Colorado OTC Advice

[ETArchery]

Hey guys, I have posted on here and had some luck already with some great advice. I have also learned some additional things through my extensive research looking for an area to backpack in for 6-7 nights and hunt elk with a bow OTC.

First- Do not post the spots you are thinking about going to unless you are extremely vague or are PMing, people want to help you but not at the cost of giving places out for the world
Second- Do not assume you know something others don't about an area when it is your first time and you've only looked at onXmaps, google earth, etc.
Third- Anyone serious is also looking at harvest reports, population estimates, and checking any other statistics for the elk herds is every unit
Fourth (and final)- If you have discovered an area of interest, do a lot more research on the area through EVERY forum on the internet, but remember some people might be trying to scare others away from their spot. It is a touchy subject when someone's "spot" or "area" has been posted for the hunting world to see, so it's best to scare people away the best you can.

Having said this, me and my group of friends have narrowed down a few areas and units in CO to do our first backpack archery elk hunt the first week of the season. We did not draw in the area we applied for so we are going OTC. We are still very open to new areas to explore and add to the list. We are coming from the East Coast, so boots on the ground isn't really an option this year at the moment, but have some connections to help us out with that. Please respond here or PM me with any advice on gear or outside of the box ideas that might help a first timer, I am open to bouncing some ideas around on specific areas without the limelight. We have thrown everything at this thing and trying some more calculated angles, but this is new to us and we aren't afraid to get as much help as possible.

 

[mottlet]

When I killed my first bull, we went to a Colorado OTC unit that my hunting partner had had some success with in the past, but hadn't hunted in several years. To say that hunting pressure had increased would be an understatement. When we got there, we struggled to even find a camping spot. Literally every flat spot off the side of the road already had someone camping there. We finally found a spot others wouldn't use, because you couldn't pull a truck right up to it. So we "hiked" all our crap in a couple hundred yards and actually had a pretty decent spot.

Hunted hard, but elk were scarce and people were not. There were people in every spot my partner had hunted in the past, there were people that had gone deep and were a day's hike into the backcountry, and there were plenty of people just sitting in all those camps. So we were lamenting our situation one night around the fire with a bottle of bourbon, and we heard a bugle. Went up the next morning to where we heard it with no luck. But found some sign. Next night, he bugled again in a different spot. Interesting. Plans started to form. Best part was, because we had to camp in such a "crappy" spot, we were the only camp that could hear him when he would bugle. Once. In the middle of the night.

I'll skip ahead and just say that we pieced those two bugles, the only bugles we heard the whole trip, into a strategy that ended with me in a small meadow less than a half mile from camp, with the road between us. But I had to scramble up a pretty steep bluff to get there, not for very long, but it looked just hard enough I guess. So I'm sitting up in this meadow and it starts to rain. Rains for fifteen minutes and stops. All manner of wildlife comes into the meadow, including a bunch of mulie does, and genius hunter that I am, I think, now might be the time. So I did a couple cow calls and fifteen minutes later a small 5x5 bull curiously wandered into that meadow and I shot him at 40 yards, right before he stepped into my scent cone. He went 70 yards or so and tipped over. Same bull that we heard? Can't say for sure, but we didn't hear any night bugling after he was dead. Gotta think he was living up there, watching all those camps, and watching all those hunters drive right by him. Or maybe he was just a young bull that didn't know any better, but that wasn't how he acted.

Anyhow, that's a lot of words to get to something I've heard a bunch from experienced elk hunters and you probably have too: elk are where you find em. Especially in highly pressured OTC units.

 

[ETArchery]

@mottlet Thank you for response, that is a pretty awesome story. I will definitely keep your account in mind during our time on the mountain. We have real expectations when going OTC, we know we will see people, more than we would prefer to see. We also know that might require some more creative thinking, because when you think like an elk hunter you will find more elk hunters. But if you try to think like an elk, you might just find what you're looking for. I hope we come out with a story like that successful or not, and I will certainly share it if we do.

 

[clueless]

You make some good points to keep in mind. Sounds like y'all are going about things the right way though. I too will be going OTC Co this year (as will many many others).


J