Ross and Adam: First CO Elk Hunt Planning Thread

[Felix40]

One thing that I have screwed up in the past is overcommitting to an area. We would pack in for 8 hrs with 10 days worth of food in our packs and basically put all our eggs in one basket. We are thinking more and more that 4 days worth of food is more than enough and then if we find elk we can pack more in.
Looking forward to seeing how it goes for you.

 

[Dos Perros]

Did you guys happen to hear any gobbling this weekend? I had been wanting to try the forest this year if I can get away for a weekend.

 

[Redmech]

Did you guys happen to hear any gobbling this weekend? I had been wanting to try the forest this year if I can get away for a weekend.

Yes, a bunch, I was disappointed that I didn't bring any calls. Toms are a talking.

 

[Redmech]

This is a fun thread to follow, kinda makes me feel like my first time again.

How did you fair with that pad?

Thanks so much, I think your question was to Adam. I hiked in with my pad unrolled in my pack. That took up way to much room, when I hiked out I had it strapped to the outside, gave me much more room than I first anticipated it would.

Favorite thread.

Looks like you guys had a good weekend. Keep the updates coming.

Thanks so much. That is very nice of you to say.

One thing that I have screwed up in the past is overcommitting to an area. We would pack in for 8 hrs with 10 days worth of food in our packs and basically put all our eggs in one basket. We are thinking more and more that 4 days worth of food is more than enough and then if we find elk we can pack more in.
Looking forward to seeing how it goes for you.

Over commiting like you mention is one of our fears, stick around to find the elk, but if they aren't there, we need to try another area for sure.

Thanks for all the interest and support.

 

[athanasios23]

Glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm new to the forum and joined for this reason. Gear and hunting knowledge. I dream of hunting elk one day. If I can find someone who has a passion for it and would like to try a backpacking style hunt I will go for it, if not I might try using a quality guide. Im a few years out as I hope to get my first bear hunt in in the next 2 years. But I am slowly gathering gear so I can be able to backpack hunt. Ill be following your progress closely. Good luck. Hope your hard work comes to fruition and you both tag out

 

[7stw]

Hey guys, good luck this fall. A few things to consider in response to your questions...

I've only hunted CO 1st Rifle and we brought way too much to wear the first time. What I've whittled the list down to is a good base layer, med weight pants (definitely not thick, heavy stuff), a med weight top, a vest, and a good insulation layer, plus raingear. And about the only time I need the vest or insulation is in the morning when I roll out of the bag or at night right before I roll back in. If you stop and glass you'll probably want it but we hunt such thick stuff I don't get to do much glassing.

Someone said chains and that's a good call. Probably 9 times out of 10 you won't need them but when you do they might save your tail. The locals will tell you if you only have one pair, put them on the front, not the back.

By far the biggest struggle we have in 1st rifle is finding them, as several others have mentioned. And to drive that point home, I was just listening to a podcast of Mark Huelsing interviewing Corey Jacobsen (of elk101.com and quite a bit more). Corey said he very, very rarely hunts rifle seasons and the reason is mostly laziness--it's so much easier to locate them during bow seasons. He also said he rarely bivy hunts--he will hunt from the truck, drop into an area and see what he can find and if he doesn't locate anything he's off to a new area. After listening to Corey I feel a little better about being a lousy 1st season hunter. Surely I'd be a pro if I was bowhunting.

Someone also mentioned the mental aspect and that has been our second biggest struggle, even when we know to expect it now. If you get out there and bust your butt for 2-3 days, find nothing, feel like you have no hope of finding anything, your feet are blistered raw or at least very sore, your hips ache from hauling 60 lbs down miles of tiny trails...you'll reach that point mentally where you've just had enough. To me, the mental game seems to be a war of attrition, meaning that one annoyance by itself is not so bad, but when you let a bunch of little things start to pile up, they will reach a tipping point and beat you down. So I have several goals. Foremost for me, make sure my boots are broken in and as close to perfect as I can get--my feet shut me down the fastest. Second, get my glutes, hip flexors, etc in such awesome shape that 60 lbs is a breeze. Third, have a solid plan for pulling up stakes and finding a new area.

Sound advice here. I know the first year I took way too many clothes the next wore a pair of pants really to light for me in cooler weather. I finally after trial and error have a system that works for me really well. Depending on where you're headed first and second rifle can be hot ! Cool in the mornings then get toasty by 9:30-10. Realize the season dates are later by several days this year. The second rifle dates are closer to traditional third season dates. We got weather during the tail end of second season this year. We backpack in 6-8 miles pitch a modest camp then hunt hard from there. We traditionally have opportunities every year. But we may put another 5-15 miles on every day. We're hunting where you can glass and I like it that way. A buddy goes to a neighboring unit and he hunts thick dark timber and like us they have opportunities every year. If you don't draw your first season tag look into a leftover cow tag for second season as well.
Best o luck guys and don't hesitate to pm me with any questions etc.

Also check out the gritty bowmen podcast if you haven't yet. Elk 101.com (Corey Jacobson ) has some great articles and tips as well.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Nah redmech I was talking about your pad. They're bulky for sure. I've tried them but just couldn't get comfortable on them.

I see you guys jumped straight to good packs so you never truly know the pain of lesser packs, I did the same and ya know I just don't mind missing that lesson. How do you like the mystery ranch?

How were ticks in the mountainsmith? I run floorless in CO but Missouri makes me nervous.

 

[Redmech]

Sound advice here. I know the first year I took way too many clothes the next wore a pair of pants really to light for me in cooler weather. I finally after trial and error have a system that works for me really well. Depending on where you're headed first and second rifle can be hot ! Cool in the mornings then get toasty by 9:30-10. Realize the season dates are later by several days this year. The second rifle dates are closer to traditional third season dates. We got weather during the tail end of second season this year. We backpack in 6-8 miles pitch a modest camp then hunt hard from there. We traditionally have opportunities every year. But we may put another 5-15 miles on every day. We're hunting where you can glass and I like it that way. A buddy goes to a neighboring unit and he hunts thick dark timber and like us they have opportunities every year. If you don't draw your first season tag look into a leftover cow tag for second season as well.
Best o luck guys and don't hesitate to pm me with any questions etc.

Also check out the gritty bowmen podcast if you haven't yet. Elk 101.com (Corey Jacobson ) has some great articles and tips as well.

I think I've listened to all of the gritty Bowmen podcasts, I may need to go back and listen to some a time or two more. The clothing area is one place I need to thin down some more. That's one area I need to improve on. We imagine we will have a tote of gear at the truck, with extra warmer clothes should we need them. Appreciate the offer for help, we may take you up on it.

Nah redmech I was talking about your pad. They're bulky for sure. I've tried them but just couldn't get comfortable on them.

I see you guys jumped straight to good packs so you never truly know the pain of lesser packs, I did the same and ya know I just don't mind missing that lesson. How do you like the mystery ranch?

How were ticks in the mountainsmith? I run floorless in CO but Missouri makes me nervous.

My thermorest ridge rest I've had for about 12 years. It sure isn't an inflatable, but what I love about it, I can throw it down by the fire and lay down, put it up against a tree, it's indestructible. I have a torso length thermorest that packs very small, I may run it yet, it has served me well. My MR pack is very comfy, I'm really digging it. We saw a few ticks, when I returned home I didn't see any on me. Lots of ticks in MO summers, normally in warm weather I'm a hammock hanger, this trip was about trying out and using our gear for the trip.

Thanks fellas

 

[AdamW]

Best o luck guys and don't hesitate to pm me with any questions etc.

Also check out the gritty bowmen podcast if you haven't yet. Elk 101.com (Corey Jacobson ) has some great articles and tips as well.

Thanks a bunch, we really appreciate it. Good info about clothing. I'm digging the nylon/synthetic pants lately but the Exoficio pair I used this weekend would be perfect in warmer weather, but need a base layer in colder weather for sure. The low was around 34 this weekend but it gave me a chance to try my layering system. I wore everything but my puffy jacket layer in the late evening but we weren't far from the fire. May need to evaluate some of that further.

And thanks for the offer to help. Better clear out your PMs just in case!

Glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm new to the forum and joined for this reason. Gear and hunting knowledge. I dream of hunting elk one day. If I can find someone who has a passion for it and would like to try a backpacking style hunt I will go for it, if not I might try using a quality guide. Im a few years out as I hope to get my first bear hunt in in the next 2 years. But I am slowly gathering gear so I can be able to backpack hunt. Ill be following your progress closely. Good luck. Hope your hard work comes to fruition and you both tag out

Thanks man. We're total newbies. Make sure you check out Finch's thread from last year in my first post. Get to planning your hunt. Get busy livin' or get busy dyin' as they say.

 

[Redmech]

So I hear that hunting turkey is like hunting miniature elk. I thought I would share a turkey hunting experience I'm going to call training for my elk hunt. Here it is,

Missouri's youth Turkey Season started today. I asked my daughter if she was interested, she is pretty shy, and didn't give me a solid answer, but mainly she didn't say a firm no. I decided that she was old enough to give it a try. I purchased her tag, and showed it to her. She had a huge grin and was excited. My smallest shotgun I have is a 20 gauge, I borrowed a friends H&R single shot .410, purchased some 3" #4 shells, and we were set. Yesterday, we took the gun out, patterned it, and made sure she was familiar and understood its operation. She did well, once she learned how to manage the recoil, and shot it enough to be comfortable and I was confident in her ability.

I woke her up this morning about 5am, she dressed up in her camo clothing, we ate breakfast, and we were ready. A local turkey hunting friend was excited to setup behind us and call one into where we would be setting. He was excited to get to the turkey woods, and practice up before normal season started in about 10 days.

We were in the woods at our location just as light started to embrace the woods and the wilderness became awake. We called and called, never heard anything that even sounded close. After about an hour of waiting at that location, we packed up, hiked the perimeter of the field. We located a flock of about 9 birds a good distance away, maybe 8-900 yards away. The three of us, circled around the backside of some thick drainages trying to get in with out spooking our prize. We set up about 100 yards away, called about 25 minutes with no response. I'm unsure if they couldn't hear us due to the wind, if they wouldn't cross the thick brush, creek, and fence between us, but either way, that spot failed.

We worked our way, another 100 yards around to a entrance between the two fields. We could now hear the Toms very close by. We moved in very slowly, and quietly, keeping a sharp eye looking for movement. We spotted the hens about 100 yards to our south west. We then heard the Toms about maybe 50 yards to the southeast. Grady, my turkey hunting calling buddy, belly crawled about 10 yards and put up the jake decoy. There was just the slightest hill between us and the heard gobblers. Rachel and I sat at the edge of the field, just barely in the brush. I put my Kifaru Xray between her legs to set the shotgun on to help hold it up while we would probably have to wait for them to come in. Grady had crawled back, and went about 15 yards behind us. He was running a mouth call, and ripped off a few yelps. I'd say less than 90 seconds the Tom came straight at that decoy after Grady yelped, with three more Toms tailing him, to check out the new hen they heard and to see who this new punk in their field was. I saw all four in full strut, and all had beards. I told Rachel that all the birds was legal and for her to take whatever one she liked. She aimed, squeezed the trigger and laid the bird out. She made an excellent shot and the bird dropped instantly. The other Toms didn't know what to think. I hoped up and went in to check out the bird, she did great and I couldn't be a more proud father. The bird had two beards, one 10" long, 1 1/4' spurs, and weighed in at the taxidermist shop at 19 pounds.

On to pictures, did I mentioned I'm proud. Oh yeah, now I know why I need a single shot .410 shotgun. Before today I always liked the idea of cheap 20 gauge ammo over the .410, now between my daughter and younger son, I see the huge reason why I need a .410 in my arsenal. Thanks for looking

Untitled by redmech, on Flickr

Untitled by redmech, on Flickr

Untitled by redmech, on Flickr

Untitled by redmech, on Flickr

Untitled by redmech, on Flickr

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

That's pretty awesome. Every bit as exciting getting you kid out ther as your elk hunt. Congratulations!

 

[realunlucky]

That's really awesome a memory you both will remember forever

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[mod700]

I'm enjoying following the story, lots of good pointers. One more to remember, when the moment of truth arrives. You got to shoot the true horizontal distance, not the angle (hypotenuse). I know some of you eastern boys aren't use to the steeper country found out west. Had a buddy last year miss a buck twice, shooting up a steep slope ( his range finder didn't have tilt compensation) and he had a brain fart do to excitement. He got lucky though as they were picking up the packs, they spotted the rutting buck chasing a doe down the hill. The next shot was virtually level, a shade over 500 yds., boiler room.
Mike

 

[chrislane]

Heck yeah! Way to go!

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[AdamW]

 

[Redmech]

Heck yeah. This is getting me fired up again. Can't wait to know what u it we drew.

 

[jkra410]

I am going in from FLW, MO area this September for archery OTC. I appreciate the thread. Going through the same things myself here. Good luck and keep updating this thread. Very useful for people like us.

 

[AdamW]

I am going in from FLW, MO area this September for archery OTC. I appreciate the thread. Going through the same things myself here. Good luck and keep updating this thread. Very useful for people like us.

Thanks for stopping by man!

It has been an eventful several weeks for us as total noobs. We drew our first choice elk tag for first rifle season. The number crunching appears to have paid off...assuming the unit isn't terrible and Ross doesn't give me a week of "What idiot picked this unit!?" talk once we lay eyes on it. It is a big jump from having all the OTC units to consider to knowing that we will be hunting within this one unit within this certain period of time; and it is drawing closer every day.

I'm heading to CO here in a few weeks for our summer vacation. I won't lie, I tend to forget that some of the places in CO I like to go have snow until August. I'm planning to really unplug and enjoy the time off. The place we are staying has no internet and I don't know what my cell service will be like. I can't wait. I took a pretty decent gamble on vacationing within 30 minutes of our #1 unit choice. Fortunately, it is working out!

I plan to make it a productive trip if at all possible. I've spoken to the CPW biologist once before and he seems like a nice guy. I've been doing my homework and looking at maps and google earth and I hope to get in to the CPW office and throw down some maps if I can catch him in the office. I've got a lot more put together than "Where ya think I should hunt?" so maybe he'll be able to offer me some additional insight. I guess it really comes down to access after that. Hopefully I will be able to get in to the hunting area as far as snow and road conditions go. We will see. If I'm definitely not going to be able to, don't anyone tell me please. Haha. I want to lay eyes on it...I think. I'd like to sit behind the glass, make a cup of coffee and just take it all in. The original plan was for my wife to take a spa day while I did some scouting. Now it sounds like she wants to tag along; okay by me!

Other than that, it has been a lot of reading and map/google earth playing. I have also loaded up some 140 gr. Nosler Accubonds that I need to get to the range and test out. Hopefully one of the loads I've worked up will be a shooter. Still trudging along exercise-wise; I put 85 lbs in the Kifaru the other night and did a couple miles; my legs feel stronger my a huge margin. I want to toughen my feet up but not jack them up, or my knees! Pack feels great, glad I spent the money on that for sure. Picked up a guide lid and a gun bearer for it as well, both of which I'm impressed with. I also bucked up the $49 and bought Corey Jacobsen's online elk schoolin'. For a newbie like me, it is sure nice to have a lot of information in one place. I learned quite a bit about scouting the first day.

CURRENT QUESTIONS (just in case anyone wants to chime in!):

I need some topo maps. Seems a lot of guys use mytopo. Any better maps I should look at that have trails and other good info we'd want while hunting? I've got the onXmaps app that I will get to play with a bit while I'm there as well.

Thanks for everything guys, I learn something from you all every day!

Oh and here's a pic of my euro mount from my 2015 buck I just picked up. Turned out nice I think.

 

[COlineman78]

Hopefully I will be able to get in to the hunting area as far as snow and road conditions go. We will see. If I'm definitely not going to be able to, don't anyone tell me please.

You will be fine. This is what the view at 14k looks like on the 4th of July:

CURRENT QUESTIONS (just in case anyone wants to chime in!):

I need some topo maps. Seems a lot of guys use mytopo. Any better maps I should look at that have trails and other good info we'd want while hunting? I've got the onXmaps app that I will get to play with a bit while I'm there as well.

I don't use physical maps, but gaiagps.com has some online. Their app is pretty good, but I prefer backcountry navigator if you have Android. BCN has the USFS maps available. I think they are in the free version, but not sure.

 

[AdamW]

You will be fine. This is what the view at 14k looks like on the 4th of July:





I don't use physical maps, but gaiagps.com has some online. Their app is pretty good, but I prefer backcountry navigator if you have Android. BCN has the USFS maps available. I think they are in the free version, but not sure.

I'd love to do a 14er. I had better go full Everest mode and take some oxygen for these flatland baby lungs.