Elk 34

[papadew]

How good is the public access in area 34

 

[TOPGUN]

Nothing spectacular, but with the proper maps and a GPS with land ownership chip, there should be plenty to have a decent hunt when looking at the unit on my CD ROM computer map.

 

[papadew]

Thanks Topgun. I'll try to pick your brain later. I have to deal with Xmas right now.

 

[papadew]

It looks like 34 is a big area, anybody have a good starting point, and hey Topgun. Where do you get that map overlay that shows you private & public.

 

[chipc]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-25-11 AT 10:08AM (MST)[p]You can go on MYTOPO.com and order a unit 34 map. 5 freinds from here hunt 34 every year but mostly for deer and antelope (region Y and unit 21)but they usually have an elk tag or 2 as well. According to them much of the public is difficult to access because its blocked by private. They've been hunting the same spot for the past 25 years and have permission to drive across a large private ranch to access their camp site and hunting area. Some years they see Elk and some years not. They did kill a 280 class 6 point there this past fall but it was the only bull they saw in 9 days of hunting. They hunt on the west side of the unit. The fact that the draw odds are nearly 100% with 0 points in the special draw also tells me it could be a tough hunt. However, a tough hunt is better than none ! GOOD LUCK and MERRY CHRISTMAS. Chip

 

[TOPGUN]

If you want to start cheap, you can get a 1:100,000 scale BLM map of that area and it will show the private in white, state land in blue, the BLM in yellow/brown, and the National Forest lands in green so you can get a decent look at the area. Those maps are shown right in the online F&G application booklet and each area has a name to order it. If you want to go up in price and get a map of the entire North American continent with all the land ownership in different colors like I did this year, you can get the DeLorme Topo North America 9.0 DVD from Cabelas for $100. I just got that mostly for use outside the state of Wyoming. For Wyoming I'm using a CD ROM that covers the entire state and it looks just like the BLM maps I mentioned that you have to buy individually. The great thing about both programs is that you can zoom in to really see where the roads, streams, and other land features are and then print your own map with waypoints. I got the Wyoming one a number of years ago for $50 right through the F&G online store, but they quit selling it several years ago for some reason. I make my own maps with it and put waypoints for boundaries so I can match them up with my GPS when I'm out there on the ground. The DeLorme also has that feature, but I've found the colors in that program aren't as easy to see. However, it is nice because it not only shows the coordinates, but also comes up with a line that tells you right on the screen what the land ownership is for wherever you move your mouse pointer. That would be good if you're color blind! I also just bought a new Garmin LegendHCx GPS a couple weeks ago and I'll probably buy a Wyoming microSD chip for it so everything is right on the color screen without even having to upload or download stuff or make a paper map if I don't want to. If you have about any Garmin that takes microSD chips, then the huntinggpsmaps.com website is where I'd go to buy it.

 

[WapitiBob]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-25-11 AT 05:15PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Dec-25-11 AT 04:23?PM (MST)

You can download the WY BLM map for the whole state from HuntingGPSmaps.com for free. Go to their "map store", the state of your choosing, then the free map area. Load them into Basecamp or Mapsource.

Login to your account, add the WY4GPS map product to your cart, checkout, choose free trial in the shipping drop down, install the map and it will show up in Basecamp or Mapsource. At the download page, they will provide the trial code for your map product. You will need to purchase an unlock code to use it in a GPS device.

 

[TOPGUN]

Easy for you to say, LOL! As a novice in all this downloading/uploading stuff and being scared to screw something all up on my computer or GPS, I think I'll just buy the friggin chip instead.

 

[elkoholic2001]

There is public ground, but they give out numerous tags for the area. I use to hunt this area, but finally gave up as it was getting to over crowded. If a person just wants to hunt and is willing to work 36 is a great area. 36 doesn't have a lot of roads, its a lot of foot or horse back.

 

[TOPGUN]

Basically you're talking about two different license choices. 34 is a limited quota area with less public land and had 55 NR tags issued in the Reg PP Drawing and with 1 PP was a 65.38% draw. Nonresidents were issued 643 tags. Unit 36 is a General Tag unit for both Residents and NRs with basically at least half of the unit being public land, but unit 34 is also twice as big as 36.

 

[papadew]

So Topgun. What are you saying. I should go for 34 or 36.