Okie Whitetail hunter making 1st Colorado Elk hunt. Help!

[Jwilly77]

Hi all. Brand new here. I am looking for advice for OTC do it yourself Archery Elk hunt on Colorado this fall. I am from Oklahoma and an avid Whitetail hunter. I've always wanted to try Elk hunting. My son and a friend of his he met on their deployment to Afghanistan last year, his buddy, and I are going to give it a try around the 3rd week of September(4 of us). They are in good shape. I'm 41 and in pretty good shape and working hard the next 6 weeks to get better. I have done several draw DIY hunts in Oklahoma and understand Whitetail terrain and scouting, but not Elk country! We are thinking of 1) hiking in, setting up a base camp and hiking out each day, or option 2) staging a base camp in an area were we can drive ATV's up as far as we can and hiking for the day a far as my body will take me! We are looking at about 7 days. I have looked at several Units, success rates, # of hunters, etc. until my head hurts! I don't expect anyone to give up their honey holes, just looking for advice. I'm realistic and realize it will most likely be about the experience, but hope to get a chance at a bull and/or cow for one of us. I've been to Colorado multiple times over the years, but have never hunted it. We considered going with a semi-guided hunt to take us up to a base camp and point us in a general good direction, but it is a little too much $ for for the boys. So far I've looked at Units 81, 82, 85, & 86. I am familiar with the area around blue/bear lake South of Cuchara, but not sure about the Elk hunting. We also considered making the extra drive up to Units around Meeker, Units 211 & 13. That is a drive and will take away from hunting time though. Again, any helpful thoughts or advice will be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnCushman]

Welcome aboard!! You can use the search function to look for past threads about the different units you're thinking of. Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 40643]

I guide in 13 and pretty much the only hunting there is the BLM in the south part of the unit. With that being said access to that BLM is very limited to where the BLM touches two spots in the road. You can kill an elk in there but be ready for a miserable pack out. We killed a couple bulls in that BLM last year during rifle season and had to pack them out. Thick, thick oak brush and lots of big draws and canyons. There are also a couple of BLM spots only about 160 acres big that hold tons of elk but again they are probably not the vast tracks of land you would find farther south with less driving! If you’re interested in 13 shoot me a message and I’ll help you out! Good luck!

 

[Jwilly77]

Thanks for the feedback. I've been doing a ton of research still. Trying to educate myself as much as possible. Have actually talked to a friend that is pretty familiar with Unit 77 & 78 North of Pagosa springs. I think we are leaning heavy towards those units. Still an 11 hr drive for us. I'd love to be able to pack in on horses to a drop camp and hunt or semi-guided hunt, but my son and his buddy can't swing the extra $. (Army doesn't pay real well!) So now we are debating on setting up camp North of Pagosa at a local campsite and driving in and hiking several miles in different locations throughout the week depending on what we are seeing/hearing or packing in several miles with light camp on our packs for spike camps and staying in hunting from a camp(s) up high all week. That's what I would love feedback on. I've read/heard pros and cons on both scenarios.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Welcome to the forum!

I'd suggest checking out Big Fin's elk scouting video series. One of the things he talks about is having locations A, B, C, D, E, F within a unit marked on a map for prescouting, then when you arrive for the hunt spend the first 1-2 days checking those locations for sign, snow depth, animals etc. and start eliminating the places you are NOT going to hunt. It can be a big bust to zero in on one location (such as a semi-guided drop hunt), and think "I'm going to hunt here." Well, there may be no legal bulls there at all during the week of your hunt based on weather, hunting pressure, available feed, etc.

 

[Jwilly77]

Welcome to the forum!

I'd suggest checking out Big Fin's elk scouting video series. One of the things he talks about is having locations A, B, C, D, E, F within a unit marked on a map for prescouting, then when you arrive for the hunt spend the first 1-2 days checking those locations for sign, snow depth, animals etc. and start eliminating the places you are NOT going to hunt. It can be a big bust to zero in on one location (such as a semi-guided drop hunt), and think "I'm going to hunt here." Well, there may be no legal bulls there at all during the week of your hunt based on weather, hunting pressure, available feed, etc.

Thanks for the advice. That is def the way I have been leaning. Been listening to a lot of ElkTalk podcasts and watching video's and think I like the idea of being more mobile and trying multiple areas rather than camping in one area all week and seeing nothing as you said. We were thinking having that base camp at the campsites as kind of a "home base" if you will and trying different spots every day. And, If we get on some Elk late in a day or whatever and need to make a quick camp we can to be on them early the next morning. Best laid plans right! I'm looking forward to it for my 1st Elk hunt! I know it will def give me a whole new experience than the Oklahoma Whitetail I've hunted for 20 years!

 

[tzone]

I'm not an elk hunter yet and can't give you scouting advice. But, one thing I'd learn to do is call. Watch a few videos or listen to some sounds of elk and try to get proficient at making those sounds.

 

[Jwilly77]

I'm def with you there. It kind of reminds me of when I 1st started Turkey hunting. I tried all kinds of calls and watched a ton of videos. I learned how to use a mouth call and have killed or called in Turkey's every year since. Not saying that is how it is going to work with Elk btw. Of course there is nothing like real world experiences and being out there seeing how the animals react to your calls and learning from it.