Colorado OTC Archery ?????

I'll reinforce what Elknut and bz said....

I see you are from PA also, so if you've ever rifle hunted here, you have experienced the most crowded hunting conditions possibly in the world. Even the most crowded Colorado archery conditions will be 50 times better. There is plenty of room to get away from people, you just have to be smart about it.

On my first elk hunt, we backpacked 3-5 miles into Colorado Wilderness area from a fairly busy trailhead. We saw 7 other hunters over the course of a week. Wasn't an awful hunt, we saw a lot of elk, had a couple good opportunities. We had muzzleoader hunters blow two setups on us, one of which I am still bitter about. Knowing what I know now, I would have had to stumbled into an elk on that trip, which I almost did. I must have spent 500 hours on the internet and watching videos preparing. But I made my mistakes and learned how to elk hunt pretty quickly. The backpacking experience was neat in the sense to have said that I've done it and know I am capable. I'm sure I will do it again some day. The downsides were that I, and even moreso my partner, were fairly new to backpacking, and completely new to elk hunting, so learning some things on the fly ate into our time and energy to hunt, and once you are 5 miles back and 4000 feet up, you are pretty committed to that general area for at least a couple days.

Next we hunted in Idaho, in the general part of the state Elknut hunts. We hunt there out of a basecamp (so much more comfortable) and regularly found elk within a 1/4 mile of the road (not designated wilderness) and have yet to see a single person in the woods in around 10 days hunting. Like Elknut, there were many hunters in the general area, but most were road and ATV hunters...we figured out how to use them to our advantage because we were getting into elk that they pushed into the steep nasty stuff. We were also much more mobile, due to the basecamp and truck. I know backpacking intuitively seems more mobile, but you have to know what you are doing, have damn lightweight gear, and have a location with a good amount of elky terrain within a reasonable radius to make it so. With a truck, we could draw a 25 mile radius, pick out ten spots on a map that looked elky, and get to most of them within a course of a week. Would have been impossible with a backpack style hunt.

The point in the contrast between the two hunting styles lies not within the state by state comparison, I know if I went back to Colorado I could kill an elk there, knowing what I know now. Rather, it reinforces what Elknut and BZ said...it's all about finding the right access points and figuring out where the other hunters go. Good public land elk spots are difficult and uncomfortable to get to, not purely way back in.
 
I've been scouting quite a bit here in Colorado and the areas I'm looking at seem to close enough to access, but steep and Nast enough to keep a ton of people out. I'm fully prepared to change locations or walk a bit farther to get away. The amount of folks that'll be out and about isn't going to change anytime soon, so you just have to have a plan to deal with it.
 
I personally think too many of us worry about where to go and what to use, how heavy the pack is, the mileage and elevation gain which starts to take away from what we are really out to do. Instead of enjoying and being grateful we can hunt, we turn it into a chore and "keeping up with Jones" sort of game.

Pick a spot and get after it, if it doesn't work out, go somewhere else. I understand that a week to ten days hunting is a big deal for some, but it's way better than being at work.
 
I personally think too many of us worry about where to go and what to use, how heavy the pack is, the mileage and elevation gain which starts to take away from what we are really out to do. Instead of enjoying and being grateful we can hunt, we turn it into a chore and "keeping up with Jones" sort of game.

Pick a spot and get after it, if it doesn't work out, go somewhere else. I understand that a week to ten days hunting is a big deal for some, but it's way better than being at work.

So much truth there! Learn from your mistakes, figure out your own style of elk slaying, and enjoy the mountains. No one deserves an elk their first trip anyway!
 
I personally think too many of us worry about where to go and what to use, how heavy the pack is, the mileage and elevation gain which starts to take away from what we are really out to do. Instead of enjoying and being grateful we can hunt, we turn it into a chore and "keeping up with Jones" sort of game.

Pick a spot and get after it, if it doesn't work out, go somewhere else. I understand that a week to ten days hunting is a big deal for some, but it's way better than being at work.

The jones' just got verde 2.0


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There is an area I have scouted and have found good elk sign last year. Its about 1 mile in up a steep trail and another 2 miles off the trail. This is going in from a busy trail head that has 3 main trails coming from it and the parking lot will most likely be full with outfitter and hunter rigs. My thought was to try a poke into here with a spike camp and then I can hunt a little deeper still. This spot looks good to me for a number of reasons.

I like that it has some nice saddles and a huge cliff area creates a funnel area threw some really good elk habitat that the elk would travel threw to private land. I see outfitter or large tents on google satellite images and those are all a 3 miles or more from where I will be hunting. One is right in a nice meadow (doh!). So my thought is if guys are running around chasing them they might be working them my way. Most of the hunting pressure looks to be towards the east and I will be off the trail a bit and westerly. We are planning on going in for a over night and if no sign then bail off to another spot. It just takes 4-5 hours to get into there so it burns up an after noon thats for sure.

Does this sound like something worth trying or should I just avoid the area since the main trail head will be full?? Or is it not bad to start from a trail head that is full if it is a way to access a huge area? with 3 main trails? Would you guys with more experience just avoid this area all together? Lots of lek sign in there last year and it has every thing, cow sign, rutting sign and wallows, good bedding and feeding and access to a large chunk of private land. Only a few more weeks!!! :)
 
There is an area I have scouted and have found good elk sign last year. Its about 1 mile in up a steep trail and another 2 miles off the trail. This is going in from a busy trail head that has 3 main trails coming from it and the parking lot will most likely be full with outfitter and hunter rigs. My thought was to try a poke into here with a spike camp and then I can hunt a little deeper still. This spot looks good to me for a number of reasons.

I like that it has some nice saddles and a huge cliff area creates a funnel area threw some really good elk habitat that the elk would travel threw to private land. I see outfitter or large tents on google satellite images and those are all a 3 miles or more from where I will be hunting. One is right in a nice meadow (doh!). So my thought is if guys are running around chasing them they might be working them my way. Most of the hunting pressure looks to be towards the east and I will be off the trail a bit and westerly. We are planning on going in for a over night and if no sign then bail off to another spot. It just takes 4-5 hours to get into there so it burns up an after noon thats for sure.

Does this sound like something worth trying or should I just avoid the area since the main trail head will be full?? Or is it not bad to start from a trail head that is full if it is a way to access a huge area? with 3 main trails? Would you guys with more experience just avoid this area all together? Lots of lek sign in there last year and it has every thing, cow sign, rutting sign and wallows, good bedding and feeding and access to a large chunk of private land. Only a few more weeks!!! :)

You could have your own honey hole, or ten other guys may be thinking the same thing. Only one way to find out for sure!
 
Bearshirt, sounds an awful lot like one of the spots I hunt. Scary close description, actually. :D
 
If there are that many hunters in the area, include a plan for hunting the boundary w private land. Be there stupid early and crazy late. If possible, pattern their movement and intercept. Good luck.
 
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