Not so good elk hunting story

Wow! Sorry you had that experience. It sounds terrible.

I'm headed out tomorrow. Hopefully I won't see so many people, but if I do, there's plenty of dark timber to go get "lost" in.

I have always been hesitant to try my luck in CO for elk because I thought there were long waiting periods and lotteries and such that I just don’t have the patience for when plenty of hogs are only a short drive away.

The question I really have though is how is the elk population doing? I would think there is a reason so many tags are being sold.

Maybe 20 years ago there was a group of guys for here that were going to Colorado on a guided group archery hunt. Private land, no hunting pressure. Only $500 each. Gotta be in shape because it’s remote and no vehicles but great elk populations

They get there and the “guide” points in the general direction and says good luck. Turns out it’s actually National Forest. They set up and end up having four wheelers run right past them. Of the eight guys none saw a single elk all week.

H&Hhunter said:

The elk population is strong in parts of the state. Declining in others.

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Too bad they can't adjust the numbers of available tags by zone and huntable land. Sounds like the wildlife department is just wanting to sell the tags for the revenue and not manage the resource well.

Sorry to hear that :-(

I had a first season tag for GMU 29 and hunted up in the Indian Peaks. Camped at 10,500 ft. Saw two guys on horseback the whole week. Nobody at all camping. It was mighty cold Friday and Saturday nights but the rest of the week was great. Great terrain, and elk out there but low density. Took a lot of stalking and covering a lot of ground. I only had one good shot on a mediocre four pointer, but it was on the edge of a 200 foot bank into a creek. If he went in, there was no getting him out, so I passed :-(

Lots of bear tracks and scat around. Had one interaction. Came up a rise and as I topped it, Yogi was 40-50 yards in front of me. Half got up on his/her haunches to check me out. I started moving back from whence I had come and the bear did an about-face and took off at a great rate of speed!

I have a 2nd season deer tag for the same GMU. Heading up for a few days tomorrow.

That area has a reputation as a good spot even as far away as GA. I know lots of guys locally that recommend, and hunt the area around Craig. One of my wife's brothers has taken several deer and elk from the area. I hunted about 1/2 way between Craig and the Wyoming line in 2010, 2nd season. Didn't have anywhere near that many issues, but that was 9 years ago.


I bought OTC last year and hunted South Central Colorado Lets just say I was somewhere between Alamosa and Pagosa Springs. I chose that area based on 3 things. #1,I'd camped there during a summer visit a few years earlier and was somewhat familiar with the area. #2, My online research lead me to believe it had potential. #3, and probably most important; driving from GA it was almost a full days driving closer than the area near Craig, each way. This was 3rd season, lots of snow, and very few hunters. In 6 days of hunting I saw one other hunter in the woods. I planned to camp, but found a cabin to rent that was just as close to the area we hunted as I'd have been if I'd camped. Considering temps were in single digits each night my wife was appreciative.

I didn't kill anything, but there were 9 groups of hunters in the campground were I stayed and there were 4 elk brought out. The elk were there,but I hunted the 1st 3 days in the wrong spot. By the time I figured out where they were the elk had migrated into a unit where I couldn't hunt. My inexperience, but even without killing anything was a great trip. I just had too many things happening this fall to return, but will be back in 2020.

Don't eat the brown acid.

I can't stand seeing anyone other than a hunting partner. I could never bring myself to join that campground scene. I'd rather pack in and freeze to death in a tent than see anyone while hunt. I am sorry that your beautiful state has that kind of pressure on it. I think of Colorado as it was 25 years ago when I could drive up a mountain pass and be truly alone. I'm sure it isn't like that anymore.

H&Hhunter said:

They make a lot of money on easy draw and OTC out of state tags.

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Yeah, that's what I figured...
Bummer.

H&Hhunter said:

They make a lot of money on easy draw and OTC out of state tags.

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While I am sure that is true, I'd hope they are using elk population numbers to dictate the amount of tags sold. Problem comes when you have high numbers in areas with limited access. Happens here in Wisconsin too. Some of the southern farm zone areas have four free antlerless tags available with your buck tag. I have a total of 8, because I get 4 with my gun tag and 4 with my archery tag. I can also buy as many more as I want OTC for $12 a piece. Problem is there is limited amount of public access in that area. So camping areas and access roads in the limited amount of public land is packed come opening weekend, while private land next to it has little or no pressure. Those on private land have probably managed their land for deer and will probably only shoot one doe. So while the antlerless population on the public land gets decimated or driven onto private land, the amount of free tags does not really dictate overall harvest. Access to where the deer are does. If I don't get a buck during archery season, I might take a doe during gun season. Giving me 8 free tags, while in theory is intended to reduce crop damage and car/deer accidents in the area, in reality is doing no more than giving me, and most others that hunt private land, one.

That said, I hunt public lands too. But I stay away on opening weekends and I tend to hunt those areas the crowds tend to avoid, either because they are not obvious or easy to get to. My standards of what dictates a shooter decline once I hit public ground and for obvious reasons.

Sorry your hunt went sour. Still, you have had good hunts this year too. You know as well as I do, that's why they call it hunting. Better luck next time.

Ai-yai-yai, what a season!

I whiffed on a mule buck this morning :-( Got to a great place, a long high alpine clearing and a pine tree that someone in years past has set up a deadfall blind around. Set up with the wind in just the right place, cranked the scope up to 12 to check out the far end of the meadow and said to myself, I'll just have a bite before I settle in. There I am, rifle on the ground, a bag of granola in left hand and right hand full of granola halfway to my mouth when out from between two trees about 25 yards from me, straight into the wind, two does being pursued by a modest 4 pointer and finally a third doe, coming hell for leather straight at me. I think, I'll let them pass and then line up, except lead doe keeps coming straight at me until about 8 feet from me, the wafting scent of death hits her full on, she jumps four feet in the air and twists to my left, away from the rifle. The other three break to my left as well. I've got the 24" barreled 270 and dead pine boughs like prison bars around me. Finally get the gun up and all I can see is blurry dark gray fur (scope is at x12, deer are at 12 yards). Crank the ring, take the shot, and, surprise: swing and a miss. I should not have taken the shot and I am overjoyed I missed rather than gut shot or maimed the poor fellow. I am still so furious with myself! Compound stupidity.

My son (13) hadn't completed hunters safety by the drawing application date (my fault for not reading the rules), so we have to deal with OTC tags too. He went last year as a mentor/mentee, and is still very much in the learning phase, so this year is probably not going to be high on the totem pole of success anyway.

H&Hhunter said:

And not to be a Debbie downer here so it’ll be short and to the point.

My wife drew a cow tag and I picked up a left over bull tag an area just south of Craig Colorado.

The hunt starts on a Saturday, I try to pull out on Thursday but we are having a blizzard and the heat in the house went out. So we don’t get on the road until Friday. It’s 268 miles from my front door to the trailhead. I have all our gear loaded plus a four horse trailer with two horses loaded and we leave at 04:30.

Upon arriving at the first of two campgrounds at the trail head we are met by a massive throng of hunters. At least 100 or more people with semi trucks and stock trailers, tents, campers and everything in between mashed into every square inch of the camp ground. There are 30 to 40 head of horses milling and dudes getting bucked off horses, people trying to saddle mules, dudes trying to climb trees for cell phone service and general and absolute pandemonium occurring.

So we depart camp ground one and head up to campground two. Its even worse, it looks like an over packed biker rally with loud music blaring and some early morning/ left over night drinking going on. Horses, trucks, tents and debris from the previous nights and this mornings partying are jammed into every square millimeter of this campground.

In this particular area the road ends after a long stretch of private ground and these are the only two places to camp or even park.

We never even unloaded the horses. We simply turned around and drove the 268 miles back home.

Colorado elk hunting is rapidly being destroyed by over population and an over abundance of available elk tags.

I am officially done with OTC and low draw public elk units in this once great state.

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I don’t do campgrounds. Even in Oklahoma, it’s stupid. And it’s not getting better. We had a guy a couple years ago bring a $190k 5th wheel to our “deer camp”. We even saw a couple Vogue Coaches at another site. And literally thousands of people. Drinking all night. Loud music. Trash everywhere. And I thought to myself, “This ain’t Woodstock. This is supposed to be deer hunting. Never again”. And I’ve never been back.

BigBore44 said:

I don’t do campgrounds. Even in Oklahoma, it’s stupid. And it’s not getting better. We had a guy a couple years ago bring a $190k 5th wheel to our “deer camp”. We even saw a couple Vogue Coaches at another site. And literally thousands of people. Drinking all night. Loud music. Trash everywhere. And I thought to myself, “This ain’t Woodstock. This is supposed to be deer hunting. Never again”. And I’ve never been back.

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Learned a long time ago, like hunting itself, different folks have a different notion of what a deer camp is. To some it's a temporary home away from home to be close to game in order to help facilitate the hunt. Growing up as a kid, our deer camp was my mom and dad's house. Come the Friday before opening day and all my aunts and uncles that hunted would arrive with their kids. Married siblings would come back with their spouses and kids. We'd lay out sleeping bags in the living room wall to wall and throw the rest wherever they fit. Grown-ups got beds, younger folks got the sleeping bags. Someone had to die or quit hunting before you got to move up to a bed. We got up @ 3:00a.m. and got ready while non-hunting women and the girls made a big breakfast and packed lunches. We then would pack in station wagons and pick-up trucks and head to the large parcel of public land just a few miles north of us. We would hunt all day, occasionally meeting back at the vehicles to eat lunch, see who had been successful, plan drives, assemble for sweeps or to let others that like to still hunt, know we were taking different stands. Everyone either knew those 90 square miles like the back of their hand, or at least knew how to get to the closet road. We hunted till dark, went home, hung and skinned any animals we were fortunate to take, ate a big supper that was waiting for us, retold the stories of the day and yesteryear and then most of us went to bed, to do it all over tomorrow. Sometimes the older guys would play poker and drink beer, but they still were up with the rest of us the next day. Second weekend was spent by all butchering, cutting up and grinding what we had so everyone could take home their share. I always felt kinda cheated after reading about "deer camps" in outdoor rags like Field and Stream and Outdoor life. Those were real camps with no running water and cooking over a campfire. It seemed so much better than what we did. In college I made friends with a guy who's family owned a large parcel of land just south of the Wisconsin/Michigan Border. Their land also bordered the Nicolet National Forest. They also had a cabin at the juncture of their land and the public land where they spent opening weekend. So I gave up opening weekend at my folk's house that year to go and live my dream in a "real" deer camp. We got there late Friday night and everyone else was already there. Most were pretty drunk by the time we got there. There was a big pot of chili on the stove and we ate what was left. When I asked my friend what time we got up he said, whenever you want, just don't wake the others. Woke up at 3:00 and waited. and waited. and waited. About 8:00 am my friend finally woke up and we left to go hunting as quietly as we could. I then discovered he had no idea of where to go. We basically wandered around aimlessly in knee deep snow without seeing anything but a few tracks. Went back to the cabin for lunch and some folks were still sleeping it off, while others has started drinking and playing poker again in their longjohns. Lunch and supper that night was another pot of chili, made by just adding more burger, beans and tomato soup to what was left from the day before. Next day I got up early and went out by myself since I now had a vague idea of where to go. By myself, I was able to catch a small buck in his bed and drug him back. When I went to hang and skin him, my friend said they don't skin them. They just hang them on the pole out front til they go home and then the butcher skins them before he cuts the up. I was the only one lucky that weekend, yet no one else wanted any of the deer. Most claimed they always gave away any they got anyway. All in all, IMHO, their camp was a bust....a joke. But my friend told me on the way home about all the fond memories he had of it and how much he looked forward to it each year. Gave me a perspective I never had before. I always wanted to invite my friend to my "deer camp", but the following year he left school and I saw him very infrequently after that. Few years later I learned from a mutual friend that he was killed in a motorcycle accident. Since then I've looked back at the year with much fonder memories than the ones I walked away with that Sunday night with a deer on the trunk of my '66 Valiant.

What a zoo. Happy to be living and hunting in New Mexico, where for $2K you can get a private landowner cow elk tag, guide, and several days food and lodging, AND have a near 100% certainty of a successful hunt. Bulls of course are more. I have to laugh when I'm told that's too much money, I'll do the 'free' public land hunt, etc. How much does a week of your time cost, not counting the equipment and vehicle a guide has? On all three of my successful cow elk hunts I've left home in Albuquerque in the afternoon and been back the next afternoon with an animal, no camping involved.

H&Hhunter said:

And not to be a Debbie downer here so it’ll be short and to the point.

My wife drew a cow tag and I picked up a left over bull tag an area just south of Craig Colorado.

The hunt starts on a Saturday, I try to pull out on Thursday but we are having a blizzard and the heat in the house went out. So we don’t get on the road until Friday. It’s 268 miles from my front door to the trailhead. I have all our gear loaded plus a four horse trailer with two horses loaded and we leave at 04:30.

Upon arriving at the first of two campgrounds at the trail head we are met by a massive throng of hunters. At least 100 or more people with semi trucks and stock trailers, tents, campers and everything in between mashed into every square inch of the camp ground. There are 30 to 40 head of horses milling and dudes getting bucked off horses, people trying to saddle mules, dudes trying to climb trees for cell phone service and general and absolute pandemonium occurring.

So we depart camp ground one and head up to campground two. Its even worse, it looks like an over packed biker rally with loud music blaring and some early morning/ left over night drinking going on. Horses, trucks, tents and debris from the previous nights and this mornings partying are jammed into every square millimeter of this campground.

In this particular area the road ends after a long stretch of private ground and these are the only two places to camp or even park.

We never even unloaded the horses. We simply turned around and drove the 268 miles back home.

Colorado elk hunting is rapidly being destroyed by over population and an over abundance of available elk tags.

I am officially done with OTC and low draw public elk units in this once great state.

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Man, that saddens my heart. I remember touring around Salida, Steamboat Springs, and Craig as a boy, dreaming about a high country elk hunt. Soybean harvest season has never allowed me to do it. In my mind, I envision solitude and a quiet campfire. It sounds like chaos.
Too bad you and mrs H were overwhelmed.

Enfielder said:

Don't eat the brown acid.

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The mantra of Elkstock ?

My daughter and grandkids are likely being stationed in Colorado Springs next with the Air Force. I talked to her about packing up and moving to Colorado to be closer.

I've talked to a few people that said Colorado was getting as bad as California and to not bother.

Our elk camp last week was fairly remote with no other camps for a couple of miles, but we still had 4-5 vehicles a day pass by and saw a few other hunters in the woods, which is way too many.

Another area we used to hunt is now a zoo. Buddy of mine and his daughter were there last week and said a couple of rifle rounds zipped between them as they were sitting on the edge of a clearing. They got the heck out of there.