Colorado or Oregon

[afulmer]

Hello everyone,
New to the forum and just wanting some peoples opinion on a few questions. Im planning my first elk hunt and have a few units in mind for OTC hunts in Colorado and Oregon. Coming from the southeast Colorado is 2 days Oregon is 3 and thats doing 12hrs a day. I keep hearing horror stories about Colorado's hunting pressure.
1. Is the pressure really that bad in CO?
2. Is eastern Oregon (specifically in the Eagle Cap) any better and worth an extra 2 days in the truck?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cohunter14]

Personally, I believe the pressure is over hyped in Colorado. It's not that difficult to escape it.


If it were me, I'd use those extra two days to hunt instead of drive to Oregon. Your chance at success will increase a lot by adding two more days in the woods.

 

[steelheadboy]

I archery hunted Oregon last season in the OTC Imnaha Unit. There was significant hunting pressure.
Hunters riding around on trucks/ATVs calling all day and into the night.
The trailheads that I checked out that led into the Eagle Caps had tons of horse trailers parked bumper to bumper.
IMO archery opening weekend is your best shot in OTC hunts in NE Oregon. 
My hunting partner and I hunted CO 3rd season rifle elk recently and killed a 5 point. Hunting pressure was minimal.

 

[Elk Noob]

I don't know where cohunter14 is hunting, but any unit I was in last year in CO was busier than I've ever seen it before.

I personally did not enjoy hunting OTC last year. I got into elk often, but saw tons of hunters.

I hunt to get food for the family and see animals being animals. The elk I saw in CO mostly went nocturnal, and they did not act like "normal elk" they were pressured beyond belief and reacted accordingly. It's a different hunt, hunting pressured animals vs animals being "wild". The amount of Bugles in OTC units has been dropping every year in Sept. I hear more bugles 1st and 2nd rifle than I do the entire month of September during archery.

Edit - If you are only doing OTC you're kind of stuck, but I've heard that going for a draw unit even one that takes 1 point will really improve your experience. I had friends in draw units last year that took 0 points and they were into bugling bulls often. I did not hear an actual "elk" bugle during my 15 days throughout September (glassed up well over 200 elk though so they're there, just not vocal). I heard plenty of Primos calls though. This was hunting anywhere from 1-7 miles from the TH.

 

[cohunter14]

I don't know where cohunter14 is hunting, but any unit I was in last year in CO was busier than I've ever seen it before.

......This was hunting anywhere from 1-7 miles from the TH.

I hunt some of the most crowded OTC units in the state for both archery and rifle. Yes, there are hunters all over the roads, but very few venture off the roads very far.


Your last sentence tells me why you couldn't escape pressure though. Trailheads are the new 'in' thing with elk hunting. Everyone wants to get to a trailhead and go deeper than everyone else. I avoid trailheads for this exact reason. If I was going to hunt from a trailhead, I would go less than a mile up the trail and branch off 90 degrees from where the trail goes. That's how you escape pressure from a trailhead.


Getting away from other hunters isn't hard if you don't over complicate things. Go where other hunters aren't. If a large population of hunters are going to be heading to a trailhead, you might want to go somewhere else. You don't need trailheads and trails to get off the road, and you don't have to go seven miles deep to escape other hunters. If you find the right spot, you can escape other hunters in 1/4 mile or less. Those packouts are a lot more fun too!  ;-)

 

[Rdub]

Well said. 90% of all hunters, hunt within 1 mile of the road. 10% of all hunters account for 90% of all animals taken.  Moral of the story is get more than 5280 feet off the road and it becomes far less crowded. JMHO

 

[Elk Noob]

So I did say trail head, but I meant from the truck. It's easier to just say TH and it makes more sense imo. I very rarely went in on a trail and hunted from the side of the road.

 

[WesternBowman]

It is going to be busy where every you go. If I were you I would use that extra time you would take up driving to Oregon and just hunt longer in CO. The key is to get off the roads by a mile or 2. Like others have said the eagle cap has been bumper to bumper with horse trailers and there is plenty of roads that go through all the units so pressure was really bad this past year and it will most likely get worse next year.