Colorado elk hunt

[Bdubwright23]

Going to Colorado this year if I don't get drawn for montanas general draw looking at 18 28 or 371 as possible units to hunt any info on these units would be greatly appreciated

 

[Back Country Hunter 2]

Archery or rifle?

 

[Bdubwright23]

Archery or rifle?

Gonna be and archery hunt Sept 7th thru the 13th

 

[Back Country Hunter 2]

Have you hunted elk before?

 

[Bdubwright23]

Never mostly hunt whitetail in Kentucky where I live I've always liked and backpacked so that's my plan to get in and stay in untill I get it done or eat my tag

 

[Back Country Hunter 2]

Check out this thread, might help you narrow it down.

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/picking-an-otc-co-unit.123926/#post-1169796

 

[Bdubwright23]

I'll check it out thx bud

 

[artyman1775]

I haven't been to those units but a buddy and I started hunting elk about three years ago in Colorado. And we both came from the Southeast hunting whitetails. Colorado Hunting Atlas has a ton of good information regarding elk in any unit. And the Elk Hunting University (https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/EHU.aspx) is a lot of help too for someone not used to hunting elk. OnX maps are great as well. GoHunt.com has good intel on different units. It's hard coming from far off to hunt there because you can't do a lot of scouting beforehand. E-scouting is a big deal. Randy Newberg can teach you all about that on his podcasts and YouTube page. It's a lot of money coming in from out of state and starting a different type of hunting. But, it's well worth it in the end. Go DIY and public land if you can. It's a lot more rewarding to me. But I'm not knocking the guided hunts either.

 

[Bdubwright23]

Lost my hunting lease this year for whitetail and been trying for anout ten years to get drawn for Kentucky elk season so I'm putting all my eggs in the Colorado basket I know in the end I'm just gonna have to pick a spot and do it thx for the advice

 

[backcountrymuzzy]

Out of curiosity, what draws you to those particular units? Lots of deadfall in those areas but there are animals in there too. If you have any questions about particular locations within those units feel free to ask, the 3 cover a pretty massive area.

 

[Bdubwright23]

@backcountrymuzzy not really sure what draw me to those units I'm not worried about blow down too much those 3 units look like they have less roads than some of the others I've researched I was kinda leaning towards 371 but

 

[backcountrymuzzy]

Having fewer roads in the unit can be a blessing and a curse as you'll see more cars congregated at each trailhead. Success rates are similar in all the units in that area so it kind of depends on what exactly you're looking for in a hunt. If you're looking for a backpack hunting adventure, 371 is a beautiful area. I only mention the blow down because some spots are so bad they are literally impassable. If you're looking on Google Earth hoping to hike a couple miles through a specific patch of dark timber, you may be in for a hell of a time. If you end up choosing one of those areas and narrow it down to a few potential hunting spots, shoot me a message and I will try to help out where I can.

 

[Bdubwright23]

Ok thx a lot bud yea I been on Google and u can for sure see the blow down in the units when I figure out a for sure spot I'll hit u up thx again

 

[Bdubwright23]

One spot in 371 that caught my eye was in the bottom portion coming in around heart lake I think do u know much about that area

 

[Fishforfun]

One spot in 371 that caught my eye was in the bottom portion coming in around heart lake I think do u know much about that area

I don’t know where heart lake is but I’ve hunted the unit NW of Silverthorne. It’s about an hour from Denver and the pressure in the unit is heavy. You will see about 10:1 hikers from Denver to hunters but you will also see hunters. If you haven’t experienced blowdown in person I promise it’s exhausting. We hiked about 12 miles a day and setup camp in a new spot each night. Never really got into the elk.

 

[Bdubwright23]

Yeah I'm sure climbing over all them trees is exhausting

 

[jmez]

It is also dangerous. You have to be extremely careful. Any rain, snow or frost and it is downright treacherous.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

 

[backcountrymuzzy]

Bdub- you may want to double check that potential area.. I am 90% sure there is no Heart lake in the Gore Range.

At one trailhead in that unit I ran into a couple archery hunters and one of them the previous year had slipped going over deadfall and a broken branch impaled his thigh a couple inches. Having that happen while out there alone could be game over for the long run

 

[Fishforfun]

Bdub- you may want to double check that potential area.. I am 90% sure there is no Heart lake in the Gore Range.

At one trailhead in that unit I ran into a couple archery hunters and one of them the previous year had slipped going over deadfall and a broken branch impaled his thigh a couple inches. Having that happen while out there alone could be game over for the long run

I was thinking the same thing. We hunted the unit north of rock creek and I studied the entire unit extensively and never heard of heart lake. It’s a big enough unit that I just thought I missed it.

The deadfall is no joke. When you have 2’ wide trees that have fallen one on top of another 4 at a time it’s more than exhausting. I just couldn’t come up with the right word. Multiple times coming down the back side of some I lost my footing into a hole and cut my shin on branches. Still have scars from it. This was after hiking miles on the gore range trail to get to specific drainages or basins to have to hike a mile or 2 to find a place to camp in the deadfall.

There are obviously animals in the area because there was a lot of sign, just no animals to be found.

 

[hobbes]

Maybe there is one in that range, but I know there is a Heart Lake in 34 north if Glenwood Springs that can be accessed from Dotsero. However, that's another hour west of 371on I70.