Im wanting to go to do an otc elk hunt in Colorado. Ive looked and read almost everything I can find. Ive done the math and numbers and come across alot of where is the best otc unit threads. Ive boiled my criteria down to what i think i want to find. Im looking for a place in Co or a unit that i can hike in a good ways ( miles ) and get away from others or at least the mass herds of the close to the road/trailhead hunters. I had picked out where i thought would be best. This was over a year ago already. I returned/reinvest myself to taking this trip and now it looks like they allow 4 wheelers all over where i had picked. Ive been doing e scouting and trying to pick apart gmus and with the measuring tool im not finding alot of places where there arnt roads not to far off from each other. Im looking at going for first archery and i plan on hiking in and returning after i get my elk. Is there any good gmus I can e-scout that have such a trait? People tell me its all over you can find that but my search so far has not turned this up. That and a gmu that does not allow 4 wheelers would be amazing. Thanks to anyone who can help or is willing to point me in the right direction. Im not looking for anyone to tell me there huntin hole just looking for some help. That and if anyone else is interested i could use a hunting partner! The ol lady said she wont let me go alone and the past few times ive had a hunt lined up my friends always seem to back out!
Where in the actual elk to hunt?
- Thread starter Jessec
- Start date
Welcome to the forum. I’ll be up front with you more then likely no one is going to post a gmu number on here but I will share what I would look for if I was starting over in CO. My first priority as a new elk hunter would be picking a unit with high elk numbers. This would be way more important to me then hunter numbers. For a new elk hunter to be successful more then likely it’s going to be due to hunting your ass off and getting lucky that you stumble upon a elk. It was a pretty steep learning curve for me coming from the east before I had a clue of what I was doing. So the more elk the better chance you will get a opportunity. The next thing I would look at is the CO hunting atlas summer elk concentration map. For archery hunting it’s a great place to start. Plan on being mobile and not worrying about packing in miles to hunt a area. Have plan A B C and so on. If there’s no FRESH sign keep moving. I made the mistake of hunting old sign my first few years and kept walking in the same place over and over. You might not have to go in as far as what you think. Good luck if your like me you will be hooked if you kill or not. If you find some elk and like the area stick with it and learn it and how to elk hunt for a few years and it will all come together.
rustednuts
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I think a good rule of thumb is outwork everyone else don’t try and outsmart them. There are a lot of hunters in CO during OTC. Up your odds by hunting all day and being prepared.
rmyoung1
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- Jul 12, 2010
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Wilderness Areas. There are a lot of GMUs with federally-designated wilderness areas in CO and all forms of mechanical transport are prohibited (including game carts). They hold elk, especially during archery season. The country can be steep and the altitude will be high, but it's wonderful country to hunt. I would suggest having a plan for getting your elk out before you arrive. Packing out an elk solo at 2+ miles in elevation over steep country would be a very tall task. And ditto on the summer elk concentration layer at the Colorado Hunting Atlas. That thing is very helpful, in my experience. Here's a good place to start your research on finding some wilderness areas to investigate... https://umontana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a415bca07f0a4bee9f0e894b0db5c3b6
Pelican
Well-known member
Lots of OTC units where you can avoid ATVs due to wilderness. Units 14,15,161,43,45,47,471,53,65,74,75,77,78,81,751 and others have more than enough wilderness to limit most people hunting on foot. Don't underestimate the amount of work it takes to get an elk out of the woods. For most people, a 2 1/2 year old bull will require four trips.
Dougfirtree
Well-known member
I'd say this is good advice.
Arcola
Well-known member
Wilderness
Backcountry Hunter 2
Active member
Lots of good advice here. Only thing I haven’t heard mentioned is bull to cow ratio. When I started researching OTC units I looked at this right after elk numbers. You don’t have to go miles in. You can, just a pain to pack out on your back. Outworking everybody has paid off for me in the past, but doing it smartly has also increased my harvest stats. Good luck!
D
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One other thing to keep in mind is the terrain, 1.5 miles through blowdown with loose scree for footing and a 20% slope might as well be 10miles. Canyons, oak brush, thick willows, etc all play a role. When I think of “how far” off the road I think in terms of time not necessarily miles. 45min off the road gets rid of a lot of people, 6 hours usually gets you alone.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
I've hunted hundreds of hours on public land, and seen hundreds of other hunters afield. I have seen zero other hunters "an hour in" to inaccessible ground. There are animals, though. They give you the, huh, a human? look in their last moments of life. For some locations/hunts people are going to be more ambitious, but eventually you will see it drop to zero. Keep in mind horse access too when e-scouting. Well beaten horse trails up drainages or across ridges/saddles show up really well on google earth. These are often not marked on USFS maps though. A huge wilderness area in CO miles from any road may be 85% easily accessible for horse hunters. There's no point in hiking in 5 miles, just to walk in to someone else's horse camp. There are many, many large pockets of terrain in a lot of CO general elk units that horses cannot access, and probably 90% of people avoid due to difficulty. Look for steep terrain on the topo map, or swaths of blowdowns (also show up well on google earth). If you can responsibly remove a carcass from some of these locations, they may hold promise if there are actually elk there (a whole other topic).
When your e-scouting is complete and you finally arrive at your hunting locations (lots of back-up spots), take time to "people scout." I do this for nearly every public land hunt, and it is the most important part of in-person scouting IMO. Human sign is about the easiest sign to read. Look for cigarette butts, clean/new trash, urine splashes/yellow snow, any kind of paper litter (each morning of dew will degrade it further), tire/boot tread, even if it's in dust, and try to determine how old it is. Even in heavier-accessed areas, check out the spur trails a little ways down the trail, and you will find that some of them have not been tread any time recently.
Disclaimer: I have hunted out west, but not for elk.
When your e-scouting is complete and you finally arrive at your hunting locations (lots of back-up spots), take time to "people scout." I do this for nearly every public land hunt, and it is the most important part of in-person scouting IMO. Human sign is about the easiest sign to read. Look for cigarette butts, clean/new trash, urine splashes/yellow snow, any kind of paper litter (each morning of dew will degrade it further), tire/boot tread, even if it's in dust, and try to determine how old it is. Even in heavier-accessed areas, check out the spur trails a little ways down the trail, and you will find that some of them have not been tread any time recently.
Disclaimer: I have hunted out west, but not for elk.
