Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Colorado first rifle elk report GMU 23/24

Not as many hunters this year. The weather was warm, really warm. It was 50's and 60's during the day and 40's at night. The wind howled all day Sunday and Monday, blowing down many dead trees. I saw three cows Saturday at 300 yards but I didn't have an ethical shot. I saw one cow on Sunday at 400 yards and also didn't have a shot. I saw one legal bull on Sunday at 150 yards as is the norm when one has a cow license.

We had one cow elk killed out of ten hunters. I didnt see many elk hanging.

We were over in 231 I managed to shoot a lone cow. I saw no elk hanging in camps, weather was very warm on Saturday and Sunday. I'm thinking 2nd season will be ok but 3rd season might be the season to hunt this yr.

I had a great time. It was great weather for an October camping trip. If I had to kill an elk every year I would have stopped elk hunting years ago. We came home Tuesday.

Still have one afternoon left to hunt. Foggy all morning and I got tired of waiting for it to lift, so I came back to camp. Have seen a lot of elk, some up close and personal, but not the one that I am looking for.

The weather has surely been different this year and the animals have been pretty unpredictable in their movements. The wind had them just about shut down for two whole days, and it came up again yesterday afternoon just about the time that they would ordinarily start moving again. When they can't hear and can't smell, they sit pretty tight in the thick stuff.

Tough conditions with wind and full moon where we were. Got interrogated by a couple of CPW guys who were real pricks. Had great camping weather and enjoyed the hunt other than the time spent with CPW employees.

The two CPW fellas that talked to us were pretty good guys.. they were out of Hayden.. got some good info from them concerning 3rd rifle season for deer..

Heard from Jeanne Horn of J Bar H Outfitters that they have had an excellent first hunt. She guides in unit 12. She posted on her web page that while the weather was warm, the hunting was good. Her walk-in cooler was full. One of the hunters up there for the first season has said that he saw more elk than he has seen in years. He was hunting above 9,000 feet.

The long range weather report for the second season, looks much like the first. I look forward to the third season and hopefully cooler weather.

GMU 15 - same wind and warm weather, other than about 1.5" of snow Tuesday evening. Walked 6-7 miles on Wed. morning and saw one set of fresh elk tracks in the snow. Saw no elk hanging and heard few shots. Saw one area in the southern portion of the area that had several fresh tracks, but never saw any elk. Did see three fine mulie bucks and numerous does as well as one moose over the season. Tag soup...again.

Saw more DOW folks than I've ever seen outside of their office. Four trucks and probably 7-8 officers all mixed in a group of horses along the road....not sure what was up or if the horses belonged to an outfitter or were being used by DOW.

Talked to one of the big processors here in Meeker today. He said that they were maxed out the first day, busy as hell until about noon on the second and then it was really slow from that point on.