1st time Colorado Elk hunting!

[Jmcdonald45]

#6305

In 2014 of sept. my hunting buddy and myself will be heading to Colorado for a DIY elk hunt, over the counter either sex. We have been doing our research and was wondering if anyone had any good advice for some Ohioans.

[paleoman]

#50152

No. but you opened yourself up to some flatlander jokes:D

[Troy Warner]

#50244

GET IN SHAPE!!! Aerobic exercise to get the heart pumping and the lungs sucking air would be my primary regiment, ie. run as long and as far as you can if you can’t run, cycling or any kind of walking that you can do to strengthen your legs heart and lungs. Weight training is good, but hunting in high altitudes will kick even the strongest persons behind if thier legs aren’t used to continuos motion and your lungs don’t work to full capacity. After you are in the best shape you can get into, when you arrive at your hunting destination take it slow and easy for the first couple of days. Don’t mope around camp, but don’t try speed climbing to the top of the mountain to beat the sun so you can be glassing at sunrise, leave earlier. A healthy inshape person should aclamate any where from 24-48 hours (depending on altitude and individual constitution)to the point you shouldn’t, (and I say shouldn’t because everyone is a little different) suffer any extreme symptoms of altitude sickness. It is from that point on that you will thank yourself for getting in the best shape possible, because no matter how good of shape your in you will be sucking wind for the first four days of your hunt. Being in shape just makes it not quite so painful.

Other than that practice with your equipment, walk or jog with your pack on, and make sure when your walking to wear the boots you are going to hunt in to break them in and to make sure your feet are used to wearing them.

Most important of all. HAVE FUN!!!:D

Good luck

Troy

[David Petersen]

#50282

Welcome to the tradbow.com family. Sadly, THE most important piece of advice these days is: Find out where ATVs are allowed to go, and go somewhere else, as the elk do.

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#50301

Get in shape, stay in shape, so that you are strong enough to hike and go where there are no ATV’s, and most important of all, let me hitch a ride with you! 😀

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#50312

Congrats! Do you know what part of the state you’ll be hunting in?

1) Listen to all of the above.

2) If your schedule allows, scout as much as you possibly can before your hunt starts.

3) Do your homework on arrow setups that are appropriate for elk. They are much bigger animals than whitetails.

[wahoo]

#50316

all the above plus how much time do you have?? I think you need to be portable . You need to cover ground . No elk in this drainage move to the next. It’s big country so if you place base camp in one place it will let you cover a lot of different parts of the mountains without moving your camp everyday . Ck with the fish and game and spend if you have to extra money for bird tags . Grouse can be big fun to hunt and eat if the elk don’t want to play.

[Troy Warner]

#50450

David Petersen wrote: Welcome to the tradbow.com family. Sadly, THE most important piece of advice these days is: Find out where ATVs are allowed to go, and go somewhere else, as the elk do.

Dave,

I very sadly agree. Illegal atv use has gotten out of hand where i grew up as a young man and where I normally return to, because I do know the area, for hunting elk, ( North of Dolores) making it difficult to to find the animals. I used to be able to hike in a mile into my favorite area and hunt for 2-3 days with out hearing or seeing another human, then people (read a-&$@:;s) have started riding their contraptions in on access trails that are for foot or horse use only to gain access to interior portions of the Nation Forest pushing the elk out and on to private land and or across the mountain.

I have in the last few years been looking into other areas and states to hunt elk in. But my heart keeps pulling me back to Colorado. So the search continues for untainted land.

Troy

[lyagooshka]

#50482

tradhunter1 wrote: So the search continues for untainted land.

Sorry Troy, but short of moving to Alaska and learning to fly a float plane, well, you can see where I’m going with this. Be well.

Alex

🙁

[David Petersen]

#50553

Troy — I’m not sure it’s so severely depleted as Alex suggests, but it depends on how much land you’re talking about. In the lower 48 we have millions of acres of nicely protected congressionally designated wilderness (except where ATV and dirt bike criminals tresspass around the edges). There are places you can walk for days, even weeks, without crossing a road (if only because the landscape is so steep and rugged you can’t walk far in a day). But even there, horse traffic on trails can be heavy during early hunting seasons, forcing you to bushwhack to be alone in unspoiled country in in designated wilderness.

A second category is undesignated, or de facto wilderness, which lacks congressional protections but has remained largely unspoiled because it’s too rugged for roads, or no good for logging or mining, etc. These roadless areas tend to ring and sometimes connect designated wilderness, at slightly lower altitudes (much of designated wilderness is “rocks and ice”), and can be even better elk habitat. And because roadless areas aren’t named, per se, as wilderness areas are, and hove no trail guide books, they aren’t so often designated as destination. And despite the name, there are a few roads, just not big networks. This would be the prime among prime for elk hunting, these roadless areas, except for the federal land agencies spinelessness in allowing a network of motorized trails for ATVs and dirt bikes. Still, there are places where no such motorized virtual highways exist and these are the places I recommend DIY hunters to explore, as I do my ownself. A relatively tiny number of hunter’s groups, namely Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and in places, Trout Unlimited, are working overtime to save these last best places for the rest of us.

[Troy Warner]

#50575

Dave,

The area I spoke of before was one such place that you speak of.

I have been checking out wilderness areas and other places with limited access in Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico, but as I said Colorado keeps pulling my heart back. The quite solitude is available as you pointed out, if a person is willing to work to find it and get to it.

I am thankful that BHA exists for the work they do on our behalf, and am proud to be a member.

Alex,

Moving to Alaska, and learning to become a bush pilot is on my bucket list. Unfortunately my wife said Alaska (for some reason she thinks its to cold, and we live in South Dakota now) is the one place she won’t follow me to, and since I still actually like to have her around, right now,:wink:I have to postpone that part of the list.

Oh well I’ll just keep pluggin away on the search for untainted land. (In the lower 48 ) 😀

Troy

[lyagooshka]

#51734

tradhunter1 wrote: Unfortunately my wife said Alaska (for some reason she thinks its to cold, and we live in South Dakota now) is the one place she won’t follow me to, and since I still actually like to have her around, right now,:wink:I have to postpone that part of the list.

😆 😆 😆

Troy,

I feel for you my friend. Same here! No matter how many times I point out that the weather in Sitka or Ketchikan varies all year what it varies one day here in Allentown and that it is hardly ever below freezing, she just isn’t buying it 😥 . She points out the 364 days of “liquid sunshine” and the fact that I would have to re-mortgage the house to buy a gallon of milk 😕 . Oh well, there’s always Wyoming 😈 . In case you haven’t noticed a trend in my “choices”, the 2 least populated states in the union are AK and WY. Go figure. Anyway, AK and the pilot thing are definitely on the bucket list here too. Here’s to us seeing it through to fruition. Cheers! Be well.

Alex

😀

[David Coulter]

#51843

McDonald,

Have a great trip. Did I say I’m jealous? dwc

[Jmcdonald45]

#51913

dwcphoto wrote: McDonald,

Have a great trip. Did I say I’m jealous? dwc

Thanks for the advice we been checking some places out in the south west, and we are going mobile lite weight and on the move is the plan no real base camp. I will look into the arrow weight for elk hunting thanks for that little bit.

[skifrk]

#52478

One thing I did not see mentioned was the importance of hydration. While you got a lot of great tips so far i would throw in make sure to take water with you and a way to filer water while there so you drink enough. Good luck where ever you go and be surprised if you get lucky on the first trip. I know a lot of people treat the first one as more of an adventure to scout and be prepared for the second trip.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#52481

skifrk wrote: One thing I did not see mentioned was the importance of hydration. While you got a lot of great tips so far i would throw in make sure to take water with you and a way to filer water while there so you drink enough.

Good tip, and an often overlooked one. Start hydrating a couple days before your hunt. Hydration also helps significantly with adjustment to altitude.

[CareyE]

#52551

I would have to second David’s advise and opinion. I did my first CO Elk Hunt this past year with a friend who had hunted the area we were in previously. It had changed in the three years he was last year. There was easier access which made for more idiots on ATV’s as well as more people in general. All that equalled no elk in the area. Good luck.

[Greg Ragan]

#52735

Don’t carry anything you don’t need. Go light and know your equipment and hopefully each peice has more than one use. Try to get used to sleeping without oxygen 😯

Have a blast…you will be hooked!

[Jmcdonald45]

#53319

two4hooking wrote: Don’t carry anything you don’t need. Go light and know your equipment and hopefully each peice has more than one use. Try to get used to sleeping without oxygen 😯

Have a blast…you will be hooked!

On the subject of gear what type of tent and pack would you all suggest. I was thinking a one man maybe two man bivy tent and thinking an internal frame pack. But read a lot of good things about external frames.

[Troy Warner]

#53490

J,

Are you sharing your tent with your hunting buddy, or are you each bringing your own tent? How long are you going to be there one week, two weeks? How many nights do you want to stay out in one area if your not finding animals or sign?

I use a two many tent for just myself, reason is I have more room for my gear when the weather turns not so nice. When I pack in with a partner and we are going to be gone a weekend we take a three man back packing tent for light weight, if we are going in for a week or possibly a few days longer we each take in a two man, for the same reason I mentioned above, and with a two man you can get a 3 season packing tent that will be strong enough for poor weather but still light enough to pack around the country. Close to the same weight as a light weight three man.

I also take in a sleeping pad, I prefer a mid thickness that is full length, it’s more weight but I have started to get excessivly stiff in the mornings after a night on the cold hard ground. The size of your sleeping bag will be a personal choice, there’s a lot of good ones out there choose carefully.

For packs I prefer an external frame, one of my hunting partners swears by an internal frame, my external frame I can remove the pack back at the truck and use the frame to haul meat without having to empty my pack prior to going back in for another load of meat. Once again there are a lot of good ones out there, so do your home work and choose carefully. Remember that you get what you pay for.

Dehydrated food for my/our meals, candy bars, jerky, or power bars for snacks, a jet boil stove, and a small mess kit, I always carry a small first aid kit, emergency fire starter, and an emergency bivy bag, a bar of soap with a rag and small backpacking towel, personal hygiene items. And as mentioned before a water filter or tablets for treatment of your water, filters take up more room and it takes a little practice to get it so your not sucking up the bottom of the water source, when its real shallow, but I prefer the filter over the tabs cause when your done with the filter you can drink, with the tabs you have a longer process before drinking.

For clothes I take a change of shirt, to pairs of shorts, one pair of long johns, and a five pairs of socks, a good rain suit, a mid weight jacket and a vest. If my time extends past five days I wash my socks and underwear.

I am usually pretty rough looking when I return.

Don’t forget a compass and a GPS, a fold out maps and the know how to use your compass and map together.

Add bow and arrows and game bags and you have it all.

Good luck and have fun

Troy

[Troy Warner]

#53496

Oh,

I also carry a “Spot Locator” just in case. It was a consession I made so my wife doesn’t worry as much when I pack in alone.

Troy

[David Petersen]

#53516

J, check out my photo here, to the left. I think you can expand it some by right-clicking. That is supplies for a 5-day hunt and camp. My hunting pack is stuffed full and strapped to the top/back of my backpack. The water bottle is empty. Total weight was 72 pounds. I was hunting deer at timberline with T Downing, and had I killed one, I could have packed it out, quartered and boned, in one trip. But for elk you’re looking at a minimum of three trips and as many as five … plus packing out your camp. Although I’ve done it many times in the past, I’m no longer interested in going way in alone for elk–just too many trips back and forth if you make a kill, and too much risk of losing meat to bears or spoilage. There is no greater adventure in hunting than a solo backpack hunt, but to avoid disaster it’s best to be open-eyed about what we’re getting into. If you pick the right area and bushwhack, you can often get into elk within just a mile or two. Again, it all comes down to habitat quality and getting totally away from other people, esp. those who walk sitting down.

[wahoo]

#53591

All these guys are right and packing in is fun but depending on time don’t get stuck in one drainage with no one home. I use a Hubba Hubba tent Western mountaineering bag pack stove and stuff mentioned above and you can go in a couple miles hunt no one home come out drive a few miles and be able to hunt on a hole other mountain and drainage . Remember if elk get buggered up they move and they might not come back. There are a lot of great tents and they all seem to cost a lot of money you will have to shop and find whats best for you . I have been using a Badlands 2200 , it’s good for 2-3 day stay and it has an internal frame so when you kill you can pack meat .

[skifrk]

#53602

When it comes to tents, sleeping bags and packs. Those are such an individual preference as to what works well, I would recommend try before you buy. I believe for some of this stuff if you have an REI store nearby they rent for weekends to test. Also, since a few have given you pointers of where to hunt, you can harness technology and scout some of that area with google earth to get a feel for the lay of the land. Once I pick an area I am confident I want to hunt the I get the 7.5minute maps from USGS and then put on those maps any property boundaries for private land and make notes for myself of what water holes look good for me to ty and scout or in your case to hunt when you get there.

[Jmcdonald45]

#53829

tradhunter1 wrote: J,

Are you sharing your tent with your hunting buddy, or are you each bringing your own tent? How long are you going to be there one week, two weeks? How many nights do you want to stay out in one area if your not finding animals or sign?

I use a two many tent for just myself, reason is I have more room for my gear when the weather turns not so nice. When I pack in with a partner and we are going to be gone a weekend we take a three man back packing tent for light weight, if we are going in for a week or possibly a few days longer we each take in a two man, for the same reason I mentioned above, and with a two man you can get a 3 season packing tent that will be strong enough for poor weather but still light enough to pack around the country. Close to the same weight as a light weight three man.

I also take in a sleeping pad, I prefer a mid thickness that is full length, it’s more weight but I have started to get excessivly stiff in the mornings after a night on the cold hard ground. The size of your sleeping bag will be a personal choice, there’s a lot of good ones out there choose carefully.

For packs I prefer an external frame, one of my hunting partners swears by an internal frame, my external frame I can remove the pack back at the truck and use the frame to haul meat without having to empty my pack prior to going back in for another load of meat. Once again there are a lot of good ones out there, so do your home work and choose carefully. Remember that you get what you pay for.

Dehydrated food for my/our meals, candy bars, jerky, or power bars for snacks, a jet boil stove, and a small mess kit, I always carry a small first aid kit, emergency fire starter, and an emergency bivy bag, a bar of soap with a rag and small backpacking towel, personal hygiene items. And as mentioned before a water filter or tablets for treatment of your water, filters take up more room and it takes a little practice to get it so your not sucking up the bottom of the water source, when its real shallow, but I prefer the filter over the tabs cause when your done with the filter you can drink, with the tabs you have a longer process before drinking.

For clothes I take a change of shirt, to pairs of shorts, one pair of long johns, and a five pairs of socks, a good rain suit, a mid weight jacket and a vest. If my time extends past five days I wash my socks and underwear.

I am usually pretty rough looking when I return.

Don’t forget a compass and a GPS, a fold out maps and the know how to use your compass and map together.

Add bow and arrows and game bags and you have it all.

Good luck and have fun

Troy

We plan on going for a week so I like the two man tent I like the fact that I can take gear in tent. Thanks for the suggestions. I am in good shape but I turned up my workout up a notch and started doing some mma workouts so it incorporates cardio and weight training.

[T Downing]

#53935

JMC, I thought I would toss my hat in the ring and offer some experienced opinions on elk hunting. I have been at it a long time, 30 years as a licensed hunter, seven years as a tag along…I have learned a virtual lifetime of knowledge when it comes to elk hunting. The above opinions of the previous gentleman are right on the money. Get in shape, quality gear, hydration, study elk habits, etc…If I could add a couple of suggestions. To piggy back others who have already mentioned this. It is crucial to get away from the crowds, the roads. Undisturbed elk are the criteria to any successful hunt in regards to your enjoyment and opportunities. Second, I cannot stress enough the importance of heavy arrows (650g+) and sharp broadheads! Elk are on a different level in regards to toughness. I know there are those who seem to do it with lighter set ups and the like but if something goes wrong, you want an arrow/broadhead set up that wrecks shop, does the elk justice and ultimately, brings the kill to a humane conclusion. Which, honestly, is of paramount importance. Study any and all information you find on elk habitat, elk biology, elk behavior. In my experience in elk bowhunting, there is only one true rule…Keep the wind in your favor. Don’t ever test elk and the wind, I promise you will lose every single time. Finally, having fun is so crucial to any hunt, especially an elk hunt that can be as difficult as any hunt in North America. Hunting hard is the key but having fun while doing so keeps everything in the proper perspective. Like Jay Massey said many years ago, “bowhunting is a leisure activity”. Oh, a couple of gear notes from a backpacking bowhunter…Go as light as you can. Check out Kelty’s Noah’s tarp, a great lightweight substitute for a tent. A lightweight down sleeping bag such as the Marmot Helium is a must. Quality optics are key for any western hunt… Wooden said it best, “failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” Wise words. T

[Greg Ragan]

#55992

I actually use an ultra-light hiker pack from G0-Lite. I use a 3 person kelty tent so I can sleep with my gear out of the weather. I do have a cabelas extrenal frame pack but that frame stays in the truck unless i need to pack out meat. I take the first load in the go-lite and return with the frame empty. I learned a lesson with going as light as possible.

Jmcdonald45 wrote: [quote=two4hooking]Don’t carry anything you don’t need. Go light and know your equipment and hopefully each peice has more than one use. Try to get used to sleeping without oxygen 😯

Have a blast…you will be hooked!

On the subject of gear what type of tent and pack would you all suggest. I was thinking a one man maybe two man bivy tent and thinking an internal frame pack. But read a lot of good things about external frames.

[doug krueger]

#57202

Hello, I would start looking at topo maps. I look for areas that are AT LEAST 1000ft of vertical above a road or a trail that bench out at the top. (steeper the better) I prefer to hunt at or around timberline and set up on elk that move from the open expanses above timberline to the timber for the day to bed. Elk feed on the willows above timberline at night and the big bulls like to keep their harem in the open so they can keep track of them. I like to ambush, they can be called in during the day while in the timber but you are rolling the dice, if you spook them they may not be around to ambush again in the morning. But like everyone else said get away from people, roads and to much artificial calling. 1000ft of vertical keeps a lot of people away. DK

[shotsome]

#58309

Whole lot of good tips here,,,But be prepared for lots of other hunters,,,and lots of other hunters,,nice little roads will be like the interstate. Try and come out in the summer to scout, The yeppies, and tourists will be pounding your huntin grounds, and the elk will be getting used to “Calfornia Camo” clothes. You might hit the BLM office that is the closest to what ever area you pick. A lot of people have moved into,Colorado, and have locked up roads that used to open to Nat. Forest access. Now they have the whole forest as their back yard. The people at the BLM offices have been a big help,in me getting around the fences, locked gates. Once in the back-o-beyond you are pretty much by yourself. Take you gps,,make sure of privite bounderys. In Colorado, it is your job to know where you are at. If you are on public land, stand your ground, if confronted,,,I have had anti-hunter types try and tell me I was on privite land. Report any such type harassment to the first offical you meet.

Grear,,,,Thick pad, closed cell foam. Air is cold to sleep on. At least 2 quarts of water a day,,It is getting dryer every year here,, and even more so at high elevations. A tent that is not,poly-coated inside, It will keep you wet at night, and you will expell the unused water in just breathing at night. You will wake up to dew inside the tent,,or frost rainging down on you if it turns cold. Use one with a rain fly instead, with plenty of air movement.

Pack frame, like an alaskan, one thing that I have started taking is a roll up poly snow sled,(wally-world,$3.99 ) you can pull more weight than pack it on your back,100 ft of 550 cord,, the elk will be dead it won’t care. Take lots of film.

Good luck,,Ernest

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