Hunting Deep in CO

[Sapper]

Okay,, I've gotta ask this. I've been Hunting the mighty Wapiti only a few years and have only stuck to CO. I'm from the east coast so I do most of my scouting via google earth, reading etc. I read a LOT, on here, magazines, stories, and so on. I keep hearing and reading that if you want to find the Elk, go miles back where knowone will go. I'm game for that and that's about all I look at when "scouting". So my question is this,, when I read about guys going back 10, 12, 15+ miles in CO, what are we talking about here? From the hard road? From town? The trailhead? Are we talking zig-zagging through a wilderness?
I've picked apart several units over the past several yrs and I have yet to find an area with a span of anything even close to 10 miles that doesn't have a dirt road or main hiking trail in it. I'm not asking because I can't find elk, I'm asking plainly out of curiosity!!

 

[Bar]

You haven't read enough here if you think you have to go deep to find elk and solitude. You just need to go where other hunters don't want to go, but the elk do.

 

[ahlgringo]

"go where no one else will go, and you will find em". I hear that thrown around so much, and on here, it also seems- we will all go there no questions asked.

The truth of the matter as I see it (hunted and live in CO for the last 10 yrs) is that wherever you go- you may very well likely run into other hunters. There is no magical mile marker you need to push past that leads to elk utopia. They are where they are- yes that tends to be in nasty terrain- but it very well be within a mile of a decent sized trail or road- getting there is still going to be a challenge.

If it were me, and I could only digitally scout- I would find places that look like they would hold elk, and then have about a half dozen of those places that you are ready to access. I would not concentrate on finding the deepest, darkest, nastiest, furthest away from any civilization point on a map and making it your mission to hunt there. My .02

 

[MtnHunter]

For me, those would be any miles walked on foot. You're right, hard to draw a 10-15 mile straight line anywhere in Colorado without hitting a road. Lots of zig-zagging in those boot miles!

 

[MTNRCHR]

The further in you go, the closer you get to someone else....

 

[FlyGuy]

Seems I can only go about 5 miles "in" before I just start getting closer to the road that's on the other side...


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[gabenzeke]

Hunted about 4ish miles into the Weminuche last year and got into elk. Had people walking in on a trail we could see past us going further in all day every day. They were just hiking right past the elk we got into.

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[Sapper]

"go where no one else will go, and you will find em". I hear that thrown around so much, and on here, it also seems- we will all go there no questions asked.

The truth of the matter as I see it (hunted and live in CO for the last 10 yrs) is that wherever you go- you may very well likely run into other hunters. There is no magical mile marker you need to push past that leads to elk utopia. They are where they are- yes that tends to be in nasty terrain- but it very well be within a mile of a decent sized trail or road- getting there is still going to be a challenge.

If it were me, and I could only digitally scout- I would find places that look like they would hold elk, and then have about a half dozen of those places that you are ready to access. I would not concentrate on finding the deepest, darkest, nastiest, furthest away from any civilization point on a map and making it your mission to hunt there. My .02

I like it!! And I agree. Lots of good advise on here. Last year I was heading to some rugged terrain, figuring on a long hike in and I got about a half mile off the main highway and I find all these elk signs. I thought I could even smell them. I'm kinda laughing to myself about it. I found about a week old carcass with the head missing so assumed it was a bull. I still spent the better part of 2 days in this area and never got more than a mile off the highway. Got close to some cows but didn't see a bull. The only thing I didn't get was, With all these clear signs of elk, I also found a week old campsite right smack in the middle of it. I'm still scratching my head on that one!

 

[oldgoat]

Biggest bull I ever called in was less than half a mile from the black top and about the same from a very highly traveled trail but normally about a mile'ish in is where I concentrate on hunting and camp at the hall mile or so point, I'm too old to be packing an elk out as far as your talking. My suggestion is pick a path off trail if possible on Google Earth that takes you through elk habitat and hunt as you go and when you find good sign, that's how far you need to be!

 

[530Chukar]

There's a special range that I like. Foot hunters will only go in X-miles. Then packers are going to go in Y-miles. There is normally a gap between x and y that there will be less people.

 

[Tdiesel]

I agree that most people exaggerate how far in: sometimes by taking a trail it will be farther than straight line though . most are not farther than a couple miles but if you ask them they hiked 12 miles. Elk find where people aren't. whether that's 6 miles in or 400 yds off the highway that everyone goes past. most difficult call in I remember in recent years was because I was having a hard time hearing the elk over the back up beepers from the construction crew off the hill. I like those pack outs

 

[sodaksooner]

Certainly no expert here, but most of the elk we have gotten in were less than two miles from the main road coming in. Now it was nasty and rough getting there in some cases, but they still held elk. One of the biggest bulls I have seen was standing right next to the road as we were driving to a spot for an evening hunt. Buddy had a big bull cross the road in front of him last year, driving out for an evening hunt. We chased a bull across highway 24 north of Leadville one year. Caught him on the other side but a strategically placed bush prevented a shot. We were 10 yards off an access road when we finally got him in range, and only a couple of hundred yards from the highway.

Had a 300" plus bull at 23 yards, ready to shoot 2 years ago. We were half a mile from the trailhead.(wind switched right before he came into my shooting lane).

"elk are where you find them" is the phrase I hear a lot.

We have also been on elk going fairly far back, so that works too.

Just keep a lot of arrows in your quiver so to speak.

 

[chasewild]

Although I haven't done a full GIS review of the state of Colorado, as soon as I start hearing the Mountain Warriors chiming in about double digit miles, my nose starts to get that "I'm standing down wind of a significant pile of bull shit" scrunch to it and then I get this weird reaction where I can no longer hear anything they're saying and then my feet start backpedaling as if compelled by some otherworldly force.

When someone says "we were XX miles in" it generally means, "we packed in to a spot we thought there were sheep/deer/elk and they weren't there so we had to go further" which means they had to return to their truck but COULD have exited on a shorter route had they parked at another road.

In the words of Public Enemy -- don't believe the hype.

 

[Bar]

I agree that hunters underestimate how far a mile is. Especially, if you're going through timber and up and down slopes.

 

[Btaylor]

I agree that hunters underestimate how far a mile is. Especially, if you're going through timber and up and down slopes.

Are you sure? I stop and take a short breather every mile. First elk hunt year before last it was 74 miles to get to timberline.

 

[Bar]

Are you sure? I stop and take a short breather every mile. First elk hunt year before last it was 74 miles to get to timberline.

Where did you start at the ocean?

 

[justinspicher]

This thread is awesome, I got a lot of good laughs! Truth is that it sure "feels" a lot further than it is out here in the mountains of Colorado. From my experience, you've never gone nearly as far as you think you have.

 

[cnelk]

'How far in' is a lot like 'how heavy your meat pack weighs'

The further you pack a load of meat the heavier it gets
1/2 mile and it weighs 60lbs, same pack at 2 miles and it weighs 80lbs

A 1/2 mile in elk country is not a 1/2 mile walking to a deer stand

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I count from where i park whatever my GPS says

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[PA 5-0]

Maybe terrain features????....1.5 miles in may be 4 miles of up and down to get there.