Hi everyone.
My hunting partner and I have been hunting Whitetail and Mule deer in North Dakota for 17 years. We are not obsessed with big deer, we just like to hunt. We have decided we would like to start spending time in the fall hunting elk. We realize we need experience, but you can only learn so much reading, and we want to jump in fall 2018.
My brain is hurting a bit after figuring out all the drawing systems in multiple states, but we have a game plan figured out. We are going to apply for the general tag in Wyoming. Assuming we won't get it the first year, we want to hunt the archery otc in CO. My parents recently moved to the Northwestern area of CO so I figured this will give me a couple of opportunities to scout when I visit them.
My biggest question is probably the same as all first time CO elk hunters. Where in the large state full of elk should I go? I am not looking for specifics, but more general advice that will help us experience the type of hunt we are looking to have.
Our biggest priority is the hunting experience. We care nothing about trophy bulls. We would be happy to take a cow, and over the moon to have a chance at a legal bull. That being said, to get experience it would be nice to be in the elk and not just stumbling around looking for them. I understand luck and weather play a large part here, but that is the kind of advice I am looking for.
We would hunt the 2nd week of Sept. for 12-14 days. We WANT to work hard it. We plan on back packing in a half day or so and hunting from a base camp. I am also thinking I might bring my travel trailer down, if I can find a place to park it, in the case that
if it rains like crazy, so we can continue to hunt more comfortably. Yes, we will have chains.
We don't like hunting elbow to elbow with others. I understand that the more elk there are the more hunters there will be. So we are looking for a balance. We would lean to the side of more elk. Enough elk so we can find them, but hoping that packing in will get us away from some of the traffic. We definitely don't want to end up somewhere that has atv's cruising all over the place. Is this a realistic idea?
Now the hard part. Where to go to get the experience we want. I started looking at success rates in units near my parents location. I found that units 11, 22, and 211 actually have some of the best archery success. Yet, when I research everyone says the elk are higher this time of year and that it is hot and dry in these units this time of year. So why the success rate? Is it because the low amount of archery hunters are using the private land?
Anyway with those units being hot and dry with sparse elk, that is not what we are really looking for, but I would like to hunt somewhat close to the north western side of state.
Our priorities simplified-
1. Hunting experience and opportunity. We don't care about big bulls at all.
2. The ability to back pack in to avoid some of the traffic.
3. Plenty of public land.
I have been looking at units such as 14, 16, 42, 62, 71, 421 and 521. These all look to have plenty of forest and high ground.
Please let know if I am on the right track with these units to fit our ideal hunt or if I am way off base. If I am missing any major downsides or upsides to some of these units and you want to share that would be great, or pm if you prefer. I am not asking you for your locations or for go here and don't go there. Just anything with these units I might be missing looking at Google earth and archery success numbers.
I would appreciate any advice on my hunt planning. Maybe I am being completely unrealistic. We are really not expecting to kill anything, but want to start learning as much as we can and have the elk hunting experience.
My hunting partner and I have been hunting Whitetail and Mule deer in North Dakota for 17 years. We are not obsessed with big deer, we just like to hunt. We have decided we would like to start spending time in the fall hunting elk. We realize we need experience, but you can only learn so much reading, and we want to jump in fall 2018.
My brain is hurting a bit after figuring out all the drawing systems in multiple states, but we have a game plan figured out. We are going to apply for the general tag in Wyoming. Assuming we won't get it the first year, we want to hunt the archery otc in CO. My parents recently moved to the Northwestern area of CO so I figured this will give me a couple of opportunities to scout when I visit them.
My biggest question is probably the same as all first time CO elk hunters. Where in the large state full of elk should I go? I am not looking for specifics, but more general advice that will help us experience the type of hunt we are looking to have.
Our biggest priority is the hunting experience. We care nothing about trophy bulls. We would be happy to take a cow, and over the moon to have a chance at a legal bull. That being said, to get experience it would be nice to be in the elk and not just stumbling around looking for them. I understand luck and weather play a large part here, but that is the kind of advice I am looking for.
We would hunt the 2nd week of Sept. for 12-14 days. We WANT to work hard it. We plan on back packing in a half day or so and hunting from a base camp. I am also thinking I might bring my travel trailer down, if I can find a place to park it, in the case that
if it rains like crazy, so we can continue to hunt more comfortably. Yes, we will have chains.
We don't like hunting elbow to elbow with others. I understand that the more elk there are the more hunters there will be. So we are looking for a balance. We would lean to the side of more elk. Enough elk so we can find them, but hoping that packing in will get us away from some of the traffic. We definitely don't want to end up somewhere that has atv's cruising all over the place. Is this a realistic idea?
Now the hard part. Where to go to get the experience we want. I started looking at success rates in units near my parents location. I found that units 11, 22, and 211 actually have some of the best archery success. Yet, when I research everyone says the elk are higher this time of year and that it is hot and dry in these units this time of year. So why the success rate? Is it because the low amount of archery hunters are using the private land?
Anyway with those units being hot and dry with sparse elk, that is not what we are really looking for, but I would like to hunt somewhat close to the north western side of state.
Our priorities simplified-
1. Hunting experience and opportunity. We don't care about big bulls at all.
2. The ability to back pack in to avoid some of the traffic.
3. Plenty of public land.
I have been looking at units such as 14, 16, 42, 62, 71, 421 and 521. These all look to have plenty of forest and high ground.
Please let know if I am on the right track with these units to fit our ideal hunt or if I am way off base. If I am missing any major downsides or upsides to some of these units and you want to share that would be great, or pm if you prefer. I am not asking you for your locations or for go here and don't go there. Just anything with these units I might be missing looking at Google earth and archery success numbers.
I would appreciate any advice on my hunt planning. Maybe I am being completely unrealistic. We are really not expecting to kill anything, but want to start learning as much as we can and have the elk hunting experience.
