Colorado elk

[elk_horn]

does anybody have any suggestions for DIY archery elk hunt in Colorado which over the counter unit wouold be a good coice.... Anybody know much about Unit 70?

 

[archeryelk]

The Colorado website has TONS of information. Start there and maybe we can help.

Archer

 

[elk_horn]

Colorado Website???? I typed in Colorado and got 100s of sites none of which were helpful... I also got on there fish and game site and you can pull all kinds of numbers on the harvest but that changes each year. I have the Unit map and I have hunted Colorado before but would just like someones advice on unit 70.

 

[txhunter58]

LAST EDITED ON May-14-06 AT 08:08PM (MST)[p]I hear it more as a deer unit than elk, but there area some good pockets of elk areas too.

If you are looking for advice about which drainage to hunt, get ready for dissapointment, however if you are doing preliminary research, then there are several websites that are helpful. You will have to do some detective work on them, but they will tell you how many hunters for each species and success rates. That will tell you if it is worth checking out further. If it is, get some maps, check out where the public land is, try and figure some areas away from roads, then call the local DOW officer and ask specific questions: "Is the road open, is 'bull mountain' a good area for elk, etc." Ask specific quesions and you will get specific answers, they are usually very helpful.

When hunting unit 70, I would shoot the first legal bull you see. Lots of elk in the area, but big bulls are pretty rare.

I realize that a lot of the info you can get from these websites is about drawing a tag for these areas, and you are going on a OTC hunt, but you will also find hunter numbers for each hunt to see how crowed you will be and for the limited hunts for that area (for instance the first rifle season) how many applied, to weigh the demand for that area.

Here area some good tools:

http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/BigGame/Statistics/

http://www.huntodds.com/

http://wildlife.state.co.us/

Here is a specific site that breaks down hunters and success of each unit by seasons:

http://wildlife.state.co.us/NR/rdonlyres/7828FA0B-D87C-4CDF-A7F1-1F178E7B285D/0/2005Elkharvest.pdf

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[elk_horn]

thanks... I already have been on the site that shows the stats... I guess I need to call the local DOW office. I thought maybe someone would ponit me in the right direction... area 70 is huge.

 

[txhunter58]

I think there is quite a bit of low country and a fair amount private land in the western 1/2. The eastern 1/2 from Telluride west on the north side of Lizard head wilderness past Beaver mountain to Lone Cone mountain where you can find public land would be a good starting point.

Find you some good maps (Uncompahgre National forest Would be a good place to start) and see where the public land is and have some ideas before you call the DOW.

Good luck.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)