I am very likely/guaranteed to draw a Wyoming General elk tag this year.

Plan is to backpack in with my brother for up to 2 weeks.

Was wondering if anyone could offer up any advice as we start to plan this out.


1. What unit to hunt?

Since I am a non-resident I am limited to non-wilderness areas on the General tag.
Top units we are considering right now are 85, 84, 81, but we are open to exploring other options ( I personally like the western half of unit 85 based on map scouting). I will be calling local biologists, park rangers, and game wardens to get more info this spring/summer. Hopefully this winter is not too harsh on the elk.

We are trying to find something that has limited road access. We would like to hike in about 5 - 7 miles to avoid other hunting pressure. We know there will be horses going past us, but would like to avoid the ATV/Road hunters as much as possible.

2. When to hunt?

Our tentative plan would be to hunt/scout the last few days of bow season 9/21-9/24 and mainly focus on locating the elk. Then transition in to the rifle season starting on 9/25 to increase the odds of taking something. This plan would not work in all general units as some have a break between archery and rifle season.

I know that some units are largely effected by elk migrations, but I think most of these units hold elk herds so I am not sure if deciding when to hunt should be determined by migration timing.

3. Bear Country

I am equally excited and worried about hunting in grizzly country. I have been reading a lot of the state published info about safe camping in grizzly country, but if anyone (ursusguy) has any tips please share.

4. Equipment

I am pretty set on most equipment, but am probably going to pick up a spotting scope for this trip. I am leaning towards a Vortex Viper 20-60x80, but the smaller 16-48x65 razor is very tempting at this price. Cabelas - $799 Will I regret not having the extra magnification?

I am also considering taking in one 3 person tent vs. 2 single tents. Any thoughts on this?


Feel free to email me at if you do not want to post unit info. (No PMs since I cancelled my premium subscription to help fund the spotting scope LOL.)

I don't have any experience with Wyoming, so I don't have any unit or location recs. As far as your overall plan, I think you are on the right track.

For your spotter question, it depends on a few things in my opinion:

- How much do you care about judging an elk on the hoof before you decide to go after him?

The increased magnification might help with this a little bit if you are wayyy out (like 1.5+ miles). I could tell the relative size of some AZ Coues bucks at 750-1000 yards with my 10x binos on a tripod. I have the Razor 65mm you are considering, and I'm confident I could count the elk points (and judge the rack) up to at least a mile with it, and probably further.

- How much spotting will you do with the spotter vs binos?

I thought I would use my spotter much more, but as it turns out binos on a tripod is a great setup. I pulled my spotter out maybe twice on my recent hunt, and once was just to get a closer look at a Coues buck while he whipped a tree branch.

- What's the difference in weight? The ounces can add up pretty quick on a backpack style hunt.

AgEng06 said:

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- How much do you care about judging an elk on the hoof before you decide to go after him?



- What's the difference in weight? The ounces can add up pretty quick on a backpack style hunt.

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I am not going to be too picky about the size of the bull. I would honestly be ecstatic with anything over 250". But I can definitely see the value in seeing clearly something that far away before committing to hike over a mile after it.

I think the smaller razor is 20 oz lighter.

I am also considering taking in one 3 person tent vs. 2 single tents. Any thoughts on this?

How well do you like your brother? I've shared a tent on backpacking and hunting trips, but a max of about 5 days. And that was enough for me to wish for my own personal space, due to the smell of taking off shoes, snoring, and rolling around during the night, etc. It's nice for warmth, but it gets a little too cozy for me after about two days.

I'll carry my own one man tent if possible just to have my own room

Hell, depending on where you're located (and when you're going hunting) you can borrow my Razor 65mm. If you break it Vortex will fix it. Although, I'd rather them not have to replace it... I think I like my older model more than the newest iteration.

Check out the elk forum on rokslide. Imo, you don't really need a spotter to bowhunt elk, esp when trying to cut weight on a backcountry hunt. Having said that, I've never killed an elk, so wtf do I know?

Well, I know this... In my last three trips to colo over the last 2 years, I stalked to within 90 yards of an extremely nice bull while still hunting, came to full draw on a cow at 30 yards that I had bumped on a trail, and called a bull into 45 yards... All without a spotter. The WA I hunt is mainly steep dark forest, so a spotter is pretty impractical anyway.

It really all depends on the type of terrain you're hunting.

Edit: impractical, not practical

Unless you're dead set on backpacking in (that would be a great experience), there are plenty of areas with public access roads where you'll have a great chance to see elk. I've hunted the Medicine Bows and really enjoyed the country. My unit was over the counter and after the first week of elk season, if you didn't get a bull, you had an extra week to hunt a cow. I just camped in places where I could park my truck and never felt cramped from too many other hunters. After the first week, the forest was almost deserted and I had entire mountain sides to myself.

I remember thinking that if a person was willing to back pack in a couple miles into certain roadless areas, you could probably catch the elk with their guard down pretty quick. Especially if you hiking into steep and deep canyons.

harge57 said:

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I am very likely/guaranteed to draw a Wyoming General elk tag this year.

Plan is to backpack in with my brother for up to 2 weeks.

Was wondering if anyone could offer up any advice as we start to plan this out.


1. What unit to hunt?

Since I am a non-resident I am limited to non-wilderness areas on the General tag.
Top units we are considering right now are 85, 84, 81, but we are open to exploring other options ( I personally like the western half of unit 85 based on map scouting). I will be calling local biologists, park rangers, and game wardens to get more info this spring/summer. Hopefully this winter is not too harsh on the elk.

We are trying to find something that has limited road access. We would like to hike in about 5 - 7 miles to avoid other hunting pressure. We know there will be horses going past us, but would like to avoid the ATV/Road hunters as much as possible.

2. When to hunt?

Our tentative plan would be to hunt/scout the last few days of bow season 9/21-9/24 and mainly focus on locating the elk. Then transition in to the rifle season starting on 9/25 to increase the odds of taking something. This plan would not work in all general units as some have a break between archery and rifle season.

I know that some units are largely effected by elk migrations, but I think most of these units hold elk herds so I am not sure if deciding when to hunt should be determined by migration timing.

3. Bear Country

I am equally excited and worried about hunting in grizzly country. I have been reading a lot of the state published info about safe camping in grizzly country, but if anyone (ursusguy) has any tips please share.

4. Equipment

I am pretty set on most equipment, but am probably going to pick up a spotting scope for this trip. I am leaning towards a Vortex Viper 20-60x80, but the smaller 16-48x65 razor is very tempting at this price. Cabelas - $799 Will I regret not having the extra magnification?

I am also considering taking in one 3 person tent vs. 2 single tents. Any thoughts on this?


Feel free to email me at caleb.hargesheimer @ gmail.com if you do not want to post unit info. (No PMs since I cancelled my premium subscription to help fund the spotting scope LOL.)

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Go read the CJ Box "Joe Pickett" series...

I'm going to ditto the "you don't need a spotting scope" crowd. If you have a good pair of binoculars that will be more than enough to accomplish what you've stated as your goal.

Save the money, save the weight.

I hunted 21, 94, and 107 on my general tag this past season. 94 was my main focus area, however, I got snowed out on the first week of rifle season after a 3' dump and I had to scramble for the remainder of the season to figure something out. In the end I didn't get it done this year but I did learn a lot.

Here is some rough info for each unit:

21 - Very popular unit that gets a lot of traffic. Elk numbers are strong though and chances are pretty good that you could at least shoot a cow. I hunted the Baby Lakes Wilderness area the last weekend of October and found lots of elk rubs and bedding areas. Elk can also be found outside of the N.F. in the Battle Mountain and Muddy Mountain areas and also to the north and west of the forest. There will be more road hunters out there but lots of cows and spikes are taken in those areas with some good bulls mixed in.

94 - Also another popular unit, but doesn't get nearly the pressure of 21 due to its ruggedness and remote location. Elk populations are also good and I was on them during the scouting season. In fact, I probably would have had a bull if I had bought an archery tag. I had bulls screaming all around me during my September muley hunt in this same unit and I was looking forward to coming back for elk rifle season, however, a big October storm kept me out of the area I had scouted on opening weekend and then work dictated my schedule the following week. I was pretty upset because I really felt like I had a good opportunity to make it happen in this unit. I went back for a late season day hunt in November, but to no avail. If I had done things right then I would have schedule at least 5-6 off in a row and made it happen one way or another. Elk are all over this unit and it's no secret that you'll need to be up high in the creek drainages during early season and then be there when things open up after a big snow in October.

107 - Probably not a place you'll want to focus on as an out of stater. The locals in Mountain View know this area well (obviously) and they shoot some pretty decent bulls out of it, but it doesn't have the numbers like other units. This is basically a foothill region for the Uinta Mountains to the south and migrations are predicated on snow in the high country. If it's late season and you haven't punched a tag then you could hang out in one of the migration corridors and hope something comes in.

For bear, I would take bear spray. I typically have it harnessed on my backpack right by my chest chest for easy access. There are some good videos that will show you the distance the spray goes and how to spray the bears. Practice a few times getting to it quickly and ready to deploy. I have hiked a lot in heavy wooded areas so the chance of surprising a grizzly is much higher then if you are more out in rolling hill areas with lighter cover.

Binoculars should be all you need as stated above. Get a good pair and I recommend some sort of harness for them, it makes hiking with them at the ready much easier. If you are going to be staying put on a mountain top then a spotting scope might be useful but I would make sure to have nice binos first as you will want them when stalking, not the spotting scope.

I would do your own tent so you have a little privacy and don't wake up if your buddy has to piss in the middle of the night etc.


Enjoy it!

Thanks everyone for the input. It is extremely helpful.

Thaed 137, We will definitely have bear spray.

AgEng06, if we do not get something figured out with a spotter I might take you up on your generous offer.

Sean98 said:

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I'm going to ditto the "you don't need a spotting scope" crowd. If you have a good pair of binoculars that will be more than enough to accomplish what you've stated as your goal.

Save the money, save the weight.

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I thought you needed binoculars, spotting scope, and long range scope for elk hunting. The answer for me is it depends on the terrain.

My Colorado Hunt last year looked open enough on arials to justify the weight of a spotting scope. Once we got there the reality was while you could see a long ways at times, the down timber from a wild fire made it impossible to travel long distances quickly. We left the scope in the tent after the first day.

Unless it was close enough to see clearly with our 12x50 binoculars, it was unrealistic to chase it.

Yeah, I had a spotting scope with me (my fancy Barska), I carried with me once and then just used my binoculars. My cousin had some fancy rangefinding Leica binoculars, and he could pretty well zoom in on anything we might be curious about. I was perfectly happy with my 8x42 Leopold Acadia by now (eyeguy had them on sale several months ago).

Carry the bear spray and keep it handy. Keep a clean campsite. Have separate sleep clothes from your day clothes. Eat away from your sleeping area. Have someone keeping a lookout while field dressing, and reapproach kills cautiously. Follow those simple steps and you won't likely have an issue.

Pet the moose if you find one.

ursusguy said:

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Pet the moose if you find one.

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That is a nice shiras.

I've seen 1-5 bulls on every hunt I've been on in the Weminuche.

They're either really stupid or they know that nobody hunts moose in colo.

I've seen 1 cow. She saw me and hauled ass.

1 -
I've never hunted the units you mentioned, but I have hunted just South of there in units 89, 90 and 91. Similar types of terrain. Steep country, but not super tall (you won't get much higher than 10,000 ft in most places. Another sleeper unit is unit 7. I'm not sure what the non-resident regs are out there (but I will be finding out, I guess...) There are a ton of big elk in unit 7. The elevations are lower, less predation and milder winters...thus the elk can commit extra resources to antler growth (my non-professional opinion).

2 -
For archery season things don't usually pick up until the 3rd week of September. In my experience that's when the elk start bugling and getting more active. This can vary with the weather (slower when its warmer).

3-
You usually won't see grizzly bears until you are to Jackson and North. I see black bears all of the time and have never had trouble with them. Guys spend months and months hauling trash cans full of candy, pop corn and other smelly stuff into the mountains trying to get bears to come in where they want them to be and its still hard to bag a bear over bait. Use common sense, normal precautions and take bear spray. Luckily I've only ever encounter 2 grizzly bears in the wild and they were running away from me by the time I saw them.

4-
I never use a spotting scope when bow hunting. My 12x50 binos are more than ample. I don't use a spotter when I'm hunting alone either because I resent the extra weight. I'll pack one if I'm hunting with someone or preseason when I'm scouting. Typical (wide) temperature fluctuations should be expected in the mountains.

That's my $.02 for what its worth. I hunted Wyoming hard for the past 6 years but only as a resident. Since my move, I hope to be planning a similar trip as non-resident in the coming years.

Agingcowboy and TommyGun. Thanks so much for the info on the other units. Like I said we are not set on those units so I will definitely look into these others.

Texags is awesome.