New to the forum........and elk.....need a little advice please.

JC523 · Aug 13, 2007

Hi....I am new to the forum, but was hoping I could get a little advice.

After many years, I have finally talked my dad into going west to hunt. The talk started about going to CO to hunt public land and OTC tags. Since then, I have done a lot of reading online.....I really hate to tackle this without a guide or limited info. Therefore, I have been doing a lot of searching online. I have also considered MT.....with a Muley/Elk combo hunt.....but many of them are $$$$ and out of our price range. The following are some hunts I am considering. If anyone can tell me anything that will help me get started and to narrow things down a bit, I would greatly appreciate it.

1) A public land OTC area in CO (probably purchase a DIY "kit")
2) A tresspass hunt in CO on private land
3) A semi-guided hunt in either CO or MT
4) A fully guided hunt in either CO or MT (must be fairly inexpensive)

Some other details......

I would prefer to do a lodge/cabin hunt.....4X4 accessible. My dad is getting up in years and I am not sure how he would do riding horses and sleeping on cots. Also, I do not have any preference points for either state....so getting tags will have to be something guaranteed. We would like to go in 2008.

Right now, I am kinda leaning toward either a tresspass or semi-guided hunt in Colorado.....just because of it being a lot more economical and tags are easy to get.

I really appreciate any help/suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

CAelknuts · Aug 13, 2007

I think you could have a wonderful hunt in Colorado on private land, with a tresspass fee arrangement. If you're looking for just a really nice experience and not worried about shooting an outsized bull (which you shouldn't care about if you haven't elk hunted before) then there are some wonderful options in many Colorado units. Montana has many of the same situations, but licenses aren't guarantted unless you go through an outfitter on a guided hunt.

2nd season in Colorado can be very nice. You can hunt deer and elk both, generally decent weather and good hunting.

GoatT · Aug 13, 2007

Sorry, don't know too much about Colorado.....but Welome to MM, glad to have ya!

http://www.trophyblogger.com/Goat

http://www.trophyblogger.com

FamilyMan · Aug 13, 2007

Sounds like this is a long anticipated hunt and perhaps you are a little unsure what to expect. If that is the case I would recommend a Colorado trespass fee hunt. My reasons for this recommendation are several.

First, Colorado is easier to hunt than Montana and I would not want to see you get discouraged on your first hunt. There are also cheaper tags and more elk in Colorado then in Montana. Having hunted both, I would prefer Colorado every time (although the hunting pressure will be higher in Colorado, which leads me to my second reason.)

Second, hunting in a trespass fee situation will allow you the opportunity to hunt private land (most likely the land you access with the trespass fee will actually be a combination of private and public land) which will have much less hunting pressure. Also, you can ask the land owner for tips on areas to start your hunt. (If you have hunted only in the east or south before, you will be blown away by the amount of property you will have to choose from on a western hunt).

Third, a trespass fee hunt will be considerably cheaper then a guided hunt. This allows you to return more often.

Don't worry about not having points built up because there are plenty of places to hunt in Colorado with over the counter elk tags as long as you are not looking for a huge bull. Just come for the experience a couple of times and figure out what you like. Chances are you can stay in the nearest town to the area you bought access to and drive to the hunting property each morning without it being to big of a deal.

Chamber of commerce can be a good source for ranches that allow access for a fee. Start by figuring out what area of the state you want to hunt and take it from there.

Best of luck.

Mark

NMHUNTNUTT1 · Aug 14, 2007

yep I also want to say welcome to MM...

JC523 · Aug 15, 2007

Thanks for all the info guys!! I really appreciate it!!

Right now I am leaning towards either a tresspass hunt in CO for elk.....or a guided Muley hunt in NE MT. If this turns out to be just the two of us.....I would say it will be Muleys in Montana. I have been lucky enough to find an outfitter that offers a lot of other activities in case we would have success early on. My dad doesn't really care what we hunt.....he just wants to go west. This will probably be his only west, so I am hoping to make it a memorable one! I figured a Muley hunt would give him better odds at getting a shot too.

Any thoughts?

Mods....sorry if I strayed from the original subject....I guess maybe I should have started this in the Mule Deer forum.