Well, its over. It started the day we found out we drew with 13 points in June, and ended Sat AM after 7+ days of elk rutting bliss.
Here are my Top 10 take-aways about unit 49:
1.) The herd bulls are huge!330-340". Satellites are 300".
2.) The herd bulls are smart!
3.) The herd bulls ONLY chuckle
4.) The cows NEVER talk. Ever.
5.) The elk never come out of the timber in the evenings. EVER. My spot in unit 52 NM is way different. The elk there will start to pop out of the timber 20-30 min before dark for shot opportunities.
6.) The elk get caught in the wide open in the AM's until 7am or so as they are making it to their north facing bedroom, but they get right into the thick stuff ASAP.
7.) The elk are highly nomadic! Unit 52 NM elk will hole up in a spot for 2-3 days and stay put unless they're bumped out.
8.) Every north facing (likely) bedding spot was torn up to high heaven. Huge rubs....I mean huge.
9.) When a bedroom is void of elk, they are over in bedroom #2,3, 4, etc. Weird, I would expect at least a few elk to be in every spot. They weren't. They were with the big, nomadic herd, and not well distributed.
10.) Colorado hunters are way more serious than NM hunters. We saw people 2.75 miles from the nearest trailhead. And they were walking in every day burning headlamps for an hour plus walking in and out of the honey holes. NM: Go 1 mile, and leave 90% of the public behind. Not the case in unit 49.
Here are my Top 10 take-aways about unit 49:
1.) The herd bulls are huge!330-340". Satellites are 300".
2.) The herd bulls are smart!
3.) The herd bulls ONLY chuckle
4.) The cows NEVER talk. Ever.
5.) The elk never come out of the timber in the evenings. EVER. My spot in unit 52 NM is way different. The elk there will start to pop out of the timber 20-30 min before dark for shot opportunities.
6.) The elk get caught in the wide open in the AM's until 7am or so as they are making it to their north facing bedroom, but they get right into the thick stuff ASAP.
7.) The elk are highly nomadic! Unit 52 NM elk will hole up in a spot for 2-3 days and stay put unless they're bumped out.
8.) Every north facing (likely) bedding spot was torn up to high heaven. Huge rubs....I mean huge.
9.) When a bedroom is void of elk, they are over in bedroom #2,3, 4, etc. Weird, I would expect at least a few elk to be in every spot. They weren't. They were with the big, nomadic herd, and not well distributed.
10.) Colorado hunters are way more serious than NM hunters. We saw people 2.75 miles from the nearest trailhead. And they were walking in every day burning headlamps for an hour plus walking in and out of the honey holes. NM: Go 1 mile, and leave 90% of the public behind. Not the case in unit 49.