CO 1st Rifle

[RussDXT]

To not see elk in 55 is unbelievable. Wow.

I talked with one resident who was saying the winter produced a 70% kill off.

Idk.

 

[KHNC]

No way elk had a 70% kill off from winter. Deer possibly, but not elk. They survive. I know a guy that hunts 55 that i met back in the summer on the Mesa. Him and his buddys stacked the elk in 55, during archery.

 

[cnelk]

I think the overall state elk herd is A LOT lower than the CPW thinks it is

 

[MallardSX2]

Pfffffff.....you guys call that blowdown...lol

 

[MallardSX2]

I think the overall state elk herd is A LOT lower than the CPW thinks it is

They got to sell them tags Bro!

 

[Josh Wright]

The Gunnison basin did have a kill off this winter. A lot of elk and muley road kill as well.

 

[gbflyer]

I think the overall state elk herd is A LOT lower than the CPW thinks it is

I think you’re right. Also, where I grew up going on the W. Slope, it’s 5 months of various hunting seasons with a mix of ATV riders then and throughout most of the rest of the year. Also ranchers grazing down to where there’s nothing left but the cactus and rocks. Combine that with a big moon and dry conditions and you have a recipe for a camping trip/nature hike with rifle. Still beautiful country but seeing an elk is damned tough with all that.

 

[cnelk]

I just heard a 1st Season report from the North Park area - sounds like the wolves were spotted again. Rumor has it that one was even shot. Take it FWIW

 

[blueyceman]

GMU 65 - hunted a couple miles from the road, saw very little fresh sign, heard a couple far off shots the entire trip, came home a day early.

 

[durangobrad]

Had success opening morning. He bugled a couple times on his way in.

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[SeanDC]

Congrats Durango and MNcoolbeans. Looks like you guys are the lucky ones!

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[Btaylor]

I like the looks of that stuff. This is more like my typical blow down terrain that I find myself in all the time.......View attachment 127136

I was thinking the same thing lol

 

[Chiro22]

We were in GMU161 and saw a ton of fresh tracks and sh*t, didn't see a single elk. Lots of hunters and some really big camps...hard to get away from people. Heard a few shots and saw one camp hanging meat, but that was it. All in all we hiked almost 40 miles and dealt with all the downed trees just fine. It was gorgeous out there, just no meat for the freezer...I did see, what I believe to be, the worlds largest porcupine, trying to climb a tree.

 

[prm]

Shot a decent 5x5 opening day. He was at 11,400’ in a place where no other hunters were located. And I’ll never go back there! It was cold that morning too!

It was very dry. Only elk sign I saw was in high, north facing slopes. The thick stuff.

 

[ChrisAU]

Sitting in a hotel in Gunnison right now, gotta go back in tomorrow to finish packing out my last day of season kill from yesterday. 2nd ever elk hunt, 1st branch antlered bull I’ve ever seen (saw two spikes minutes before, before that I had never seen an elk). He was bugling his head off chasing cows. Story to come next week.

 

[jljmonky]

Just got back to IL... I actually called it on Monday but my buddies kept going. We were in 77 hunting the Weminuche. Talked to a few outfitters that knew of dead bulls but no one nearby had any luck. Ran into a guy at the hotel in Pagosa that had 2 or 3 down in his group but not sure what unit they were hunting since Pagosa splits several units... saw no relatively new sign....

Tuesday evening we were driving out after going up high in the truck and hiking in higher to sit for the evening and the local radio station has a hunt show during first season every night . We tuned in and the entire Pagosa area was so slow (hunting wise) they played best of interviews and nothing new. A whole lot of nestle kill and blow down in that area too.

Saw more moose than elk which is really weird. And Miley does everywhere, not one good Miley buck to be seen....

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[tbowers]

GMU 65 - hunted a couple miles from the road, saw very little fresh sign, heard a couple far off shots the entire trip, came home a day early.

We hunted 65 as well. Saw three cows from the road Monday AM but never saw one while hunting in 4.5 days. Heard three shots in five days. There was a lot of sign in spots but it was all a month old- we hunted from around 9k up to 11k. Its was crazy dry up top, but even where we tried lower where there was water there was old sign. We tried overlooked spots close to roads, tried way back into a few spots but best we did was heard one crash off when it winded us in the dark timber. We talked to probably 20 hunters over the five days and did not hear of one person seeing an elk...some of that may be them just not wanting to say but even if a few did that it was really rough. It was my first time out so I still enjoyed it but obviously hoped to at least have a shot opportunity given i had any cow or bull tag. Looking back at it now that I'm home, i dont know what i could do differently- we drove all over this unit - put a ton of miles on the truck and on our feet. There was a decent amount of hunting pressure but not bad and it did look like that after Monday most people bailed. Weather was beautiful everyday ...maybe too nice I suppose.

I did see some giant mulies, that was fun for a guy from WI

 

[5MilesBack]

He was bugling his head off chasing cows.

Congratulations. Ya, it's a whole different ballgame when they're still bugling during rifle season. Lots of BIG bulls get taken out in those times.

 

[mlgc20]

We were up in Unit 22 just a few miles west of Meeker. Did a mix of private and public land. We didn't see any elk. Had a ton of deer and turkeys within 20 yards. But, couldn't lay eyes on an elk. Pretty disappointing.

 

[Poser]

Killed a nice 6x5 on the evening of the opener in the nastiest of the nasty of the San Juans at 11,500 -saw or heard no other hunters the entire season. Days were warm, nights were cold. I will note that I had a full 5 consecutive weekends of scouting leading up to the season so I was at a significant advantage.