The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting American Big Game Hunting Colorado Over The Counter Elk unit suggestions for this year?Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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I haven't hunted Colorado in 10 years. Does anyone have any suggestions for a descent public land unit for OTC bull elk. I was thinking about the Uncomaghre Plateau (east side-unit 62 I think). In all the years I've been to Colorado, I've never been on the plateau. Will be going to Co. for vacation in late June to do some scouting. Any info/ideas would be appreciated. It will be me and a couple of buddies in the fall with tents, etc. "The right to bear arms" insures your right to freedom, free speech, religion, your choice of doctors, etc. ....etc. ....etc.... -----------------------------------one trillion seconds = 31,709 years------------------- | ||
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Unit 62 gets hit pretty hard but the elk are there. I would recommend unit 70 as an alternative. I have seen some really nice bulls in this unit during archery season and have friends that kill elk every time they hunt it with muzzleloader tags. There are quite a few pockets that don't see a lot of pressure. In either unit you will do best by getting as far from roads as you can handle. Terrain in unit 62 is less extreme on average and it's harder to escape hunting pressure as a result. The biggest bull I have seen on the hoof was in unit 70 2 seasons ago (350-360). Larger than anything I saw in unit 61 this past season. He was 150 yards from a paved road on National Forest land opening day of muzzy. Past Trout Lake heading towards Rico. That's all you'll get from me....  ______________________ I don't shoot elk at 600 yards for the same reasons I don't shoot ducks on the water, or turkeys from their roosts. If this confuses you then you're not welcome in my hunting camp. | |||
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Drew Colorado a couple of years ago. Went there and did a group hunt for five days with several buddies, all of them very experienced. Saw dozens of other hunters. Trucks were going up and down every road. ATVs were on every trail. The fact that we were on foot made no difference. The only elk we saw were in very large private ranches around the public land where they reportedly lay low every hunting season. Everyone I spoke with on that hunt told me how good it used to be and how fire and over hunting have made it go bad. That was a year or two after a really big fire. Now that there have been more fires I won't go back. . | |||
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That's why I don't hunt near roads. ______________________ I don't shoot elk at 600 yards for the same reasons I don't shoot ducks on the water, or turkeys from their roosts. If this confuses you then you're not welcome in my hunting camp. | |||
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Thanks for the suggestion DC. I hunted the area northwest of Dunton on Fish Creek a long time back. There were lots of elk back then. The wife and I went camping between Dunton and Rico off forest road 535 back in 2008. I couldn't believe all of the developement that sprung up there back towards Delores. The beetles appeared to be getting bad also. Are the OTC tags unit specific? Thanks again. "The right to bear arms" insures your right to freedom, free speech, religion, your choice of doctors, etc. ....etc. ....etc.... -----------------------------------one trillion seconds = 31,709 years------------------- | |||
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OTC Tags are good for any OTC unit. ______________________ I don't shoot elk at 600 yards for the same reasons I don't shoot ducks on the water, or turkeys from their roosts. If this confuses you then you're not welcome in my hunting camp. | |||
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We had to camp in a designated area. Those have road access. Every day we walked in miles to get as far from the roads as we could but it was nearly impossible to stay far from ATV trails. What little elk sign we found was very old. The problem was that there had been, and continued to be, people everywhere. They kept bumping into us. We kept bumping into them. What a zoo. Colorado divides the season into small chunks to sell more tags and make more money. For example, there are four regular rifle seasons for elk. The first is 5 days long followed by a second 9 days long, a third 9 days long, and the fourth is 5 days long. They get to sell four times as many tags but it means that the same ground is getting walked over by four times as many hunters. They are selling way too many tags for any given area. Unless you are lucky enough to draw the first season you're trying for seconds, thirds, or fourths. The OTC tags are for the second and third seasons. Colorado probably was a nice place to hunt elk once upon a time. I wouldn't go there for elk again unless I had access to private land. Colorado proudly publishes hunter success data. For 2010 the Success Rate for Antlered Elk Hunters was: 1st season - 23% 2nd season - 18% 3rd season - 15% 4th season - 14% But, because Private Land Only (PLO) season success rates are twice as high, the success rates for hunters who only hunt public lands are going to be 1/3 of the percentages shown. Therefore, Estimated 2010 Success Rate for Antlered Elk - Hunters of PUBLIC LANDS ONLY: 1st season - 8% 2nd season - 6% 3rd season - 5% 4th season - 5% Damage, AFA, Auction & Raffle Hunts hunter success was 78% but the vast majority of those were cows. Success rates are also high, with some nice elk to be taken, for someone paying for a guided private land hunt. My experience in 2009 was on a five-day hunt with four Colorado residents, each with decades of hunting experience. We never even saw one elk on public land. I wish you could have heard them talk about how much elk hunting has changed in Colorado over the years due to Division of Wildlife mismanagement. Why would Colorado run so many different seasons and special hunts? They're making over $2,000 per elk from resident hunters and over $20,000 per elk from nonresident hunters just on regular season hunts. . | |||
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I would certainly love to see fewer hunters in Colorado on Public Land - but the opportunity to kill a bull elk without waiting 10 years to be drawn is attractive. We've hunted a fairly high pressure OTC bull area for about 10 years now and I've killed 4 bulls and 3 cows in that time. There are always elk to be found if you are willing to travel to multiple areas, hike and hunt hard - farther from the road is good but not always necessary. I hunt the edge of private or way out in public and both methods have their merits, but in general I hike areas the locals aren't real keen to climb and pack elk out and that don't allow ATV's. If you are willing to hunt some steep territory and bust butt hauling meat out the competition is a little less and the success is a little higher.... of course a little luck is nice and it helps to be able to move or sit quietly and shoot quickly and accurately. | |||
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Grenadier - As a life-long Colorado resident, I gotta say my public land elk hunting experiences have been much different than yours. I will admit, the CDOW manages the majority of their wildlife populations here for quanity vs quality. The more tags they can sell, the more money they make. And yet, they still have managed to run the CDOW into a $7million plus deficit each of the past 2 yrs? On the flip side, CO does have an estimated elk population of over 280,000 animals. That's double the next closest state's estimated elk population (Idaho - 140,000). The DOW must break-up the seasons, thus spreading out the pressure/hunter numbers in the field at one time. Regardless, I'm always curious when guys tell me they go elk hunting for a week in Colorado (on public land) and failed to see a single elk? I'm not sure how that's even possible? Elk in Colorado are pretty easy to find most of the time, even on public land. I would encourage you to keep trying, and maybe find someone to hunt with, who really knows what they are doing. The elk, and the big bulls are out there. The last two bulls I killed here in CO were in 2008 384" B&C - 2009 363" B&C, 2010 was a bit slow. I did pass two bulls that were in the 320's, but I just didn't find what I was looking for. They are there, you just gotta keep looking. | |||
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Damn, according to Grenadier, our group must be better than others. We had 5 elk tags last year and filled 3 of the 5. All public land elk. My dad's cow was close enough and uphill from the road, we were able to slide her whole right into the back of the truck. My bull and the other cow took a bit more work with two trips to pack out the meat. Four guys on the first trip and 5 on the second. The next morning it took us about an hour and half to walk directly to where we downed the elk. So, I'd say they were in there just a ways!  Graybird "Make no mistake, it's not revenge he's after ... it's the reckoning." | |||
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I would call that a very good Elk hunt. Congratulations on your success! | |||
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I can't even imagine elk hunting in Colorado and not see an elk.... and lots of them. Can't say there is ever been a hunt on public land where I couldn't have killed an elk. They aren't always the biggest but there are enough 300+ to make any hunt interesting. | |||
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Paradox, My group kills bulls every year on public land. We were 4 for 4 last year taking 3 bulls and a cow. I generally see a couple of hunters during the entire season, some years I've seen none. It's all about where you hunt. Last year I hunted Unit 61 for the first time and there were alot of cow elk hunters about. I still saw 40-50 elk a day and passed 20+ bulls before I killed one. I won't hunt within 2 miles of a damn ATV trail! We regard hunters on ATV's as fools who push elk into our laps. Don't mean to be blunt but nothing screws up elk hunting faster than a bunch of morons cruising around on ATV's looking for elk. In my area of SW Colorado the elk have pioneered just about every type of terrain. We have elk from the alpine basins right down into the sage brush. There are elk everywhere. In 10 seasons I have killed an elk or flung arrows at them every single season. The first elk hunt of my life I picked a canyon at random, backpacked in and killed a 5x5 the second morning. Never saw another human being on that hunt. If you hunt in an area with a bunch of bozos on ATV's then yes, you will probably see nothing but bozos on ATV's. Colorado has millions of acres of public land and it's not all overrun with hunters. Has elk hunting changed in Colorado in the last few decades? It sure has. It's gotten a whole lot better. If your friends were really that experienced they would never have been hunting in the area you hunted in. I would suggest you find some new hunting partners and give it another whirl. ______________________ I don't shoot elk at 600 yards for the same reasons I don't shoot ducks on the water, or turkeys from their roosts. If this confuses you then you're not welcome in my hunting camp. | |||
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Nothing wrong with my hunting buddies. It was a group hunt and we had to hunt the area we drew. It was also the 4th season. We saw all sorts of elk sign that was weeks old. That is, until the snow started falling and covered it up. . | |||
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4th season has low % but it can actually be one of the best seasons to hunt IF the weather is on your side. Plus there are extremely LESS people hunting it. But 4th season, is really for the stout of sole. The elk have been chased around, but if the snow drives them down it can be a turkey shoot. I have almost always hunted 4th, tried 1st last year and was amazed by the sheer number of people. I normally saw MAYBE 1-2 people, 1st season I was tripping over them. Besides you aren't getting a "fresh" crack at them either after 30 days of archery and 2 weeks of muzzle loader at the end of that. Problem is, the easier places to access, have easy access, and attract more people. Hunt rugged, hunt away from the normal hot spots, and you might be rewarded. If you think every possible niche has been filled already, thank a wildcatter! | |||
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I am looking at an archery hunt. The units i have been researching are mostly BLM land. Is there going to be a lot of ATVs on BLM lands? I would prefer to hunt were there not. I have walked in the foot prints of the elephant, listened to lion roar and met the buffalo on his turf. I shall never be the same. | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting American Big Game Hunting Colorado Over The Counter Elk unit suggestions for this year?
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