New hunter in CO

T

ThomasCrook

New member
Feb 9, 2018
2
I'm 17 years old and starting to get into elk hunting. I've always bowhunted whitetail with my dad but I'm not able to hunt with him anymore so I will have to solo hunt. I'm very physically active and I've been backpacking many times before so the solo aspect shouldn't be a problem for me. My mom and sisters and I just moved to Colorado from Tennessee. I've been on elk hunts before with my grandpa who is a guide up in WY, but my mom, sisters and I have seperated from that side of the family and my dad who I used to hunt with. I'm not looking for any handouts or anybody's honey hole so don't get the wrong idea, but any info on where to start beggining my hunt here in CO would be very much appreciated. I've spent hours on the cpw website, hunting atlas, and google earth but I'm still a little hesitant about this coming season. Any advice would be beneficial thank you!
 
Welcome to the forum, bud. I have never hunted Colorado, but I am in a similar situation (hunting a new state) as you. You definitely came to the right place to gather your information. I highly suggest using the search bar at the top of the page to locate older forums that may have some general information that you may be looking for. Make sure you use key words to pull up more specific forums. I?m sure some folks will reply and help out here as well. Best of luck.
 
Man, I'm sorry to hear about the changes that you are dealing with.  The good news is that you ended up in the most elk rich state in the west.  You can literally just pick a spot and go.  You really don't have to over think it.  Hopefully you can get connected with a few others your age to help show you the ropes.  If not, I'd be looking at units fairly close to home 1st.  You've got a lot of time to hike around and get familiar with areas.  Try to develop at least 2-3 spots that look to have potential so that you have some options come September.  Good luck to you bud.

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ThomasCrook said:
I'm 17 years old and starting to get into elk hunting. I've always bowhunted whitetail with my dad but I'm not able to hunt with him anymore so I will have to solo hunt. I'm very physically active and I've been backpacking many times before so the solo aspect shouldn't be a problem for me. My mom and sisters and I just moved to Colorado from Tennessee. I've been on elk hunts before with my grandpa who is a guide up in WY, but my mom, sisters and I have seperated from that side of the family and my dad who I used to hunt with. I'm not looking for any handouts or anybody's honey hole so don't get the wrong idea, but any info on where to start beggining my hunt here in CO would be very much appreciated. I've spent hours on the cpw website, hunting atlas, and google earth but I'm still a little hesitant about this coming season. Any advice would be beneficial thank you!
Click to expand...


First off.... welcome to the site, TC!  :upthumb:


I don't personally have any CO experience, but I do have some questions that can maybe help you answer your own.


Where in CO do you live?
Are you still in school?
Have some extra time to yourself?
What area of CO are you located in? (you can keep this general)

Depending on where you live I'd be looking for the nearest OTC units and taking any extra time I had to hike and scout. You've got months before the season open and getting your scouting in now will be very beneficial.
Bring a GPS, a notepad, and start writing down everything.


Use the same whitetail principles to get started with elk. Look for rubs, bedding areas, elk scat, food sources, water, etc.
If you see elk in a spot, mark it.


I should say that depending on what areas are near you, it still may be a little early for this. Snow may be too deep and have the elk pushed down to lower elevations. If that is the case I don't wanna see you scouting their wintering range and then not find them come Sept.


Once you get a few of these scouting trips in I am betting you'll create those 2-3 spots that you can get into them.


Also start researching the draws for your state.
Buy preference points so you can bank them up for limited draw hunts.


You can do the same or mule deer too.
There are some zero point units you can draw while still getting your PP.




Welcome again and ask whatever comes to mind. We have other guys here from CO and lots of elk knowledge/experience that I am sure can help you greatly.

 
Another welcome Thomas! If I was 17 and in your shoes, I would basically do what Dan (DTP) just spelled out for you. Pick a unit that you can get to in a respectable amount of time (maybe under two hours) and spend as much time as you can getting up there and learning the area, even if you are just able to swing up for an hour or two in the woods at a time. You don't have to necessarily pick the unit that's the absolute closest to you as those tend to get crowded, assuming you are in the Denver area, but get one that's within a reasonable distance.


Two other things I would suggest:
1) Get an InReach GPS. If you are going to be doing all of this solo, it will give you and your family peace of mind that they can find you and that you can call for help if needed.
2) When scouting during the summer months, you want to find the cows (elk that is). Find the cows and that's where you will find the bulls come September. It's a lot of fun to locate bulls during the summer, but they could be long gone from that area as soon as the rut kicks in.


Let us know how else we can help!
 
Hey Thomas
Good on you for keeping the chin up. The outdoors can help with many things in whats going on in someone's personal life


Actually you move to Colorado is the perfect timing.


Get your residency ASAP because by the time elk season rolls around, you'll have resident status


Next, go to the CPW site and create your profile - http://cpw.state.co.us/CPWshop


That link will walk you thru how to do it


Then, Let us know what part of the state you moved. That will depend on where to get you pointed in the right direction.


Brad





 
Thomas, welcome.  What Brad(cnelk) posted will save you almost $600 on a bull tag vs non-resident.


Another thing to consider is getting your hunter safety if don't already have one.  CP&W has a list of available classes.  Just one less thing to worry about come late August.
 
Welcome Thomas! The overlays on the hunting atlas on Co's website is a great starting tool.

One thing I'll add is don't go by the harvest stats and hunter numbers on their website since they have no idea what they actually are.

Glad to see you are going to head out this fall after the breakup. It's early enough in the year that you might even hook up with a new hunting bud before season.
 
Welcome Thomas, I will first say I wish I was 17 and just moved to Colorado. You have some great hunts ahead of you. Look at all the national forests, blm and wilderness areas. You may not believe it when someone says you can throw a dart at a map and you will find elk. You just got to get onto the land and find them in that area. I am certain you learned much in the Wyoming hunts so use that also. Elk will feed low on grass and move up in the mornings to bed. Back down in the evenings. Much like whitetails, they just do it in a bigger landscape.
 
Id like to see ThomasCrook make a few more posts/contribute to be sure the rest of us dont get 'hood-winked'
 
I'm sorry! Y'all aren't being "hoodwinked" I promise haha! I just don't have much time to reply. I stay pretty busy with school, work ,and football workouts. Thanks for all of yalls advice. I really appreciate it. I've been looking at unit 47 here in CO. I live about 15 min outside of Boulder and it's only about 3.5-4 hours to unit 47 which is still a haul so I am looking for something closer but I can still probably get up there for some scouting trips this summer. 47 looks pretty rugged but there aren't too many archery hunters and I'm in good physical condition (football makes sure of that haha).
 
ThomasCrook said:
I'm sorry! Y'all aren't being "hoodwinked" I promise haha! I just don't have much time to reply. I stay pretty busy with school, work ,and football workouts. Thanks for all of yalls advice. I really appreciate it. I've been looking at unit 47 here in CO. I live about 15 min outside of Boulder and it's only about 3.5-4 hours to unit 47 which is still a haul so I am looking for something closer but I can still probably get up there for some scouting trips this summer. 47 looks pretty rugged but there aren't too many archery hunters and I'm in good physical condition (football makes sure of that haha).
Click to expand...

Good deal. Keep up the training and you'll be sprinting the mountains.  :upthumb:
I think it sounds like you're setting yourself up with a great game plan. Good luck!
 
Thomas


Im glad to see you post again!


Get a few more posts so you use the PM function - [Derek/Dan is it 5 posts?]


Then send me a PM. I have some intel to share with you that will map out your hunting for next few years.


Remember to get your residency status! You're still considered a youth in Colorado until 18 yrs old and that makes things even sweeter


We'll get you all set up!

 
cnelk said:
Get a few more posts so you use the PM function - [Derek/Dan is it 5 posts?]
Click to expand...
It used to be three posts, but I believe you might be able to PM now after one post?
 
Welcome to the forum! All great info from the posts already made. One thing I would add is join other forums such as archery talk and rokslide. Tons of information and people out there that can point you in the right direction (some literally, but remember if it?s on an open forum not PM chances are all the other hunters have seen it too).

Nothing beats boots on the ground experience that you?ll be able to accumulate before and during the season with you living so close. Keep putting in the work and I?m sure you?ll find success.


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Hey, I'm also new to hunting Colorado. If you haven't yet, go to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and take their elk hunting university course (good overview and state specific information) then I recommend taking the Elk101 University of Elk Hunting course. I held off for almost a year before signing up and I am very happy with my purchase of the Elk101 course. If you use promo code "Randy" you can save $10.

Good luck, have fun, hunt safe.

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MedicineMan15 said:
Hey, I'm also new to hunting Colorado. If you haven't yet, go to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and take their elk hunting university course (good overview and state specific information) then I recommend taking the Elk101 University of Elk Hunting course. I held off for almost a year before signing up and I am very happy with my purchase of the Elk101 course. If you use promo code "Randy" you can save $10.

Good luck, have fun, hunt safe.

Sent from my RS988 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


We've got a few other codes too that will save you $10. Let us know if anyone ever needs it.  :dance2: :upthumb:
 
Last year was my rookie elk season in Colorado and the whole experience was a dream come true. Toprut.com was the most valuable online resource aside from Google earth in my opinion. It does a real good job of breaking down the units showing success rates, how many hunters were in that unit from previous years and how many draw points to get into certain units etc. It also has a very good map feature which breaks down unit borderlines to help aid in your Google earth research. Best of luck!


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