It’s that time of year when hunters throughout the country are applying for big game tags for fall. Many of us are focused on drawing licenses that offer a shot at giant bucks and bulls, but there’s another option big game hunters of all experience levels should be considering: antlerless tags.
Hunters often refer to antlerless tags as doe or cow tags. But these tags often allow the legal harvest of any female deer, elk or moose, as well as fawns...

We recently published an article that addressed the question of where to go on your first elk hunt. Many of you have also asked which month you should go on your first elk hunt. In Western states, elk seasons can run anywhere from August to January.
When you go will have a big impact on your style of hunting as tactics change from one week to the next. For instance, calling works very well during the rut, but it may not work at all once rifle...

Ask any big game hunter who lives in the Rocky Mountains what is their favorite species to hunt and you’re likely to hear “elk” as the answer. For many American hunters though, elk aren’t available in their backyard. A do-it-yourself elk hunt is an aspirational, bucket-list trip for a  lot of sportsmen and women.
Chasing these big cervids on public lands is often considered the pinnacle of big game hunting in North America...

Across the West, rifle seasons for elk will be opening soon. For me, that means it is time for some timber sneaking. Timber sneaking, or slowly still hunting through stands of lodgepole pines, is my favorite way to hunt pressured elk during rifle season.
 
In the last dozen years, I’ve killed ten elk in dense stands of dark timber. Every one of them was shot with a rifle at ranges under one hundred yards. I shot one bull at less than twenty...

Many hunters who live east of the Mississippi River dream of their first western big game hunt, be it calling to bugling elk in the dark timber, stalking pronghorn antelope across the high plains, or glassing rugged desert canyons for mule deer.  But planning such a hunt can be intimidating.
At MeatEater, we get tons of questions from hunters looking for information about first-time, do-it-yourself western hunts. We are happy to provide some...