Colorado Elk Hunting - What gives? Are there lots of elk or not?

[topher89]

I am 1 for 4 but there are lots of reasons why. The area I hunt is better later in the year and when there is snow. A couple warm early winters made it difficult to hunt so I accessed new, lesser known ground. Another year, I had three cows in my sights but they took off before I could shoot.

Too many variables to let individual stories dictate your thoughts. Look at the published stats.

 

[Grunt-N-Gobble]

Im a nonres and have been to co twice in 5 yrs ina low draw unit diy. It hasnt been easy but i came close to killing a cow my first year and then my 2nd trip, called in a bull solo, got drawn back, but he zigged instead of zagged which didnt give me an ethical shot. Was i ever bummed but super happy i had the chance. Both encounters happened towards the end of my hunt.

After 2 trips, alot of hiking and GE scouting, im getting a much better feel for the land and where to find them. I have considered trying somewhere else, but im going to stick with this unit until i kill one. Ive had some help along the way, but nothing serious.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

I'll know more soon. Heading to GMU 8 for the 4th rifle season. This will be my first elk hunt.

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8 is a HIGH pressure unit. I hunted it for a decade, but now drive further to avoid the crowds. Good luck on your hunt. If you get into a bind, let me know, it's in my back yard.

 

[SteveCNJ]

8 is a HIGH pressure unit. I hunted it for a decade, but now drive further to avoid the crowds. Good luck on your hunt. If you get into a bind, let me know, it's in my back yard.

Thank you very much. We'll be staying at the end of Red Feather Lakes Rd. Have a friend with a place there. How is the cell service in the area with Verizon?

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[coloyooper]

SteveCNJ - cell service ain't terrible. I used to spend some time up that way hunting and just driving back roads. It may be spotty in some areas but I think you'll be all right.

 

[SteveCNJ]

SteveCNJ - cell service ain't terrible. I used to spend some time up that way hunting and just driving back roads. It may be spotty in some areas but I think you'll be all right.

Thanks coloyooper!

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[timekiller13]

I'm 0-2 for on Colorado DIY archery elk hunts. That being said, I have had multiple bull encounters in each hunt, including an encounter with a very nice 5x5 bull this last hunt. Due to my own lack of knowledge and some shifting wind, I was unable to harvest any of the animals that I had encounters with. I was by no means covered up in elk during my hunts, but did have multiple encounters each time, which is a win in itself for an east coast guy like me. The allure of Colorado, especially for us East coasters, is that it is the closest place to hunt elk that offers OTC tags. I would like to try Idaho or Montana one day, but the fact that its 34-40 hours of driving is what keeps me from doing it. I can be in Colorado in 24-26 hours. When you can only swing 8-9 days off work, drive time is important. One day, when I'm more than just a little worker bee at my job, I may be able to get 2 weeks or more off at a time and then that's when I will start looking at other places. Until then, I will continue to hunt OTC or low point draw units in Colorado and maybe I'll stumble on an elk.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

as mentioned, cell service can be spotty, but Verizon is the best carrier in the hills around here. I bought a cell phone booster like this a few years back, and it has helped a lot when I needed to text or call in one of the bad spots. weBoost Drive 4G-S Cell Phone Booster (Certified Refurbished) | 470107R

 

[danarnold]

I'm 2 outta 3 OTC Colorado, None of it's easy but there's not a lot of things in life that are easy that are worth doing more than once in my opinion. It's over 17 Hour Dr. to the place we like to hunt out there. Overall elk hunting I'm 80% successful which isn't the norm. I'm a flatlander that works all year to stay in shape and I have been fortunate and lucky and I plan on keeping at it as long as I physically can. I'll be going back to the same unit next year and also have plans on going to New Mexico for 2018.
All I can say is if you want it go get it, don't forget to have fun.
Sent from a tree in the Deerwoods

 

[sodaksooner]

0 for 5 here, never released an arrow. Have been drawn on good bulls 2x and needed one step both times.

One thing I have learned. If you get into elk, don't leave them. The area we hunted this year was full of folks relatively speaking. No one was in elk. everyone was climbing high and not seeing much. We actually got into them half a mile up from camp and directly across the park. We worked them the rest of the week. Had at 4 legal bulls in range, one at 10 yards(dang deadfall) and worked at least 9 bulls. Had multiple bulls working a couple of times.

If we had listened to the other guys we would have never seen them.

We talked to a couple of guys camped at the trailhead(really nice guys too, one local). They saw a bunch of cows and calves on the opposite side of the park and were going to go hunt elsewhere....We told them they would be crazy to go anywhere else but where they saw the elk, especially in a high pressure area.

 

[gelton]

This was my 6th year hunting public land in Colorado. Out of those six years we have bagged two bulls...one of which was pure luck and another that I helped call in. I have been at full draw three times (calling them in each time) and couldn't seal the deal.

That said, you have to be able to be mobile. We usually backpack in and in the past I have stayed in a general area and worked my but off to find a few elk, if any. However, this year we backpacked in, noticed almost immediately that the elk were no longer in the area and moved 30-40 minutes away and to a lower elevation (from 11,000 ft to 9,000 ft)...the second place we tried was a bust and the third place we tried paid off.

Here's what I learned:

1. Even if you are backpacking, have a basecamp - from there you can use your truck to move to other places should your backpacking area not hold elk.
2. Know when to hold em and know when to fold em - if it isnt working find someplace else that is.
3. Hail Mary's sometimes work.
4. Lean how to call - I was getting bugles from my cow calls two days before the end of second season. (even though earlier in the week in a different spot it was deadly quiet with no elk)

You have probably heard to always have a plan A, B, and C - it took me 6 years to learn that if the elk arent in the area that you planned (A) move to area (B) and this year we had to move to area (C) in order to close the deal.

There are elk in Colorado but they are often so heavily pressured that they hold a phd. And they aren't sticking around as long as the pressure is high.

 

[cnelk]

Oh where to start....

Ain’t no elk left in Colorado. Go to Idaho!

I’ve hunted my areas for 28 years. OTC. Over 100 sq miles. Rifle,ml, and archery.
In the last 17 years (I think) there has been 4 years I haven’t killed an elk.
One was by choice.

Some years I’ve killed 2 in a year. Some years our group kills 3 in a day during archery.
Several times we’ve killed 2 at once

Like most elk hunters, we not picky in our otc units.
I like to eat elk. I like to use my bow, pack and all the gear associated with elk hunting.
I like to use my grinder and make elk sausage, burger and such.
Can’t do that if you don’t shoot elk.
My days of needing to impress anyone are long over.

Someone above mentioned that it’s helpful to get to know a unit.
No truer words spoken.
Every year is different and when you start putting it all together after a few years, success follows.

Since 2009, we killed over 15 elk not further than 1/2 mike from a vehicle.
This year I shot a cow opening day and she was about a 3/4 mile pack out.

The elk can most definitely be had in Colorado by the Average Joe.
But Joe has to do his part.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

But Joe has to do his part.

Wise words BK!

 

[cnelk]

Let me expand on that post a bit more.

This past September I invited a nonres friend to hunt with me.
Never hunted together before.

I took him to some of my ‘circuits’.
After we called in a few bulls (no shots) he made the comment that NO WAY would someone without terrain/pocket knowledge would ever even know to hunt that EXACT spot.

Remember- Don’t leave fish to find fish

 

[5MilesBack]

Remember- Don’t leave fish to find fish

I leave elk to find other elk all the time. Even in areas I've hunted many times, I still try to explore a couple new spots during the season every year. I can always go back to the first spot if I want, but I like exploring. That's one reason I like hunting new units......it's ALL a new exploration. I was just thinking of that the other day. I shot a 300+ bull in an OTC unit and area I know very well five years ago. Yet I haven't hunted it since then, and there's still lots of it I've never even seen another hunter in.

 

[cnelk]

Good for you

 

[Nomad]

I've bought 5 OTC Archery Elk tags in Colorado over the last 7 years.

2011 - Went with a group of knucklehead smokepole deer hunters b/c I wanted to bow hunt elk in Colorado badly. Saw elk through a spotter at 2 miles. Never had a prayer on that trip. Wouldn't have known what to do anyway.

2012 - Went with a buddy who had to borrow a bow from his FIL. Yeah, I know. Despite our terrible whitetail "sit and wait tactics", we actually saw some elk, at 1000 yards or so and on the move. No chance, couldn't catch up to em.

2015 - First Solo trip. 1st week of season. Hiked in deep. 7+ miles. Got off the beaten path another 1-2 miles. Spiked out from base camp a couple nights. Got within 85 yards of the biggest bull I've ever seen in person, hunting or otherwise. He was tearing up everything and had no idea I was there. Had the wind and elevation in my favor with a light storm brewing. Pretty much perfect. Instead of stalking closer for a shot, I decided I'd cow call him in just like they do it on TV. Already had a spot on the wall picked out. Ha. Fail. He called bullshit and disappeared.

2016 - 2nd Solo trip. 2nd week of season. Bumped a cow on a trail going into a skinny canyon within the first 4 hours of my trip. Had the wind in my favor. Full draw at 30 yards, broadside. Chip shot. She hesitated long enough trying to figure it out, but the only spot on her body that I couldn't see was the one spot that mattered. Brush in the way. No shot. She wanders off. Bivy camped the rest of that week. New spot every night. Warm and rainy the rest of the week. Had 1 calf nearly run me over during a lunch break one day and saw 1 other cow in dark timber the entire trip.

3rd Solo trip. Last week of season, same year. Cow called in my first bull ever, in the snow. Hunting in the snow is something I've only had a chance to do a handful of times in my life. It was a big deal, for me. Anyway, he comes in silent. Caught me with my pants down. No (good) shot. Wanders back up the mountain. This is undoubtedly the trip that hooked me for life.

2017 - 1st week of season... had a deer tag and deer fever for some reason. Never really went looking for elk but saw a couple bulls anyway.

Last week of season. Spot 2 bulls and a small herd of cows on the 2nd to last day of my trip about a mile away. 3 hours later I'm in position for a 60 yard shot. 5 years worth of elk tags and First Arrow Flung! Shot was less than ideal... farther back than I wanted, but he was quartering away just about perfectly. He disappears for a bit but I glass him up in open country, at about 500 yards. Off leg is painted red from top to bottom. Watched him lagging behind the cows for about 3/4 of a mile. He slowed at times, never laid down. Picked up a fair blood trail right off. Hurried to get to the last spot I saw him at before he got into timber and before it got dark. It took him about 6 minutes to make that spot... Took me about 75. Find the spot and find good blood right off and a good blood trail. Easy tracking til it wasn't. Ended up sleeping on the trail that night. Picked it back up in the morning over a mile from the shot. Spent hours on my hands and knees. Exhausted every escape route I could think of... After the trail cooled, I spent most of that day wandering the timber looking for an elk that was not to be found.

Elk hunting Colorado has given me some of the best and worst moments of my life.

 

[MuleyFever]

I have not elk hunted CO yet but I have deer hunted it the last 2 years. In those 2 years I have seen more shooter elk than deer in an OTC elk unit. This year I watched a 7x7. Those bulls have used the same trails 2 years in a row. If I don't draw my deer tag next year I will get an elk tag for sure. Oh, and I have seen zero people after those elk.

 

[5MilesBack]

Good for you

And you too.

 

[kscreekguy]

I hunted elk in South Central Colorado second rifle season this year. I mainly hunt small game here in Kansas. I was with my wifes uncle and his pal. They are residents and have 40+ years of experience hunting elk. This was the first time they had hunted this area, typically hunting up in Northern Colorado. It was quite warm during our hunt and I spent most of my time in the timber, putting in 6-7 miles a day. I had excellent encounters with deer, moose, coyotes and three cow elk over the six day hunt. My lack of experience hunting in the mountains showed on our third day when I had two cows come down through the timber about 15 yards away with a clear shooting lane. I failed to pull the trigger on what would have been a gut or hind shot then blew it after i got them to stop with a cow call. Learned a lot in those moments. I tried to cover lots of ground. Every evening we spent a lot of time planning and thinking about how the animals would be moving in relationship to roads and other pressure points. If I had been trying to do this for the first time alone, it would have been incredibly challenging and think that this could be part of low success rates. It also just seems to be one damn tough task to accomplish. Which is great. I will continue to hunt the area we were in for many years to come, so much more to explore and lots of animals there. As far as the youtube and instagram stars go, some of those people seem to have way more time to dedicate to being in the woods. The more time you spend in the woods, the more animals you will see.