Colorado Isolation?

hi2u

FNG
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
90
Any thoughts on Colorado units where I wont see 50 trucks?

Went two years ago to Colorado and couldn't get away from people...

Going to try to find something where I can get higher up and actually glass. I was by walden last time and didn't feel like I was high enough to be able to glass effectively. I don't know what the hell im doing haha.
 
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Osprey

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
127
You shouldn't see any trucks once you get off the roads or into a wilderness area. People however are another story but if you put forth the effort to get into difficult areas you should find much less pressure. I don't care if I see 100 trucks on the road if 90% of those guys are hunting a 1/2 mi from it that just makes the areas I hunt better anyways.
 

Bar

Banned
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Messages
1,623
Location
Colorado
If you hunt the rifle seasons expect crowds. Bow and muzzleloader seasons are much better. If you're also hunting the rifle OTC units it's even worse. Even wilderness areas can be crowded with outfitters.

It's the curse of a state with the most elk.
 

Tsnider

WKR
Joined
Sep 8, 2016
Messages
487
Location
Carbondale, CO
ive been a broken record on here recently, but my advice is to ask people to send you a PM to answer your question. if anyone posts publically you can count on 50 trucks being in any spot that isnt usually filled up.

even during archery i run into people in places that surprises me. a lot of them are out of state. colorado is just a hot spot for hunting.
 
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hi2u

FNG
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
90
Ya I might start looking into Idaho again. Hard to pass up on a elk/cow tag for the same price as Colorado.
Plus could take my nephew for 50 buck tags.

Driving from South Dakota so no matter what I got 10 hour drive roughly anywhere
 
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
31
Hunted last year for the first. Pulled up to the trail head, trucks everywhere. Hiked 3 miles set up camp and only saw one person for a week


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Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
31
No lol, it was my first time ever. Saw some, bunch of sign and blew a stock. I thought it was a great first trip for a PA boy


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vanish

WKR
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
550
Location
Colorado
Two years ago I decided to try a trailhead. It leads into an area I know holds elk. It was opening weekend of muzzy season ( I was archery hunting ). I about died when I pulled up as there must have been 20 camps set up right there. I was awake and down the trail well before light. Nobody else was even stirring yet. I passed a horse camp where the guys were yacking up a storm over their morning coffee. Headed off trail and as the sky started lighting up. Bugled in some elk but did not see the bull I was looking for. Passed on a few cows.

I only had a half day so I trucked it out kind of early. Returning to my vehicle, the camps were all gathered round having a cold one. "Too hot for elk" was something I commonly heard. Someone jokingly asked me why I was so late to get back to camp for lunch. Their eyes went wide when I told them I had been in elk (maybe I should have kept my trap shut).

Honestly, not even sure they left their camps that morning. I no longer let a bunch of camps near the access point scare me too much, especially during muzzy season.

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Flip side story: Three years ago on labor day weekend we had a spike camp set up about 2.5 miles in - a half mile out from where we were getting into elk. We had hunted Friday night and left a herd up there. The next morning as we were hiking in, something in the trail looked out of place. Someone else had hiked in and set up a tent 1/4 mile closer to the elk. Blargh. We pressed on and as we were nearing the meadow we had left the elk in the night before, once again something looked out of place. A wall tent had been erected right on the edge of it overnight. FFS.

We hunted that morning and could not find sign of the elk. We angrily bailed out of there and went to a new area. The next morning my wife shot her first cow 1/4 mile from the vehicle. :D
 

RoJo

WKR
Joined
Dec 5, 2016
Messages
403
Location
South Central Arizona
Well, this was a disappointment. I was expecting a cerebral pondering of the genetic variability of isolated herds of elk in Colorado's wilderness areas, or something. :)
 

Burnsie

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Messages
246
Location
Illinois
I've had good luck avoiding people, but then again not a lot of people are willing to trek
into the God forsaken place my brother and I go.
 
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hi2u

FNG
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
90
I've had good luck avoiding people, but then again not a lot of people are willing to trek
into the God forsaken place my brother and I go.

We hunted unit 3 and did a lot of walking. Problem was there was roads everywhere making it hard to get far enough away.

We were successful, but we put in our share of walking. Would much rather walk 4 miles away from people than 1mile out and then back.
 

MtnHunter

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Messages
142
It's always tough to say until you get there... One or two people either way can make or break a situation. Some years for me in Colorado there's a ton, some years there are none, but usually there are a few others in the vicinity.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
362
Location
Colorado
Its hard to find Isolation in CO. You can get away from people for the most part but you can always find people where you least expect. Remember Colorado sells the most tags in the west..we also have the largest population of people of Rocky Mountain States. To boot most of our residents are very active, not all trucks and cars are hunters. Lots of hikers, way more then any other state in the Rockies with out a doubt...only state that might come close in the west is Cali, and the caliber of hikers is way different.. Lots of weekend warriors out there, lots of legit mountain folks here. So isolation is relative if you ask me. I was on elk last year in a spot where there were no less then 4 hiking camps...no one was hunting but me. Sure i wasnt "isolated" but i was the only competition for what i was doing.
 
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