New Record! Colorado elk…

Other thing I’ll add, western state folks are experiencing what those of us in IL and IA experienced with whitetails in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Shows like the Drurys and Realtree made it impossible to have a decent place to hunt without paying huge lease fees. Even tiny 15-30 acre spots with 2 acres of trees and a Dutch running through it guys wanted $5000 a year for. Please.

Public land is public land, but it’s still realistic to get annoyed.


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ScreamingPotato said:
Cap the tags for sure, but they're capped so no need to raise the price for anyone. I don't think hunting should be a rich man's game.
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Anyone who wants to hunt bad enough can come up with a couple grand every other year for a decent out of state “vacation” elk hunt; frankly if you can’t do that you probably shouldn’t be spending your resources on out of state “vacation” type hunts. Raise the prices to a level that is still affordable, just maybe thin out the more casual crowd. Besides, if they’re cutting tags, that will cut revenue. Got to make it up somewhere or some folks at CPW will be out of a job.

Perhaps not the same thing for residents just trying to put some meat in the freezer from off the hill behind the house.
 
So so in our spot, elk killed, lots off missed opportunities a few bulls passed, a few encounters with people. OTC public….. it’s a head scratcher these days.
 
I understand the frustration. But also think hunter access is important as well. I could get behind much more OTC options for residents vs non-residents. But taking away OTC opportunities entirely is not the right solution.
 
It’s hard to wrap my head around guys going around asking random people if they’ve seen elk. Maybe it’s appropriate if you strike up an initial conversation, but I personally wouldn’t tell an entitled archery bro anything even if I had just seen elk and ignoring the fact that I almost always know where elk are in my local units when I’m out bear hunting or fishing I. Sept.

I helped a buddy opening weekend and I knew right where some elk were and what they were doing. We needed to use one of the most obvious and popular THs in the unit. I told my buddy to expect to see lots of hunters at 5am, but we would be breaking off the trail within 20 minutes. Oddly enough, we were the only people at the TH when we hiked in and the only ones when we got back. Very strange. Draw unit, but anyone can draw with zero points
 
ganngus said:
I reached the tipping point in 2018 hunting OTC 3rd season. They should let residents have OTC tags and make non-resident hunting opportunities draw only.
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Hell im a non resident and i could get on board with this ^^... Too many NR want to just run to a walmart when they get out there and buy a tag, instead of putting in a little effort and looking through draws and what is involved to get a tag with some significance
 
You can blame social media influencers and Onx maps all you want, but I blame it on this new infusion of fitness into the hunting game. A certain level of attrition is completely natural when it comes to hunter numbers; the old tap out and the young replace them. But all this next level research into nutrition, supplements, and exercise programs are keeping aged hunters in the woods at older ages than ever before. I read all of these posts like "I've been hunting the same spot since 1945, harvested 78 elk and there just seems to be more and more people in the woods every year. Where are they coming from!?" Hang it up, you're done! 😏
 
It sucks but I think it's time Colorado transitions to the model where residents can get OTC general tags every year and nonresidents get capped and thrown into the draw like the rest of the west.

My next statement will get some people fired up, just know I don't care about your opinion and I know this will never happen. I think until this pressure settles down (if it ever does) states in the lower 48 should have a combined database where you can only draw one nonresident tag per species per year. So say you live in Iowa you can only get a tag for one elk in one state such as Montana. I think it sucks when I see guys who have 3-4 different nonresident elk tags meanwhile someone else can't even draw one tag. You could live in Iowa and draw a Montana elk tag, Idaho deer, Wyoming pronghorn, etc but you cant get an opportunity elk or any other big game species in multiple states every year. Hunters being tied down to one state would cut a lot of pressure because I personally know guys who hunt 3-5 states every year. There isn't necessarily more hunters than there used to be, just hunters hunting more states and multiple weapons seasons.
 
Lots of great opinions here! This year has created a perfect storm for over crowding in the OTC units. I'm perfectly happy to hunt the limited rifle season for that exact reason. My brother and I are coming out again this year and at first he wanted to do OTC but I was able to talk him into the 1st rifle season - sounds like I made the right choice. I think a happy medium could be to make OTC start later - maybe even after the start of muzzleloader - so there is an opportunity for a more limited hunting experience.

I used to live in CO and it still makes me sad to see so much development. But to be honest, if someone told me the only way to hunt in CO was to live there, I'd pack up in a heartbeat. But I bet that'd be just as controversial!
 
Augie said:
It sucks but I think it's time Colorado transitions to the model where residents can get OTC general tags every year and nonresidents get capped and thrown into the draw like the rest of the west.

My next statement will get some people fired up, just know I don't care about your opinion and I know this will never happen. I think until this pressure settles down (if it ever does) states in the lower 48 should have a combined database where you can only draw one nonresident tag per species per year. So say you live in Iowa you can only get a tag for one elk in one state such as Montana. I think it sucks when I see guys who have 3-4 different nonresident elk tags meanwhile someone else can't even draw one tag. You could live in Iowa and draw a Montana elk tag, Idaho deer, Wyoming pronghorn, etc but you cant get an opportunity elk or any other big game species in multiple states every year. Hunters being tied down to one state would cut a lot of pressure because I personally know guys who hunt 3-5 states every year. There isn't necessarily more hunters than there used to be, just hunters hunting more states and multiple weapons seasons.
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What do you think the split is, % wise, of multi state NR tag holders vs one state one species NR tag holders that are hunting OTC?
 
I have had some great elk hunts in CO but OTC tags have outlived themselves. Colorado cant turn done all those NR fees that for the most part have little impact on the herd. Guys flood and area and push out all the elk onto private or areas not easily accessible. It will only get worse.
 
whaack said:
Other thing I’ll add, western state folks are experiencing what those of us in IL and IA experienced with whitetails in the late 90s and early 2000s.
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Absolutely not. The west has public land, and it will remain public. **** privatizing our shared resources.
 
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