Flattops Colorado First Rifle

[dbaker]

hunted the flattops this year. 1st rifle. great country. started snowing the second day and quickly had 2 ft of snow up high. didn't hear much shooting even though the parking areas were packed. two days before the season opener we heard two shots at last light and the morning of the opener at 430 am we heard another shot. coyotes maybe? we seen 3 cows and 5 mule deer. anyone else hunt flattops first rifle this year and care to share your experience? was the weather "normal"? as normal can be. seems like a lot of snow.

 

[Bar]

I'd be suspicious of those shots. Did they sound like a small caliber? It's all that would be legal in big game seasons.

As for the weather? Pretty normal that time of the year in the mountains. Actually, any time of the year. I've seen it snow in July.

 

[krueger]

We hunted the northern flattops around 9000 ft. Only my second year up there but weather wise it seems like a normal year for that area and Colorado in general. Last year it dumped snow even more than this year during first season. We filled 4 out of 7 tags on opening morning. We should have filled two tags more but my hunting partners (both first time hunters) didn't have alot of experience to know when to take the shot. The area we were in sounded like a freaking war on opening morning though, I saw probably 30 cows and 4 legal bulls. We almost never see mule deer in this area.

 

[dbaker]

first 2 shots kind of sounded smalled like pistols but not really sure. i was wondering about how normal the weather was. that's good to know. i was on top sleeping in a mega tarp during the white out. i kept knocking the snow off the top. when the wind got bad the tarp would shrink down and then rapidly and violently expand. it was an adventure for sure. i kept thinking about how bad the road in was going to be. kruger, sounds like you guys did good in the northern part. that's awesome. we were parked by Budges by "the meadows". for us to not hear much shooting and you to hear a lot shows you how big that country is.

 

[bigeasygator]

I hunted the second season on a drop camp hunt. It was beautiful camping weather which meant it wasn't good for elk hunting! Still managed to punch three tags out of six hunters and had another guy miss a bull at about 150 yards. The outfit we went with had 8 camps and 40 total guys hunting and only managed to take five elk that season (three coming from our camp). Only had about a half inch of snow that dropped overnight and was gone by that afternoon. It was tough...but still an awesome hunt in beautiful country. We were packed in about 6 miles from the trailhead and didn't see any other hunters. Didn't see any mule deer where we were.

 

[5MilesBack]

was the weather "normal"? as normal can be. seems like a lot of snow.

In 2006 it snowed 3 feet the third week of September up there. So snow in October is very normal.

 

[Vids]

I've hunted the flat tops a number of times during 1st season, we typically have one snow storm that dumps at least a foot on us.

 

[dbaker]

thanks everyone. good to know

 

[Bonedalien]

In 2006 it snowed 3 feet the third week of September up there. So snow in October is very normal.

reading in the local paper about snowbound hunters on the flat tops getting helped out every year is so common,it should have its own place in the sports section right next to our local highschool football news.

 

[5MilesBack]

reading in the local paper about snowbound hunters on the flat tops getting helped out every year is so common,it should have its own place in the sports section right next to our local highschool football news.

I remember being up hunting west of you for first rifle during the 1984 Denver/Green Bay Snow Bowl game in Denver. We came to town to watch the game and ended up leaving early so we wouldn't get snowed in at town. Snowed four feet that night and they came through on snowmobiles to take people out. They came to our camp and we told them we were fine. They looked at us like we were crazy. We were 19 then, we were crazy........and loving every minute of it.

But we had three weeks of food, plenty of firewood cut and split, a running creek behind camp, and it was opening weekend of the first of three seasons. We were in Heaven.

 

[dbaker]

Nice!

 

[rayporter]

i remember shoveling for an hour to get the truck and trailer out in '84. but i had meat and was grinnin with every shovel full.

a guy a mile away had three horses die in that storm.

once we got out we drove straight through to eastern ohio with the storm right behind us.

 

[IaTrent]

Hi all, I am scheduled for my first Colorado Elk hunt in 2015. Can I ask, are you referring to the Flat Top Wilderness area? If so this is good info so us flat landers know what to expect, but also aware it can do just about anything that time of year.

 

[COLOelkman]

5Mile - I did similar as I backpacked a battery powered TV in as the D Tigers were in the World Series also. Every step I took I kept thinking, this is stupid, this is stupid! We watched the Broncos that nite in a wall tent at 11,000 ft and stuck it out too. I don't even remember if we got any elk that trip as the snowstorm was the highlight!

 

[GotMyTag]

Here is a picture of my nephews flat tops buck. shot in the second season.
Should have bought elk tags as we saw lots of elk.

 

[Bonedalien]

Hi all, I am scheduled for my first Colorado Elk hunt in 2015. Can I ask, are you referring to the Flat Top Wilderness area? If so this is good info so us flat landers know what to expect, but also aware it can do just about anything that time of year.

yes it is Trent

 

[5MilesBack]

I've always loved this pic from Davis Tent.........this was pretty much what it was like in 1984.

 

[dbaker]

 

[dbaker]

 

[dbaker]

Before the snow! Ha