At first glance, it might seem that an abundance of elk is a good problem for Wyoming hunters and outfitters to have.
But things get complicated when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of elk tag allocations, providing hunting access and balancing the allure of high-dollar trophy bull hunts with the need for average Janes and Joes who just want to shoot a cow elk to fill their freezers.
The current quandaries are encapsulated in Elk Hunt Area 123, situated southeast of Gillette in Campbell and Weston counties.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on Tuesday voted to increase the number of Type 6, reduced-price cow elk tags there. The commission also voted to issue 150 Type 1 bull elk tags for the 2025 hunting season.
Hunters can also use Type 8 cow elk tags in Area 123. Hunters can buy as many Type 8 tags as they want, to kill cow elk on private property.
‘Those Elk Are Going To Leave’
Kyle Wendtland has hunted elk for many years in Area 123 and was the environmental manager for three coal mines in the region.
He also works closely with Shane Farella, the owner and manager of the Keeline Ranch in Campbell and Weston Counties. Some of his property is at the southern end of Hunt Area 123.
The ranch is a haven for elk, including some huge trophy bulls.
Wendtland and Farella told Cowboy State Daily they worry that if Game and Fish puts too much pressure on elk in Area 123, it could ruin things for public land hunters there.
“If you saturate that limited amount of public land with hunters, those elk are going to leave, and they’re not going to come back,” Wendtland said.
A Small Area With A Big Punch
As Wyoming elk hunt areas go, Area 123 is small. (Elk Hunt Area 7, mostly in Albany County, is the size of some small countries.)
Hunt Area 123 is estimated to hold about 1,200 to 1,500 elk.
It’s been a hidden gem, where there’s typically been a high rate of satisfaction for local, public land hunters, Farella said.
And tucked away on private property such as his, there’s opportunity to bag gigantic trophy bull elk, he said.
Well-heeled hunters have paid north of $30,000 for Game and Fish Commissioners’ elk tags and chosen to hunt bulls on his property, he said.
Commissioners’ and Governor’s hunting tags are limited items, auctioned off each year, with the funds going back into the Game and Fish budget.
Commissioners’ tags are good only in whichever hunt area the purchaser chooses. Governor’s tags are good throughout the entire state.
Bull tags are issued in Hunt Area 123 once every three years, and Farella said the quality of bull elk on his property has attracted commissioners’ tag holders a few times.
At one time in the past, “we went to once every other year for bull tags, and the bull size and quality fell,” Farella said.
During bull seasons, he’ll outfit groups of three to five hunters on his property, looking for the best of the best when it comes to trophy bulls.
“We typically don’t kill bulls under the 350-class,” he said.
He was referring to the official trophy measurement system authorized by the Boone and Crockett Club (B&C). It involves compiling measurements of the length and girth at several points along an animal’s antlers.
A total score of 350 inches, B&C, is impressive for an elk. Scores of 400 or more are outright monsters, and rare in Wyoming.
But Farella said some 400-class bull elk have been killed in Hunt Area 123.
Don’t Want A Repeat Of Southeast Wyoming
In parts of Wyoming, elk herds ballooning well beyond the Game and Fish’s target populations has become a serious problem.
Ranchers have grown weary of elk gobbling up forage on their pastures, raiding haystacks, tearing up fences and otherwise causing trouble.
However, some hunters complain that landowners aren’t granting them enough access to go shoot the elk and trim down their numbers.
When it comes to big game numbers in Wyoming and the West, elk herds out outpacing other species.
Mule deer continue to struggle, and Wyoming’s vaunted Sublette antelope herd isstill reeling from catastrophic winterkill losses in 2022 to 2023.
But elk numbers are booming. So much so, that game managers fret that hunters can’t kill elk fast enough in parts of Wyoming.
In Hunt Area 123, Game and Fish is trying to avoid the sort of elk population booms that have hit hunt areas 6 and 7 in southeast Wyoming.
“We’re trying to be aggressive. We’re trying to get this (Elk Hunt Area 123) herd managed,” Game and Fish Sheridan area regional wildlife manager Dustin Shorma told the commission on Tuesday.
We’ll See How It Goes
Farella said he doesn’t mind an abundance of elk on his property.
And so far, enough of the elk cross from his property and on to public land to keep local cow elk hunters satisfied, he said.
He’s concerned that if Game and Fish allows too much hunting pressure on Area 123, it could ruin opportunities on public land and tempt more hunters to trespass on his property and other ranches.
And if elk get pushed too hard by too many hunters, they might take refuge on reclaimed coal mine properties in the area, he added.
If the elk camp out and eat too much of the reclaimed forage, it could hamper mining companies’ ability to be released from federal reclamation bonds, Farella stated in a letter to the Game and Fish Commission.
“These regulatory requirements include not only vegetation production, but also diversity index requirements, and sagebrush density requirements. In the event these lands receive intensive or excessive grazing by wildlife, it could negatively impact the ability for these lands and the coal operators to obtain final bond release,” he wrote to the commissioners.
Wendtland and Farella said they’ve tried to warn Game and Fish against putting too much pressure on Hunt Area 123.
But with the commission’s decision on Tuesday, a busier hunting season this fall seems inevitable.
It will be a matter of seeing how it plays out, Wendtland said.
“They’re going to go forward with this this year, and I think they will be willing to sit down with Mr. Farella after a year’s time,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
