Filling a tag or not, you won't regret going on a trip like this. The time to have these adventures is now. I'm almost 30 and I'm kicking myself for not going sooner. The information you can find on the internet and in forums has made it easy for the younger generation of hunters to plan a trip like this. It's no longer a trip where you have to hire a guide, stay in a lodge, and drop $10k. If you want it bad enough, you can find ways to save $1,500 over the course of a year.Įlk hunting doesn't have to be a financial burden. That would bring the expense of an out of state DIY elk hunting trip to around $1,500. I am not sure on the price of tags but I believe tags in both of those states, which offer over the counter tags, is about $300 less. Even if you don't have a tag, I assure you there is much to learn and every year you do not hunt these great animals, you’ll fall one step behind.Īnother option to do this cheaper is to hunt in Colorado or Idaho. I doubt you'll find a hunter who is opposed to being the featured hunter on an elk hunting trip. He can be the hunter and you can be the caller.
Still too much? Find an elk hunting partner who is cool with you buying a tag every other year. The cost to go elk hunting is at a much more reasonable price of $1,811. Take out $740 for taxidermy, processing, and shipping. Lets say I drove with a friend to MT for this hunt. Chris killed a bull during one of the most epic mornings of elk hunting. *Chris hadn't notched his tag yet but the weather was bad the second half of our trip so we didn't hunt again until the 2nd to last day there. I'll add $200 for gas, eating out, and grabbing a few cold ones. In all honesty, had we hunted the entire time the only additional cost would've been one night in a hotel ($75). When you take a 12 day vacation and fill your tag on the 2nd day, you're left with a lot of unforeseen expenses. The meat was shipped overnight for $225 (Had a shipping discount through work). I was able to check the head at the airport for $125 otherwise UPS quoted me at $300. Getting a euro mount done cost $200 (you cannot transport brain matter or spinal fluid into the state of Michigan so I had to get the head taken care of). Since I did fly I, I had to have the head and the meat shipped to me. Had I not flown, I could have just boiled the skull and dealt with the meat once I got home. Here is where driving would have saved me a lot of money. Total: $124 Taxidermy, Processing, and Shipping Dehydrated meals go for roughly $8 each (8 days of food = $64). My diet consisted of a breakfast bagel with peanut butter and bacon trail mix, jerky, and 3 energy bars for lunch and a dehydrated meal for dinner. Food while your elk hunting is a little different though. Whether you're home or hunting out of town, you're going to buy groceries. I debated on including food as an expense. I did have to purchase a sleeping bag ($100), sleeping pad ($25), hydration bladder ($40), inflatable pillow ($60), bear spray ($60), and jetboil fuel ($12) Total: $297 Food I am not going to include these in the total cost of my trip as they weren't an expense for me. The water filter and jetboil each come in under $100. A good backpack will honestly cost you $300-$400. If you forgot to ask Santa for a backpack this Christmas, that's on you. Each of these I received as a gift for Christmas or my birthday.
Specifically a backpack, water filter, and jetboil. A 40 yard shot and a 150 yard blood trail changed our plans real quick. Luckily, on the 2nd day, a bull decided to feed his way into an open meadow which we had been day napping at the edge of. Then we would hike back in to a different location and hunt for 3 more days. If we hadn't killed an elk by the 5th day, we planned on hiking out, grabbing dinner and posting up in a hotel for a night to recharge. The plan was to hike into our spot on public land, set up camp, and hunt for 5 days.
Chris picked me up from the airport, we organized our gear, and came up with a game plan. That year, I scheduled 12 days off of work, bought a tag, and flew to MT to elk hunt. Chris and I used to live in the same city, so this was also a trip to reunite with an old friend. I knew there was going to be a lot to learn during my first trip so I opted to be Chris's elk hunting partner, videographer, meat hauler, or whatever else you want to call it. I didn't buy a tag that year because I didn't want to spend the money on a non-resident tag when I had never been elk hunting before. Second, I had already spent a week in the mountains chasing elk with Chris two years prior. First, my buddy Chris lives in Bozeman, MT so lodging and a set of wheels weren't going to be an expense. I chose to do my trip in Montana for two reasons.
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