Colorado Elk 1st Rifle Unit 18 / 181

[bccowboy]

I actually can't since I am so new to the forum. If you could send me a message first I'd love to hear what you're seeing out there.

 

[halfmoonchub]

Same boat as bccowboy being a new account. Would love a message with some last minute info--I'll be first rifle 18 as well, was able to put just a couple days of good scouting in. Thanks!

 

[txtransplant]

Sorry, guys. I decided not to hunt the tag at all since I wasn’t able to do any scouting and my schedule wouldn’t have even allowed 2 full days of hunting. Good luck on your tag, and post the success pics!

 

[squirrel]

Sooo... I hope you didn't splurge on custom camo for this hunt! Locally here the "Kingsford pattern" is a top seller. According to sources @ the Mercantile.

 

[bccowboy]

Same boat as bccowboy being a new account. Would love a message with some last minute info--I'll be first rifle 18 as well, was able to put just a couple days of good scouting in. Thanks!

Hope it went alright for you buddy.

 

[FalFreak]

I used to hunt up Buffalo and Troublesome Creek back in 2008 to 2015 or so. A lot of heavy timber then. We would spot and stalk from lower BLM/sage. Tough hunting and a fair amount of pressure. Sit tight in the morning, use a good spotting scope, and try to work off of other hunters. But, I haven’t been in there since it burned.

 

[bccowboy]

I almost hunted up Buffalo this past weekend. Ended up around Slide Mountain and then Gravel Mountain. Ran into some muley doe w/fawns and a bull moose with two cows, but no fresh elk sign anywhere. Put in a lot of glass time and miles and couldn't turn anything up. Unfortunately my vehicle couldn't make it back as far as I wanted to go.

 

[Dgk30]

Did anyone have any luck here this past season? I am looking at applying for first rifle in 2022 for a couple reasons. I hear there are still decent elk numbers and while there are a lot of tags for the unit it sounds like most road hunt and if you get back there a couple miles it thins out on the hunters. Just looking for some insight to how things looked this past year. Wondering if its worth applying for on a first time elk hunt to get our feet wet.

 

[bccowboy]

Did anyone have any luck here this past season? I am looking at applying for first rifle in 2022 for a couple reasons. I hear there are still decent elk numbers and while there are a lot of tags for the unit it sounds like most road hunt and if you get back there a couple miles it thins out on the hunters. Just looking for some insight to how things looked this past year. Wondering if its worth applying for on a first time elk hunt to get our feet wet.

Saw a few people on Facebook with success but few and far between. Two of them just got lucky. Tough units to get more than a couple miles from a road just because there are sooo many roads but it can be done. The elk are still there and I hardly saw anyone in 18. Maybe one other hunter while I was there.

If you don’t want to apply just get the OTC tag and learn the units. But I know first rifle was a little strange as well this past season from what I heard. Could be worth scouting and returning the tag if you’re not seeing anything

 

[highcountrymuley]

i hunted 1st rifle and 3rd with no luck. people are everywhere in this area, not just road hunting. there are lots of roads and trails so you think you are way deep .... and here comes a group of three 80 year old dudes. i followed their tracks out 1/2 mile instead of the 2 miles i came in !
it is a tough hunt. there is a lot of pressure on the elk there. weather sucked this year but you never know what will happen.
I don't know where to tell someone to go on a first time elk hunt, there are elk in lots of units and i don't know how this one stacks up in terms of numbers of elk that exist there vs. hunting pressure vs. experience you are trying to have. i would look for a unit with less tags/pressure/hunters.

 

[Dgk30]

i hunted 1st rifle and 3rd with no luck. people are everywhere in this area, not just road hunting. there are lots of roads and trails so you think you are way deep .... and here comes a group of three 80 year old dudes. i followed their tracks out 1/2 mile instead of the 2 miles i came in !
it is a tough hunt. there is a lot of pressure on the elk there. weather sucked this year but you never know what will happen.
I don't know where to tell someone to go on a first time elk hunt, there are elk in lots of units and i don't know how this one stacks up in terms of numbers of elk that exist there vs. hunting pressure vs. experience you are trying to have. i would look for a unit with less tags/pressure/hunters.

Thanks for the insight. I have been making a list from Gohunt data based on units we can draw with 0 points along with the number of tags available. Hoping to find a couple units with low tag numbers where we can still draw and use that to make a decision. Kind of wish there was an option to apply and have Colorado just give me a unit and we get what we get haha stressing myself out over here trying to pick through the options. Roll of the dice either way I guess. every year and situation is different but the main goal is to get out somewhere to learn, and if we end up with a dead elk that would be a bonus.

 

[ssaffrin]

Applied for the muzzleloader tag for this upcoming Sept hunt in unit 18/181. Going with my brothers and dad (who hunted this area for years before the burn). I had heard that some areas of the unit might be closed to hunting due to the troublesome fire. Is that true? Or is just that certain roads are no longer passable? Just wondering how the unit will look two years after the burn. Thanks

 

[Jkr61]

Still look’s burned

 

[NickyD]

Applied for the muzzleloader tag for this upcoming Sept hunt in unit 18/181. Going with my brothers and dad (who hunted this area for years before the burn). I had heard that some areas of the unit might be closed to hunting due to the troublesome fire. Is that true? Or is just that certain roads are no longer passable? Just wondering how the unit will look two years after the burn. Thanks

This past hunting season some of the roads were closed. I don’t know if they plan to open them up this summer but I would call the local office to get that information

 

[Murph8868]

Applied for the muzzleloader tag for this upcoming Sept hunt in unit 18/181. Going with my brothers and dad (who hunted this area for years before the burn). I had heard that some areas of the unit might be closed to hunting due to the troublesome fire. Is that true? Or is just that certain roads are no longer passable? Just wondering how the unit will look two years after the burn. Thanks

I drew the same tag. I called the ranger station and talked to some lady. Sounds like most of the roads are going to be open but they said some of the smaller trail heads are still closed. Hoping to find some areas that weren't completely fried, this will be my first muzzleloader hunt.

 

[ToolMann]

We might be there to for muzzy. Messed up on my wife's application and put her in the wrong unit. So if I can get her tag switched through the leftover list I don't have much choice and I'll either try to grab a cow tag for myself or forgo me having a muzzy tag so she can hunt. I archery hunted there the year before the burn. Could have shot a nice bull except for the damn cow tag in my pocket. My buddy with the ES tag was a few hundred yards from me and never saw it. I plan to head up there next Friday to see how bad the moonscape is in the area I hunted previously. Should be interesting.

 

[dribeerfeht]

We hunted 1 1/2 days in 181 last year, mid October. Had to stop and go home due to family emergency. I plan on going back this year.

 

[tstith]

Have been in 18 in the last few weeks. There are significant areas of mud slides and wash out around 125. Definitely still closed areas (even to foot traffic) as well as downed trees across FS roads and trails that are open. Be careful in any place where water is running under the road, even with a culvert, there is a lot of wash out/erosion. It was so bad in one place walking on a FS road my foot went through the dirt to the top of a culvert about 10" below.