Never to early to start, 2018 elk hunt need some input

[timekiller13]

Already planning my 2018 elk hunt. I have two archery elk hunts under my belt. No kills yet but learned a lot and got close both years. For 2018, I already know that I will not be able to do an archery hunt. I am planning on doing a rifle hunt. The unit I normally archery hunt takes 1-2 points to draw a 1st rifle tag. I don't have any points. The unit is OTC 2nd rifle. While I am familiar with the unit, all my experience is with archery season, so I have no clue rifle about elk habits in the area after the guns start popping. Judging from Colorado harvest stats, its not that great in 2nd rifle anyways (about 9% success rate, which is actually less than published archery success rate). While the unit I hunt is about 90% public land, I have this feeling that the elk move to the neighboring unit once guns start popping and that neighboring unit is about 70% private land. I have my eye on a couple units that I can draw, 100%, with 0 points for 1st rifle. The harvest stats look promising, 30-40% success rates (I take that with a grain of salt, but still is better than 9%) and there is tons of public land to hunt with very little private.

My question is, if it were you, would you stick with the area you are familiar with and go 2nd rifle there, or try a new area and do a 1st rifle hunt? I know 1st rifle is only 5 days, but in reality I would only have 5-6 days to hunt, so the length of 2nd rifle means nothing to me. I kind of know what I want to do, but just need that little extra to push to help me to make the decision. I want to get this hammered out within the next few weeks. I put in all my vacation requests in January, by doing it so early I am guaranteed my requests. I will be planning on packing in and setting up a spike camp, if that makes any difference.

Thanks

 

[bowtech3dhunter]

How far is the neighboring unit? Are you hunting on the border of that unit? Elk aren’t going to move miles away just because of gun fire.


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[fightthenoise]

I did my first elk hunt ever during 2nd rifle, with no success. I basically learned a lot about how not to elk hunt and, like you, am planning next year already. My plan is to ditch the units I hunted during 2nd rifle and make a decision on a 100% chance first rifle unit. 2nd rifle is just a ton of hunters and I think with desktop scouting and a day or two before opening day you will be in the ball park familiarity-wise. A caveat is that I live in Colorado so I have the luxury of spending a few weekends in my unit of choice (haven’t picked one yet) over the summer. So far I’ve been lone wolfing it, so if you want to combine forces, let me know and I will draw with you and try to get some scouting done for us over the summer.

 

[timekiller13]

How far is the neighboring unit? Are you hunting on the border of that unit? Elk aren’t going to move miles away just because of gun fire.


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I dont hunt the border. I'm sure many elk will stay on the public land within the unit during rifle season. But, from harvest stats,and what I have read/heard, 2nd rifle in this particular unit can be a shit show. But, I was also told archery would be slammed,too. And then I never saw another hunter in the woods and only a handful at trailheads.

I guess the appeal of a 1st rifle hunt was the limited tags and the higher success rates. Even though the 0 point areas give out tons of tags in some cases, they are still limited.