Colorado crowded vs other states crowded?

[cnelk]

Newest Elk Harvest Data - Comparison of Western States for 2019 Elk Hunt

I ranked the latest elk harvest data from the top seven western elk hunting states to compare the harvest data for the 2019 elk hunting season.

www.backcountrychronicles.com

Colorado has no effing idea how many elk are killed each year - only guessing at its best

 

[Marble]

I think there are too many variables to say one way or another.

If you want less crowds, choose an area that's steep and deep and a good distance to where people wont continually go in and hunt.

And leave the trail.

I've hunted CO and ID OTC. Both have the crowds everyone talks about.

 

[TexasCub]

Colorado has no effing idea how many elk are killed each year - only guessing at its best

^this^

A lot of guys fail to understand that most of the elk killed are not bulls but rather cows. And if you factor in the cow slaughters that take place in the late season it would be interesting as hell to know how many bulls are actually killed vs how many tags are sold!

There is no state as crowded as Colorado because there is no state that sells unlimited OTC tags like Colorado does, it’s that simple.

I sympathize for all the non-res hunters that spend so much time on hunting forums like this one and researching to the end of the internet, buying all kinds of high end gear and all the money and time coming here with dreams of youtube videos of elk bugling only to drive home empty handed. At least I live here so the shit show doesn’t cost me much!

 

[Coveyleader]

Colorado can be strange. I have two go to spots, one full of roads, easy access and full of camps but its a good spot and we kill a ton of elk in there yearly. Just a few miles away is my pack in area and we also kill a ton of elk in there, but it’s getting bad from a pressure stand point.

I’d rather truck to a spot and bump into someone vs hike 2-3 miles in and bump into people. I hate working hard just to run into people.

 

[longspeak74]

I hunted an OTC unit in CO this year. Saw tons of trucks parked along the road and had trucks/atvs zipping back and forth. In the week I was out there, I only ran into one other hunter and he was actually lost. CO gets hammered with hunters, but it is possible to get away from the crowds.

 

[squirrel]

^this^

A lot of guys fail to understand that most of the elk killed are not bulls but rather cows. And if you factor in the cow slaughters that take place in the late season it would be interesting as hell to know how many bulls are actually killed vs how many tags are sold!

There is no state as crowded as Colorado because there is no state that sells unlimited OTC tags like Colorado does, it’s that simple.

I sympathize for all the non-res hunters that spend so much time on hunting forums like this one and researching to the end of the internet, buying all kinds of high end gear and all the money and time coming here with dreams of youtube videos of elk bugling only to drive home empty handed. At least I live here so the shit show doesn’t cost me much!

If the stats for NR OTC bull elk public land unguided hunters was properly surveyed and reported don't you think the DOW would take a serious pay cut?? That pool of money IS their paycheck. And it is FREE money, they do nothing for that resource. Can't tell you how many times Ive listened to guys planning on "20% success" "One of us is sure to get one". They have no idea of the BS they have been fed, many never see a fresh track.

 

[Newtosavage]

I hunted an OTC unit in CO this year. Saw tons of trucks parked along the road and had trucks/atvs zipping back and forth. In the week I was out there, I only ran into one other hunter and he was actually lost. CO gets hammered with hunters, but it is possible to get away from the crowds.

This is my experience as well. After a few years, it's pretty easy to predict where all the hunters will be. The residents will all have wall tents set up in the same typical spots, two weeks before the season starts so they can "claim" their area. The NR's will roll in like a circus the day before the season starts, some coming in at midnight or later the night before, cranking up generators and rolling their UTV's and ATV's off the trailers.

But most of them will still hunt within 1/2 mile of a road or main trail of some kind.

Funny thing is, the elk don't seem to care that much. I've seen groups of elk feeding within sight of elk camps in the middle of the day while all the hunters were out. LOL. Lots of guys kill elk in CO within a half mile of major roads (don't tell cnelk I said that)

I've yet to run into another hunter that was more than 1/2 mi. off a main road or trail, who wasn't completely lost. And that's only happened twice. Once I redirected them, I never saw them again.

Don't get discouraged. Colorado has plenty of elk and they have to be somewhere.
There are plenty of places to hunt that other people don't think about.

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

If the stats for NR OTC bull elk public land unguided hunters was properly surveyed and reported don't you think the DOW would take a serious pay cut?? That pool of money IS their paycheck. And it is FREE money, they do nothing for that resource. Can't tell you how many times Ive listened to guys planning on "20% success" "One of us is sure to get one". They have no idea of the BS they have been fed, many never see a fresh track.

I am a nonresident that did his first Colorado archery elk hunt. I had never been to Colorado before this trip. Everything I have read is a 10% success and I realistically knew going in that I was looking at a very low probability of 1-2% to get one.

I worked my ass off reading everything on elk hunting and listening to podcasts As well as videos and picking up on what the terrain and tactics those who were successful did. Spent welll over 100 hours looking at google earth and based upon what I researched within 10 minutes of pulling into my campsite the Thursday before the archery opener I heard bugling elk on the next ridge. The next day my son and I scoured the area and had multiple elk respond to my calls before sunrise. We laid out a plan for the opener but altered where we were going to go because as we dropped into the drainage we had a bull bugle back farther down the drainage instead of up stream as we had heard the previous two days. Unfortunately following the sound we got cliffed out.

When we turned back we ran into a guy who was successful. It was funny because he got it exactly where I had the bulls respond the day before. As we talked he told me he had hunted this drainage for the last 10 opening weekends and had taken 3 bulls and two cows during that time. He told me that my son and I were the first people he had ever seen there even though we were less than 1/2 a mile from a major highway. It was a 900 foot drop in less than 1/3 of a mile with no trail and walking through a hillside of 4-6’ ferns. As we were talking I told him the 5 spots I had mapped out and planned on checking if this wasn’t good. He told me over the years he had killed elk in 4 of the five and if any out of towner deserved an elk it was us.

We had a cow come in to 80 yards on day three but the wind shifted as she was coming in to a water hole we were sitting at the time. Unfortunately my son woke up with altitude sickness the next morning and we had to cut our trip short by 5 days.

I am confident after this experience given enough time we could have been successful. I laugh at how you guys talk about pressure. Living in NJ you have no idea of pressure. I hunt almost exclusively public parks often with not more than 50 acres open to hunt . It’s not unusual to have 5-10 other guys within 1-200 yards of you. I have learned to use that pressure to have the deer come to me on escape routes and hunting the edges of the super thick bedding areas. I applied what I learned to our elk hunting and almost got it done on my first time in what turned out to be a long weekend.


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[MallardSX2]

Colorado is in the business of selling tags. People need to know that well in advance of arriving. If you hike in 5 miles you are still going to run into people. It isn't like it used to be. Thats a fact.

The unit I hunted last season had 4X the amount of people in it that was there 20 years ago.

 

[ColoradoSteve]

CO sells opportunity. It’s a place to go when you can’t draw a decent tag anywhere else.

^^^^^
This. That needs to change.

That said - start walking and you can get away from the crowds. It's more fun, too.

 

[Back Country Hunter 2]

^^^^^
This. That needs to change.

It likely won't. CPW likes $$$$.

 

[FLS]

1st trip out was in 99. Hunted unit 34 archery Labor Day week and only saw a handful of folks and was into elk every day. Saw one other hunter off trail. 20 years later there are just a helluva lot more people everywhere in CO.

 

[cnelk]

If the CPW moves forward in limiting more OTC units this year, thats just going to push more people into existing OTC units.

 

[Grant K]

Want to really learn how to hunt elk? Hunt elk in Colorado every year in the otc seasons - archery or rifle.
After awhile you savor each and every encounter.

I couldn't agree more, if you get elk dialed in a CO OTC situation everywhere else you go is going to feel easy...
that said, why not? there are plenty of elk to be found despite the CPW trying to exterminate them, get an education on the hardest elk and have a better time on any draw hunts you get later...

 

[ColoradoV]

Great to see the CPW has identified that there is a serious crowding issue in archery otc units in the SW. There is a proposal to limit elk tags for archery hunters in that part of the state. Looks like other units will follow.

This needs to happen and make sure to let the commissioners know you support the proposal! It will be discussed at the January meeting of the CPW.

 

[Coveyleader]

Great to see the CPW has identified that there is a serious crowding issue in archery otc units in the SW. There is a proposal to limit elk tags for archery hunters in that part of the state. Looks like other units will follow.

This needs to happen and make sure to let the commissioners know you support the proposal! It will be discussed at the January meeting of the CPW.

I'd like to see them cut bag on the rifle tags as well then. Archers in CO have been getting the shaft for many years now. Another example of this with this latest go around.

If they're going to keep messing with things, just get it over and make it all limited. Problem is they're addicted to that "dollla"

 

[cnelk]

They only reason the CPW is wanting to limit tags in the SW is because they suddenly found out the herd numbers are way down.

If the CPW would just implement a mandatory harvest reporting, they wouldnt have this 'knee jerk' reaction BullSh!t, as they would already know the elk herds arent at objectives.

 

[tdhanses]

They only reason the CPW is wanting to limit tags in the SW is because they suddenly found out the herd numbers are way down.

If the CPW would just implement a mandatory harvest reporting, they wouldnt have this 'knee jerk' reaction BullSh!t, as they would already know the elk herds arent at objectives.

People have only been telling them the herd numbers are below their est in the SW for 7 or so years that I know of, could have been longer.

They need to stop cow killing for awhile.

 

[Poser]

I absolutely agree that OTC archery in the SW units should be eliminated in favor of draw only and Bull/cow specific tags. Cow tags have been already reduced for rifle seasons as of 2018 and early rifle has been eliminated as well but I think eliminating OTC rifle tags for 3rd and 4th season as part of going OTC would be of great benefit to the herd health as well.

 

[TexasCub]

I'd like to see them cut bag on the rifle tags as well then. Archers in CO have been getting the shaft for many years now. Another example of this with this latest go around.

If they're going to keep messing with things, just get it over and make it all limited. Problem is they're addicted to that "dollla"

The thing is the single fastest growing group of hunters causing excess pressure is the Archery hunters! I’m not saying the rifle seasons aren’t a shit show too but the studies show that the archery hunters are the fastest growing group. IMO they have to stop selling unlimited OTC archery and rifle tags to non-res, as long as Colorado is allowing everyone from all 50 states to be able to hunt elk with no limit it’s going to be a shit show.