Non-Hunting Guests

Non-hunting guests are allowed on all hunts offered by Elite. Due to different expectations and involvements in the hunt, the price structure for non-hunting guests is as follows:

Staying and dining at the lodge but not attending the actual hunt - $500.

Staying and dining at the lodge and also attending the hunt - $1000.

Staying and dining at the pack-in camp and also attending the hunt - $1500.

 Wounding

Elite's wounding policies vary depending on whether the hunt is conducted on public or private land.

Public-Land Hunts - Upon hitting an animal, the next 24-hour period will be spent looking/hunting for the wounded animal. Should the animal not be recovered during that period, the hunter can resume hunting for another animal. Upon shooting a second animal, the hunt is over and the remainder of the hunt will be spent looking for the second wounded animal.

Private-Land Hunts - Upon hitting an animal, the remainder of the hunt will be spent looking/hunting for the wounded animal. The animals that inhabit a ranch are finite in number and a valuable resource that the landowner relies upon for the financial survival of the ranch. It is not fair to the landowners to allow each hunter the opportunity to potentially kill two animals. In this case, a hunter would, in essence, be potentially killing two animals while only paying for one. Elite will not compromise the landowner's interests in this situation.

New Mexico has recently passed a law allowing the use of dogs to track wounded animals. A tracking dog and handler can be contracted, if needed.

Bullets and Broadheads

Elite's only restrictions regarding equipment is the selection of broadheads and bullets for elk hunts. On a perfect shot, almost any bullet or broadhead will kill an elk. When marginal hits are involved, the projectile selection may be the difference in recovering the animal or not. This policy exists solely in an effort to reduce the number of wounded elk that are not recovered. As hunters, we owe it to the animals we hunt to use the best equipment possible to minimize the odds of wounding and losing game. The performance of the bullet and broadhead is the most important component in making a kill once the trigger is pulled.

Elite realizes that opinions on bullets and broadheads vary tremendously and are highly controversial, not to mention personal. There is no way around it. Our opinions are important to us too. But, we see so many hunters ignore our advice and bring projectiles not designed for large and tough, big game such as a mature bull elk. Many hunters are usually bringing whatever projectiles they have used comfortably in the past, usually hunting whitetails. What works great on deer, does not necessarily work great on elk. An elk is at least 3-times larger than a deer and 5-times tougher to kill.

Whether you're talking about a bullet or a broadhead, the key to projectile success on an elk is a healthy combination of expansion (bullet) or cutting area (arrow), and penetration. Deer-sized game requires lots of expansion or cutting area, with little regard to penetration, in order to maximize the energy of the projectile. Getting an exit hole on a whitetail is usually no problem. Getting an exit hole on a bull elk is a problem. Penetration is now as important as expansion in a bullet or cutting area on an arrow. Most bullets and broadheads on the market are designed for effective penetration on deer-sized game. Hence the problem.

An exit hole will almost always provide a better blood trail than an entrance hole alone. Especially if shooting downhill. Too little expansion on a bullet or cutting area on an arrow and the projectile blows through the animal too easily and doesn't expend enough energy in the animal. The projectiles required by Elite provide the perfect combination for elk. Yes, it is our opinion but we would hope you understand our objective and that we are using years and years of experiences in forming these opinions. Change is hard.  But remember, change is progress!

You will invest a lot of money in a guided, elk hunt. We are only trying to help you increase your chances of success with this policy. Also, anything that maximizes your chances that you won't be dealing with the "Wounding Policy" is in all of our best interests.

Broadheads 

Elite requires all hunters use some type of cut-to-the-tip, 2-blade (with or without bleeder blades) broadhead. It is our opinion, chisel-tip and 3-blade heads do not penetrate as well as a 2-blade head. Even 2-blade heads with bleeder blades seem to out-penetrate everything else. One thing to consider, the steepness of the cutting angle affects the penetration capability of a head greatly. A long, tapered head will out-penetrate a short, steep-angled head of the same cutting area. Even cut-to-the-tip 3-blade heads seem to "punch" holes more than cut them. Serrations are not necessary on a razor-sharp head. A "clean" cut will bleed more than a "torn" cut. Also, no type of expandable head, even with a cutting tip, should be considered for elk hunting.

Nearly all options and angles that are possible to shoot an elk, with an arrow, require an entrance wound through some part of the rib cage. Elk ribs are large. Hit one dead-center with an arrrow and you'll soon discover how good your broadhead really penetrates. The tough, 2-blade heads (even with bleeders) are the best design for slipping between ribs and expending as little energy as possible just getting into the elk. Depending on the angle of the shot through the ribs, the only part of the anatomy that will prevent any arrow from a complete pass-through is hitting the backside shoulder bones. No broadhead can help us here.

The broadheads listed below are the types of heads Elite recommends. Because there are so many makers and types of heads that classify as cut-to-the-tip, it is impossible to list all of them that could work. It's the design more than the manufacturer. If your bow does not shoot consistently with any of the recommended heads, there is something wrong with either your bow setup or your shooting form. Field points let you get away with terrible form/setup and still correct themselves and group well. Even some smaller broadheads will fly OK. Most often, shooting good groups with cut-to-the-tip heads is a matter of setting your bow up for them and practicing with nothing else. You'll be amazed how much you'll improve! 

Steelforce Premium, Non-Serrated, 2 or 4 blade (1st choice)
Muzzy Phantom, 4 blade (2nd choice)
Magnus Stinger, Non-Serrated, 2 or 4 blade (3rd choice)
Wasp Sharpshooter, 4 blade (4th choice)
Simmons Landshark, 4 blade (5th choice)

 

Bullets

Elite requires all hunters to use one of the bullets suggested below.

Winchester XP3 (1st choice)
Barnes MRX (2nd choice)
Barnes TSX (3rd choice)
Swift A-Frames (4th choice)
Trophy Bonded Bear Claws (5th choice)

Because of their design and superior weight retention, these bullets offer the best combination of expansion and penetration. Almost any bullet from any reasonable cartridge will completely penetrate and kill an elk if shot broadside, perfectly behind the shoulder. You cannot always count on making that type of shot. If you hit a bull in the shoulder blade, you need to have a bullet that is big and tough enough to go on through and finish what it started. I actually prefer my hunters to shoot bulls through the back part of the shoulder, because if you can break one or preferably both shoulders, you also took out some important vitals and the bull is not going far.

Conventional boat-tail or ballistic-style bullets are designed for thin-skinned game and are notorious for having the jacket separate from the core if they encounter any heavy bone at all, thus killing penetration. Sometimes they just completely disintegrate. Even the new bonded-core bullets on the market seem to have their limitations. My experience with these new bullets is that they indeed do not separate but still tend to lose massive amounts of weight if they encounter bone, especially at the higher velocities. Look for the major manufacturers to improve the toughness of these high-ballistic coefficient bullets in the near future.

Winchester has introduced the XP3 which is the successor to the now-defunct Fail Safe. The XP3 is a polymer-tipped variation of the Fail Safe that is not only tough, but has a high ballistic coefficient as well. Barnes has introduced polymer-tipped X-bullets, called the MRX and TSX, that are also headed in that direction. These three bullets are the leading edge of the next generation of elk bullets. The A-Frames and Bear Claws are extremely tough thanks to bonded cores and thick jackets. Up to 300 yards, these bullets perform as well or possibly even better than the XP3 and the Barnes duo. However, the lack of a polymer tip makes the ballistic coefficients much lower, thus not having as impressive of down-range ballistics as their polymer-tipped counterparts. The A-Frames and Bear Claws could become obsolete in the future, unless they too join the polymer-tipped revolution.

The bullet market will continue to evolve and as more manufacturers develop better large-game bullets, more bullets will be added to the list. Until then, these bullets are the absolute best elk bullets on the planet. At least in our professional opinion.