Colorado 1st season

[wvbowman912]

Hey folks,

Maybe some of you that have past experiences to draw from can help me out with this.

A friend and I each have 1 elk point in Colorado. Life won't permit us to make it out for a hunt until next year. We've never hunted elk before but have spent plenty of time hunting deer in the hills of WV.

Looking at GoHunt, it seems that there are quite a few units that can be drawn second choice or with no points as a non resident for first rifle. With 1 point, a good bit more units had 100% draw odds last year. Moving up to 2 points only opens a few more units. After 2 points, very few units are ones that I would ever be willing to wait for.

I realize this is an extremely subjective question, but is getting points for elk in Colorado even worth it? Are units that require 1 or 2 points really any different than ones that can be drawn with 0 points or as a second choice? Maybe our best use of time and money would be to hunt second choice most years while picking up preference points and hunting slightly "better" units every few years.

Thoughts?

 

[ckleeves]

My .02, the 1 and 2 point first season hunts are usually pretty decent. If it’s taking at least a point its somewhat desirable.

The second choice (underapplied for) codes usually mean a couple of things. Either it’s a tough unit (access, private land, elk numbers) or the herd is over objective and they are issuing tags like crazy and it’s going to be you and 1200 of your best friends all crammed in that unit for 5 days.

I don’t think gathering points is a great idea in Colorado for elk, when I look thru odds for non res and points required it’s almost laughable. To get into the “good” units at this point in time your looking at a crazy amount of points, and what was once the “middle tier” is quickly becoming 10+ points to draw.

Pick a 1-2 point unit that you can draw consistently enough to learn well and start hunting it. Pick one that’s OTC so you can hunt it second or third season on the off years you don’t draw if you really want to learn it.






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[Jkr61]

 

[wvbowman912]

My .02, the 1 and 2 point first season hunts are usually pretty decent. If it’s taking at least a point its somewhat desirable.

The second choice (underapplied for) codes usually mean a couple of things. Either it’s a tough unit (access, private land, elk numbers) or the herd is over objective and they are issuing tags like crazy and it’s going to be you and 1200 of your best friends all crammed in that unit for 5 days.

I don’t think gathering points is a great idea in Colorado for elk, when I look thru odds for non res and points required it’s almost laughable. To get into the “good” units at this point in time your looking at a crazy amount of points, and what was once the “middle tier” is quickly becoming 10+ points to draw.

Pick a 1-2 point unit that you can draw consistently enough to learn well and start hunting it. Pick one that’s OTC so you can hunt it second or third season on the off years you don’t draw if you really want to learn it.






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That seems like a pretty reasonable plan. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[wind gypsy]

Gohunt odds are at best the odds from the previous season. In many cases it would be a mistake to think what it took to get a tag in 2018 or 2019 will be enough to get the same tag in 2021.

 

[wvbowman912]

Gohunt odds are at best the odds from the previous season. In many cases it would be a mistake to think what it took to get a tag in 2018 or 2019 will be enough to get the same tag in 2021.

I understand. I would check again next year and look at trends. If a unit consistently only takes 0-1 points to draw I feel like it would be a fairly safe assumption that it will again, barring any dramatic changes.

 

[Lytro]

Even if you have an 80% chance at drawing a particular tag with 1 point, but 100% chance of drawing that same tag with 2 points, that's a no brainer to me. Get the extra point this year for the $80 (or whatever the PP application cost is for NR) and give yourself the better odds of getting the tag you want next year.

 

[IrkedCitizen]

Chances are the Colorado 1st season tags that take 0pp first choice are OTC units. So they have had a lot of pressure from archery hunters. If they are OTC units then they have antler point restrictions of 4 points or better on one antler or 5" brow tines. It is not necessarily a bad things but something to consider.

True 100% draw units have had less archery pressure and do not have antler point restrictions. This makes them more desirable thus requiring more points typically.

Definitely buy the qualifying license and preference point. For the $9 extra I would buy a deer point because chances are you'll want to come try and get a mule deer at some point as well.

 

[Thomas11]

Getting a few pts in CO is prolly a good idea but once u reach the 4-6 pt area u really run out of options until u get way up in points and w creep u will never catch those units.