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Wyoming Crossover Tags

As an archer who hunts in Wyoming for elk in the Big Horns I have never seen so much over crowding as I have seen this year. The archery season for a type 9 tag holder is 9-1 thru 9-30 but in area 41 they have implemented cross over seasons for the rifle hunters to come into the archery season and hunt with a bow of there choice including crossbows. The numbers and dates are as follows. 41 type 9 is the archery season running from Sept. 1 thru Sept. 30. 41 type 4 tag holders can hunt with archery equipment from Sept. 15 thru Sept. 30 then Oct. 1 thru Oct 10 followed by Oct. 15 thru Oct. 30. The 41 type 1 can hunt Sept. 15 thru Sept 30. Then come back and hunt Oct 15 thru Nov 4. It may not seem like a problem but if you look at the numbers it becomes way over crowded the last two weeks of the archery season making of extra hunters in a small area competing with hunters who have applied for rifle tags. The numbers are as follows. Type 9 archery only 125 tags, Type 1 rifle tag hunters 450 tags. Type 4 rifle cow tag holders 375 tags. This adds up to 825 possible hunters to crossover into the archery only season creating way to much competition and hunting pressure and still allowing those with rifle tags to hunt their seasons later. The opportunity for the type 9 tag holders to crossover are not on the table. Unfortunately for me as I love this area I’m ready to look into different areas to hunt as the pressure on the elk has become so bad it is hard to have an enjoyable hunt.

Is this a new revelation for you after you applied?

Some Wy type 9 tags can be problematic. Sometimes it’s quicker in the points game to get a so called gun tag but still be able to archery hunt last 2 weeks Sept. instead of holding out for that type 9 tag.

Good point to check out all the other hunts going on at same time. Easy to get lulled into Wow! I got this great tag only to find out all these other seasons are going on. What da hell! Been there few times.

Devil in the details.

Its like that in lots of areas. You had two uncontested weeks, this year that means 1 week before the snow that seems to have screwed lots up

It's not going to change that WY residents overwhelmingly want to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to archery tags. There's huge pushback against "one-and-done" tags like CO/NV/UT/AZ have, which are very popular with bow-only hunters, but that's not what the residents of WY are, overwhelmingly. They want to take their bows or xbows on the weekends during Sept and possibly shoot an elk and come back in Oct and/or Nov with the rifle to fill the tag if they don't fill the tag during September.

It sucks for those of us who only hunt with a bow, but most of us are NRs and the Rs, as mentioned, are a small minority.

If WY was "one-and-done" in the entire state and had type 9 tags in every zone, drawing great tags in WY would be a much more common thing. It's been tried many times. The residents of Wyoming don't want it.

+1 Iddy

The hell with 'one-n-done' tags.

There is lot's of units that have bow only and bow options for rifle hunts as too for the bow option to go back and hunt rifle dates....

When a guy applies he should see that is an option and know what is coming his way, wouldn't ya think??

Good luck, Robb

I hunted on a type 9 tag with so-called crossover ... saw only one hunter in the unit, and I was on main roads, etc. so not all units are like that. Bighorns are crazy all year, I hear.

+1 Bulelk1 Most of us actually hunt for the meat and enjoy archery hunting but realize rifle is the best odds for putting meat in the freezer. Our archery participation numbers for residents would plummet I think if we went one and done. I look over all the tag numbers for an area before I apply for it. One might make the argument the Type 9 tags have ruined the archery hunting in some areas by adding more hunters in the field.

That’s a well-know situation and the reason I never even considered hunting that area.

If you are applying for the Type 9 license, is for the privilege to hunt Sept. 1-15. This is far and away the best time to hunt the Bighorns. 2 out of 5 years big snowstorms ruin the Sept. archery hunt after Sept. 15, if not earlier, like this year. One big snowstorm and most of the elk leave. As a resident I have never rifle hunted the Bighorns. In the areas I hunt the elk are long gone by then. In my experience most of the crossover guys don’t exert much effort. It’s the determined nonresidents that worry me:)

^^^ I was one of those determined nonresidents that punched my tag in the Bighorns last week. :). Even the locals w a type 9 tag were having trouble

Nice job filling your tag. I had a Type 9 in 2014, always my second choice, don’t draw often. Blew a shot on a 7x7 on Sept. 7, then snowed 18” on Sept. 9. I went back Sept 10-20. Snow was gone, and so were the elk. Never heard a bugle in 11 days, and only saw a few smaller bulls. Frustrating!

I’ve always hunted type 9 in 41 and yes I’ve always known it was a crossover area because I know the rifle hunters in general don’t put a lot of pressure on the elk but this year was different. Every hunter I met in the field this year I asked what type of tag they had and 100% that I talked to was a crossover. Don’t get me wrong as I know there are some great dedicated hunters that I met that are crossover guys and gals and I have no problem with that ,it’s the rifle hunters that usually buy a crossbow and think they can bugle in a bull and kill him at 80 to 100 yards that irritate me. I very seldom call except to locate usually in the dark but I saw on 3 different occasions this year of watching people sit on a ridge above north timber in the middle of the afternoon and sit and call for an hour. If I can tell that you are not an elk I’m positive that the elk thinks the same thing. I posted this information just so if you decide to hunt this area or apply for it what may happen when you arrive after the 15 th. I’ve hunted the Big Horns for almost 50 years with 40 of that with a bow in my hand and see it getting worse and worse as far as competition in the field to be there first instead of someone beating you to a certain spot on the hill. I know it’s public land and everyone is welcome but whether resident or non- resident etiquette and respect has went downhill for the justification of trying to get the kill. This is my personal bitch and observation on this and after this year I will not apply for 41 again. To those of you that were successful in 41 and or had a good hunt memory congrats.

I would definitely plan my hunt to 1-14 and you should be good

Perhaps you should look at it from the perspective that dedicated bowhunters are lucky to get an opportunity to have exclusive access to these units for the first 2 weeks of September. I suspect if they put it up for a vote, most residents would prefer to eliminate the Type 9 tags in exchange for being able to archery hunt their Type 1 tags the entire month.

I feel your pain Dave. When I've had that tag in recent years I hunt early before the zoo starts!!!! In all the years and miles I've put in that area I've never ran into someone with a type 9 tag after the 15th.

NoWiser just curious how often you hunt Wyoming because your comments make no sense as to what the problem with crossover seasons create. Your mindset seems to be that we should just open the range on the Big Horns to who ever wants to hunt weather it be with a bow or gun. Just curious of how many times you have hunted in Wyoming and what seasons you have hunted. As resident hunters we are not making this a non resident issue but an overcrowded issue. I completely disagree with your thoughts and you will probably disagree with mine. Jeff thanks and hope your having a great season. You know very well that I’m not shy about bringing up ideas that may need some tweaking. NoWiser you may disagree with my comments and that’s what’s great about this site but if you want to comment back do it on this forum as I won’t look at a private message on this matter.

I wish WY would go to more type 9 tags and make most of them for the whole month of September and not allow gun hunters to hunt during the bow season in those areas. I really wish we would go to pick weather you will bow hunt or rifle hunt in most areas for any species. Of course I only bow hunt.

Stryker, my comment wasn’t meant to imply that Wyoming “should” do anything. I think the Type 9 tags are a great option. I have probably hunted Wyoming about a dozen times. Never on a Type 9 tag, though, due to point creep. I’ve talked to a lot of locals. My impression is that the majority have little interest in Type 9 tags and, if given the option, they’d probably prefer to get rid of Type 9 tags entirely if it would increase quotas and give them slightly better odds at a Type 1 tag and allow them to archery hunt it the entire month of September. I could be wrong, but that’s the impression I get from the AVERAGE Wyoming resident. Those who frequent this site would not be considered average.

I guess my point was that I just don’t understand the complaint. Unit 41 is awesome country and a tag that lets you hunt it for a month with limited competition for the first two weeks of the season is one I’d feel dang lucky to have in my pocket. I’d surely try to notch it before the Type 1 hunters get their shot.

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