear shot. One was a 330-350 bull.
 
Have nothing to compare but Oregon public land on the coast is pretty damn hard.

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Texas. Elk aren?t considered a game animal here and we don?t have all that much public land.

More seriously:
I?ve only hunted elk once, in CO last season OTC archery. We didn?t fill tags and the hunting pressure was pretty high, though I don?t have anything to compare it to so definitely take that with a grain of salt.


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Yup, have hunted Oregon coast a couple times for Roos...It can be a ass kicker!  :ill:
 
Probably anywhere with over the counter tags is going to be a hard hunt. I live in the Idaho panhandle and our neighboring Washington has more restrictive hunting seasons so we get a ton of Washington hunters coming over here because you can usually get a tag and hunt a lot of public ground. The panhandle isn't very wide so it seems like you get the entire state of Washington plus the Idaho hunters all in a pretty small area. Lots of hunting pressure and call shy elk plus the thick brush were known for and wolves make for a tough go.

But like anywhere else if you are willing to go farther than anyone else you can get into elk here.
 
No, I certainly don?t expect it to be easy anywhere on public land, that?s part of what makes it fun...i just heard some friends talk about ?how much better the elk hunting is in Idaho...? and some other folks talk about how ?there are so many more elk in Wyoming and the bulls are bigger there compared to MT?...etc, etc...I figured it?s all bullshit, but like I said, I?ve never hunted anywhere but MT. Thanks for your perspectives.
 
Colorado is the dumping ground for everyone that didn't make the draw in some other state. There is orange behind every tree!
 

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