Advice for Elk Hunting Colorado

No information on Colorado but I would look at SW Montana public land if you are comfortable around bears. Tags are pretty easy to obtain and land is plentiful. I hunted NW Wyoming last year, but that tag might take two years depending if you enter the regular or special draw.

Be careful with drop camps. Great idea in general, but they basically take you back to the same spots they use every year. The elk may be there or not.

As said I’d consider another state. But you need to give yourself plenty of time, and you need to keep moving until you get into elk. Don’t drive out and set up an elaborate camp until you find the elk. Move move move until you do so.

Id take any help you can provide, how is Montana different than Colorado, We could change our plans if its a better opportunity.

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how is Montana different

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A lot in my opinion. Much better hunting. However it’s 10-12 hours further depending where you hunt. Most BLMs in Montana are accessible. Some you have to sign in to enter. In Colorado most blms are inaccessible by common means, ie you may have to ride by horseback 12 mi through a mountain to access the backside of the blm. Etc.

Montana has a lot less locals and out of state hunter concentrations per area. Land is very accessible and if you put in the work to reach a remote drainage, usually pretty good hunting. I usually hunt around Ennis and the elk get pretty predictable when the snow starts and they head down to the low river valleys.

When we hunt Montana, the motel is packed. But you never see anyone hunting. In colorado, the motel is packed, campgrounds are packed, the public wma are packed...only place not packed is the public blms you can’t access.

Bow hunting Colorado during archery and 2nd or 3rd rifle season are two different animals

There are plenty of places to go where That isn’t the case. And there is more unlocked blm than there is locked. But you can choose to hunt wherever you feel is going to be a better hunt.

I’ve bow hunted in Colorado on public land last two years. Buddy has the last 4 years. If we had guns we’d have killed multiple elk every year.

If your not willing to do a lot of hiking, then yeah, you probably won’t see anything. Our base camp is 7 miles into the mountain from where we park near a public trail head. We hike a good 5-7 miles every day from that base camp when we hunt. We park near 7,000 feet and we will reach over 11,000 feet, base camp is at 9,500.

We’ve seen very few other hunters at the parking spot, and have never seen one on the mountain. We have come across people on horseback that have cattle roaming.