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Five Best DIY Bowhunts In the West

If you have the ambition to launch your own bowhunt, the West offers the best in do-it-yourself adventure.

July 20, 2011

7/20/2011

When the buck commited to a drink from the muddy waterhole, I leaned over in the sweltering blind and whispered, “He’s 33 yards. Take him now.” My son, Cole, drew his bow and touched the trigger. Seconds later we watched his first head of big game tip over on the sun-baked, Wyoming plain.

The next morning a string of thirsty pronghorns lined up in front of us in the same blind. Seven bucks smacked their lips trying to decide whether our blind was a threat. The biggest buck sported mass and sweeping prongs. The adolescents waded into the water. My target followed, and after all the bucks lowered their heads to drink, I drew and settled the pin on its vitals. The waterhole erupted and the leader disappeared in a tumble of dust 80 yards away.

I occasionally get invited to hunts on private properties, but this wasn’t one of them. My son and I filled our bow tags on public land using our 20-foot horse trailer as an ATV hauler and camper. If you have the ambition to launch your own bowhunt, the West offers the best in do-it-yourself adventure.

1. Wyoming Pronghorn
Wyoming is currently at a 10-year high for pronghorns and virtually the entire state can produce a good hunt. It uses a draw for all pronghorn tags. The highest draw odds lie in the east, but it has less public land. In the west and southwest public land abounds, but the odds of drawing are low because Wyoming issues a pronghorn tag there good for firearm or archery with stamp validation, so everyone is in the same draw.

Look north, to the prairies east and south of the Bighorn Mountains. Units 17 and 23 are virtually guaranteed and the area has Bureau of Land Management tracts, plus the occasional block of state land. The season runs Aug. 15 through September for units 17 and 23. Adjacent unit 113 has a 50/50 chance to draw with similar scattered public lands in a September season.

The nearby community of Gillette keeps a list of landowners looking for hunters to cull herds or pay a trespass fee. Check state Walk-In Area and Hunter Management programs to see if annual signups are in the neighborhood. Also look into Wyoming’s generous quotas of leftover doe/fawn tags at any of the 100 license agents in the state. You can purchase up to four doe/fawn licenses in certain areas.

2. Colorado Elk
Several states have better bulls, but none offer opportunities like Colorado. The state has more elk than any other with an estimated population of 287,270 and an average bull to cow ratio of 30:100. With few exceptions, Colorado elk can be bowhunted with an over-the-counter tag costing you $564 including a required habitat stamp and processing fee. The archery elk season runs Aug. 27-Sept. 25.

Colorado is full of rough country; focus on its southern half including the San Juan, Rio Grande and San Isabel national forests. Elevations vary from 7,000-14,000 feet; weather can change quickly in the high country from the 70s to a white-out. Be prepared.

Public holdings total millions of acres; private holdings make up many valleys and front-range zones. It’s best to hunt national forests bordering private lands hoarding herds or to pack into remote, roadless areas. Units 771, 85 and 861 post success rates at 16, 18 and 20 percent respectively, but they also are light on national forest and heavy on deeded property. Units with higher volumes of national forest include 77, 78, 80 and 81, with success rates of 9, 15, 9 and 11 percent respectively, plus lots of national forest.

3. Idaho Whitetails
Idaho has a reputation for muleys, elk and potatoes, but you might want to make room next to the potatoes for whitetail. From the central part of the state north you’ll run into whitetails and numerous national forests offering public opportunities for archery whitetail hunts. Giants greater than 170 inches are not uncommon here.

Idaho’s archery season runs Aug. 30 through September and the licensing system is simple. In December nonresidents can purchase licenses for the coming year. Once the quota is filled the door is closed. Deer tags are generally still available through spring/early summer, but don’t wait—validate your deer tag with a nonresident hunting license and archery permit.

Head north to Unit 1 and base your hunt in the 1-million-acre Kaniksu National Forest encompassing 52 percent of the region. Idaho’s Access Yes program also provides lands to hunt here. Scout riparian zones and valleys where public land adjoins private. Priest Lake is a whitetail magnet. September whitetails look for the richest feed available to face the rut and winter to come. Archery success runs approximately 20 percent in the region.

Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry offer base-camp lodging and supplies; primitive camping is allowed in the forest.

4. South Dakota Muleys
South Dakota is where the West and the natural geographic boundary for mule deer habitat begin, and patchwork parcels here offer ample opportunities. The season runs Sept. 24 through December for antlered deer. You can bowhunt during firearm season while wearing one article of hunter orange. My recommendation: Complete your hunt prior to firearm season or return in December when winter weather makes deer more predictable.

Mule deer blossom along the Missouri River and to the west. Since your license is guaranteed and good for every prairie unit west of the river, be nomadic. Check out the 73,000-acre Custer National Forest in the northwest corner consisting of rugged ponderosa pine hills and jagged buttes. Tamer terrain lies to the east in the 155,000-acre Grand River National Grasslands; focus here on public land abutting private agricultural croplands.

Glass from afar and plan a stalk when muleys bed down. Keep an eye out for the popular state Walk-In Program. South Dakota leases approximately 1 million acres of private land each year and the largest contiguous properties lie in the east. Park your truck at the gate and you’ll likely be alone. Less than 27,000 licenses are sold annually statewide, and the state posts a high archery success rate of 31 percent. Your tag is good for either species and the entire region posts a 50/50 mix of whitetails and mule deer, so don’t be too picky.

5. Montana Black Bear
If your fall is more packed than the cheeks of an autumn chipmunk consider a spring hunt for black bear in Montana. You can’t bait there, but the state’s black bear density supplies ample opportunity. Head to the northwest corner and concentrate on three national forests: the Lolo, Kaniksu and Kootenai. Opportunities abound and you can make the hunt as easy or as difficult as you want. Concentrate on units 104 and 108, although you can’t go wrong with any adjacent units either. Libby and Thompson Falls can supply you with all your needs.

Locate lush grass and be there when it greens, because when a bear emerges from its den in spring it jump-starts its digestive system on the stuff. In northwest Montana south-facing meadows attract spring bears with the green bouquet, as do recently logged areas.
Cover the country quickly using forest service roads. Stop and glass hillsides and across canyons often. Once you spot a bear note the location and stalk or get in position and call. For archery hunting calling is the ultimate adrenaline rush. Any standard prey-in-distress call works, but if you’re near an elk calving area switch to high-pitched calf-in-distress calls and have a buddy back you up.

Seasons run April 15-May 15 and licenses are unlimited, but apply at least five days before you hunt. You also need to pass a free, online bear identification test because you’re bowhunting in grizzly country.

Tags: bow hunts, bow hunts in the west, bowhunting in the west, colorado hunting, hunting, idaho hunting, mark kayser, montana hunting, south dakota hunting, whitetail hunting, whitetails, wyoming hunting

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Heather O'Brien wrote:
July 25, 2011

As the Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Biologist that covers the above-mentioned Antelope Hunt Areas 23 and 17, I would like to clarify a couple of things for readers. First and most importantly, the opening date for archery hunting in Area 17 is listed incorrectly. Area 23 is open for archery only from August 15-Sept 30. AREA 17 DOES NOT OPEN FOR ARCHERY UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1- 30. Please be aware of this and do not find yourself in violation of the season opener. We certainly do not want you to visit our state for a nice quiet archery hunt only to return home with a ticket and a fine. Second, each of these hunt areas does have public land, but these tracts are not very large. For archery season when hunter density is very low, you can indeed be successful as the author himself has been. During rifle season however, the few tracts of public land to be found in Areas 23 and 17 receive an extremely high volume of hunters and hunting pressure. If you are planning a rifle hunt please keep this in mind. That is not to say you cannot be successful during rifle season - just be aware that you most definitely will not be the only one utilizing those public lands. Accessible public land is a "hot commodity" in Northeast Wyoming during rifle season! Lastly, Wyoming is a state that does not require signage of private/public land boundaries. If you plan to hunt public lands in Northeast Wyoming, make sure to pick up the appropriate BLM maps. Better yet, get your hands on the new GPS basemaps that are now available to show you public versus private land status. They will keep you on the right side of the fence and avoid issues of trespassing on private lands. Thanks for your consideration of these points, and best of luck with your hunting plans!