Paonia Colorado

[cmills]

Hello
I am a fng and was hoping to get a little info on the Paonia area. Going there for 2nd rifle with my twin boys. Doing a drop camp on electric mountain. This is their first elk hunt. We live in Michigan. They are missing a week of school for the hunt. They have bull elk tags, bear tags and we were able to score one mule deer tag. I was told there are no atv’s on the trails we will hike so I hope there won’t be a slew of hunters.
I have hunted elk the last three years and shot 3 elk. Very fortunate. It was all up in near meeker. So many hunters on atv’s. My goal is to have an awesome time with my boys and really pray they get an opportunity. Thank you for any insight.

 

[Gerbdog]

Hey Cmills,
Generally frowned upon around here to post up the unit numbers. If possible i'd delete those from ... everywhere in your post, and maybe try to share your plan and a general idea of what your aiming to do? We could help with insight at that point but its gonna be tough to get someone to give you direct info on a unit, once its on here its available to the entire internet, and suddenly your hunting spot is packed with legendary hunters with go pros and flat brims... aint no competing with that.

Maybe someone will PM you but posting unit numbers isnt the way in the internet anymore

 

[Ucsdryder]

Not sure what help you want. You’re doing a drop camp so your location is set.

Good luck, hope you and your boys have a great time. I missed many weeks of school on hunting trips and I still cherish them all!

 

[LongWayAround]

A quick glance at a map shows an atv trail within a mile of the summit on the west side of that mountain. The horse trail is immediately south of the summit. The rest of the mountain in encircled by a road. I believe it is still an OTC unit.

You should have the whole place to yourself...

 

[cmills]

Thanks guys. Sorry about the unit numbers. Won’t happen again. Good point on location being set. My first drop camp. Figured be easier with my boys not having to find a place to setup camp and spend time and energy on that. Hope you are right about the place to ourselves. That was what I was after especially after seeing all the atv’s around meeker.
I will post some pics once we get out there. We head out on horses the 25th.
Thanks again!

 

[Dakota Dude]

Cmills,

Longwayaround was being sarcastic. He is saying that where you are likely going is pretty accessible despite being on horses. Electric mountain gets a lot of atv/vehicle traffic because of places like electric mountain lodge and it being an over-the-counter unit. All OTC units in CO see a lot of pressure, so don't be surprised when you see the orange army.

Good luck and I hope you and your twins get on them.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Hope you are right about the place to ourselves.

He was being FACETIOUS

 

[Ucsdryder]

Thanks guys. Sorry about the unit numbers. Won’t happen again. Good point on location being set. My first drop camp. Figured be easier with my boys not having to find a place to setup camp and spend time and energy on that. Hope you are right about the place to ourselves. That was what I was after especially after seeing all the atv’s around meeker.
I will post some pics once we get out there. We head out on horses the 25th.
Thanks again!

You will NOT have anything to yourself. Best you can do is look for escape routes. If your boys are comfortable being alone I’d split up. Take them to a spot, set them up, tell them to stay there until you come back, then you take another exit corridor not too far away. Then start blasting.

 

[cmills]

Got it. I didn’t pick up on his sarcasm. Funny guy. In my experience, based on where I’ve been the last handful of years, most of the ATV riders are fat guys that couldn’t hike a mile in the mountains so that’s where I was hoping we wouldn’t see a ton of pressure. Either way we will have a great experience together. Thanks again for the feedback. Good luck to all of you this year on your hunts.

 

[Gerbdog]

Got it. I didn’t pick up on his sarcasm. Funny guy. In my experience, based on where I’ve been the last handful of years, most of the ATV riders are fat guys that couldn’t hike a mile in the mountains so that’s where I was hoping we wouldn’t see a ton of pressure. Either way we will have a great experience together. Thanks again for the feedback. Good luck to all of you this year on your hunts.

Sounds like you got an idea of what to do .... get out and hike a bit ....

 

[big44a4]

Lot of people on horseback and mules in that area. As others have said find some escape routes that they will move on when moving away from the pressure.

 

[Phaseolus]

I dont live too far from there. Any legal 50” trails will have plenty of atv traffic. It’s part and parcel of hunting in an area with OTC licenses for 2nd and third seasons.