Bighorns or general?
Wyoming
I'm excited to be hunting WY for the first time this fall. I'm in the awkward position of having too many points to draw a general tag or being able to draw a marginal/decent tag in the Bighorns. I'm sitting on 4 points and I'm only interested in archery elk.
My question is: are the Bighorns that much better than the general units in the western part of the state? I'm looking to spend 2-4 weeks hunting and expect to work my butt off for opportunities. I'll camp at my truck or from my backpack. I'll hold out for a good sized 6x6 bull. Is the average bull that much bigger in the Bighorns than in the general units?
Thanks in advance! Feel free to PM also.
What areas are you looking at? PM if you don't want to broadcast it but the Bighorns are big and the western general areas are bigger. Maybe we can help if it's narrowed down a bit.
There are only 3 units I can see that are in the Big Horns area that you might have a chance at drawing. 36-9 only had 3 tags last year and 1PP was a 100% draw. 37-9 had 11 tags and was 100% draw with 4PPs, but was only 50% with <4PPs. The other is a 48-1 rifle tag that you could buy an archery permit for $35 to hunt the September archery season. However, it's a unit that is mostly private lands and there aren't many elk on what little accessible public land there is in that unit. That's why it only takes that small number of PPs to draw.
I hunted Wyoming Unit 45 in the Bighorns in 2014 and a General Unit farther west last year.
Both hunts were amazing but I would never pass up hunting the General Units as often as I can in order to build up enough points to hunt the Bighorns again.
It's not exactly the question you asked but if you don't find a "good" option for using your points in the Bighorns I wouldn't be too concerned about burning them on a General unit. You can look at it like having the additional points guaranteed that you would draw the General tag at the regular price. Then you can hunt the same area in a year or 3 when you draw General again, which you probably wouldn't be able to do if you were holding out for the Bighorns again.
Just my two cents...
Elkstabber have you figured it out yet? I'm with Cheesehead Mike.... start hunting a general unit since you can draw in the cheaper draw Learn it and you are investing time into your future hunts and then keep going back. There is some damn good hunting in those units as you read about in the January Huntin Fool article. 300+ bulls are everywhere and there is no private land to worry about elk taking up refuge on and plenty of non wilderness which can be an issue in the Bighorns. The clock is ticking brother you better get that app in!
