OTC Colorado Elk

[Big Fin]

Just left the DOW office and have my Over the Counter bull tag in my pocket. Season starts tomorrow. My brother, Jason (Log Dawg), came out from Minnesota to see if he can hang his tag on his first elk.

The weather seems to be an extension of the New Mexico weather. Hot and mild. Rumor has that a storm is coming on Tuesday, but until I see a foot of snow on the ground, I am not counting on it.

Anyone who is not hunting elk this year, could/should be. Colorado has a tag for you. There are 93 units that have OTC tags for bull elk in the 2nd and 3rd season. Almost 300,000 elk living on 23 million acres of public land, so I hope we can find one of them.

I would like to see any other TV show come to CO and hunt OTC elk on public land, self-guided. Something tells me they would decline that invitation.

The elk are in the thick oak brush. Getting a sighting of one will be difficult, let alone footage. Footage of us shooting one in those conditions could be close to a miracle.

We have allotted a few extra days for this hunt, knowing that getting a bull will be one of the more difficult challenges of the season.

Will give an update tomorrow.

 

[Dinkshooter]

I'd say enjoy your 3 days of sun then make sure and tie the tent down tight.

Watched 4 bulls this morning. Was amped. Then realized they were on private. So it goes.

 

[highmountian]

Good luck and enjoy it all. Looking into going there next year for an archery hunt!

 

[Mudranger1]

Good Luck! is there a main unit you guys will be hunting in? or just traveling around?

 

[SDHNTR]

This is what TV shows should be all about. You are right, the others don't have the nads to even attempt to pull this off!

 

[Pickle]

Good luck. Almost 2 feet of snow and 60mph winds ran us out of the West Elk Wilderness last Monday. We saw two bulls and quite a few cows but just couldn't connect the dots on them. I wish we could/would have stayed but I believe that if we had stayed....a helicopter would have had to come get us out.

 

[van franke]

Good luck Fin, we struck out elk killing but had a blast hunting.

 

[Summitthunting]

Hot,Hot,Hot

Keep positive and look forward to mid week. Were going to have record highs in Denver over the weekend! But don't worry you'll have all of the elk to yourselves since you'll be getting more than 300yds off the road. Good Luck

 

[Big Slick]

Good luck Fin, May the wind be in your face and the slug be in his heart!!!

 

[stillkickin]

Good luck Jason and Randy, hope this filming episode works out! Keep us posted...

 

[NVLongbow]

Can't believe the pace you are keeping. Hope you and Jason get a big one.

 

[Big Fin]

Today was mostly a scouting day, given how much TV work we had to do yesterday and the interruption that caused to our scouting plans.

The high today was 71F. Not good elk hunting weather.

The morning was what I expected. Warm, lots of hunters, and no elk. Did use it as a way to eliminate a bunch of terrain. Heard lots of shooting down in the oaks and no shooting above in the dark timber or the aspens. Given there were many camps above and below us and all the shooting was coming from the oaks below, it didn't take long for me to decide what the afternoon plan would be.

We spent all of our mid-day exploring roads that might provide some access to remote areas that would be overlooked by others due to terrain or private access. Every road we tried was gated in the areas where it crossed private property. Obviously none of those roads had easements. Would love to find a way into those spots, as I am sure there are elk in those isolated parcels. Just can't figure out how to get into them.

The afternoon found us on the ridges above the oak flats. About 5:00PM, elk were popping up from the oaks like gophers. Ended the evening with a final tally of three five pointers, a raghorn, and a spike. All the elk were far off on other ridges, allowing us no time to close the deal, and given the amount of oak brush, getting one of them will be a real challenge.

Tomorrow morning we will be standing on the ridges across from where those elk disappeared this evening. Whether or not they will come back to the public, or stay on the private where they were headed, who knows. Guess we will know by this time tomorrow.

The weather forecast does look to be improving for hunting. By Monday, we might have some white stuff.

Not sure if the hunters will stay around for the entire week, or if many of them are weekenders. I was told of what the hunters numbers would be on these OTC hunts. Even with that warning, I was not quite prepared for this level of orange dots on the trails, hills, and especially the roads.

The ATV dealerships must be booming in Colorado. Good news is that we were off road all day and not one ATV was spotted in an area where they were not allowed. Very impressive to see that level of compliance, given the large number of ATVs we saw.

Jason was pretty excited to see that elk do exist here. He was even more excited to get a phone call from his 11 year old daughter, Jordyn. Minnesota has a mentored youth hunt. Her grandpa convinced her to go in the deer stand this evening. She shot a great "9 pointer" with her new .243. I sure wish Jason could have been there for that. Congrats Jordyn.

Hope to have an elk picture to post tomorrow.

 

[Wally Dog]

Best O' Fin, I missed you for coffee when I blew thru Bozetown on Thursday.
WD

 

[Big luke1981]

Hope you have a big one down tomorrow. Good luck and have fun!!!!

 

[Dinkshooter]

lots of hunters, and no elk.
Not sure if the hunters will stay around for the entire week, or if many of them are weekenders. I was told of what the hunters numbers would be on these OTC hunts. Even with that warning, I was not quite prepared for this level of orange dots on the trails, hills, and especially the roads.

Now that is funny.

The pumpkin patch in full bloom.

 

[Khunter]

Now that is funny.

The pumpkin patch in full bloom.

I was told of what the hunters numbers would be on these OTC hunts. Even with that warning, I was not quite prepared for this level of orange dots on the trails, hills, and especially the roads.

.

This is the typical trailhead scene for Colo OTC units. They let the orange army through the starting gate in groups of 6 every 5 minutes so each group gets to have a quality experience!

 

[Summitthunting]

Don't forget to say hi to the cavalry!

 

[Brandenbowhunter]

Good luck! Hope it is less crowed then your MT hunt!

 

[Big Fin]

Sundays must be "the hunting day" in Colorado. Yesterday was just a warm up for today.

We were the first guys on the ridge, set up and ready to glass about fifteen minutes before shooting light. About ten minutes after shooting light, the parade started. And what a parade it was.

First was a group of three ATV driving the road below us. They stopped and dropped off one hunter, then drove off road, up a ridge of scattered oaks to drop off a second guy. Then they went and parked on ridges below us.

Shortly thereafter, the procession got better. A Suzuki Samari came down the ridge and was packed so full of orange clad hunters, it made me laugh. That was followed by two Jeep Cherokees filled to the gills with guys.

Eventually, four more UTVs would show up. Not sure how many hunters were in the drainage below us, but there were ten motorized craft of some sort.

The hill side was orange with hunters and as hard as it was to believe, filled with elk sneaking through the oaks. From our vantage, we glassed over 40 elk, but not a legal bull among them. Some spikes and one with a fork, but none with four points per side or a five-inch brow tine.

Was funny to watch these elk navigate around the hunters. At times the elk and hunters were so close, you would swear there was no way the hunters could not see the elk. Yet, they would sneak past and move around the mountain to other areas void of hunters.

We watched this for a while, then finally realized that even if we saw a legal bull, trotting down the ridge among these hunters would not only be difficult, but also on the side of dangerous.

With that, we moved on, looking for a place with fewer hunters and hopefully more legal bulls. It took most the day to find that place, but this afternoon we found two such locations. All will be a grunt to get to.

One is a high pocket of dark timber with aspens below. Tonight I glassed two nice bulls between the fir and aspen. We will be set up there at daylight tomorrow.

The other is a huge oak-drenched mountainside that has only one trail. It has motorized travel restrictions and amazingly, not one ATV has been in there. One set of horse tracks and three sets of old boot tracks. Maybe that means there are no elk, but I would bet elk are in there.

So, it has taken two days to find where the hunters are sparse and the elk still exist. We now have four days to get Jason a bull from one of those locations. If we do, we will both be sore the following day.

We did see one really nice buck on our way into town this evening. He is about a half mile from the public. If he gets to the public and I am there, he is in trouble. He would be my largest mule deer.

But, for the time being, it is about getting Jason an elk.

Hope to have some pics to post tomorrow.

 

[stillkickin]

Be safe guys and good luck tomorrow! BTW Jason if Fin gets too far ahead of you fake a hip injury....always works for me!