Colorado Public Elk Hunt

I can't help you with your questions, but remember half the fun is in the planning, hope you enjoy it

I told my wife tonight I need to start some type of cardio program now.

If we wouldn't get random drug tests at work I can guarantee I would probably be the only one in the group that wouldn't puff, puff, pass. Lol

My one tip for you is that if you are serious, take at least 10 days to hunt. If you have hunted public land as said above and are very serious about it if you give yourself 10-14 days you'll have a heck of a chance at putting at least a small bull down.

Way too many guys try and go do a public land out of state elk hunt with 5-7 days. I mean that's almost absurd to even attempt. You gotta give yourself at least 7-10 days if you truly want success.

Im looking to do 12 days of rifle hunting. If I cant get within 400-500 yrds of an elk in two weeks than shame on me.

Had a buddy do the same thing. I think he mainly wanted an excuse to buy all the gear. Didn't kill anything, and I think his expectations were a bit too high for a noobie trying to kill an elk out there. But he said it was a fun trip.

My thread from last season.

I went in 2012 on a DIY Public Elk hunt in the San Juan National Forest just north of Mancos, CO.

We spent 3-4 days in and out of those canyons looking for elk and not seeing any action. We finally decided to go look up on the flatter areas and I arrowed a decent 5x4 within an hour of going the other way away from where most of the people were. We also saw 2 really good bulls while we were hauling mine out of the woods.

Work in teams and get good at calling... you should do well once you locate a bull.

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After doing a little research, I'm wondering if for the first trip a drop camp setup maybe ideal for us. Spend less time searching for a camp site and save a little on gear, more time for hunting.

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I've never done a drop camp so take it for what it's worth, but I wouldn't recommend them unless you are doing a 'partially guided' type of deal. The issue with drop camps is they generally take guys to the exact same camp site year after year. Sometimes the elk are there, sometimes they are not. So yes they take you away from roads, but that's not necessarily to the elk. If the elk are there they are great, if they aren't they are worthless.

You can rent muless/horse for a day for fairly reasonably with a guy helping obviously. Drop camp hunts are usually like $2000/ person per week last I checked. You can usually rent a guy with horse for $200-300/ pack in/out last I checked. Let's say $500 even, you do that going in and going out and it does the same thing but you are more mobile.

Just my 2 cents.

quote:

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I've never done a drop camp so take it for what it's worth, but I wouldn't recommend them unless you are doing a 'partially guided' type of deal. The issue with drop camps is they generally take guys to the exact same camp site year after year. Sometimes the elk are there, sometimes they are not. So yes they take you away from roads, but that's not necessarily to the elk. If the elk are there they are great, if they aren't they are worthless. You can rent muless/horse for a day for fairly reasonably with a guy helping obviously. Drop camp hunts are usually like $2000/ person per week last I checked. You can usually rent a guy with horse for $200-300/ pack in/out last I checked. Let's say $500 even, you do that going in and going out and it does the same thing but you are more mobile. Just my 2 cents

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We've lightly talked about renting a horse/mule. I thought about it after I typed it, that a drop camp would have us honed in and fixed to one location. If we aren't seeing any action we can always pickup and move somewhere else putting up our own camp.