Colo elk, Can't wait any longer

rubucky

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18
OK, so here I am with 19 NR Colorado preference points and I feel like I'm all dressed for the dance but I don't have a date. When I started applying years ago, the goal was to draw one of the premium N/W corner units but now I'm just chasing points with no hope to draw. I'd heard some good things about unit 40 1st rifle, so last fall I spent a about a week scouting it. Saw lots of elk, numerous bulls mostly low 300 class and 1 350 class bull, but was not impressed with the private property. So now I'm thinking possibly unit 61, Archery or muzzleloader or possibly unit 10 archery. I've not killed a lot of bulls but I do have a 350 class bull from Idaho. I'm not expecting to take a bull of that size but I would be happy to have the opportunity to take a 320-330 class or see a possibly larger bull. My main goal though is I want to have a good quality hunt and I don't want to be fighting crowds or private property. I plan on putting in the time and effort to scout so I don't need any honey holes I just want some opinions and advice on the quality of these units. Any help is greatly appreciated and I would be glad to trade any info I may have, thanks.
 
I'm bias since the only unit I hunted that you're considering is 61, archery.

Tons of bulls. Bugling every day of the season. All day if the weather is cool. Biggest bull I saw was "maybe" 340"s. Solid 330 at least. Saw probably 6 well over 300", pushing 330"s. I hunted th oak brush thus I heard a lot more bulls than I saw. That was in "08."

The buddy I had been building PPs with hunted 61, 1st rifle in "12." He ate tag soup BUT missed a 370 bull opening day, saw several more over 320 and a few 300ish bull. He did a lot of passing, got out thunk a couple of times and missed the biggest one.

With those PPs I would research every aspect before I apply. The muzzy in 61 is a great tag but I'd wait for the year the dark of the moon fell in the beginning to middle of the season. Since archery is so long, you can hunt the dark of the moon regardless.
 
If private land is of concern you may want review unit 10. Fair amount of pvt but can be worked around.

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."
 
Heres my break down; Take in mind most of my intimate knowledge is in the NW units but I have spent time in each unit listed below. I personally would encourage you to hold on to your points for a few more years because your so close to being able to draw some of the premium units, but thats me.

Unit 2 :
My personal favorite. Large amounts of public land and elk are widely dispersed throughout the unit. You will most likely never have to contend with another hunter the entire hunt. Lots of good water holes to hunt early in the season and the rut is like no other I have ever experienced due to the extremely high bull to cow ratio. Its honestly in the 70:30 range, which makes cow calling extremely effective when bulls are in the mood. Typical satellite bull will be in the 270-320ish range. Herd bulls typically in the 320-350 plus range. Scouting is key in unit 2 to locate the large bulls. Its a big unit.

Unit 10:
From personal experience I would only hunt archery in 10. The elk in 10 are primarily concentrated in the northern part of the unit hugging the monument; Stuntz ridge, Round top Mountain, Hells Canyon, Tanks peak, Moosehead Mountain etc etc. Thus, most will focus on the northern half of the unit and dealing with other bow hunters is a possibility. However the elk don't seem to really start drifting into the monument unit they receive pressure from the rifle hunters or the snow comes like it did this year. Private land can be a guys kryptonite in this unit and a GPS is a must to keep yourself out of trouble. Bull quality is good but not quite as good as in 2 in my opinion. Lots of bulls in the 300-330 range. 340 plus is very doable if you put the time in the summer doing your scouting and locating the better bulls.

Unit 201:
Great hunt of course. Great elk country, great rut activity, lots of bulls, and big bulls are to be had by those who work for them. Not much explanation needed. Private land is prevalent like any unit. However I think there's only 1-2 NR archery tags available. Im not sure how the Hybrid draws plays into it now.

Unit 1:
Underrated unit in my opinion. Unit 1 slips under the radar primarily because of its size and low number of tags. I honestly don't know if there is a NR tag offered.. The unit is extremely isolated and most its best access points are in Utah. It has had a bad reputation of being poached heavy by people out of utah, I personally cannot vogue for this but others seem to say its been a problem over the years. However, there are still good bulls to be had. Unit 1 has very few roads and its best suited for someone who is willing to lace up the boots are work for it.

Unit 61:
My time in 61 has been limited. I've personally only been on one elk hunt in the unit and it was during the 3rd season. The rest of the time has been just looky looing around while I was attending college in Grand Junction. Californiaelkslayer summed it up the best. Tons of bulls and great bugling action when the rut gets going. I never had a problem finding elk each time i went and explored in September when I was looking at burning points on it. Personally, the best bull I've seen in 61 was probably in the low 330 class and that was out of roughly 35-40 bulls. Majority where anything from small raghorns to low 300ish 6 points. If you're looking for a quality hunt with lots of action and killing a high scoring bull isn't your priority 61 is a great hunt.

Unit 76:
Great hunt as far as quantity and opportunity from what I've witnessed, Im not sure as to how the fire has effected it now though. I got to spend some time in the unit two falls ago helping a good friend with his archery tag. Finding elk was never an issue, the hardest part was trying to find ways to approach bulls that were above timberline early in the season. It was honestly like chasing high country muleys at times. The elk herd up big and pulling the herd bulls away from cows was tough also. He did however end up scoring on a low 330's class bull the last week of season, which was the best he'd seen the entire hunt. Im not sure what the CPW's goal is with 76 in how they issue archery, muzzy, early rifle and 1st through 4th rifle tags. Needless to say the elk see a fair amount of pressure. All in all, its a great hunt if you're not so much concerned with score and what a quality hunt is some of the most breath taking country that Colorado has to offer.

Unit 851 (Bosque Del Oso SWA)

If you're willing to switch gears from archery to rifle this can be a great in 3rd season. (the season dates in the BDO are different from that of the normal seasons)
This hunt can be weather dependent as a lot of the bulls that end up in the area migrate in from the Hill and Trinchera ranches. I personally had the tag back in '10 and had a tougher than normal hunt due to the hot weather. I ended up killing a 336 bull the second to last day that was a little broken, would of been in the mid 340's if complete. I did however screw up on a bull that was in the 360-370 class the first morning. Did see a good amount of bulls in the 300-320 class but I also had the tag in a bad year. Some family friends had the tag the year before me and both killed 340 class bulls the first day, but they had the snow working for them. I would personally hunt it again and I know others who've killed some great bulls out of the area.

Hope this helps...

Coloradoboy
 
WOW! That is a detailed post anybody with double digit PPs in Colorado should print and save.

I burned my 13 CO PPs for an archery hunt just so I could hunt the state more often, no regrets.
 
Coloradoboy,

That's one of the best posts I've read on here. Thanks for taking the time.
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-10-14 AT 06:48PM (MST)[p]Coloradoboy, wow what a great post and it certinaly does help. Now I've got more things to think about. I've realy not thoght about unit 2 because I thought I would never be able to draw, even archery. Years ago when I first started putting in I think it took 6-7 NR points to draw 1st rifle (units 2, 201) and it was growing by approximatly .25 points per year so every 4 years it jumped by a complete point. Now it's growing exponentially by at least a point a year and I'm not sure what max points are but with 19 points I will never draw 1st rifle. But if I could draw Archery in the next couple of years that intrigues me. I also thought about unit 76 and it looked like a great unit but for mostly 280-300 class bulls but like you said, beautiful country and I love the high country. Unit 851, great potential, especially with weather, but I spent years hunting the Wyoming migration and I know how fickle those hunts can be. I've never even thought about unit 1 but now I'll have to do a little research which is part of the fun. Anyway, I appreciate the post and again, great information. Thanks to all that have replied.
 
Why not just keep building points and come hunt an OTC unit? There are 300 plus bulls in every unit. You could always hunt and just keep building points. Heck OTC archery can be awesome if your an archery hunter.

Ultimately you are in a hard spot. At some point the points will be spent and hopefully you will get a good tag. One concern you should watch is the point creep on the lower units. For example the growth in 61 and 76 seem to be accelerating as people are jumping ship on the 2 and 201 units and as a result people like you with 19 points are starting to inflate those lower units.

Unit 10 archery can be a great tag. Also you never know what you might find in OTC units. We have killed 3 bulls over 300 in OTC unit in the last 10 years.

Just thoughts...
 
Best advice, build points for another 2 to 3 years. Take some time to come see some of the units. You could hit 1,2,10, and 201 all in a single week. I personally wouldn't waste the $602 plus various expenses to come out and do a OTC hunt where the odds are extremely low (statistically speaking) of harvesting a 300 plus inch bull. Especially stepping into a unit without prior experience. MT and WY have much better general season hunts for harvesting 300 plus inch bulls in my opinion. Colorado's draw system has become an absolute joke, Id honestly like to see it changed to a system like Wyoming's system for residents. For that reason I've quit playing the points game at 22 years old. Excluding the hybrid draw, if I were chasing a 2,10 or 201 tag i'd be over 50 years old by the time I could realistically draw a tag if things stay the way they are. Rather a sad statistic for the future generations of elk hunters in Colorado with hopes of drawing a premium tag. Best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

Coloradoboy
 
ru, this statement isn't even close, "it was growing by approximatly .25 points per year so every 4 years it jumped by a complete point."

I watched and watched as I grew closer to a unit #2 muzzy tag. Every 4 years I'd get one point closer to drawing this tag. When Colorado dropped the NR quota to 20% in high demand units, I started looking for a tag elsewhere. I had 12 folks applying for that hunt with more PPs than me, 100s in the PP only pool plus 26 in my PP pool. The math told me I was at least 7 years away, probably more like 10-15.

In the early 2000s I could get a Unit #4 1st rifle as a second choice so I was building PPs AND killing alot of small bulls. Between the quota change and the higher demand for the unit #4 tag, I just wanted to burn them and hunt Coloradoelk more often than once every 28 years.

Coloradoboy, spot on with everything you've posted here. Wyoming and Montana have better "General" areas if size matters, especially for the archer.
 
Coloradoboy,
As an engineer I love details! Thanks for the great post.

I have 17pts....no mans land as I call it. I have gotten advice to wait for 61 but the point creep is driving me nuts. I wonder if its really worth it as I just want to burn them and hunt more often!
 
>Coloradoboy +1
>
>My two cents re: Unit 10
>and Unit 2.
>
>I hunted Unit 10 archery in
>2011 and after 22 days
>of hunting killed a 330
>bull.
>
>See a few pics here:
>http://www.monstermuleys.com/photos/PhotosID28/266.html#.Uv6TArRjP3U
>
>I hunted hells canyon, tanks peak,
>stuntz ridge, and moosehead.
>It was an incredible hunt.
> I'm not sure I'd
>give up my experience in
>10 for Unit 2, but
>I know that Unit 2
>has a better quality bull.
>
>
>Chasewild


Neat looking bull! Congrats! Looks like you worked for him.

Coloradoboy
 
Yes there's a lot of us in CO 18 point hell. I wish they'd allow us to sell them so I could at least get a 12 pack of Bud Lite.

***********************************
Member RMEF, Pope & Young Club, NRA, UWC & DP Hate Club
 
I'm in the same situation, 19 elk points and 13 deer points. I moved last year and the application packet didn't get forwarded, so now I don't know if I will be able to even walk by the time a tag might come around. Wonder if it is illegal to shoot out of a motorized wheelchair?
Thanks to all of you who provided information. It gives encouragement to the hopeless.
 

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