Welcome to Hunt4 Elk.com. This is the place to plan an elk hunt: how each state hands out tags, when the rut peaks, how to talk to elk, and the gear that gets a bull off the mountain.
Hunt4 Elk.com has covered elk hunting since 2002 and is part of the Gear Websites Network, under the Hunting Buyers Guide.com hub. Built by hunters for hunters, with plain-English guides backed by the state wildlife agencies and conservation groups that manage elk.
Planning an elk hunt? Start here
From the first draw application to packing meat off the mountain, the step-by-step guide covers what to do and when.
What you’ll find here
Step 1: States and Tags
Draw or over the counter, and the recent changes for nonresidents.
Step 2: Seasons and the Rut
When bulls bugle, and how archery and rifle seasons line up with the rut.
Step 3: Calls and Gear
The sounds that bring elk in, and the kit that matters most.
Elk Hunting Gear Guide
Boots, packs, optics, layers and meat care.
Elk Subspecies
Rocky Mountain, Roosevelt, tule and Manitoban elk.
Elk Timeline
From fewer than 100,000 elk to more than one million.
Elk by the numbers
More than one million elk live in North America today.
About 550,000 lived here in 1984.
Colorado holds the largest herd, at around 280,000 elk.
Kentucky’s restored herd of more than 11,000 is the largest east of the Mississippi.
Read the Elk Hunting F.A.Q. for quick answers, or the Hunt4 Elk Blog for news and planning articles.