Camp Hale Colorado Elk

[Lhedrick1]

Other than high altitudes, unpredictable weather and terrain that is straight up and straight down, what say you about unit 45 for elk in this area? Looking at OTC. If camping is available at Camp Hale it seems convenient to hunt but very tough terrain and we might get dumped on with snow. Coming from Ohio so early season scouting is out of the question other than OnX and Google Earth.

 

[Elkduds]

https://www.hipcamp.com/colorado/white-river/camp-hale-memorial-campground

https://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/Statistics-Elk.aspx

 

[WoodsD9]

Personally I would look for some areas with a little tougher access. That area is so easy to access and there are roads all the way up above treeline so that area gets absolutely hammered. I personally deer hunted there a couple years ago and can say I found some really big bulls in the summer up there above timberline but come opening day there were people everywhere and not an elk(or deer) in sight!

If you're dead set on that area all I can recommend is being mobile and trying to find where those elk are going to go to escape the pressure. If you figure that out there are some great bulls up there so you will be in good shape!

 

[Lhedrick1]

Thanks WoodsD9. I was hoping being as rugged as it is and with the possibility of snow it would keep the road hunters off the mountains. From what I've read, a lot of the roads going up are pretty dicey when they get snow.

How did your deer hunt go there?

 

[Lhedrick1]

Thanks ElkDuds. We were looking at 2nd season. 15% success on bulls isn't horrible for OTC and less than 300 hunters in that unit during that season is promising! Unless of course the majority of those are hunting above Camp Hale or Holy Cross Wilderness area lol.

 

[WoodsD9]

I only hunted opening weekend due to some other commitments. I found some good bucks but really didn't have time to get one killed.

As for the roads after it snows I'm not sure but I can confirm the roads up top are really dice!