Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Colorado hunting (and fishing)

Am slated to go to Carson next and can't wait! So, here is my customary give me your honey hole spots so I don't need to do any work on my own to find a place to go hunt. Fishing too please. A 10 digit grid isn't necessary, 8 will suffice.

So looking forward to it and the hiking, biking, hunting of course, and being able to stretch the 280AI out. Can go rifle or bow actually.

But really, what OTC units would you suggest to start checking out? Hunt deer, elk, and hopefully pronghorn if I can and would appreciate a point in the right direction.

TIA



Looking over the deer regs, am I limited to one unit that I must put in for and draw? Used to out west where I can go all over as long as it isn't a draw only unit.

Being at FT Carson why not try for elk on the base? The do have special hunts.

To hunt on carson you need to go straight to range control and find out when they offer the classes so you can hunt on post. I think its the last Thursday of every month. They do have a from what I been told a good elk herd their but training dictates where you can hunt and with 1st bde going into full blown training most ranges will be tied up all year until they go to NTC for training whenever that is.

Why don't you try to attend this?
Might pick some info.
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/9746803/1

I'd enjoy it, but likely to still be in Germany at that time. Wish I could

You could certainly pick up a leftover pronghorn tag and fill it in SE Colorado. I have filled them on the open-to-public areas but when you see a herd somewhere you sometimes need to knock on a door. I've always been told go ahead or else given a price for access. I've never been told no.

A lot more whitetail tags are being made available. Prolly not much different with those.

OTC bull tags really favor those who are most familiar with the state. OTC bull tags are not easy to fill - especially if you use them the way you would plan for a traditional elk hunt. The real advantage is that you have an enormous area to choose from. If you can become a little bit nomadic, plan on short notice, react to conditions, then you can take advantage of whatever areas got early snow storms or burned in recent years, etc., and avoid areas that are suffering drought or burn this year, are overpressured, or otherwise adversely affected local hunting.

Good info, thanks. Don't know their typical training areas, but one advantage I may have is aerial scouting. Will certainly help me out

As far as fishing goes, Pueblo Reservoir just south of the fort has trout, bass (lg and sm mouth), wiper, catfish and pan fish such as green sunfish, bluegill and crappie.

Reservoirs to the East such as Adobe Creek and John Martin are also good for walleye or sauger, bass, crappie and catfish.

West of I25 most of the mountainous areas have trout in the streams and lakes. Spinney Mountain Reservoir and Eleven mile Reservoir are noted for large trout and pike. Eleven mile also has Kokanee salmon some of the largest in the state.

Come on down the fishing's good.

You are too late for the draw (dead line 4/7), but if you get here by August the left over draw tags are available from around the 10th of August (don't remember the exact date this year). Deer are a draw only species but there are some white tail only unlimited tags for hunting in December in Units along the Arkansas River corridor west of the Fort. Most of these WTs are on private land along creek bottoms some do branch out though.

Down load the fishing and big game brochures from the CO CPW site for more information.

Good luck.

Taco280AI:

Shoot me a PM when you get to Ft. Carson and we'll talk. I'll show you some honey holes where you can find elk and deer but I won't tell you where they are.

I'm not much of a fisherman. I've pretty much figured out how to fish the timberline lakes and can show you some good places. But in other situations, my fishing prowess is pretty pathetic.

KC

P.S. Here's a tip. There is some real good quail hunting in the far southeast corner of Fort Carson. They jump back and forth between Ft. Carson and a couple of private gravel quarries located adjacent to the post boundary.

Will he still need a conservation tag in addition to any license he may stumble across?

It's called a habitat stamp in Colorado and yes you need to buy one each year. $10 I think.

KC

Well I'm here. Need to get the reg booklet and start figuring things out if I can get a leftover tag.

Haven't hunted since 2011 due to the career, hoping to get some meat in the freezer. Rumor is I won't be in the area come next season so it is all on this one.

CO will publish the leftover license list on 7/28 this year and they go on sale in Aug. Look over the list and see what is available. I've taken a lot of game on leftover tags.

Yes, the leftover license system is wonderful- when CPW decides to provide adequate technology. Here is a copy of the letter I just sent them:

Once again, the CPW comes through for the sportsmen who pay outlandish license fees for the "privilege" of hunting in CO.

You list a phone number for leftover licenses, then you hire a contractor who cannot staff the phone line in sufficient quantity to handle the volume.

Last year, your internet site went down. This year you cannot handle phone calls.

And each year you petition the wildlife commission for higher and higher license fees. More money for less service. Another great American value.

It would be interesting to watch your management deal with the stupidity, the red tape, the exorbitant fees, and the horrible customer service of their own organization.

Got 59/581 for elk, close by at least

3584ELK- you forgot to mention that the internet license sales went down this year too. July 21st, for OTC tags, and OTC with caps tags. Whole system went down because contractor could not handle the traffic, even though the had an opportunity to learn from last year's events.

I was fortunate to know that you just keep trying the portal every couple of minutes. It took 2.5 hours but eventually I got the tag I was trying for.

We shall see what transpires tonight at midnight, when leftovers are available online. My money's on another system wide failure.

KC - I like your approach of you'll show him some spots but won't tell him. Put a little skin in the game and once deemed worthy share some knowledge. Although I'll be the first to admit I'm not telling anyone anything anymore about spots to hunt. Too many times burned. I'm sure countless good natured people can relate. Tell or take a guy hunting one year, then the next year compete against him and his gang of friends for the same spot.

Lost a few honey holes that way. I was even suckered with the "help my kid - get a doe" ruse. Unfortunately people are often dishonest with their intentions.

Taco280AI - my advice to you is to become active in the Mule Deer Foundation , RMEF, or similar organizations. You will find that many people are willing to give you tips, and advice...especially when you're working along side them to improve/preserve habitat and hunting opportunities.

Too little advice is given on the subject of giving back to the sport.

Also find the time to explore. It's a given in today's world that we are all pressed for time- the difference between elk hunting dreamers, and elk harvesters is directly proportionate to how much time on the ground they have spent in their boots on their hunting grounds.

Any success you have will more than likely be attributed to the effort put into the pursuit.

Good luck to you and thank you for your service.

The story from CPW concerning the license vendor is that vendor bouht out all the competition and now therr is no one else to go to so they can't fire them. Yea Right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I appreciate the help offered by KC.

We've all been burned I'm sure. Showed a friends dad and his son in law (not his son, my friend) one of my hunting areas one year. The next year I saw both there and was like WTF... what are you doing here? And was WhoTF are these other two guys you brought with you? None of the four got a deer there, but I still managed to with some luck. Is tough showing someone a spot and when you get burned, you're more hesitant to help out.

The vendor is Active Net. I left a message on their FB page and wrote their customer support team. Maybe if we direct our disgust at the vendor rather than CPW, it will achieve the desired result?

I did exactly that.Only response was an apology.However, if no one contacts the CPW about it and let them know of our frustration. Nothing will be done about it.