Colorado 12, 13, 23, 24

[Thet]

Long story short, two buddies and I (old military buddies) have been planning an OTC hunt this year. Now, a week before we were planning on meeting up to head out to the area, the buddy that was planning the hunt passed away in a car accident.

My other buddy and I have never been elk hunting, but we already have our tags for 12, 13, 23, 24 purchased and we will be going out on sort of a "remembrance" hunt. The only issue is... neither he nor I have been doing ANY scouting, as our other friend was the one with all of the knowledge and such. I've purchased OnX and GoHunt and my head is spinning. Not necessarily looking for handouts or anyone's go-to spots, but can anyone lend a hand?

I know our units are pretty heavily hunted, but they're also home to the most elk, or that's what our friend told us. He's had really good success in years past.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[11boo]

Just get up there early and get a camp spot. Good luck man.

 

[Sako76]

PM sent!

 

[JPeters218]

Find a spot a few miles from the trailhead and sit there until noon or so. You’ll see the local elk moving from first light until 8:30 or so. But you’ll see at least as many in that 10-10:30 range as it takes the day hunters some time to get up the hill. Theyll push the elk as they go. Let them do the hard work and just sit and wait for the elk to come to you.
Mid day you can still hunt the dark timber and finger ridges as that’s where they bed. You’ll bump more than you shoot, but that’s where you’ll find them mid day.

 

[GPool1842]

Hate to hear that, brother. That’s a shitty hand. I’ve never hunted those units. Make sure you download some offline maps on OnX before you head up there so you can move around if needed if you don’t have service. I am glad you are still going. Go and have fun and remember your buddy… find somewhere you can glass from. Do you have a camp spot picked?

 

[young7.3]

Sorry to hear man. Maybe you can contact onx and explain the situation and see if they can give you your friends login credentials.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Thet]

Hate to hear that, brother. That’s a shitty hand. I’ve never hunted those units. Make sure you download some offline maps on OnX before you head up there so you can move around if needed if you don’t have service. I am glad you are still going. Go and have fun and remember your buddy… find somewhere you can glass from. Do you have a camp spot picked?

Not yet. Sako PM'd me and I just got around to looking at it. I've been away all week for training. Hopefully he can help us out. Otherwise, we might just wing it.

I've been reading as much as possible and people are saying the elk are around 7500-9000 ft during 1st Rifle. I also heard a snow storm hit/is hitting/will hit. Wondering if this will force them further down.

Yes, I have OnX and GoHunt now. Sooo many options and gizmos. Makes my head spin.

 

[streetdoctor]

Expect a sea of orange coming in from the road and a handful of outfitters on horse back that go in deeper and a lot of spike camps setup. It's a hard area to hunt on foot unfortunately, it sure is beautiful though. Enjoy your time up there!

 

[Thet]

Find a spot a few miles from the trailhead and sit there until noon or so. You’ll see the local elk moving from first light until 8:30 or so. But you’ll see at least as many in that 10-10:30 range as it takes the day hunters some time to get up the hill. Theyll push the elk as they go. Let them do the hard work and just sit and wait for the elk to come to you.
Mid day you can still hunt the dark timber and finger ridges as that’s where they bed. You’ll bump more than you shoot, but that’s where you’ll find them mid day.

Should we be in place at first light on top of a ridge to glass and such?

And when you say "hunt the dark timber...", do you mean walk it and try and flush them as they're bedded? Or just spend time glossing and then try to stalk them?

 

[streetdoctor]

Should we be in place at first light on top of a ridge to glass and such?

And when you say "hunt the dark timber...", do you mean walk it and try and flush them as they're bedded? Or just spend time glossing and then try to stalk them?

There are not a lot of places to glass in the flat tops if you're not camping 7-8 miles in. If you try and "flush" elk they'll bump to the next unit.

 

[JPeters218]

Should we be in place at first light on top of a ridge to glass and such?

And when you say "hunt the dark timber...", do you mean walk it and try and flush them as they're bedded? Or just spend time glossing and then try to stalk them?

I’d be watching a travel route or clearing at first light all the way until about noon.

I mean walk it super slowly and glass it looking for bedded elk. It’s likely not going to be very high odds of success, but it only takes one. Finding an area with a bunch of little finger ridges can also work, slowly climb to the top and glass over to the next ridge.

We don’t do any glassing in the sense of find a high spot and find them. The only time we pull out the Binos Is doing what I’ve described. I’d say we kill 90% of our elk just sitting and waiting in the morning.

 

[Hoyt Ag]

Meeker resident here. We got about 6inches of snow today, I imagine above 8k by sleepy cat, pagoda and hay flats got much more than that. I havent seen LO7 all day from my porch. Are your tags for first rifle, I must have misread the OP?

 

[md126]

Interesting first post from the OP…..

 

[Thet]

Meeker resident here. We got about 6inches of snow today, I imagine above 8k by sleepy cat, pagoda and hay flats got much more than that. I havent seen LO7 all day from my porch. Are your tags for first rifle, I must have misread the OP?

2nd rifle. Sako got me set up with a good plan.

 

[Hoyt Ag]

2nd rifle. Sako got me set up with a good plan.

If you get in a bind locally let me know. Will help wher and when I can
Best of luck buddy

 

[Thet]

If you get in a bind locally let me know. Will help wher and when I can
Best of luck buddy

Where are you located? I'm currently scrambling to find chains for my truck. 35" tires seem to be almost impossible to find chains for. I guess if I need to, I'll redneck something up.

 

[Hoyt Ag]

Where are you located? I'm currently scrambling to find chains for my truck. 35" tires seem to be almost impossible to find chains for. I guess if I need to, I'll redneck something up.

I live in Meeker