How was Colorado 1st rifle?

[Ericbell]

Did anyone get out for the Colorado 1st rifle season? Curious as to the weather, hunter numbers this year and success rates! Don’t worry, I’m not looking for anyone to give up what unit they hunted, just looking for their review/thoughts on the season!

My group is headed out for the 2nd rifle season and we are pretty excited that it is later in the season this year with a 9 day break since 1st rifle!!

 

[prm]

Terrible. Didn’t draw my first or second choice.

 

[Ucsdryder]

It sucked. I think all the elk migrated to Wyoming. It was hot…full moon…tons of hunters…dusty…poison oak was terrible this year…no elk killed.

 

[justinspicher]

I saw as many goats as I saw elk. Covered alot of miles and climbed into four different basins. Only saw one other hunter and he was after goats. Weather was cold at night, even got snow once.

 

[landman650]

The full moon sucked but my buddy and I had 2 legal bulls within 70 yards on day 3. It snowed a lot and we weren’t prepared for it. Suffered through it, the wind and the cold. There were less than 6 gunshots we heard all week. As far as hunter numbers go, we didn’t see another hunter in the woods after day 2.

 

[landman650]

My biggest lesson learned is to pay a lot of attention to the lunar cycle when applying next year.

 

[Nick Muche]

Did anyone get out for the Colorado 1st rifle season? Curious as to the weather, hunter numbers this year and success rates! Don’t worry, I’m not looking for anyone to give up what unit they hunted, just looking for their review/thoughts on the season!

My group is headed out for the 2nd rifle season and we are pretty excited that it is later in the season this year with a 9 day break since 1st rifle!!

Why are you yelling?

 

[5MilesBack]

It sucked. I think all the elk migrated to Wyoming. It was hot…full moon…tons of hunters…dusty…poison oak was terrible this year…no elk killed.

Poison oak??? I've never seen poison oak anywhere in Colorado.

 

[Ericbell]

Dang, sounds like it was pretty rough hunting. Yea, the full moon tends to make hunting tough.

 

[cnelk]

^^^^ C'mon MIke... you just got your leg pulled and didnt know it

 

[5MilesBack]

He can pull all he wants, still haven't seen any poison oak......although oak brush is Satan in plant form.

 

[DangerRanger]

Drove 2k miles to have to catch a flight back home for a horribly sick wife and son. But I got my dad out there and he shot a nice 6x6. His word was cold, high winds, snowed the day before season and that turned to snow/hell mud.

 

[Tobe_B]

Was completely dependent on where you were at and how the pressure was. We had hunters in two different main drainages. One set was a 95% success rate and the other didn’t shoot a darn thing. Snow moved the ek down and then pressure pushed them in to concentrated areas.


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[Ericbell]

How much snow did you get? I was hoping for some snow for 2nd season but the forecast is calling for temps in the 40’s during the day and 20’s overnight. At least it will be a new moon so it will dark overnight.

I would love to catch a nice mule deer buck out n about!!

 

[Poser]

Snow, full moon, cold.
I suggest bringing extra whiskey, else you might feel some discomfort.

 

[LongWayAround]

Yea full moons and snow suck. I hate when the elk are out feeding at 3:00pm.

 

[Truthbetold]

Snow was pretty consistent, almost daily where I was. First spot was a total bust. 50 camps on the mountain and 1 elk killed that we heard of. Nobody saw anything moving during daylight. Several moved through 20 yards from our camp on Friday night with the Saturday opener.

Second spot was a little higher and we had some really nice people point us in the right direction. Didn't have enough time left to put together a great plan but we learned a new area and had one encounter. Others were pushing some bulls around but no shots.

Overall really floored by the hospitality and help given to two first timers from NC. Will be back on that mountain as early as next year and hope to return the favor to those guys in some way. Thanks to all of you Colorado hunters that treat outsiders like your own. It was a great experience.

Completely agree with above posts about lunar position but from what I understand that's pretty standard for R1.

 

[Marble]

For those who got frustrated with the lunar cycle, view it as a chance to kill them in the timber in their bed. They still will inhabit the same areas, still sleep in the same terrain and spots and still will travel the same corridors, but will come out later and go in earlier.

I've found it tougher during full moon cycles because they move less during daylight hours, until I started sneaking timber and killing them in their bed.

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[Truthbetold]

For those who got frustrated with the lunar cycle, view it as a chance to kill them in the timber in their bed. They still will inhabit the same areas, still sleep in the same terrain and spots and still will travel the same corridors, but will come out later and go in earlier.

I've found it tougher during full moon cycles because they move less during daylight hours, until I started sneaking timber and killing them in their bed.

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Sounds exactly like the guys I encountered from Arkansas. I will be helping that group if I go next year! They bumped several but said they needed more guys willing to get out and do it to be successful. Thanks for the input. I'm trying to learn on my feet here.

 

[Shooter28]

I just got back to NJ today. We had a group of 7 camped out in the Flat Tops. It snowed about 8” the day before which made it nice for tracking. Days were beautiful and the nights were chilly but not bad. It was my very 1st time to CO, let alone elk hunting.

Took my very first elk at 711 yards with my 6.5cm. I was shooting the 127g Barnes LRX rounds. I was up on a ridge line shooting down into a opening in the timber. She was standing broadside and I placed the crosshairs just off to the side of the front shoulder. The bullet actually hit a few inches higher, going thru the blackstrap area and severing the spine. The round dropped her in her tracks without taking a step. She fell awkwardly on fallen logs. While she was practically dead, she was still moving her head around so I chambered another round and put a final round thru her neck to finish her off.

Both shots penetrated both sides of the elk and continued into the ground. It was late afternoon and sunlight was disappearing quickly so I didn’t have time to dig around looking for the round. I’m impressed tho. Will definitely be using these LRX rounds for future hunts.

The rifle


Shooting lane ( the opening area in the timber)


The elk. She’s massive. 4 of us struggled getting her back to camp