Non-Resident Elk/Big Game Hunting Questions

This is an extremely broad question. You are going to have to get online and research like everyone else. Yes there are over the counter hunts, but they are not simple and are far, far from guaranteed. Western style hunting is completely different than corn pile hunting.

I’d recommend starting with Randy Newberg’s elk hunting YouTube and podcasts. They are the dead level best for beginner information.

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Colorado has OTC tags

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and lots of public land to hunt.

Colorado has OTC tags but lots of pressure

Wyoming is draw only but has tags you can draw with 0-2 points

New Mexico is only random draw. No Points.


If you are serious about it, join GoHunt Insider (usually has a 30 day trial) and dive into the different units and draw odds. You absolutely can hunt elk next season if you wanted to. Hell you can go this year

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hould we do a guided hunt or just hunt public land without a guide

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Get a guide if you can afford it. There's a really steep learning curve, especially if you're not well versed on mountains and camping etc etc

Idaho reduced nonresident tags by 75% in some units. It was impossible to get tags for a group this year. Their system crashed first day of purchases from too many people

Colorado is close, easy, you can get tags for multiple animals. I saw 35 hunters in the OTC unit I hunted. Saw 12 elk, had 2 in range.

Montana has tags but tougher dryer hills and less laid out trails vs Colorado. Also grizzlies to contend with.

I’d still get a guide though vs DIY. First year of DIY and learning, you will spend as much as you do on a guide anyway.

If this is a once a lifetime hunt, spend the money, go rifle and go guide on private land.

If you want to be Steve Rinelli, you will spend 4K on gear and 4K on license before you fill a tag on a DIY public land hunt.

Once you learn elk, you can kill elk. 90% of the elk killed on public land are taken by 10% of the hunters.

Good luck. Elk are Hell

Montana has a draw, but you usually get a tag, plus they have left over cow tags, usually. And plenty of public land

Everything he said is correct. If you are only doing this once, get a guide.

I plan to do this every year, so I dropped some money on gear instead of a guide.

OTC is where you want to go if you want to see thousands of hunters stomping through the mountains in the same area.

There is a reason Colorado’s harvest percentage is so low

Get a draw in a good GMU in Colorado and go from there.

I agree. All I’m saying is OTC is significantly more congested with other hunters.

How has your success been with either?

That’s not bad for a private hunt, just depends what kind of money someone wants to spend. My Montana tag was $225 plus gas to drive there, so pretty cheap. We will see how it goes