Any thoughts on CO 1st Rifle Elk?

[matechakeric]

Looks like 100% odds for 1 point nonresident. Should be a lot less pressure than OTC units and you know they limit the # of tags per unit. Season is short Oct 10-14 (only 5 days) and the peak rut is likely over.

Seems like a lot better value than the CO OTC tag though with OTC, you don't lose your points to hunt.

 

[mdeerjunkie]

Season this year is the 16th-20th. So it will be a little farther out of the rut.

 

[nrpate05]

The first rifle hunts can be really good, and usually less pressure, but not always depending on where you are. Season dates all got pushed back about a week for 2021, which is good for most hunts but not first rifle. Pushes it further past the rut and into post-rut territory. That said, there is a long time between archery and first rifle, so the elk should be pretty comfortable on opening morning.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Fun time of year to be hunting elk in Colorado. Big difference from unit to unit. Some are very limited, others less so.

 

[matechakeric]

Season this year is the 16th-20th. So it will be a little farther out of the rut.

Ok got it. I was just echoing what gohunt had on the filter 2.0. But I guess those were last year's dates

 

[davinski]

Keep leaves in mind. What you can glass later on, you might not be able to glass in 1st season because the leaves are still on the trees, brush, etc. It can be surprising to go earlier into an area that you usually hunt later in the season.

 

[winmag]

So I guess you're not talking about Unit 61, for example, which takes 23 NR points to draw?

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Keep leaves in mind. What you can glass later on, you might not be able to glass in 1st season because the leaves are still on the trees, brush, etc. It can be surprising to go earlier into an area that you usually hunt later in the season.

This, 10X. Crippled me when I went two years ago. Wasn't able to see a thing through the tress where as a couple weeks later it would have been no problem.

Now, it made for great pictures, but terrible glassing

 

[matechakeric]

Keep leaves in mind. What you can glass later on, you might not be able to glass in 1st season because the leaves are still on the trees, brush, etc. It can be surprising to go earlier into an area that you usually hunt later in the season.

hey that's great intel. Thanks for that insight. I think that would be true though of any Rocky Mountain state in the month of October, though

 

[Dsnow9]

Keep leaves in mind. What you can glass later on, you might not be able to glass in 1st season because the leaves are still on the trees, brush, etc. It can be surprising to go earlier into an area that you usually hunt later in the season.

I guess it depends on where you hunt. I hunt 1st season most years and rarely have leaves on the aspens. I guess it just depends though.

 

[Orion’s Breath]

Definitely all good suggestions here - we really enjoy hunting the 1st Rifle, especially as you can often draw as a 2nd choice and still build a preference point that year.

 

[matechakeric]

Definitely all good suggestions here - we really enjoy hunting the 1st Rifle, especially as you can often draw as a 2nd choice and still build a preference point that year.

that's a good trick. good stuff. is the countryside just crawling in hunters?

 

[Orion’s Breath]

Definitely depends on where you’re hunting, and stay mobile, like if an areas crawling head elsewhere. I’d also add that if you can afford it, have a look at GMUs with cow tags that are ‘List B’ - these are generally units with populations over target.

Maybe pick one of those up for the same unit in the secondary draw and head out with two tags. You can also pick up concurrent bear tag for pretty cheap, and that’d be a ton of opportunity for you to capitalize on while you’re out there.