First Colorado elk hunt!

[spittoon]

better get the check book out Im leaving on friday and ive spent over a grand getting ready

[Teufelhund]

Just got home last night. No one in our 5-person group took any animals. There were so many hunters out there, it was not uncommon to be sitting in the middle of nowhere, watching a watering hole and have someone walk by in front of you. I did see a bull and a cow, but they were about 600 yards out, so I just watched them through the scope for a minute. Lots of fresh sign everywhere we looked, but I guess they were just moving too much with all the hunters in the area. Too bad no one had a deer tag, we saw dozens of them.

I learned that elk hunting is not very different from deer hunting, which is something I did a lot growing up. I think I'll be better prepared and have some success next year. I really think I might like to try bow hunting too; don't know the first thing about it, but it sounds like fun.

We were in GMU 12 from Oct. 19-23. Beautiful country.

[tmjohnson]

I have been working at Gunnison this week and hunters up there are not having much luck. It is dry, cold and windy. Locals say the elk have come down to the low country looking for water and grass.
Blue Mesa lake looks like it is so low you could wade across it.

[hammer03]

I found the opposite, it was so warm they were staying way up in the high country. But it was still ~70 in the middle of the day, out west of Canon City.

Hoping to get back out this weekend though.

[brutal]

Hunted in the Gould/Waldon area - Gould, Bull, Custer, Johnny Moore, and Independence Mountains. Unit 6.

I saw zero Elk. One in our party had a young 7x7 in his sights at 30yd, safety off, but no Bull tag. They were taken in the areas we hunted, but all had a low harvest rate overall for this 2nd season. Outfitters and hunters on horseback had the best success. I saw 10 Moose, most up on the north end of Johnny Moore with 7 in 2 sightings sightings, 7 Deer, and a lot of Pronghorn also around Johnny Moore. We had morning/evening hunts where there were no shots heard in the area at all.

Lost a pair of gloves on Johnny Moore, scratched the shit outta my truck driving through sagebrush to get to the base of one steep mutha humper. Warm, dry, and windy up until Wed when it started dumping snow mid day. We finished the hunt with 1-2" on the ground at the start of the hike into Custer draw, 3-4" on the hike out. I told the crew nothing would be moving, but they insisted we go in anyway.

I'll post some pics when I get them sorted out.

[Zombie Steve]

I struck out in GMU 34. Other than hunters, the only thing I saw was a porcupine and some annoying grey bird that liked to chastise me from a tree warning everything in the woods that I was there.




Anyway, found a cool spot to watch the sunset for a few nights.

[brutal]

I struck out in GMU 34. Other than hunters, the only thing I saw was a porcupine and some annoying grey bird that liked to chastise me from a tree warning everything in the woods that I was there.




Anyway, found a cool spot to watch the sunset for a few nights.

Maybe Camp Robber aka Gray Jay? We had three tag along with us all the way in on one hike until they figured out we weren't going to feed them, but they weren't noisy. Speaking of birds, I forgot to mention the sighting of a small flock (4) of the rare Sage Grouse up on Johnny Moore Mountain.

[02ducky]

More pics guys. Please! My hunting buddy bailed on me this year and I need to live viciously.

[brutal]

[donsignalli]

Drink alot of water, take good care of your feet, take your time out in the field. Colorado has a way of draining you quickly at those high elevations