Go Deep Boys. Go Deep

[Elktaco]

And I always thought the "road hunters" were lazy?? Maybe just smarter??

 

[cnelk]

To put it into perspective, since 2009, we've killed 19 elk less than 3/4 mi from a vehicle.

Hoping to make that over 20+ this year

 

[S.Clancy]

To put it into perspective, since 2009, we've killed 19 elk less than 3/4 mi from a vehicle.

Hoping to make that over 20+ this year

Good Lord I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Randle]

Great now everyone is going to buy the new Kifaru 120 Shorttrack-- 1/2 day pack and follow you 120 yards off the road at your trailhead

 

[Bigcat_hunter]

I honestly did discover this is true when we went to hunt elk in Idaho. My back is super screwed up so I couldn’t “go deep”,with the other guys. We were in elk near the road the whole time while the go deep boys didn’t have any luck. The animals probably just adapt to pressure. After this thread we will have thousands of dudes hitting it soft near the road and will push all the elk deep. Lol

 

[Bowhunter93]

They may be low now, the pressure will move them higher quick though.

 

[CCooper]

My favorite were the guys that stopped at our archery camp a couple years ago to ask WTF - we had a 5 pt. hanging whole.

 

[Ron.C]

There is something cool and downright satisfying about hunting as far back and as far away from anyone as you can get. That said, I don't like to pigeon hole myself into any one tactic or location. Some elk by virtue of the specific location, resources, hunting pressure, and other factors will remain within easy reach of road systems all year long.

Some elk can be seen in these easy areas all summer, when hunting season starts appear to vanish as far back as they can get or into thick nasty pockets where most hunters are not willing to go.

Some elk just spend their lives far off roads.

Like anything in hunting, if you think there is only 1 way to do something and are reluctant to change when presented with an opportunity, you may be missing out.

My last comment may rub some the wrong way, but hunting and killing elk 400 meters off a road is just not conducive to marketing and selling the latest and greatest high end backpacking and ultralight hunting gear.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I love it when I see lots of guys saying they ‘Going Deep’.
This ol boy is hanging around about 400yds from a road.
Colorado OTC unit.

Thanks, as a newbie I appreciate the tips. I don’t know if I can get all the way to 400yds on day one, but I’m really motivated. I’ll probably have to turn my new flat bill around backwards to be more aerodynamic for a hike that long, but I’ve been watching a lot of exercise YouTube videos, so I should be in pretty good shape by Sept 1.

 

[strattonje2020]

hunt where the elk are. could be 100 yards from the road or it could be 10 miles. That's why more bulls are killed opening day of rifle than any other of the season. You should know where they are opening day then from there its the biggest shit hole you can find. lol

 

[el_jefe_pescado]

I was bear hunting across a drainage from a popular TH last sept. Glassing at last light, I happened to be looking in the vicinity of the parking area, full of truck (aka “rigs), presumably archery hunters. At last light, an entire herd of elk stood up not 200 yards from the parking area. I imagine all those dudes drove 20 hours from wherever, 2 hours up a crappy FS RD, hiked in eight….teen miles in to kill an elk and all the elk were bedded next to their trucks (aka “rigs”) at the Trailhead.

Yes…Nothing like a watching a mature bull feed in a cliff band directly above 20 different “rigs” and base camps. Don’t leave elk to find elk.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[summs]

It’s threads like this that really confuse me. Having never hunted CO otc units, all I hear is horror stories packed trail heads, guys bugling to other guys, etc.

Then this thread pops up and it’s Sitka road camo jokes( v funny), people who stay within 400 yards if their car, and a few who go hiking, but with a rifle just incase.

trying to get an idea if CO otc is harder than planning a trip and hunting it. Guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and find out one of these years

 

[Wapiti1]

It’s threads like this that really confuse me. Having never hunted CO otc units, all I hear is horror stories packed trail heads, guys bugling to other guys, etc.

Then this thread pops up and it’s Sitka road camo jokes( v funny), people who stay within 400 yards if their car, and a few who go hiking, but with a rifle just incase.

trying to get an idea if CO otc is harder than planning a trip and hunting it. Guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and find out one of these years

It's not any more difficult than deciding what type of hunt you want. If you like backpacking, do that. If you don't, or think being more mobile is good, do that. Key point here is there is no right answer.

Choose a unit that offers what you want. Some units don't have vehicle accessible high country (or high enough) during the archery season (or insert season here), so you will have to hike to the elk. Others do have that access, or both styles of hunting may be worthwhile there.

The unit I'm hunting this fall has both, and I'll start with the easiest sections first and move farther out until I find elk.

There is no best unit. No best season. No best strategy, etc. That's a fantasy. Best is what gets you out and about having fun hunting elk. A big takeaway is that each hunt is an investment in future hunts. If you only plan on doing it once, go guided.

It also helps to live there, and know your areas in depth from 20+ years of experience like CNelk.

Jeremy

 

[Gerbdog]

I have a hunting spot with elk in it every year.... oh heck i dunno, you can probably start finding the elk sign about 100 yards in, and it gets better from there, but it starts from the road as a ladder of deadfall ..... its steep, nasty, ankle breaking potential that your climbing on all 4's up. Fun times to get in there and it doesnt let up til you hit treeline..... but thats where the elk are. Right next to a road and not far from a major trailhead loaded down with hunters. I looked at the map wrong when i was going scouting one time.... went up the wrong side of the valley.... lucked out it was an elk spot. What i cant figure out is how all the hunters at a nearby trailhead cant hear the bugles in the morning before they set out.... I hike up in there in the dark and sit and listen and the round up bugles occur almost every morning while theyre moving to the beds ..... admittedly before the sun comes up, but they never ever ever respond to the buglers that are sitting down at the trailhead bugling for fun before they head off to their hunting spots 18* miles deep. I was talking to another hunter one year who was absolutely 100% sure he could get an elk to bugle from anywhere. It was the evening before the season, i knew there were elk behind us up the mountain, sun was setting, and he told me "watch this, i guarantee you we will get 3 bugles just from right here" .... i mean it was a good theory, its a great looking area.... but of course even with elk being within a short distance of those bugles they know not to bugle back to a call coming from that area..... long winded story to say..... there are elk close to the roads in many places, but dont count on getting a response from the road, they already know that game, get creative and get off the road when you decide to send out your location bugle

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

All I know is I don't like packing an elk out solo more than a mile or two deep... Could I do it from further? Sure. Would I like to do that? Nope.

 

[Poser]

There is a avalanche chute off the highway around here that has a herd of elk out in it every evening between Sept and Nov. like clock work, the elk bed near the treeline with a 1,000 feet of open country above them and thermals rising from the timber. Once the thermals shift, they move 500-600 years out into the alpine and stay there overnight. I can only imagine how many stalks are attempted and hearts are broken by this arrangement. Unless someone has 600-800 yard shooting skills, you just don’t stand a chance, yet they are clearly visible on a daily basis from at least 3 alpine trails, the highway below and multiple other high points in the area. I’ve even seen IG posts where people post a spotting scope pic with “I found the elk!” and I just laugh. This herd probably saves 100s of other elk and has likely caused a few wrecks, too.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

There is a avalanche chute off the highway around here that has a herd of elk out in it every evening between Sept and Nov. like clock work, the elk bed near the treeline with a 1,000 feet of open country above them and thermals rising from the timber. Once the thermals shift, they move 500-600 years out into the alpine and stay there overnight. I can only imagine how many stalks are attempted and hearts are broken by this arrangement. Unless someone has 600-800 yard shooting skills, you just don’t stand a chance, yet they are clearly visible on a daily basis from at least 3 alpine trails, the highway below and multiple other high points in the area. I’ve even seen IG posts where people post a spotting scope pic with “I found the elk!” and I just laugh. This herd probably saves 100s of other elk and has likely caused a few wrecks, too.

Send me coordinates! I'll take my chances on slow crawling 1000 yards.

 

[Jethro]

Unless someone has 600-800 yard shooting skills, you just don’t stand a chance,

Nowadays almost everyone claims to have those skills.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Nowadays almost everyone claims to have those skills.

So true, and yet, you never read success stories from folks pulling that stuff off.

 

[DEHusker]

Elk are where they are. Sounds dumb but it's true. Colorado (and most western states) are so big with so many roads that there are TONS of elk near roads in all of those states. Yes, some are deep....and yes, you'll find them far far away from roads. But let me tell you, some units you can't get away from roads in any part of the unit. I hunted in AZ one time in a HUGE unit and there was almost nowhere in that unit without a road within a half mile to a mile or so of almost the entire unit....forest roads, highways, whatever. I arrowed a really nice 6x7 in that unit in a "pocket" of timber about a 5 min walk from where I parked...and hauled him out on a road about 10 steps from where he died. He was overlooked for 9 days during the hunt by probably a thousand trucks that drove right past him. Elk are where they are. We all dream of backpacking in a hundred miles, killing a herd bull, and packing him out on horses. Yeah, sure. Not the reality for the vast majority of us regular people. ha ha. There are a myriad of 330"+ bulls within a half mile of (insert major road name here) somewhere in Colorado at all times - even during the seasons. The fun is finding them!