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

[SteveCNJ]

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.

I will surely be challenged with the learning curve next week in Northern Colorado during my first elk hunt.

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[big44a4]

I will surely be challenged with the learning curve next week in Northern Colorado during my first elk hunt.

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Good luck and have fun!


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