PA public land pressure vs. CO public land pressure

[Trr15]

I spent the first 28 years of my life in PA and hunted for 16 of those years. Still hunt there every few years and hunt Colorado almost every year. Hunting pressure in CO is nowhere, and I mean nowhere, near what you experience on public land in PA.

 

[PA Hunter]

It is absolutely nothing like PA game lands.

 

[SoloWilderness]

I hunted Colorado unit 18 and 28 back in 2019 for muledeer (3rd rifle). It was also otc elk season. Admittedly we were camped in a camper off the roadway so we inherently were going to see more people. Well, let's just say that I never saw the amount of hunters I saw in Colorado back in Pennsylvania. It was something else!

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These units are nuts during the season, especially since the fire. Went there last year looking for a meat doe on a leftover B tag, had 26 trucks parked at my usual trailhead, there might have been 5 before the fires. Still got my doe, but I had to hike/ crawl/ climb 6 miles back through waist high blowdown to get past the orange dudes posted up every 200 yards along the creek. I would gather from the number of trucks I saw that day along the main road that there were probably several hundred (Probably 100+ trucks off one road) hunters in a stretch of land about 10 miles wide, and 5 miles deep. Won't be going back there anytime soon. Be surprised if any deer survived that onslaught.

 

[Gutshot007]

Think PA - bulletproof vest . Colorado- wow interesting 5 days and massive amount of wide open spaces looks "elkie". Didn't see one all week. Keep the chin up as you hump it up the mountains humming John Denver's Colorado rocky Mountain high !. It will be way better than work. Have fun and hunt hard

 

[APTOutdoors]

I grew up in PA, moved to Colorado a few years back and hunt deer in both states each year, and OTC rifle elk out here. Some areas are reminiscent of the 90's where at our PA deer camp people would be strung out on a ridgeline every couple hundred yards looking for a shot. Except in Colorado everyone thinks they can shoot 700 yards and has high power optics. Archery is a little different, and I can't speak to how the crowd treat each other because that's grouse season for me.

As countless others have said, get away from trailheads and established parking lots. Go as far as you're comfortable packing out a critter, and pressure will drop off. Just be aware that with things like OnX and GoHunt that everyone can see that "secret park" off the trail. At the end of the day, it's your hunt. Enjoy it and make the most of the experience. It's taken me 3 years to get anywhere near elk on an OTC tag in a unit I'm still trying to figure out with damn little mentorship. But each year I'm closer and closer to success.

 

[9.1]

I grew up in PA, moved to Colorado a few years back and hunt deer in both states each year, and OTC rifle elk out here. Some areas are reminiscent of the 90's where at our PA deer camp people would be strung out on a ridgeline every couple hundred yards looking for a shot.

You must have had a good spot to get a couple hundred yards between guys

 

[Ynothunt41]

I lived in PA all my life (I'm 49) and went to Colorado OTC 2nd rifle for the first time last year DIY. I did shoot a bull but I worked my tail off. The post before mine are spot on. I live by the saying that if you can kill game in PA you can kill game anywhere. You will have to work for it just like you do in PA. Go have fun and enjoy some of the most beautiful country you can see.

 

[squirrel]

Moved here from PA in 80's. Got a cow my first year with a bow on day #30something. Take more time off if you can the learning curve is precipitous. After that first girl the other 40-50 have been easier. It can be a zoo, if it is move, it's a big place and you know nuttin about any of it so a move is risk free to you. If you aren't in. the green gooey shit keep moving.

 

[bbassi]

If you know how to be successful on PA public I think you'll do fine in CO. Good luck and hunt hard.

 

[MallardSX2]

Lived in PA for 30 years.

Its laughable to compare the two actually.

Colorado doesn't hold a candle to the pressure of PA.
Colorado is a ghost town compared to PA.

 

[Zcmathews91]

PA and Montana are the worst.

 

[Farmingdale's Finest]

No comparison in Colorado to NJ. I hunt public lands in both and the NJ parks may have 30-40 other guys on 75 acres. I still manage most years to take a third of the reported deer each year because I am the first in, the last to leave and set up to use others pressure have the deer come past my stand. I hunt the escape routes and thus don't bait so once they are by me they have calmed down and don't realize something is up.

In 2019 my son and I hunted the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. Had never elk hunted before and didn't have a guide or outfitter to help. Within 15 minutes of getting there the Thursday before the archery opener we had 3 bulls bugling on the next ridge. On the opener we ran into a local who got a cow where we heard the bulls the first night we were there. Rather than going there we went downstream in the drainage following the bugle of an elk and got cliffed out. We turned around and decided to have some water and a snack and that when we met the guy who got the cow. His reaction was priceless when he said" Oh shit you aren't my friends! I replied no we aren't but congrats on the elk." We started talking and he said he had never seen anyone else in this drainage and he had hunted it for ten years and been successful in 5 of them. He asked about or other areas we had as back up and and he told me " If any out of towners deserve to get an elk this season it is you because I have killed elk in 4 of the 5 spots you told me." The original spot we met was 1000 ft vertical drop side hilling and bushwhacking to the bottom of a ridge that according to my onx maps was on 1/3 mile in a straight line! It took over and hour to get through the 4ft ferns and blow downs to the bottom and 2 1/2 back to the top. No one wanted to hunt this hell hole and put in the effort!

On day 2 we met 3 guys from Michigan at a trail head the local gave me as easier access to one of my back up spots. One of the guys had been coming for five years and this was the 3rd year for the other two and non had ever seen or heard an elk to that point. We came back the next morning and saw them again and as I was putting on my pack I threw out my back so we didn't hunt that morning and instead went into town and got some breakfast. I started to feel better about 9:30 and decided we were going to hunt the afternoon but went to a less aggressive spot because of what happened that morning. At noon we were sitting over a water hole and had a cow step into view at 80 yards. Unfortunately almost at that moment the wind shifted and blew from us to her and she ran back over the ridge. We saw two mulies that day including a huge one but no elk all that we had a license for at the time.

Unfortunately the next morning my son woke up with altitude sickness and after taking him off the mountain into town a little over 2000 feet lower and making him drink Gatorade and water 4 hour's later he wasn't feeling any better so I made the decision to cut our hunt 5 days short and we left that afternoon.

In just 3 days we met everyone of our goals except killing an elk. We had them bugling within 15 minutes of getting there, after dark and the next day I had up to 5 bulls call back to my bugling, we saw and elk and the guy who got the cow on opening morning proved I could plan and figure out where to go. I am confident that with enough time and a little luck we could have been successful. And we did this with seeing only a couple people in from what I have learned on this site is two of the most heavily units in Colorado!