Colo Unit 78 Muzzle season

[coheaincolo]

Well everyone...I blindly stumbled across this site yesterday, very much the same way I am hoping to stumble into some elk in the coming muzzleloading season here in Colorado.

I am hoping to possibly get some advice from some of you guys that are the more experienced hunters out there as I am someone that grew up bird hunting and am trying to teach myself to big-game hunt. I need some help as I could quite possibly be the worst elk hunter the world has seen to date.

After 3 seasons of hunting I have seen a grand total of 6 elk.....5 cows when I had a bull tag, and one measly little spike horn when I had a cow tag.

Anyways....this year I am going to be heading down to unit 78 during the muzzleloading season. I have a cow tag and am planning on hunting the west side of the Chalk mountains. If any of have hunted this area before or have any nuggets of wisdom you would like to share I am all ears...or eyes in the case of the internet I suppose....as I definitely need all the help I can get.

 

[coheaincolo]

*bump*

 

[graybeard]

I have not hunted unit 78, but it is a good time to be chasing elk. If all you have is a cow tag then just sneak through the aspens where no other hunters have been. If you hear a bull bugling, move in slowly and watch for cows as you get close. A lot of bigger bulls next week will have cows around them and remember the cows are more wary than the bulls this time of year. Elk like to lie on benches above or below steeper terrain so if you smell what you think is a cattle feed lot, you may be very close to some elk or at least where they've recently been. Watch those little benches closely and look for them (benches) on topo maps. Most importantly, get away from other hunters...Good luck, Steve