Opening Day Strategy - BLM vs State forest

[TravTwentyOne]

Hello all, just writing to ask if any of you could comment on the general popularity of a State Forest versus BLM land; particularly for OTC rifle seasons in their opening days. After all the research i've done on hunter density, there is no way of anticipating where most of the hunters (locals mixed with the non residents) will be for those whirlwind opening days. This will be my first time pursuing Elk and I have target areas on BLM and State Forest land in Colorado. Just asking if anyone notices that BLM/State forest seems overly populated opening weekend and then drops off considerably on Monday. Thanks!

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I assume your talking about the state forest up in north park as other state lands in CO aren’t public. I don’t think land designation makes any difference, just depends on where the animals are and access points.

 

[3855WIN]

All about access. Easy access equals more people. You can plan to get away from people, but also need to plan on extracting a large animal.

 

[TravTwentyOne]

Thanks for the info, regardless of the location, I cannot wait to get out there this fall! Extracting a large animal would be a great finish to this pursuit!

 

[BWALKER77]

Planning to get away from people anymore is mostly futile IMO. The trick is figuring where the elk go when the shooting starts.

 

[TravTwentyOne]

Which is probably private land in most cases lol

 

[BWALKER77]

Which is probably private land in most cases lol

That depends on where you are at. However, ambushing the escape routes to private is one strategy to use.

 

[TravTwentyOne]

That depends on where you are at. However, ambushing the escape routes to private is one strategy to use.

Yes, I think that is the aspect of public land hunting that experience really makes a difference!