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Non wilderness opportunities

I am looking at the Bighorn Mountain units for an archery hunt. I am not against using an outfitter for good private land or wilderness access, but am capable of killing elk without a guide. The beauty of the unit is as much of a consideration as the number or size of the bulls to me, but at the same time I want to do more than just take pictures.

Does unit 45 have good elk numbers and opportunities outside of the wilderness area? That is the unit I am leaning toward, but would like some insight on whether the wilderness area is the key to that unit or not. Would unit 38 offer a good opportunity without having to worry about wilderness?

You don't need to go into the wilderness in 45 to have a great hunt. Iv'e been in 45 helping guys in September on their archery hunts in 2015 and 2016 and we camped within sight of the highway and had bulls bugling near camp. We hunted within 5 miles of the highway and Meadowlark Lake and saw plenty of elk with one bull that was close to 400" pushing his cows right across the main highway 3 miles north of the lake that my buddy almost hit with his truck. Hunt from Ten Sleep Lake down to the southern border south of the lake and you'll see plenty of elk if you hit it right. If you can't hunt the entire month of September, I'd hunt it the middle two weeks.

And hope there isn't a big snow storm. Any big snow pushes the elk down low to the private land surrounding the mountains.

It takes a big storm to push the elk down out of 45 and that isn't going to happen very often in September or even the first half of October in most years.

I've been in 38 during archery season several times and deep snow pushing elk down to private or Montana is a real possibility during archery season. That's one reason the rifle tags are easier to draw than archery tags in some of the northern Bighorn units. It can be feast or famine in some of those units. I don't think I would be too terribly concerned with wilderness.

Thanks for the info. I'm used to feast or famine in Colorado. This should be better than that. I can't control the weather, so I don't worry about that. The wilderness area is higher elevation, so snow would be more of a factor there if it does come.

The earlier in the archery season you go the less likely you are going to run into deep snow conditions. Obviously the rut picks up later into Sept. If you have lots of time it may help your success. Every year is obviously a bit different. There are some great bulls harvested in the bighorns every year it's just a matter of putting in the time and boot leather.

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