Looking for some advice on which areas of this unit to concentrate on in 1st rifle season for bull elk. Have read to hunt lower deep canyons. Any specific drainages that could be recommended would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Terry

Any advice on this unit ?

Unit 62 is a pretty hard area to hunt do to the amount of hunters in that unit. If I were to give you any advise I would say you need to get where no other hunters are because the mountains are are going to be moving with hunters and if you can get some where that no one else is, they will push elk right to you. Maybe a hidden watering spot.

Probably won't be much help , but since you aren't getting many responses I hunted that unit about 15 years ago once with a group I don't huint with any more . We didn't kill that year but did see elk the first morning in an area off of what IFIRC was 7N Mesa road .There was water in some beaver ponds there . Wish I could be more help but like I said only time I have been there and changed areas and groups after that .

TH8547,

Try looking at Kelso Mesa and Love Mesa on a map. Find a nasty little canyon with lots of brush and far from a ATV trail. Actually, it's impossible to get far from a trail in 62 but easy to get into a nasty canyon which will keep other hunters away to a degree. I was hunting coyotes up there two weekends ago (got two!) and it is very dry, it won't be long before there is a fire somewhere on the Unc.

I don't hunt 62 because there are too many hunters and too many ATV's. There are plenty of elk up there and you might get a monster that wanders over from the unit 61 side. It's a nice playground for us other times of the year and close by.

I actually like the lone cone (GMU 70) better for hunting. Less people same amount of elk. Most of the people here go to 70 instead of waisting there time with 62

Thanks for the responses and please keep them coming. I figure a good water source may be key as well as an area that physiclly retricts vehicle access.

ttt

If you are dead set on hunting unit 62, I would stick with 7N and Moore mesa. Kelso and Love Mesa are good but there are so many hunters it is hard to get some where they arent already. We have killed elk down Smoke House Rd also.

Thanks. We are committed to Unit 62 - since we drew 2012 non-resident tags already, so we will check out the areas you have recommended. I assume that pressure will be somewhat less due to 1st season draw only tags ?

Most everything BeanMan said. As I noted in the Unit 61 thread, the elk are more likely to be higher this year and closer to water, rather than the lower reaches of the canyons (but there will still be elk down there too).

Last weekend was the first rainfall on the Plateau since the snow melted (and there wasn't much snow to melt). I'm kinda' waiting for a fire too..........

Casey

ttt

Beanman's advice is good. I've been on both mesas and there's good elk and good mule deer on each. It wasn't too long ago when I picked-up a matching set of elk sheds that scored 167 on one side and 184 on the other.

Thanks,
We are studying these area's on topo maps now. Is best access from Montrose side I assume ?

You can come in from below or above, on most mesas that are on the "east" side of the plateau. Bear in mind that there are inholdings on both BLM and NFS lands and some roads and/or two-tracks will lead to a locked gate. But, you should be able to pick those out on your topographicals and BLM/NFS maps. Also, unless federal policy has changed in the past two years, some mesas do not have vehicular access to the tops.

Thank you for the additional detail.

Sounds like BS. Pics?

I would have thought you would have a statewide tag not tied to any specific unit unless it is a trophy unit. There is going to be alot of people up there looking for elk and it is going to throw the elk into a WTF kind of sceneio where they are running around not knowing what to do. There are certainly elk there, you will just need a little luck on your side

There are no state wide tags for 1st season rifle elk. Unit 62 is like all other units - 1st season is limited draw and limited tags which is why I believe there will be less hunters than everyone seems to allude to. Looking at the DOW stats shows a lot less hunters in 1st rifle than most any season.

Thats funny when you say limited tags ! It's limited for the first season (and 4th) and will have fewer hunters than the 2nd and 3rd season, "BUT" there will be "A LOT" of hunters especially with the extra 250 cows tags they added to the overall tags this year. It is the heaviest hunted unit in Colorado !

My family (my dad started hunting the unit in 1967) and I have been hunting the unit for over 40 years. So what these other guys are telling you is absolutely true about the crowds. There will be guys in places you would not even think people would be.

Also with the amount of archers there are now days in the unit and muzzy hunters those elk will be well trained before you get there. Your best bet would be stick close to the unit 61 side and hope a stupid untrained bull crosses the road.

Good luck !

Quinton

I've hunted 62 several times. I don't want to go back, for hunting.

It has too much easy access for motorized traffic. Bow season is a free-for-all.

There are several travel areas into and out of 61. Try east and west of Columbine Campground, within 2 miles east and 3 miles west of the campground.

Other than that, get down in Kitty Cat and hump down into the wilderness area.

Good luck.

We have ML hunted there and are going back in early Sept. There are lots of Elk, but you typically don't see them up on top. Elk don't like to be bothered and that means they are down in the bottom of those deep canyons. I suspect there are Elk in every canyon that has water. There are a lot of hunters, but it's a huge area and most of them don't get far from the roads.
Lots of Bears in there too. We go up on the pleateu out of Delta.

Thanks for the advice. We figure we will need to get off the road and also find water - especially this year.

up again

fwiw - We're going 3rd combined for the first time. Been watching this thread closely. Thanks to all.

Parts of the Unc had a huge thunderstorm last night. Up to 2 inches of rain in the Dominguez Canyon area.

ttt

up again

It has been raining about every other day it seems, really cloudy, keeping the temps down. Still dry but not nearly as bad as it was. Rained last night as well, not sure how much but it rained pretty hard for 10-15 min

Thanks. Is there a fresh water source anywhere near Love or Kelso Mesas ?

For those who may heve followed this dialogue. We took a nice 5 x 5 bull and had a chance at a 4 x 4 bull. Also chased a herd bull for 2 days - but he out smarted us. Saw a lot of nice muleys and a beast of a black bear. There were more hunters than we expected - but most did not use their legs to hunt - most were road hunting in trucks or on 4 wheelers. Plenty of game if you are willing to hunt.

Congratulations on a successful hunt. This spring I was unable to even pick up a preference point due to being in school, but I hope to get into the thick of the CO elk hunting in a couple of years.