CO 14, 15, 16 Archery advice

[D.Stewart31]

I’m from outta state and coming out for archery season. Is the blowdown everywhere in these units or typically worse on the western side of the mountains? We were out a few years ago and hunted East of Clark and The blowdown was terrible. Does anyone know how it looks in the general areas of rainbow lakes, north of rabbit ears, or Sarvis Creek? Any advice would be helpful. Those are a few of the areas we were looking at checking out. Thanks in advance.

 

[DmrbigEshotT]

Blowdown is horrendous. Might as well not go.


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[cnelk]

If you want blowdown, those are the places to go.

There was a fire in the Sarvis Cr area a couple years ago. Didnt burn enough

 

[kentuckybowman]

there is beetle kill blown down. there are elk so go and find them and kill one. don't let someone tell you the blow down is so bad it ain't worth going. there are areas you can navigate and hunt.

 

[11boo]

Blowdown like pick up sticks from hell. Plenty of elk. Go hunt them.

 

[luckydraw2014]

I would stay home, the Rockies are covered with them

 

[Ucsdryder]

Tons of blow down. Areas where you don’t touch the ground for 100 yards. There are elk, and moose, in there. Packing one through blowdown is a chore.

 

[D.Stewart31]

Thanks for the replies. I think I’m just seconds guessing because I’m not looking forward to battling the blowdown again. By Clark it was thick and took us about 6 hours to move a few miles. Attached is a pic of what we were dealing with.

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[HunterHawk]

It was crazy windy up there last year and a ton more people than there was last time you were there I'm sure because i have hunted that area the last 6 years. Last year on the road i hunted off of which was not that big there were 20+ vehicles and 15 or so camps. I also ran into 3 people 3 miles back in which had not happened before. Not trying to discourage you. Just want to let you know that area has been packed the last couple years. I still got on elk but it was crazy windy while i was up there and the elk did not want to play in that wind.

And yes still tons to crawl on.. its amazing how quiet you can be walking across all the logs for a 100 yards though gotta look on the bright side

 

[kentuckybowman]

good news is in 150 years all that blowdown will be rotted away.

 

[Billy Goat]

good news is in 150 years all that blowdown will be rotted away.

Hell global warming and fires with have them cleaned up in 10 years.

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

Thanks for the replies. I think I’m just seconds guessing because I’m not looking forward to battling the blowdown again. By Clark it was thick and took us about 6 hours to move a few miles. Attached is a pic of what we were dealing with.

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Yea looks familiar. This was near Steamboat last year. This was actually the trail. Couldn’t believe how much sign we saw but didn’t see any elk this day.

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[D.Stewart31]

Farmingdale, that pic was from 2017(our first time out), we went in the day before opening and walked up on two 5x5’s. Watched them at ~40 yards in a wallow for an hour. It took us 6 hours to get about 2 miles in because the blowdown was so bad. We, probably stupidly, left the area because it was hot and we didn’t think we could get an elk to a locker without losing meat. Never saw another elk in the other two areas we checked out.

I learned so much from that trip though and had a blast just being out there. Easily the best/hardest working vacation I have ever had with the ground we covered.

1. Stay where the elk are when you find them. Had we stuck it out a cold front came through and we would have been fine and stayed in the elk. Plus I’ve looked up how to deal with meat when it’s hot out.
2. I learned to pre-ice our coolers to buy us more time to get back to town. It took 1.5 hours to get to where we parked from Steamboat and about ripped the muffler off the truck on one road.
3. Despite being 32 then and in decent shape, I’m still a flat lander from Iowa so I’ve spent more time this year to get in better shape and will continue ramping up until the trip.
4. Don’t pack your fears and everything in for the entire trip the first time out. We backpack hunted and between food and gear for 9 days I think my pack was close to 70 lbs. This year I’m planning to take 3 days of food initially and much less crap I don’t need, my pack should be in the 35 lb range this time. If we’re in elk we’ll send a runner to the truck for more food.
5. Have several backup locations. We didn’t really plan for that and spent two days essentially figuring out what to do on the fly. This time we have multiple places e-scouted since we can’t get boots on the ground and can hopefully hop place to place if we’re not seeing good sign.
6. Don’t just look deep, those elk as the crow flies were about a mile from the truck despite us trying to follow a “trail” to get to them. Most of the parking spots we have picked this time have places that look decent anywhere from a half mile to 3 miles from the truck.

Thanks for all the replies, hopefully we can get into elk this year and be fortunate enough fill a tag or two. The three of us have bow hunted whitetails for 20 years and I look forward to the day that I completely exhaust myself packing an elk out whether it be this year or in the years to come.


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[IanCOLO]

Blowdown has only gotten worse in last couple of years in 14, every time I go out I think it’s worse. Not sure what 16 actually looks like on the ground. I want to hunt 15 sometime, but haven’t yet.


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[AG8]

I’ll second IanCOLO on this one. The blowdown rate in 14 has been skyrocketing for the past 5 years or so. Makes sense really. 14 was basically the epicenter for the whole pine beetle epidemic after the Routt Divide Blowdown (I’ll skip the politics on how this all could have been prevented then!). The tree kill rate peaked around 2010, and now all those standing dead trees are falling at an increasing rate with every fall and winter storm. I know the elk don’t mind but it sure is a real (all too often literal) pain in the butt for the rest of us!

 

[Cady Creek]

“Flatlander from Iowa” sounds like a pretty damn good thing to a whitetail hunter.

 

[D.Stewart31]

Cady, yeah it is, unfortunately I don’t really have time to trophy hunt so I usually hold my tag through rut just in case a big boy wanders by, then if nothing else, hammer a doe or two for freezer meat.


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[stykbow14]

Hunted 14 and 15 the last 5 years. Blowdowns are thick as stated above. More people than ever last year. Room to get around them if you get creative. I have a 15 archery mule deer tag. If I get one, I'll go for elk. Will be there all of September. First time solo as my boys can't make it this year.

 

[cnelk]

In case anyone is interested- There are 8 E/S Unit 15 archery deer tags on the leftover list - go on sale Tuesday

 

[Huntingbob]

Blowdown has only gotten worse in last couple of years in 14, every time I go out I think it’s worse. Not sure what 16 actually looks like on the ground. I want to hunt 15 sometime, but haven’t yet.


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Unit 15 is worse!