Tips & Tactics: Setting 2025 Wyoming Elk Expectations

Photo Credit: Mike Eastman / Article By: Jaden Bales

In October 2023, I guided an older gentleman who used his maximum preference points for one of Wyoming’s premier hunting areas. This man had hunted top units in Utah and Colorado and had taken quite a few nice bulls over his career, his biggest run around the 350” mark. His goal for a guided hunt in one of Wyoming’s top areas was to break 370”.

After hunting for five hard days and looking over hundreds of elk, he, in no uncertain terms expressed his dissatisfaction with an inability to surpass his best bull’s score, let alone break the mark that he set for himself on this hunt that took nearly two decades of applying. Meanwhile, I was having an absolute blast working the mountains and sagebrush looking over bull after bull, experiencing great October rut action and enjoying the time outdoors.

While there certainly was a mismatch between this gentleman’s expectations of trophy quality and the reality of what it takes to turn up a bull to meet his expectations, even on a Wyoming premiere hunt, this hunter is not alone.

I have had the distinct pleasure of being on, guiding or following up with over a dozen Commissioner’s Tag elk hunters, and have even held a couple of good tags in Wyoming myself these past four years. A common theme that consistently arises is often a mismatch between expectations for Wyoming elk hunting and the reality of what even premium tags have to offer. 

Unfortunately for most hunters, they expect to see a lot of elk, and if they waited a long time for the hunt, to see a big bull behind every tree. Of course, they don’t. This seems to follow every point level and every type of application from reduced-price cow hunts to general elk hunts to the top units in the state. 

If you have insider intel, a ton of time to give or the resources to invest in people to help you maximize your hunt, then sure, maybe a Wyoming elk hunt will meet or exceed your expectations.

However, for the majority of folks who are mostly casual elk hunters (hunt less than 10 days per season) and do not have access to livestock or other resources to make the hunt better, there should certainly be a little bit more research and a reality check at the door for your elk hunt expectations. 

With the preference points required to hunt elk these days, tag strategy matters more than ever before in choosing units that fit your hunt style, hunting goals and time availability…..

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE EHJ i206 DIGITAL MAGAZINE HERE

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Eastmans’ MRS & TagHub: Getting The Most Out Of Your Hunt Research

With good elk tags across the West requiring more and more points to draw each year, getting the most out of your hunt research is of utmost importance. Enter Eastmans’ TagHub featuring the oldest and best tag research, Eastmans’ MRS. Each year during tag application months the Eastmans’ MRS writers pound out expert analysis of the best units in each western state for elk, mule deer, antelope, sheep, moose and mountain goat. The accompanying MRS print tables that appear in those issues of EHJ and EBJ are limited by page space in the Journals and that’s where TagHub comes into play. 

TagHub is Eastmans’ digital research tool that houses millions of data points to help you dig deep and find just the right tag. Available 24/7/365, fully searchable and sortable and with mapping powered by Spartan Forge… if you haven’t upgraded your print subscription to a full TagHub Elite membership you are missing out on hunting opportunities. 

Not to mention TagHub is loaded with premium content like exclusive blogs, videos gear and six hunts that we giveaway each year. Signing up is simple, just visit this link and get signed up for Eastmans’ TagHub today.

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