Colorado Deer/Elk Combo?

[Sabot]

Good morning men,

By way of introduction, I'd like to give a brief background of where me and my group are coming from before asking your opinion on the title of the thread. Our group is 6 men, fathers and sons. 2 men are in their mid-sixties, and 4 of us are 38-45. The missing man is my Dad who hunted with the older 2 men DIY style in the 80s. Dad died from multiple sclerosis in in 2008 at age 56, and we never got to hunt the rockies together. In 2003, our group hunted the Gila NF in NM, but Dad was already too sick to go with us. For me, the 2012 trip is a tribute hunt. To be in Colorado, doing what Dad loved, with his friends will mean more to me than any set of antlers.

With all that in mind, we all applied for a preference point a few years ago, but couldn't get a trip together, so we have 1 each. This year, things are coming together. In looking at all of our options, we feel like, our single point won't help us much, so we started looking at private ranches that border BLM. While not exactly a DIY, the idea was to put together a trip that would have a higher chance of success than going into public blind, while saving money by not paying a guide. Now that it is getting to be crunch time, several of us are struggling to put the money together for the trespass lease. Here are my questions:

1) Should we entertain the idea of going public, sight unseen?
2) Will a single point help us escape any of the crowds? A sea of orange would ruin the experience. Seeing a few other hunters is not a big deal.
3) Our focus is deer, but we will probably be hunting the 2nd rifle, so is a combo hunt with an over the counter elk tag worth the extra $$ ?
4) Anyone willing to point me to a particular GMU in a PM?
5) Anyone have success with a particular lease/broker?

I know that I am asking alot, but I am charged as the research nerd in the group. We have our own complete mountain camp and ATVs, and most of us are former military (Marines) and have hunted for 20+ years.

THANK YOU!

 

[Bambistew]

1) Yes
2) No. To get away from the sea of orange you're going to have to distance yourself from roads and ATVs. Not many units in CO where points will give you a place all to yourself.
3) Its your money, but you'll be pretty sad if a nice bull walks out and you don't have a tag. The last time I went to CO I focused on deer, and didn't buy an elk tag. Saw 35-40 bulls, a couple 280-300" 6pts. I wasn't that upset about it, but I've punched a fair number of elk tags too. I'm sure if it had been a 'monster' I'd have jumped on my knife.
4) Every unit in CO can produce quality deer, some more so than others. Elk are like gophers in CO, they pop up just about every where
5) I've not hunted private in CO, sorry.

If you plan on hunting off ATV's its doubtfull that you can get away from the crowds unless you go with a lease/trespass. I'm not sure how the trespass works, if they'd allow you to use your ATV's or not.

Check out the CO DOW they have a lot of info pertaining to elk/deer numbers and areas that hold them.

Good luck with your planning.

 

[Dinkshooter]

All you have to do to escape the sea of orange is just wait until Weds of the season. Most everyone goes home then. By the 2nd weekend you'll be lonely out there.

 

[M. R. Byrd]

I am working on a similar hunt. My health has not let me hunt the past few years and I have always hunted with my oldest son, and would sure like to have a camp with both sons. I am hoping that this year I can take the rigors of a hunt again. We have only hunted for elk. My oldest son does have some deer preference points that might get him a deer tag this year.

You might look to see if there are any underscribed deer units to apply for, then look at the OTC elk tags for the second and third rifle season. You will have some dollars tied up in tags, but that is the cost of the privilege.