Possible First Elk Hunt, Looking For Advice

[RandomShuffler]

Myself and my Dad have been invited by some friend to try and draw tags with them for a public land unit in Colorado this year in hopes of going Elk hunting in the first week of the season. We would be primarily looking to bow hunt, but have zero experience on this type of hunting. If your were to recommend some resources that are truly useful to guys who have spent their whole lives hunting whitetail deer in South Alabama from ladder stands, climbers, and blinds, what would they be? I'm open to articles, videos, or just advice, please feel free to post below! For the record, I understand we may not pull a tag, but if so, thats one more year to prepare!

 

[MTtrout]

If you guys don’t like to hike a lot then start to like it. The biggest thing between elk and deer is that you don’t have to be as stealthy. You can get away with a lot more with elk but playing the wind is the same.

 

[johnbow]

Why go the first week? I would want to go when they are rutting

 

[Ecampbell25]

Buy a good pack good optics and good boots! Then start training. The further you can go in the mountains the better your odds are going to be at pursuing your game.

I would look at onx maps and try and find north facing timber if it’s going to be the first week of archery season.

Elk should be up high in timber and come out to feed in the late afternoons.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Myself and my Dad have been invited by some friend to try and draw tags with them for a public land unit in Colorado this year in hopes of going Elk hunting in the first week of the season. We would be primarily looking to bow hunt, but have zero experience on this type of hunting. If your were to recommend some resources that are truly useful to guys who have spent their whole lives hunting whitetail deer in South Alabama from ladder stands, climbers, and blinds, what would they be? I'm open to articles, videos, or just advice, please feel free to post below! For the record, I understand we may not pull a tag, but if so, thats one more year to prepare!

Advice: Skip the above, save your pennies and go on a guided elk hunt with just you and your Dad. Then if it's something you love, go back on your own and use what you learned as a foundation to learn on. Many of the guys on this website live out west and for them, DIY makes alot more sense (especially the younger ones), but if what you said in your original post was true, and your friends are not BOAL elk slayers, you probably have a 99% chance of just going on a camping trip to CO and getting humbled physically and mentally. If you are good with that, then carry on and good luck. There are lots of youtube videos to help give you an idea of what you are getting into. But watching all the videos in the world won't substitute for time in the mountains.

If you want to check out guided hunts, call Epic Outdoors, Rolling Bones, Global Hunting Resources, or Huntinfool, and give them your budget. They can give you some referrals

 

[Phaseolus]

Why go the first week? I would want to go when they are rutting

Because the rut has been happening later in Colorado these days, they really didn’t get after it until archery was over this year.

 

[rayporter]

i have taken friends several times. a comment i often heard was "you said it would be hard, but you never said it would be this hard"

dont go overboard on gear-----just go hunting and if you like it then you will know what to get.

 

[ArcherAnthony]

Ive been in your shoes before. Ive spent my whole life hunting in Pennsylvania and Texas where not much demand for being in good shape for hunting. Besides dragging out your deer it's not that tough.
Well Colorado is not like that at all. I did a DYI archery elk hunt and drew a mule deer tag at the same time. The unit I hunted was OTC for Elk so I already knew seeing an elk would be tough and getting a shot at one would be even tougher.
Preparation: I used forums to help me get ready. I didn't use this one because I didn't know about it but I can tell there are a lot of knowledgable people on here. I did spend a lot of time on Eastmans Hunting Forum there are a lot of very helpful people on there and even state specific hunting threads. ONX I highly recommend getting ONX and studying the unit/units that your tag will be for. I spent countless hours every week on this program. My wife thought I was crazy just looking at a map zooming in and zooming out. I started looking 4 miles in. If you want to be successful in most units you have to be willing to go deeper and higher than the average hunter. I also looked for outfitter camps and other tents that were setup on the maps. I don't know if it always works that way but it worked out for me because the last map update was during hunting season. So I knew if I saw a big outfitter tent that I wouldn't go to close to that area due to the abundance of hunters right there. Like the others said north facing is good that time of year because it is still hot and the animals are up high.
Physical: Get your pack early and I mean like yesterday. Take to a place like REI and have them fit it to you. There's not much elevation where I live in TX but that's ok. My wife and I would take walks in the evenings and I would put a 25lb bag of lead shot in my pack and walk around the neighborhood and just stuff it the rest of the way with jackets. You have to get your body used to carrying weight and for long periods of time. We would also go on the weekends to trails around us that had some elevation and I would dress in my boots and put my pack on same thing weighted down. You have to break in this equipment and make sure it's comfortable for you. The last thing you want is to get 1 mile out on the trail and figure out your pack is rubbing your hips or armpit areas raw or your boots are giving you blisters. Also if you have a gym membership start doing the stair master everyday.
Bow. Start shooting your bow a lot. Go shoot 3d tournaments in your area and start getting comfortable out to 80 yards. Im not saying you have to shoot that far but im saying get your confidence to an all time high. If you see an Elk it might be the only one you see and you don't want your confidence to hold you back from taking that shot.
Feel free to reach out with any other questions. Im not an expert in this field everything I said is from personal experience. I asked for advice just like you and I listened. When I got to the trailhead I had no fears because I had been preparing for that moment for 9 months. I never did shoot a deer or elk but I did have a 4x4 Mule deer buck at 100 yards 2 nights in a row just could never get that extra 30 yards I wanted to take a ethical shot. I also had a cow at about 150 yards but got way too excited and blew my opportunity. I considered it a successful hunt for me because it was my 1st time and DIY. I had opportunities I just couldn't close the deal.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Learn how to interpret Colorado's draw reports. Those reports will tell you if you have a legitimate chance of drawing the tag you're applying for this year and will help you plan out application strategies for future years.

Respect the altitude. I've seen very fit guys that live at low altitude get very humbled by the effects of high altitude. Plan some acclimatization time into your schedule if possible, stay hydrated, supplement with electrolytes, consider getting a prescription for acetazolamide.

 

[Overdrive]

Because the rut has been happening later in Colorado these days, they really didn’t get after it until archery was over this year.

Man you're not kidding, I heard more Elk bugling in one day early October than I heard all of September. Carried right on thru 1st rifle season.

 

[Overdrive]

Why go the first week? I would want to go when they are rutting

I've taken more Elk the first 7 days of archery than later that's for sure. Much easier to hunt Bulls before they get cow's

 

[cnelk]

^^^ Bingo

 

[Jaquomo]

Some good advice on here, but also some not-so-good. For instance, I'm 69 so I don't go way back in. That's for the young guys who want elk bowhunting to be an endurance sport.

Last season I called in seven bulls during the first week in a heavily hunted unit, passed up two slam dunk shots, had the biggest (nice 5x6) screaming at me from 8 yards with no ethical shot opportunity. All within 1/2 mile of roads, not "up high" and not on north facing slopes. I simply hunted good habitat where other guys were walking or driving past. Most of this is learned on the fly, day-to-day, based on where other guys are hunting, and where I expect elk to be based on pressure.

Elk live where they aren't being bothered. That can be at 5000 feet or 13,000. It can be deep into wilderness or 200 yards from a busy county road, like where I killed my last bull. Warm weather doesn't dictate where they will be. I live at 8600' and when the season starts there are tons of elk below my place, all the way down past the foothills. I have a photo of a herd of 100 out in the sagebrush during midday when it was 98 degrees. There are high elk, low elk, and in-between elk. Remember, they used to be plains animals.

FWIW, a guided hunt will greatly improve your chances of success, but won't teach you squat about how to hunt public land the next time you go. If I were you I would pick an area, study maps to figure out options, hunt from a truck camp and be extremely mobile, move camp every couple days if needed. Many miles if needed.

Understand that you may get only one opportunity, so always be ready. Listen and watch more than you call. Talk to guys in other camps. It's amazing how much people will share with total strangers about where they are seeing elk. Accept that much of what you are told is a flat out lie, but you can still learn from that. Most people are pretty bad liars.

Put on as many boot miles as you can, knowing that where elk aren't one day doesn't mean they won't be there the next. If you find elk too far in to day hunt comfortably, THEN put on your backpack and spike camp closer to them. Hunt them carefully because there is no such thing as "bumping" elk like you can with whitetails. Know that they can smell you up to 300 yards away, and if you have swirling wind during midday, as with much of CO and WY, you will scare more elk than not if you ignore what the wind tells you. Learn what thermals do throughout the day, and pay attention. It's far better to hunt elk than to hunt FOR elk.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[cnelk]

The OP wanted some advice, here’s some advice.

Since you’ll be hunting Colorado, good chance you’ll be in a 4 Pt antler restriction.
That means 4 points on one side or a 5” brow tine.

So many times I’ve heard guys say they didn’t shoot a bull because they couldn’t count 4 points.

I’ll ask them if it had a 5” brow tine and they’ll say “Yes”

Well…. Guess what. They effed up.

So much easier to determine a legal bull just based on ONE 5” brow tine than try to count antler points

 

[HoytHntr4]

Legs & Lungs

 

[Phaseolus]

I've taken more Elk the first 7 days of archery than later that's for sure. Much easier to hunt Bulls before they get cow's

I agree, I won’t miss the first week

 

[MTtrout]

Agreed. Bulls still grouped together pre rut walking through the woods thrashing trees and eating everything they see is always a good time to be in the woods

 

[Indian Summer]

Don’t hunt too early in the season.

Forget everything you know about deer hunting, blinds, climbers, and ladder stands.

 

[Ross]

Be able to get up each day well before sun up, and hunt till dark. Burn many sets of batteries for that head lamp and only see camp in the dark. Be positive throughout, knowing most of the time will be boring Enjoy the suck knowing it can happen at any time. Yes the better shape you are in, the less it will suck. Good luck

 

[ccoffey]

Best advice I can give is to use this forum to find some good people that’ll give you a little bit of a steer in the right direction as far as location. Second best is don’t complicate your first hunt by having to deal with logistics of packing in somewhere. Third best, invest in good footwear because you can’t hunt all day if your feet are destroyed.