Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting CO 1st Rifle vs 2nd Rifle

Hesp, you are blessed to have that opportunity. There is an orange army 2nd & 3rd rifle most places unless you have private ground to hunt. Happy Trails

Hey WAM.. Come on down. Would be glad to show you around.SW Colorado , San Juan national forest.

Hesp,
I might just take you up on that! I’ve been hunting a ranch south of Craig for 14 years, lately with the landowner and family/friends 2nd and 3rd rifle and once 4th. We hunted north of Fruita units 30/31 in 2013. Before that we hunted in MT until the tags got hard to come by and expensive. I’d move to SW Colorado in a heartbeat but the dearly beloved is convinced that CO is infected with the Denver/Boulder crowd much like here in WA is terminally infected with the Seattle idiots that are taxing us to death. Happy Trails

She has that right and the new lib governor is going to make it worse. I fear Colorado will never have another Repubilican governor again in my lifetime

Saddlesore is right, Colorado is lost. We'll be lucky if Reps ever get a majority in either statehouse again. If you're gonna move somewhere Wyoming is one of your best bets.

1R app submitted. Me and buddy applied as a group, so we either both have a tag or we both get a point and do 2R OTC.

Chris,
Thanks for PM
Happy Trails

Weather warming here .SW Colorado, Snow melting back , at last. The back of winter has been broken..Had s single small bull wander thru my place a couple days ago. Elevation 7630' here. Will be an abundance of food & water this year. . This will allow game to scatter as opposed to being concentrated close to water sources like last season. Should have deer moving back in in a week or two. This has been a long winter. In a more normal year I would have at least half of my of my next years wood supply already cut. Last year I recall this much snow was 1996. Hit 61dg F here yesterday. . Should be able to use my shooting range again shortly. Spring at last, WAA HOO!!!!

About the same here,. I'm at 7650 and the snow is melting fast. If it isn't snow, it's mud right now. I had 7-8 deer come thru yesterday, not in to bad of shape,but they could use some groceries.Turkeys are moving around. Even saw two blue birds .

Maybe this is obvious, but CO publishes success numbers for each elk unit and season. If you look at a few years, it will be clear which is better for a given unit.

For most high mountain units, it's 1st season and not even close.

Well, it’s all over but the shouting until draw results are released. I know there is value in the summaries but I have had a tough time correlating 2nd and 3rd season success rates with what we experience most years. I’m too old to start new high country adventures so I just keep hunting our spot and hope the elk show up like they have in so many years past. Last year sucked where we were. I’m sure that all the elk that we were not seeing were elsewhere getting shot at!

Same here Wam. Last year I got a nice bull on opening day of 2nd season. Saw nothing the two years proceeding that. Have hunted it on and off since 95. Probably go back and sit at the same tree this coming years

Saddlesore,
We didn’t see boo with any headgear 2017 or 2018 2nd season but 3 cows taken in 2018. We killed 3 bulls in 2018 first 3 days of 3rd season and 1 the last day and not one cow for the hunter that only had a cow tag. In 2017 I don’t think any bulls were killed 2nd season. I had a deer tag and cow tag 2nd season and got neither. Had an OTC bull tag 3rd season and got an average 5x5 the third day. So you just never know. Many years ago I bumped into an oldtimer sitting in the same spot two years in a row as I was hiking in and out of my hunt area. I stopped and asked him if he was doing ok and he related that he has sat in that very spot for years and taken more elk than any of the others in his party that roam far and wide. That changed my elk tactics considerably. That and leave fourwheelers in camp until they are needed to drag one out.

That is what I do. In one area I hunt,I have taken3 bulls and a cow all within 100yards of each other sitting at one tree. Two bulls and a cow in three years running.Then two dry years and a bull last year

The only variable I'm aware of that you can predict far enough back to make decisions in the draw is what units have recent forest fire areas (which are generally very good).

Other than that, it's what weather you get and where the pushes the elk.

Yep, the weather you get is the weather you have to deal with. Unpredictable at best....

Yeah we were spoiled on our first trip, we had near perfect weather every day. It rained almost every night, and one night the temps dropped far enough to give us fits thawing water the next morning, but as far as hunting it was beautiful every day.

I quit using a camelback water thing several years ago for that reason. All my water froze a couple of times last year after leaving camp. It was chilly....

Welp we drew 1st rifle...pumped!

Congrats, Chris! Hope you have a great hunt!
Cheers, Steve