Scenery is good at least. Hot and dry and they weren't talking for us.
Elk Hunting 2015...AKA expensive hike in camo.
- Thread starter dtspoke
- Start date
Scenery is good at least. Hot and dry and they weren't talking for us.
Living in the middle of where you hunt sounds great, but what it means is that you end up hunting occasionally while taking care of daily stuff instead. Leaving for a week would have been nice, I just can't make that happen in September which is one of my busiest months of the year. I start shipping calves Friday and it takes me a couple of weeks to get them gathered, shipped, and sold.
That elk is hard to spot, but he is on the far right and all you can see is his back. He is covered in grass.
That elk is hard to spot, but he is on the far right and all you can see is his back. He is covered in grass.
Both. We have a chunk of private land then I'm surrounded by National Forest. I have a decent number of deer on our place, but the bucks won't show up until rut, they stay in the higher elevations. Elk show up in later winter/early spring on our place, but until then they are in rough country and harder to get to.
Believe it or not, if a guy does his research and is willing to do the work, it's really not expensive to do that kind of hunt. You could get it done for a grand including out of state tags.
Believe it or not, if a guy does his research and is willing to do the work, it's really not expensive to do that kind of hunt. You could get it done for a grand including out of state tags.
I've been wanting to do this for decades and haven't been able to work it out since I was 25. Traditionally fall (teaching at a university) is one of my hardest times to get away and I've tried over the holidays but no bueno. Now that i've moved to private practice, I hope to get to carve out 10 days or so to do a drop camp bowhunt for elk.... maybe next year.
I can't find the elk either but loved the pics. A friend who is up at Gunnison sent pics of the Aspens in glorious gold. (he was flyfishing though...)
I can't find the elk either but loved the pics. A friend who is up at Gunnison sent pics of the Aspens in glorious gold. (he was flyfishing though...)
Hot and dry is no joke.
I was going to go up to GMU 36 north of Vail this weekend to try my hand at filing a couple elk tags.
However... Baby #3 is forecasted to arrive within 4 weeks and ultimately that just seemed like a bad idea.
Poor hunting weather makes me feel a little better about missing out, but only a little.
Next year...
I was going to go up to GMU 36 north of Vail this weekend to try my hand at filing a couple elk tags.
However... Baby #3 is forecasted to arrive within 4 weeks and ultimately that just seemed like a bad idea.
Poor hunting weather makes me feel a little better about missing out, but only a little.
Next year...
@dtspoke
Can you elaborate a little more on your comment above about hunting for a grand? This comment really intrigued me, so I have been looking around states that offer OTC elk tags, public land success rates, etc. I don't want to pay a guide to put me in front of a bull. I want to work my ass off and have the satisfaction of shooting one on my own terms (or more likely just enjoying the scenery for a week and eating a tag). Colorado and Idaho seem to be the options for OTC tags.
Colorado has OTC tags in decent units for archery and rifle. Ultimately, you are paying a guide to put you where the elk are, but if you spend $626 for an either sex tag, couple hundred on fuel, another couple hundred on food, and do a lot of research, you can have a decent shot at shooting an elk for about a $1K.
Look on the CDOW website for unit statistics, and look at maps for private and public land boundaries. Also, if you shoot archery your odds are better than rifle. By the time you get to rifle season in the OTC units, the elk are pretty pressured and heading for private land sanctuaries. Hunt the nastiest country you can find with a mix of dark timber and open parks, especially if you want to get a bull in September.
Odds are much better with a guide, but that's what you are primarily paying for, not guarantees. Also, a guide typically has access to horses or some way of getting the elk out, which is a huge consideration for a solo backpack hunt. The best places to get an elk on public land is at least a mile from the road or a trail head. Getting an elk out on foot that far from transportation is one heck of a job.
I may be calling you to see if you know of anyone who might do an Archery drop camp in SW CO . (I usually hang out in the impossible to get tag area of 76, near Creede to Lake City.) I know Ineed to broaden my scope a bit.
My dad has hunted that country for years and got close to several bulls last fall but could not get a good shot. He knows that country like the back of his hand. If he wasn't old as dirt he would be a good guide and cheap.
I know some guys down there so let me know.
No and that has been a regretted mistake. I'll have to plan probably for an over the counter tag at this point. I'm good to also look over by Gunnison and north of Alamosa, etc.
