I am starting to plan a backcountry trip into the mountains in Colorado for fall 2010 to hunt elk, and would like to get an idea of what these trips typically end up costing.

We will probably be hiring horses but I doubt we will take a full heavy camp, more like each man having his own set up. At least I think I will go with a bivvy rather than a tent, also because I have to watch the weight of my gear since I will be flying from Italy.
Once I’m in Colorado I think the main expenses will be the horses, some extra camp equipment, food for us and the horses and maybe tags?

Can anyone who does this kind of trip give me an idea of the expenses encountered?

Thanks.

If I were doing it long distance I would look for a drop camp. These can go anywhere from 1000 to 2000 dollars per person. Prices depend on what is provided.

The only problem with Drop Camps is that you are limited in where you can go, and once you get there you are pretty much stuck there.

If you take a bivvie you better have a damn good sleeping bag. It is difficult to hunt hard all day and sleep cold all night. My recent DYI Colorado hunt with 3 buddies cost about $1,000.00 for my share of gas and food and my tags and personal items. We had all the gear we needed and I packed my elk out on my back.

Perry

I drive from the midwest, and do not hire horses, and I can get there and back for around $1500 all in. FWIW

Including food, gas, horses, feed, one night in a hotel, an either sex tag, and other odds and ends about $1000 per person for four people. We bring two 6-8 man dome tents and rent 2 horses for 5-6 days.

This isnt a direct answer to your question, but I thought it might be of consideration.

Coming all the way from Italy to a land you arent familair with, I would ask this question. Are you looking for a good western experience and if you take an elk that would be considered a bonus? Or,taking an elk is very important to the success of the hunt?

If the first scenario is true, then I would suggest a drop camp. Outfitters usually put these camps in good elk country. But if the elk arent in that area at that time, you may find it tough going, but you will have a grand time just being in the high country.

If scenario #2 is the case, I would hire an outfitter and do a guided hunt. the additional cost to what you are looking for is not going to be much more than an additonal $2000 and your success just improved about 100%. The outfitters and guides know where to hunt and how to hunt the elk.

Life is short, come to Colorado, hire a good outfitter and enjoy your hunt.

+1 to Rob's comments above.

This is especially true if you have never used horses on your own in the mountains before. Taking care of the stock is enough to wear you out daily.

Rob,

I owned a resort at north end of Vallecito in the 1970s and guided deer & elk hunters in the Weminuche north of the lake and also in the San Juan NF above Purgatory.

I was just chasing the elk around Vallecito this weekend!I was hunting middle mtn area. I'm just hunting for cows for meat this season. I hunted Zimbabwe in September and had a awsome hunt there, so I think I am done for the season, maybe some ducks later.... Vallecito is still an awsome area to hunt...not too much pressure!

I was up there in July to fish for pike. We stayed at Pine River Resort for several days. The place I had owned, which is now called Eagle's Nest, was booked full.

Had friends who had never been there, so one day we drove up Middle Mt. and had lunch at Tuckerville. Some great views from up there.

So did you kill your cow??

Well, uhhhh, after shooting the best of my entire life in Zim, I shot over the back of the cow at 190 yards .....Duhhh, so now I am scrambling to find a friend with a depredation permit so I can get some meat in the fridge for this year.....

Thanks for the replies guys.
I should point out that for me, a big part of these trips is just being there, on my own or with friends.
However I, like anybody else like to bring home the bacon, especialy on a hunt overseas where you will probably not be able to go back the next year.
But I don't want to go on a outfitted and guided hunt, because I have a friend in Colorado who is gracious enough to host and set up this trip. He is not likely to be familiar with the exact areas we will be hunting, but he will be more familiar than I am with the way things are done in the US, which is no small thing.

One idea comes to mind, though I have no idea of the feasability of it;

Can I hire a guide for a week of scouting, go into the area we plan to hunt ahead of opening, with one horse, bivy camp, optics and look for elk, the areas they use for bedding eating and transit.
Also look for a good spot to set up a camp that will have feed and water for the horses nearby.
I plan, and hope that by going 10 - 12 hours ride, or more into the wilderness that I should not find other hunters and undisturbed animals.
Is that a realistic notion?

If I can hire a local guide, and he would do the week of scouting with me, once I've been shown the country and the animals, I don't need a guide to come back and kill one.

That to me, feels like a great idea, but then again I have no idea of what the guides in Colorado are prepared to do. Maybe it won’t be easy to find a man willing to go 3 days ride into the wilderness because there are elk closer to the roads?

I remember I kept hearing from the guides and locals in Canada on a moose hunt(that was a total fraud) that there was no need to go back into the wilderness, and the moose could be found from the roads, because you can cover so much more country. Well, I learned(and showed them) that if you hike just a half mile from the road, there were moose superhighways, and I killed my moose after not having even seeing any in 10 days, just by hiking 1 mile from the road.

So gentlemen, how does the idea of hiring a guide for a week of scouting sound?

Check out Vallecito Outfitters.

Sounds like they can supply any sort of camp/hunt you want. I know the Miller Mt. area where they put their camps in; it holds some good deer and elk. In fact, it's where I did my first pack-in elk/deer hunt in 1965. Just as you want to do, we rented horses and did a DIY hunt. BUT..a couple of the guys were familiar with mountain hunting and tending to horses.

And the areas where they will pack in your own camp gear are also good, especially the ones in the Weminuche Wilderness where hunting pressure is less. I can even suggest a spot for them to take you where there are plenty of elk and deer.

As for hiring a guide for a week of scouting, it would likely cost nearly as much as for an actual hunt since the time involved is about the same. Also, most guides worth their salt will be working on actual hunts for a couple months straight. There's rarely a time from Aug. on that a deer/elk season isn't open in CO.

Rob,

So your actual open seaon is done then, huh? Too bad. Good luck on finding the depradation permit.

I don't know how familiar my friend will be with the area, also because we haven't established where we are going yet. He has sugested San Juan and Flat Tops, so that is a starting point. It seems to me that San Juan is the better of the two, and I have heard Weminuche come up more than once.
Thanks for the outfitter link, if I will be needing a drop camp, they look like a good organisation.

Miller Mt. is in the San Juan NF just outside the Weminuche Wilderness.

Here are a few pix of the area.

Granite Lake, elevation about 11,500 if I recall.


Along the Pine River Trail


Looking north along the Vallecito River into the Weminuche


La Osa Creek in the Weminuche


Above timberline on the Flint Lake Trail in the Weminuche


My 12-yr. old son and I on the Continental Divide at Doughnut Lake in the Weminuche. He's now 45 yrs. old. Those are a couple 14,000+ peaks in the background.

Tony, those pictures show what I'm after, and after a talk with the DOW Colorado I have new confidence and enthousiasm.
The man I spoke with was in the Denver office but he was able to give me so much information it amazed me, nice about it too.
It seems that my research hasn't been far off, The area to head is the San Juan Ranges for someone who is willing to go above and beyond what the other hunters will do to get their elk.
If I may, I might bet in touch with you sometime soon and ask you a few questions about your experience with the area and Vallecito outfit for a drop camp.
Thankyou.

No problem; contact me anytime, and I'll provide whatever info I can.

I work closely with a few guys at CDOW for a monthly column I write, so once you decide on a given area, let me know and I can get the name and contact info for a CDOW person in that specific area. If you settle on the San Juan NF or Weminuche WA, that person will likely work out of the Durango regional office.