uncompahgre wilderness

[usahunter]

looks like we may have lost our archery elk hunting area, got 5 days to find a new spot, we were going to hunt just north of the wilderness with a friend at least pointing us in the right direction but that fell thru so now we're winging it, any advice? we're looking at the area off the cimmaron river rd south of Hwy 50 along the Alpine trail, thank's

 

[SoleSearcher34]

PM Sent

 

[beartracks]

Hey USA,

How did it go out there for ya? My friend and I are headed to the Uncompaghre Wilderness for 2nd rifle. Curious how your hunt went in regards to animals seen and how much hunting pressure you encountered.

Thanks,

BT

 

[usahunter]

BT, tough hunt, driving rain the first 4 days and then heavy rain every day for at least an hour for the rest of the 12 days, missed a shot at a 6x5 the second day and that was the only elk we actually saw the entire trip, we called in at least 5 bulls to within 40 yds but always in dense cover and the wind shifted each time and busted us, curiously we saw very little cow elk sign, there were at least 5 bulls in the area but only one had a cow with him and there was virtually no bugleing, they didn't seem to be aggressive at all, we hunted between 10000ft and 11600ft, good luck

 

[usahunter]

BT, almost forgot, we encountered 9 hunters, 3 on horseback and the rest on foot, all had about the same experience as us

 

[beartracks]

Thanks for the update....sorry the weather and the elk weren't more cooperative for you. Clearly, if you spent 12 days chasing elk, it wasn't for a lack of effort!

We decided to give second rifle season a whirl and see what happens. It will be interesting to see what the weather is like in late October up there. Guessing we'll see some snow. I suppose the elk will be buried into the timber like a tick...

Thanks for your help. Info seems hard to come by for unit 65.

BT

 

[usahunter]

BT, the elk for the most part were in the steepest /deepest blwdown areas that they could find, thats why we were able to call them in to within 30/40 yds but couldn't get a clear shot, the bull I missed came into our cow calls at a wallow at first light.There were a couple of bulls that we played with between Big Park and the Big Blu river along the alpine trail, good luck