Hi All,
I'm new here and new to Elk (though not to hunting). I've been invited to go along on CO elk hunts with some friends the previous 3 years but but haven't been able to make it work with my schedule. This year I was able to work it out but no one else could. Rather than put it off another year I've decided to go it alone. I'm going to try for a cow in Unit 65 in the Second Rifle season. I figure that, being my first elk hunt, finding a cow will be a bit easier (5:1 cow:bull in that unit) plus the lack of antlers is one less logistical issue to deal with when heading back to New York.
I've been doing some e-scouting and have been looking at a few drainages east of Cow Creek, south of Red Creek north of Oben Creek as potentially my potential primary area to focus on, though I've also been checking out a couple of other areas.
For anyone who has hunted this unit, does that sound like a reasonable place to start?
Any advice on hunting this unit would be very much appreciated.
I'm planning to go pretty lightweight, hike in and camp, probably 4 days hunting. I'd like to go deep but I'm likely going to be packing out alone if I'm successful and it looks like this unit can be pretty rugged so I'll probably limit myself to 4-5 miles from the truck. I say "likely" because a friend who lives in Durango and hikes/camps in the area quite a bit will probably be with me the first two days (though not hunting).
I know I'm going to hear "get in shape." To address that: I'm 40 run 7-8 miles a few times per week, do a couple hundred pull-ups a couple times a week, plenty of pushups and a few other exercises so I'm in pretty good shape all the time. I am now adding morning hikes/hills with a weighted pack and a little additional core work to the normal routine. I can't simulate altitude but, in the past when visiting a friend in Aspen my sea level 7-8 mile runs turned into more like 6-6.5 miles with the similar effort and pace and no sickness at altitude...so I'm hoping the transition won't be too harsh.
Thanks,
William
I'm new here and new to Elk (though not to hunting). I've been invited to go along on CO elk hunts with some friends the previous 3 years but but haven't been able to make it work with my schedule. This year I was able to work it out but no one else could. Rather than put it off another year I've decided to go it alone. I'm going to try for a cow in Unit 65 in the Second Rifle season. I figure that, being my first elk hunt, finding a cow will be a bit easier (5:1 cow:bull in that unit) plus the lack of antlers is one less logistical issue to deal with when heading back to New York.
I've been doing some e-scouting and have been looking at a few drainages east of Cow Creek, south of Red Creek north of Oben Creek as potentially my potential primary area to focus on, though I've also been checking out a couple of other areas.
For anyone who has hunted this unit, does that sound like a reasonable place to start?
Any advice on hunting this unit would be very much appreciated.
I'm planning to go pretty lightweight, hike in and camp, probably 4 days hunting. I'd like to go deep but I'm likely going to be packing out alone if I'm successful and it looks like this unit can be pretty rugged so I'll probably limit myself to 4-5 miles from the truck. I say "likely" because a friend who lives in Durango and hikes/camps in the area quite a bit will probably be with me the first two days (though not hunting).
I know I'm going to hear "get in shape." To address that: I'm 40 run 7-8 miles a few times per week, do a couple hundred pull-ups a couple times a week, plenty of pushups and a few other exercises so I'm in pretty good shape all the time. I am now adding morning hikes/hills with a weighted pack and a little additional core work to the normal routine. I can't simulate altitude but, in the past when visiting a friend in Aspen my sea level 7-8 mile runs turned into more like 6-6.5 miles with the similar effort and pace and no sickness at altitude...so I'm hoping the transition won't be too harsh.
Thanks,
William
