This is a fun hunt for those who enjoy off-season big game hunting as well as a nice winter supply of tasty elk venison. Hunter success is typically high. We book cow elk hunts on several ranches. In most years all the guided hunters fill their tags; unguided hunter success has been about 80 percent for the past 10 years. If you are inflexible as to when you can hunt, you run a higher risk of having unseasonably warm weather or arriving in blizzard conditions. Your best chance of scoring usually occurs after there is snow on the ground and deep snow in the high mountains, which pushes elk into the areas where most cow elk hunts are conducted. We offer some hunts where elk are found year-round because the ranch includes higher as well as lower elevation property. `

The hunt price includes a landowner voucher that allows you to buy a cow permit directly from the state without having to go through a tag drawing. However, we suggest you book early for two reasons -- we have a limited number of landowner vouchers every year, and we want you to apply for the lottery permit anyway. If you draw a tag, you'll save $100 on the guided hunt and $250 on the self-guided hunt.  The application deadline is usually in spring or early summer. You must buy a non-resident hunting license to apply for a cow elk tag in Utah.

Your chances of drawing a tag are usually 100 percent because 10 percent of all antlerless tags are allocated to non-residents. Since there are more permits than applicants in virtually any unit where we book hunters on ranches, you can expect to draw a tag if you apply. However, any permits that are not rewarded to non-residents automatically become resident tags immediately, and most cow elk tags are in high demand among residents.

We do offer a remote cow elk hunt with an outfitter friend who operates in a unit where there are normally left-over tags, but that area usually requires you to be in good physical condition, so if you want an easier hunt, apply in the drawing or buy a landowner voucher. An advantage of the landowner voucher is that the season is normally very long, whereas public-draw hunts usually are short, which doesn't leave a lot of room for flexibility in case weather conditions are unusual.

Don't try a self-guided hunt unless you have the necessary experience and equipment to deal with rapidly changing weather conditions (drifting snow, muddy roads, etc.) as this hunt typically takes place in November, December and January. That means you might need a snowmobile under some conditions and an ATV or four-wheel-drive vehicle equipped with chains in other conditions. We suggest a guided hunt your first time, and then you can decide whether you want to try unguided hunts in future years.

Rich LaRocco of Hunts.Net drew a tag in 2006 and hunted one of the leases we book. He and his friend Chuck Johnson, who was along to help out, saw almost 500 elk in a single day, the most either had ever seen outside a winter feeding area. Rich took an elk that ended up climbing a ridge before it expired next to a road.

You can choose between an unguided hunt, a guided hunt without meals and accommodations, or a guided hunt conducted out of a private home with home-cooked meals. The price of the hunt does not include the state cow elk tag or the hunting license.

If you're driving to Utah, we might suggest considering a ranch near the closest border to your home to save driving time.