Combo hunt success in North America

[revturbo9967]

Best options for bear are in New Brunswick where you can take 2 black bear. You can take 2 bear in Maine but you need to trap one of them. Some outfits will accommodate this. I could have taken a mule deer during my elk hunt in Wyoming this past month but didn’t want to burn the points for low success in this area. Much of North America is not thick with multiple species of game during the same hunting seasons.

Alaska is probably the only place I would push but that said, huge up front investment with low success rate.

 

[JES Adventures]

Having done a fair bit of North American hunting, I like British Columbia for a multi specie hunt.

Utah offers incredible iced bag opportunities. In 2022, I hunted Shiras Moose, California Bighorn and Elk in two and a half weeks. I could have shot a nice Mule Deer and had a Mountain Lion come to a waterhole when hunting Moose one evening.

So, in reality I could have taken five species on that hunt.

 

[DillonG]

You might be able to combine elk and mule deer in some select mountain areas and with reasonable chance of success. Bear hunting over bait in many western states is not allowed. Filling a combo with bear there would be very dicey. However, you MIGHT be able to combine bear and whitetail deer in Saskatchewan or Manitoba where baiting bears is allowed. Pronghorn and mule deer is definitely doable but it would have to be early in deer season because pronghorn is usually closed by mule deer rut to allow the antelope to congregate for migration. I would suggest a deer tag and bring a shotgun to hunt birds. I saw quite a number of deer yesterday while hunting uplands including two small bucks and a big one. Can't remember when it took more than two days to fill my tag with a buck.
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Actually that is a great idea to pack a shotgun for a day or 2 of bird hunting. I don’t get to do any good bird hunting around home. The only thing within a drive is the staged hunts with farm raised birds. Not my cup of joe.

 

[DillonG]

Having done a fair bit of North American hunting, I like British Columbia for a multi specie hunt.

Utah offers incredible iced bag opportunities. In 2022, I hunted Shiras Moose, California Bighorn and Elk in two and a half weeks. I could have shot a nice Mule Deer and had a Mountain Lion come to a waterhole when hunting Moose one evening.

So, in reality I could have taken five species on that hunt.

I have been told BC is probably my best bet if I am going to want a moose then combined with another specie. How is the mule deer hunting in Utah? I spoke to a family of hunters while fishing in Ontario. They said the wolves are a persistent problem. I always thought it was a tough winter that hammers the population.

 

[Safari Dave]

A few years ago my friend and I got drawn for Elk in New Mexico. We were able to buy a black bear tag and a mountain lion tag, but didn't have a chance to use either. (We did get an elk, however).


Alaska or Canada would be a better alternative.


Like skydiver386 said, in the Southern US you could do deer/hog/quail with no problem depending on when you could hunt. You could also add black bear to the mix, but I don't know of a guide who does bear in the south. No draw, everything across the counter or online.

 

[WildWill]

I have been told BC is probably my best bet if I am going to want a moose then combined with another specie. How is the mule deer hunting in Utah? I spoke to a family of hunters while fishing in Ontario. They said the wolves are a persistent problem. I always thought it was a tough winter that hammers the population.

Have you looked into Newfoundland? If I'm not mistaken you can hunt moose, caribou, and black bear in the same season there.

 

[DillonG]

Have you looked into Newfoundland? If I'm not mistaken you can hunt moose, caribou, and black bear in the same season there.

I have not, but I will after you mentioned it!

 

[skydiver386]

.....and then there's the Gopher Plantation.

Deer, Hog, Quail, Turkey, and varmint to boot. A few members have hunted there and highly recommend it, especially the night hunt with thermals.

Hog Hunting | Gopher Plantation

The Gopher Plantation offers Georgia Hog Hunting. We can cater to any hog hunter novice or experienced by offering spot and stalk preserve hunts, thermal hog hunting, and free-range hunting from stands.

www.gopherplantation.com

 

[375Fox]

I have been told BC is probably my best bet if I am going to want a moose then combined with another specie. How is the mule deer hunting in Utah? I spoke to a family of hunters while fishing in Ontario. They said the wolves are a persistent problem. I always thought it was a tough winter that hammers the population.

There is also farmland moose combined with deer in Alberta.

 

[DillonG]

There is also farmland moose combined with deer in Alberta.

Interesting, I am very familiar with hunt farm land. Is the success rate decent?

 

[375Fox]

Interesting, I am very familiar with hunt farm land. Is the success rate decent?

I haven’t seriously looked into one. I believe the success rates on farmland moose are quite good but generally not huge trophies. The success on the combination I’m not sure. I’d think whitetail would be the more difficult trophy.

 

[Sabre]

Interesting, I am very familiar with hunt farm land. Is the success rate decent?

If you aren't as worried about size of antlers and are more interested in meat and multiple animals, Newfoundland might be a good option for moose and combine it with black bear. As someone else mentioned they also have Caribou. However, adding caribou typically increases the price dramatically for the Newfoundland hunt. Whereas Moose and black bear could be done as a combo hunt and you would probably be surprised how reasonable the price can be there.

All that said, again, my advice would be to focus on one animal and go for that unless the outfitter has you only pay for the hunt of the second animal if you harvest one.

 

[Sabre]

I think what you wrote is biggest reason I primarily book hunts in Africa and Europe. The daily rate and trophy fee model takes a lot of stress off me and also puts some accountability on outfitter and guide. North American hunting costs are very high but success is only averaging probably 75% on guided hunts overall depending on area, species, and outfitter. To be fair to outfitters here though, I do think North America is a more difficult outfitting environment with short seasons and tags instead of long seasons and quotas found elsewhere in world.

Yeah, I was trying not to be too hard on the NA outfitters, however, there are a lot of.....less than qualified people..... hanging a shingle and calling themselves outfitters out there.

I would love it if all guided hunting were more like the Africa and Europe model in that you pay for a daily rate and then a trophy fee upon harvest. The costs of hunting NA game has gotten absurd for most things and there is a lack of accountability and lack of requirement to produce on the outfitters side to get paid those high costs.

I've had some really great guides. So I am not trying to bash them all. However, I have seen some pretty shady ones that didn't do the work and used "That's hunting!" and "I can't control the weather" as excuses for lack of ability and lack of quality game on land. It's too easy to push off blame on their end and all risk is assumed by the hunter.

It's pretty crazy that guided elk hunts in NA can be $15,000-$30,000 and all of the risk is on the hunter.

If some of the NA animals I'd like to hunt were somewhere with the daily rate model, I would definitely go there.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Timing is everything....

A hunter can pick and choose a license, or purchase a Sportsmans License that covers all game hunting using archery, muzzleloader, and shotgun/rifle and fishing license.

The southeastern US, ie. North Carolina, Tennessee, I can confirm deer, black bear, boar, turkey, various small game, upland birds (quail, grouse, woodcock), and waterfowl, overlap depending on the hunting seasons.

Check out Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission for seasons, bag limits, region, and legal weapons.

Here in Tennessee boar doesn't have a season, but can be incidently hunted while deer and/or bear hunting, or while small game hunting; (see hunting regulations for details).