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Originally Posted by Jim243
As to Elk, let's get real. There are things we would like to do and there are things that we will actually do. Paying 800 or 900 dollars for a Elk tag and then waiting years to get picked in a lottery for a out of state tag, is not going to happen soon.
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Lets get real here at least about a few things on elk hunting. Elk tags don't cost $800-900, and elk can be hunted every year even for the out of state resident. Colorado a cow elk tag is $351 and bull elk tags are $586 both of which can be bought over the counter. As well as being bought over the counter there is enough elk in those areas that if one does a little homework before hand just on the computer can have a decent chance of bagging an elk and bringing it home. Are these trophy bull areas, no but the hunt and its memories can be a trophy all to there own.
Plus you never know where you might run into a trophy elk, you can find at least a 275-300 class bull in about every unit that has elk in it in Colorado. The 350+ class units do take a few years to draw but you get all the money back except a $3 application fee if unsuccessful. So it isn't like you're loosing that money you put into the draw, plus Colorado works on a point system which improves your odds in a trophy unit every year.
Is it cheap to hunt out of state, no again. However, it can be done on a reasonable budget to where you can come every other year if not every year. It all depends on how and where you want to spend your money. If a hunter was to budget $200 a month towards an elk hunt in Colorado and had some decent camping gear, and the time off to hunt, I'd bet when the season was over they'd be going home with money in their wallet to put towards the next years hunt. Especially if you got a group of 2-4 hunters together to split driving time and fuel costs.