1st hunt, going to GMU 44

[PA 5-0]

So, some of us are dicks.

Affirmative!!!!!

Best of luck Newt. Ignore all this nonsense. Cover ground, keep your head in the game and you'll find your quarry. Nothing like hunting out West. Look forward to your kill pics!!

 

[Bar]

Affirmative!!!!!

Best of luck Newt. Ignore all this nonsense. Cover ground, keep your head in the game and you'll find your quarry. Nothing like hunting out West. Look forward to your kill pics!!

Now you're one of us.

 

[PA 5-0]

Now you're one of us.

touché...

 

[Elk Map Guy]

Hey guys. Thanks for the post about my maps. If you have any questions, please feel free to visit my website as posted above and submit a question through my contact page. Newt, don't worry about the negatives that others say on the forums. I have learned it is a hopeless cause to try to debate some that are stuck in a rut (no pun intended). Go out and hunt and have a good time.

Best of luck to all,
Mike

 

[Bar]

Hey guys. Thanks for the post about my maps. If you have any questions, please feel free to visit my website as posted above and submit a question through my contact page. Newt, don't worry about the negatives that others say on the forums. I have learned it is a hopeless cause to try to debate some that are stuck in a rut (no pun intended). Go out and hunt and have a good time.

Best of luck to all,
Mike

I may have busted his chops, but I did give the link to your maps, and tell him to have fun on the hunt. I always feel the need to have a new hunter do as much work as possible for their hunt. I feel they'll become a better hunter that way. If they have to ask where to hunt everytime they go to a new area they aren't learning. Your maps is all they should need, and I still have mixed feelings about it being too much. Even so, I still post the link to your site for new hunters.

 

[kpk]

This is a tough argument on both sides, Newt.

I'm also heading to CO for the first time this season and trying to find any info is hard to come by. I understand the "I'm not giving up my good spot, do the work yourself, boots on the ground" mentality. But, dropping 600 for a tag + gas + gear can be hard to swallow to go to a completely new area you've never been to hoping for the best. When you have to drive across several states to get there certainly makes it tough to get boots on the ground before season. We only have so much money and vacation time to burn....

I'm excited to go and make every effort I can into putting an elk down. If I don't kill, I hope to at least see some.

Good luck!

 

[kpk]

This is a tough argument on both sides, Newt.

I'm also heading to CO for the first time this season and trying to find any info is hard to come by. I understand the "I'm not giving up my good spot, do the work yourself, boots on the ground" mentality. But, dropping 600 for a tag + gas + gear can be hard to swallow to go to a completely new area you've never been to hoping for the best. When you have to drive across several states to get there certainly makes it tough to get boots on the ground before season. We only have so much money and vacation time to burn....

I'm excited to go and make every effort I can into putting an elk down. If I don't kill, I hope to at least see some.

Good luck!

 

[Bar]

Lets look at this from another angle. New NR hunters coming to Colorado for their first elk hunt want to start hunting the first day. That's where they fail. They wander around with no plan. You don't need to learn all of Colorado. You just need to learn a unit. I know that can still be a lot of area, but elk aren't everywhere. If you have 5 days to hunt. The first three days should be for scouting. Put in three 13 hours days, and you have 39 hours of scouting. Almost a full work week. If you've done your map homework at home before coming here you know what areas you want to scout. The link is this thread for maps will get you way ahead of those who don't have one. Scout all the areas on the map that are hot spots. Come up with a plan, and hunt them hard the last two days. It's not ideal, but if you're willing to put in the work you can be successful.

Do that, and you'll have a rewarding hunt that you can take pride in knowing you did it yourself. If you're going to have someone tell you where to hunt, show up and go there and kill an elk. You might as well hiring a guide, and let him find you the elk. Every year you come you'll learn more. You'll become a good hunter who can get it done on your own. Isn't that better than having someone help you?

Easy is not better.

 

[Elk Map Guy]

Bar, PM sent.

 

[PA 5-0]

Lets look at this from another angle. New NR hunters coming to Colorado for their first elk hunt want to start hunting the first day. That's where they fail. They wander around with no plan. You don't need to learn all of Colorado. You just need to learn a unit. I know that can still be a lot of area, but elk aren't everywhere. If you have 5 days to hunt. The first three days should be for scouting. Put in three 13 hours days, and you have 39 hours of scouting. Almost a full work week. If you've done your map homework at home before coming here you know what areas you want to scout. The link is this thread for maps will get you way ahead of those who don't have one. Scout all the areas on the map that are hot spots. Come up with a plan, and hunt them hard the last two days. It's not ideal, but if you're willing to put in the work you can be successful.

Do that, and you'll have a rewarding hunt that you can take pride in knowing you did it yourself. If you're going to have someone tell you where to hunt, show up and go there and kill an elk. You might as well hiring a guide, and let him find you the elk. Every year you come you'll learn more. You'll become a good hunter who can get it done on your own. Isn't that better than having someone help you?

Easy is not better.

BOOOOOOOM Bar. Great post with some great advice.

 

[MAT]

Lets look at this from another angle. New NR hunters coming to Colorado for their first elk hunt want to start hunting the first day. That's where they fail. They wander around with no plan.

Bingo. Even if I told you of any honey holes there no guarantee elk would be there this year, so this advice applies to everyone with no advanced scouting. The hardest part about OTC areas especially later in the season is finding elk. Once you do you are golden. However the most important thing is DO NOT BUMP elk. I know you have all these experts telling you to be aggressive. That’s great of you have other elk/areas (and time) to hunt. There are times to be aggressive and times to play it safe and wait for a better situation but always consider what options you have if/when you blow them out of the area. That’s one reason why most OTC areas suck, too many idiots out there chasing rather than hunting elk.

 

[Dos Perros]

Newt, if you're interested in a quid pro quo kinda deal, I can share some info via PM on 43 and 444.

 

[Bar]

Newt, if you're interested in a quid pro quo kinda deal, I can share some info via PM on 43 and 444.

Maybe you can sight in his gun too.

 

[Dos Perros]

Maybe you can sight in his gun too.

Seems impractical over the internet.

 

[Jordan guyer]

I deer hunted this unit last year for archery. Lots of hikers on the trail. Never did see a deer but lots of elk

 

[Newt]

Thanks for the input guys. Yea, sucks the thread got derailed, but I think that it is still salvageable.

Jordan, what area of the unit did you hunt that you did not see any deer? **Let me emphasize(for others sake) that I am not asking for specific spots, just general area. Like, Hardscrabble Mountain, or Red Table Mountain, or Western Half, or Eastern Half.....etc.**

I am curious because I have read, and heard a lot, that it is a trophy area for deer. I saw some VERY nice bucks, and countless doe's up on Hardscrabble, just off powerline road when I was there in June. I am sure they disappear into the woods come season though.

 

[Bar]

What I don't understand is you say you bought a map from Start My Hunt? Doesn't it have the hot spots in the unit? Why don't you hunt those?

I hate to bust your bubble, but just because someone has hunted an area, and saw no elk. Doesn't mean elk weren't there. Elk hunting has about a 20% success rate in Colorado. That's 80% of the hunters got nothing, and may have seen no elk. Trust me. The elk were there.

 

[Newt]

What I don't understand is you say you bought a map from Start My Hunt? Doesn't it have the hot spots in the unit? Why don't you hunt those?

I hate to bust your bubble, but just because someone has hunted an area, and saw no elk. Doesn't mean elk weren't there. Elk hunting has about a 20% success rate in Colorado. That's 80% of the hunters got nothing, and may have seen no elk. Trust me. The elk were there.

I generally will just ignore stuff like this. But maybe you are genuinely questioning and not trying to be abrasive. I choose to believe the positive.

I never said I will not hunt those areas that are on the map that I bought. I can almost guarantee that I will hunt those areas at some point. I simply am curious of others experience in the unit. Not sure why you are still having a hard time with this.

Not sure if you have ever worked a puzzle before, or played strategy games. Those types of activities are not straight forward. Sure, everyone has their own way of doing it, but there is not a right or wrong way. I am planning and researching for my hunt the way I want to, not the way you want to. You keep on saying that a person should put in the work. That's what I am doing. Just because the information I am receiving does not seem logical or relevant to you does not mean that its that way for me. How about you hunt your way, and let me hunt mine.

 

[Bar]

I'm trying to pass on 60 years of elk hunting to you. Don't base your hunting on what another hunter tells you on the internet. If someone tells you an area has no elk. All it means is they didn't see any elk. You don't seem to get that.

If an area has all it needs to support elk. Go hunt it, or at least scout it when you get here. Don't let anybody tell you there's no elk there. Find out for yourself. If all the hunters knew where all the elk were. The success rate wouldn't be 20%.

 

[Newt]

I'm trying to pass on 60 years of elk hunting to you. Don't base your hunting on what another hunter tells you on the internet. If someone tells you an area has no elk. All it means is they didn't see any elk. You don't seem to get that.

If an area has all it needs to support elk. Go hunt it, or at least scout it when you get here. Don't let anybody tell you there's no elk there. Find out for yourself. If all the hunters knew where all the elk were. The success rate wouldn't be 20%.

Oh, I get it. You sir, are the one that does not.