Need Some Advice and Info for CO Elk and Maybe Muley Trip

[kswaterfowl]

Let me know when and where brother! Hell maybe even I’ll put you on some monster bulls in Co if that’s your thing, or some big ole mountain coyotes

I would let you in a heartbeat if I had more ground to deer hunt. I have thousands of acres to call coyotes, but most of that is leased for deer hunting.

 

[CHIEF CRNA]

Incorrect

I only hunt elk in Archery. Sorry, I forgot about the rifle guys. But for archery it is true.

 

[Indian Summer]

I think one of the most difficult things to deal with for a deer hunter is long periods between seeing any game. Deer hunters are used to at least seeing animals on a regular basis even if they are just does or small bucks. You at least know there are deer in the area and it’s just a matter of seeing the right one. When a new encounter is in an unfamiliar area and goes for two or three days without seeing or hearing a single animal, his mental game starts to breakdown. They start to wonder if there are even any elk anywhere near their location. That makes it hard to maintain a level of confidence.

 

[CMF]

Gohunt is going to be the easiest way to research the information you're looking for. You can easily find a list available units for your priority species, (lets say otc elk)then click thru those units, toggling between mule deer and elk tabs to see if the muley takes points or not. I do archery and like to have both tags in my pocket, but might be a little harder to do for rifle, I'm not sure though.

 

[texastea23]

Hello all. First of all I want to say thank you for any help that I get. And please read everything below just so you get what I'm looking for. I have looked at a bunch of older threads but with CO's rule changes for 2025 I figured it's probably easiest to start a new one.

So me and my dad have thrown around the idea of taking a trip to CO to rifle hunt some elk mainly and possibly throw mule deer in there as well. If we do this we are probably just gonna go OTC for rifle elk. I am in need of some clarification and figured you guys could probably explain it better to me vs trying to understand their rule book. I know there are only certain GMU's for otc elk. I get that. But how do I know what units are bull only, cow only, or either sex. Because I know you can buy those 3 different OTC licenses. Or is that like even a thing in CO? I'm from MN and that is how our DNR does deer zones. From the sounds of it an OTC rifle elk tag is valid in a ton of GMU's. I know you can't get OTC mule deer tags in CO. My next question would be what would be some good zones to look at where I can hunt OTC elk. And then apply for a mule deer tag in that zone. Our main focus would to get us both an elk but if we would get lucky and draw a muley tag it would just be an added bonus. Also you have to apply for a certain GMU when applying for a muley tag and then can only hunt muley's in that zone right?

I also want to clarify we wouldn't be out there trophy hunting. I'm 20 years old and this would be my first time hunting anything other than whitetail from a stand. I've dreamt of going elk hunting for as long as I can remember. My dad is 50 and has gone out west 1 time before in MT and shot a Muley and cow elk out there. But that was a very long time ago when you could just buy a combo tag and go. I would just want to be in a unit with good elk populations and some decent bulls so we'd have a chance to shoot a bull, but then can always shoot a cow for meat as well. Like if either of us shot a bull over 250 we would be so unbelievably happy.

So what are some units I should be taking a look at? Where I can chase elk mostly but if I draw a muley tag I can chase them as well. We would just be on public land so any unit that might see a little less presuure and where I would have a higher chance of drawing a muley tag would be great. Again thank you to anyone that responds and helps me in anyway. I have started doing some research but I just don't even know where to start. Thanks guys!!

I get where you’re coming from, and when I was totally new to this I jumped the gun and asked a question you could find in the hunting regs.
The other guys in this thread have pretty much driven this point home, but don’t ask for specific units. You already are using gohunt it looks like, that’ll help.

To actually help you here’s the best advice I can give you to help decide:
1. If you have questions about the regs call the wildlife department in that state. They’re paid to answer these questions, no matter how obvious they may be. They can also help you understand some units. They won’t give out honey holes, but they can tell you what pressure an area gets, or if a piece of the unit is pointless to go to at whatever time of year your there.
2. Go through the previous years harvest reports. They’re overwhelming but you can look at certain pieces of it (cow harvest, Hunter success, tag allocations, etc) to help determine what unit fits what you’re looking for.
3. If this is your first time, I’d look at opportunity, eye candy, and access as the three things to consider. Eye candy is least important, but if the elk hunting sucks where you’re at at least you can take in the scenery or go to a decent town to go into if you’re really down on your spirits.
4. You can apply for preference points only and build up a 2-3 so you can hunt in units with better odds of what you’re looking for. It may be good to just take a small vacation out there in the spring/summer to take some nice hikes and get a feel for what the country actually looks like.