Archery newb. Colorado OTC adventures

[Loo.wii]

There’s a lot of hate for Colorado OTC, but I don’t think it’s warranted. Don’t let anyone tell you OTC is a waste. If you put in the work You will find animals.


Intro

I moved to Colorado earlier this year and couldn’t establish my NR status till after the draw, so I decided on OTC and left over tags for all my hunts.

That being said. I’ve been preparing for OTC archery since January. I’m a relatively new hunter < 2years but I have been able to invest in good gear.

I set out on my adventure the day before opener. I got up and over a mountain, as high as I could. Unfortunately I didn’t have the sense to carefully look at the satellite imagery
Otherwise I would have seen the 4+ feet of dead fall covering the entirety of my chosen hunt area. The main reason I was fixed on that area was because I saw a decent bull in that area during the summer.

Opening morning I meet my buddy on a glassing knob. Within 30 minutes we have a group of bulls spotted 4 miles away.

We decided to make a move in their direction but that idea fizzled out within 2 hours as we only made it .5 miles in that time frame. Fast forward 5 days after finding nothing but the most hellacious deadfall we decide to leave.
In total we traveled 30 miles by foot

The next time I got a chance to go out I decided to traverse 3000 vertical feet.
As soon as we got to the top of our chosen peak. We saw about 30 elk about 1 mile away.
we quickly cut the distance but ended up blowing the stalk at about 100yds

12 miles by foot

This last weekend, my final hunt of the month a friend and I decided to drop one vehicle off at one trailhead then drive to another. By making a trip from point A to B we were able to cover more ground and save time.
We got over a mountain and down into a drainage.
It sounded like something out of a YouTube video.
We locked onto a bull that would scream his head off at cow calls and location bugles.
This bull was less than 300 yds away but over a stream and in some thick timber.
It was like this bull was in a force field.
As soon as we crossed the stream and bugled or mewed he would go silent. And as soon as we crossed back over and called he would scream his head off. Any insight?
What would you do in this situation


After about 6 hours we were able to cross the stream. After a bit of cow calling the bull came in extremely quietly. As we were caught completely off guard neither of us were able to get a shot off but we had the bull, a 6x6, at less than 25 yards.

As this is is my first year doing archery and second year hunting, I would say I was very successful. with a bit more experience, i think i would have a dead bull.

My experiences have lead me to the conclusion that if you put in enough miles you will certainly see animals. thoughts ?

If I could do it again I would wait until the third or so week. And I would never let a peep come out of my mouth without my bow in my hand.

 

[sasquatch]

From some of your descriptions of areas accessed, make sure you understand the task of packing a bull out and how hard it is. If you have to do much elevation gain on the pack out it can be all out brutal.

I underestimated this on my first hunt but was unsuccessful. I killed on my second hunt and quickly realized if I was to kill on that first trip, in the area I went I’d have NEVER got the bull out before it spoiled.


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[Loo.wii]

From some of your descriptions of areas accessed, make sure you understand the task of packing a bull out and how hard it is. If you have to do much else ration gain on the pack out it can be all out brutal.

I underestimated this on my first hunt but was unsuccessful. I killed on my second hunt and quickly realized if I was to kill on that first trip, in the area I went I’d have NEVER got the bull out before it spoiled.


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Fortunately the areas I hunted later on were pretty much down hill on the way out

 

[___DAN___]

Sounds like you had a great trip and learned a lot. I think I would have been more aggressive, check the wind and moved in on the bulls location close as I could. I would have started a few cows calls sequence to get him to come check it out. If you happen to get a answer then cut him off with a challenge. I killed unit 81 sept 15th. Pulled a bull off his cows about 80yds across a meadow to me.

 

[Maverick1]

@cnelk - any insights to share with this fellow?

 

[Huntin_GI]

While I am glad you had a good trip, I would like to point out, for every story like yours there is somewhere around 100+- 30 that don't encounter a single elk. I say this putting on miles every season. Colorado OTC is an absolute shit show. No one is writting up the "I went to Colorado, spent thousands on travel and tags, hiked 50 miles and never saw an elk or heard a bugle" but that is the reality.

If we sell 35K OTC archery tags and less than 5% actually kill an elk, how many do you think had an encounter? 10%??? 15%???

 

[cnelk]

@cnelk - any insights to share with this fellow?

Nope

 

[Sherman]

Drop me the lat and long of the location of said bull and I will drop you my insights.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Nice work OP. I bet you're excited for next year!

 

[Jbehredt]

Dozens of miles and thousands of vertical feet and never let an arrow go. One silent elk in bow range. That’s exactly why we say OTC has run its course. Exciting for a first timer but not for what it used to be. Not anything for me to get excited about the other 11 months of the year.

 

[Bearsears]

Dozens of miles and thousands of vertical feet and never let an arrow go. One silent elk in bow range. That’s exactly why we say OTC has run its course. Exciting for a first timer but not for what it used to be. Not anything for me to get excited about the other 11 months of the year.

Well said.

 

[cnelk]

Dozens of miles and thousands of vertical feet and never let an arrow go. One silent elk in bow range. That’s exactly why we say OTC has run its course. Exciting for a first timer but not for what it used to be. Not anything for me to get excited about the other 11 months of the year.

BingEffinGo

 

[ckleeves]

Dozens of miles and thousands of vertical feet and never let an arrow go. One silent elk in bow range. That’s exactly why we say OTC has run its course. Exciting for a first timer but not for what it used to be. Not anything for me to get excited about the other 11 months of the year.

I think it’s hard for guys to understand who don’t have a couple years of archery elk under their belt how many encounters it can take to actually put an arrow thru a bull.

There are times when it’s almost to easy but most of the time the wind switches or he sees you draw or he comes on a string way to close and you have a 10’ staring match before he blows out of the country or a cow gets downwind and throws a fit or a calf playing runs right into you or it’s 20 yards but his vitals are completely covered or you can clearly see his antlers and eyeballs but the rest of him is behind a little ridge or when you do finally get into a good bugle fest it also calls in every hunter in the unit and 50% of them come in with the wind directly at their backs.

 

[Jbehredt]

I think it’s hard for guys to understand who don’t have a couple years of archery elk under their belt how many encounters it can take to actually put an arrow thru a bull.

There are times when it’s almost to easy but most of the time the wind switches or he sees you draw or he comes on a string way to close and you have a 10’ staring match before he blows out of the country or a cow gets downwind and throws a fit or a calf playing runs right into you or it’s 20 yards but his vitals are completely covered or you can clearly see his antlers and eyeballs but the rest of him is behind a little ridge or when you do finally get into a good bugle fest it also calls in every hunter in the unit and 50% of them come in with the wind directly at their backs.

In my experience it takes about 10 heart pumping encounters to get an arrow in a bull. On average. That’s with my wife as the shooter a good portion of the time.

 

[Loo.wii]

Drop me the lat and long of the location of said bull and I will drop you my insights.

lol im going back next year

 

[Loo.wii]

Dozens of miles and thousands of vertical feet and never let an arrow go. One silent elk in bow range. That’s exactly why we say OTC has run its course. Exciting for a first timer but not for what it used to be. Not anything for me to get excited about the other 11 months of the year.

There were multiple other bulls in that drainage.

 

[Loo.wii]

Sounds like you had a great trip and learned a lot. I think I would have been more aggressive, check the wind and moved in on the bulls location close as I could. I would have started a few cows calls sequence to get him to come check it out. If you happen to get a answer then cut him off with a challenge. I killed unit 81 sept 15th. Pulled a bull off his cows about 80yds across a meadow to me.

That bull in particular would not answer to aggressive bugles

 

[Jbehredt]

There were multiple other bulls in that drainage.

Perhaps. But we’re there not also multiple brand new bowhunters running around making elk noises? Ya see what we’re saying?

 

[KHNC]

yep, dont let anyone tell you Colorado OTC IS NOT a shit show! I have had lots of encounters with bulls in multiple states in September. Most of those bastards end up getting away without me even getting to draw the bow. They seem to manage to avoid arrows more often than not. Colorado is a no go for me. Regardless of how many miles I am or am not willing to put in.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I think the point trying to be made by members here is that while many new hunters are willing to pay the price of admission just to have any kind of elk encounter, Colorado hunters who have been at it long enough to witness the degradation of the experience don't feel the same way and want to see better changes being made.