An Easy Question

[Swede]

It is obvious that Elknut Forum users are very interested in elk hunting. What I am wondering is how does our success compare with the average for the area we hunt. For this question it does not matter why you have success, or even if you do not. You could be successful because of what you learned here or you could just be an elk nut.
If you would like to participate in this, I want to know if you hunt with a rifle, muzzleloader or bow, or some combination of these. What is your average success rate, and what is the average success rate for the area you hunt? What I am trying to see is (quantify), how much does an avid interest in elk hunting change/improve our success.

E.g. Over the last ten years, Mary's success rate has been 40% with a bow in an area that has an approximate 20% success rate. (+20%)

In a month or two, if I have enough responses, I will tabulate the replys and quantify how much improvement we are getting by being an avid learner on the subject of elk.

[Lefty]

The statistics are not a good qualifier of my abilities or the elk denisity numbers in my area or the quality of the type of hunters who hunt my area

My area archery succsess is 30-40 % All of those 60% of the bulls are 6x6 or larger that were taken .
Does that mean we have lots of big bulls or elk. No
Statistically the average number of hunter days is one of the highest per hunter in the state

I was the only person to shot a cow in the area the year I killed a cow,.. So me Im at 25%

I hunt about 1/2 of they typical hunter in my area hunts.
With that said rifle and depredation hunts are much lower success than archery. One 30 day depredation hunt less than 15% of the hunters were successfull killing a cow on a depredation hunt. Regullar general elk season the success is less than 10%
I think Im better than the average archery elk hunter but not in my unit. Yes, I mess up more than my share. I believe my woodsmanship is well above average and my generailized hunting abilities are higher than average

[Swede]

Lefty, Thanks for posting on this. Maybe there is a quantifiable advantage to having a strong thirst for elk information that can be tallied in dead elk. Maybe I will find out there is not much if any. That said, I am going to edit my post above and give a different example.

[Vanish]

Careful with the math here! To go from 20% success rate is 40% success rate is a 100% increase. It gets all kinds of ugly when you are trying to deal with adding different percentages and percentages of percentages.

[Swede]

Vanish you are right that 40% is 100% better than 20%. I was thinking of doing a simple arithmatic average. E.g. The average is 20% in a unit but Mary killed 4 in 10 years for 40%. Drats: Vanish, now you have me thinking again. I was hoping that if I become an anatomicial donor, I could offer a brain in mint condition. If you start this up you will be spoiling my plans, and someone will have to settle for a used part. BTW most of my other parts are wearing out, so pass on them if someone offers you any. LOL
If you or anyone else knows of a better way of geting this information please post. I think it would be interesting to know how much it really helps hunters to use forum advice.

[Lefty]

A lot of things go into being a "good" at what-ever
While some may be lucky more often than others,.. Some mess up more than they should( Im not blaming bad luck) Some have better opputunities than others. How ever those that are a student and practice their craft, that study what others do And forums can be a part of this.Over-all will do better


I believe a good education from this site put me ahead in the archery game.
A nice bull is destined to die at my arrow,.. and inb part from my association on elk sites
Over-all for my statistics Ive done better than rifle hunters ; 6 rifle tags bull tags ( Washington Montana and Idaho) and one rifle cow tag, 2 large bulls and a cow in 14 days of hunting For 6 years that beats most hunt number days and success rates espesially for the few years Ive lived in elk country.
Archery , well Ive nocked an arrow on a 6x6 each year killed a cow, called in bulls this year ,..in about 23 1/2 to whole day hunts and about 20 last hour *of the day hunts I really believe Ive done very well

[mongopino915]

The math can be a little misleading but with sufficient data one can make a reasonable conclusion as to the overall skill level based on success rate. However, the truth will be hidden in the amount of efforts put forth (both during season and off season), how and how much you hunt, specific area(s) where you hunt, and shot opportunities (luck).

We have a guy in our team that shoots his bow the entire year (8 to 10,000 arrows), has a bow shop in his basement, knows his equipment inside out, practiced elk calling year round, spends 20 plus days in the wood, knows the elk mountain very well, finds and calls elk into bow range on a daily bases, came to full draw five times this season, but did not bag one in the last two years.

On the other hand, we have a rookie that borrowed his friend's bow, shot the bow at camp 10 times during the season, knows very little about elk anatomy/shot placement, knows very little about elk calling/country/behavior/hunting, but has been 100% (harvested two 5x5 in the last two years). The bulls just walk up to him under 15 yards, standing broadside, during the set up.

A true hardcore hunter knows how hard it is to consistently find and kill elk whereas some do not realized how fortunate and lucky they are.

At the end of day, it is all about learning and continuously improving our elk skills to make a kill every year. That's why I am on this great forum.

Thanks,

[Swede]

I recognize that a lot of variables will be overlooked with the simple data I want to tabulate. Even the States don't tabulate things like the experience of the hunter. At least our state does not ask for that. It is assumed that we have average experience. The only thing I would like to focus on is annual success. If you hunt longer and harder that is a part of being an avid elk nut. For the math here is what I would do:

Mary hunts 10 years and killed 4 elk in a unit with an average 20% success rate. 10 X .2 = 2. 4-2=2, 2/10 = +20%
Joe hunts 17 years and killed 3 bulls in a unit with a 25% success. .25 X 17 =4,25. 3 -4.25= -1.25/17 = -7%
Ray hunts 12 years and has killed 9 elk in a unit with an average 30% success rate. .3 x 12= 3.6. 9- 3.6 = 5.4/12 +45%
Ben hunts 8 years and has killed 12 elk in a unit that has an average 60% success rate. .6 x 8 = 4.8. 12 - 4.8 = 7.2/8 +90%

+20% -7% +45% + 90% /4 = 148/4 or a 37% annual improvement over the average. If the average elk produces 140# of cut and wrapped meat then our hunters bring home an additional 52# of meat each year according to this simple calculation.
I don't know if everyone follows my math, but that is how I will determine how much different we are from the agerage.

[cnelk]

In the past 10 years I have taken the following [from what I remember - they kinda blend together]

Archery
4 cows
4 bulls

Rifle
4 cows

I will have to research the success % for the units I hunt - But that number is skewed as the CPW doesnt do a very good job with success data
and plus in Colorado we can shoot more than 1 elk each year

I would rather have my success...

[eltaco]

How about we give you our shot opportunities or bulls called in for other people... I believe those stats will fare better for me!

I've shot 3 bulls in 5yrs, only recovered 2. 1/1 rifle, 1/4 archery.

Missed one this year, but also called bulls in for shots and spent more time calling for family and friends than hunting the past two years. Everyone has his/her excuses, but I'm personally going to make the change towards being more selfish in my efforts from now on, LOL!

[dotman]

This feels like math class

[Swede]

Dotman; that's funny. At least I do all of the math and give you the answer. I remember a few classes where I wish I had the answers given. That would have relieved a lot of pressure and improved my leisure life. Remember; I am still trying to keep my brain in mint condition, so it is going to stay easy.

[eltaco]

Oops, I forgot my unit success odds. Last year was 7%, I'll have to look up the other 4yrs. I'll guess an average of 10%.