How crowded is it really?

[MallardSX2]

Never hunted OTC rifle. But I have hunted a LOT of OTC archery. I stopped hunting the OTC Archery and hunt limited entry now. Its still crowded but at least its a "constant crowd"...lol

 

[Poser]

Another one: don’t dismiss the idea of parking at the very beginning of a FS road and going in there as opposed to driving in far, especially to the end of the road, in hopes of getting “deep”

 

[gelton]

I have found that at least in the areas that I hunt, archery is way more crowded than 2nd rifle which was surprising to me. With the covid craze though, all bets are off.

 

[TERMINATOR]

sounds like 30.30 country with iron sites if you have to hunt the thick stuff trying not to get busted. very similar to hunting bedding areas with a bow it sounds like.

For me it is .358 Win in a Browning BLR country. With a 1.75x6 Leupold Scope. Leave it on 1.75x unless I see something in a clearing

Tremendous timber elk combo. Light, compact and packs a punch. I would be all about a 45-70 or 444 Marlin too but my choice is good to 250 yards without holdever

 

[mavinwa2]

Depends on where you go. I hunted a high tag allotment unit one year and was blown away. There was an orange dot on EVERY knob as far as the eye could see. I had my own knob and had guy after guy walk up to me. It as insane. The orange army!

my experience when I hunted rifle seasons too, 2nd, 3rd Colorado.

What's really bad..., I'm sitting on knob since 90-minutes before daylight. 30min after morning shooting light, UP walk 2 orange vests and they sit 20 YARDS slightly below my position, right there in front of me. Essentially blocking off my view of the ravine/canyon area below. They knew I was there, looked right at me, waved, and sat down.
I sat there for another 8 hours. They left 2 hours before I did.

next day, hiked up same time. Yes, those same 2 hunters on the same knob. I chose to go elsewhere and walked by wishing them good luck. A little profanity cast my way when 10 yards past them.

the irony (or blind luck) is....I shot a good 5x5 bull about 1/4mile up the same ridgeline. Bull was coming down, spooked by other hunters. 1 shot with my 300win mag & bull down in 3 steps.

 

[Ucsdryder]

my experience when I hunted rifle seasons too, 2nd, 3rd Colorado.

What's really bad..., I'm sitting on knob since 90-minutes before daylight. 30min after morning shooting light, UP walk 2 orange vests and they sit 20 YARDS slightly below my position, right there in front of me. Essentially blocking off my view of the ravine/canyon area below. They knew I was there, looked right at me, waved, and sat down.
I sat there for another 8 hours. They left 2 hours before I did.

next day, hiked up same time. Yes, those same 2 hunters on the same knob. I chose to go elsewhere and walked by wishing them good luck. A little profanity cast my way when 10 yards past them.

the irony (or blind luck) is....I shot a good 5x5 bull about 1/4mile up the same ridgeline. Bull was coming down, spooked by other hunters. 1 shot with my 300win mag & bull down in 3 steps.

Sometimes that’s the best way to hunt. The problem is it doesn’t work archery hunting. Spooked animals are great during gun season, they move around! Spooked animals, not so much during the rut.

 

[coelk81]

OTC rifle seasons, I prefer other hunters in the woods. I do not necessarily want them right on top of me. But they are great for pushing the elk towards me. Always nice to see other hunters walk up as I'm dressing out the elk I just shot due to the hunters pushing them my way. You have to figure out how to make the hunters work for you. However I haven't hunted rifle elk in a dozen years but I would still hunt it the same way I described. To me overcrowding only makes a difference when it threatens my safety. The last time I had an issue with safety from other hunters was back in 2000. I have hunted elk for the last 30+ years in the same area and unit in all season, rifle, archery and muzzleloader.

 

[mavinwa2]

yes, UCSDRYDER, my experiences archery hunting CO OTC too.

often I don't even use bugle call, just soft cow calling. Called in too many archery hunters....at least my bugles must sound real within the timber.

 

[TERMINATOR]

OTC rifle seasons, I prefer other hunters in the woods. I do not necessarily want them right on top of me. But they are great for pushing the elk towards me. Always nice to see other hunters walk up as I'm dressing out the elk I just shot due to the hunters pushing them my way. You have to figure out how to make the hunters work for you.

^^^ This ^^^