Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting colorado unit 23

Hi guys thank you in advance for any help.

We drew a deer tag for this area we are leaving in the morning to do some glassing. My question is do you think it worth the money to pick up a elk tag never hunted the area before do not know the aniamal behavior if you need snow to move elk into our units etc.

If we see elk obvisoly we will get some over the counter tags before the dead line. The weather looks like snow tommorow then the next storm late in the season do not know if that helps ot hurts but asume storms are good.

We have a few ideas where to hunt deer from some people that have hunted the units b4 and we been studing the On X maps.

We are just scratching our heads on elk tags or not. We fiqure uncle Joe's gas prices have already added enough cost to our trip to buy us both elk tags if we had last years gas prices.

That is sure $600+ gamble if you have never hunted that unit before. Most likely you won't find elk where you will be deer hunting.Not always though

Thanks saddlesore appreciate it.

I have a friend that just got back from hunting unit 23 and 2. He said they saw no elk. Last year they saw quite a few but just ahead of this season Mike said they got a big storm up high and it moved the elk down lower. The day they were packing out a game warden stopped to see them and he told them it was the slowest he had ever seen for these two areas. He also said the hunters in unit 11, west of Meeker were having an excellent season. It seems the elk moved there after the storm.

Thanks Jim that really helps and saves us some cash. We will be glassing tomorow and unless we spot somthing will stick to deer.Sure appreciate it.

You're very welcome. They had a great year last season there but allot of hunters. He said they counted 82 shots the first day!

Rule #1 to guarantee you see elk, don’t buy a tag.....

Holly cow 82 shots should buy a flack jacket.

I agree Jeff for sure.

Yep! I haven't been in there but it sounds like the access is pretty open to about anything with wheels. That means allot of hunters.

I’ve killed a bunch of elk on public land in unit 23 and I’ve watched cow elk grazing 50 yards from my truck when I didn’t buy a cow tag & a bull grazing 200 yards away when I didn’t buy a bull tag. Lots of sustained hunting pressure in the area. I’ll be there in 2 weeks hopefully pick the right directions for a change. When I go South the elk go North & vice versa it seems most years. Stubborn persistence pays off but honestly I’d rather be lucky.

I would buy one. I hunted first season there this year and it was a very busy year with a lot of elk. The snow kept hunters on the roads and the elk stayed out of the timber unpressured. They did not move anywhere because of the snow, and they are still where they were two weeks ago.

Is the area restricted to where you can go with an ATV or do they have to stay on the established roads?

Not really sure, I have never ridden an atv. I know there are signs at some trails saying how it can be used. I have never seen one off trail, and the animals key on the sound.

I don't ride one either. Just trying to avoid planning a hunt where they are all over. I'd rather not fill a tag as put up with them.

Mixed bag in the area - plenty of spaces for idiots on ATV’s and many areas they are prohibited or terrain doesn’t allow for their use. More areas prohibited in the last few years. We often drive a ITV to the end of the trails then hike in past where lazy hunters stop but not so far the pack out is ridiculous. Overslept day 2 a couple of years ago went to the biggest idiot spot so I didn’t ruin anyone’s hunt & killed a nice buck 70 yards on the way in. In the butcher by 7:30 nice restaurant breakfast before back to the hunt - better lucky than good.

23 gets hit hard by tons of road hunters. Few times I hunted it I never saw any deer. The place I saw deer I told you about in pm. Are you all staying in meeker? Also you will have a bunch of folks in 23 for the simple fact Oak Ridge SWA and Jensen SWA is right their by meeker. Those roads will take you clears across 23 to 24. I would go to morapos creek stl. I mention this area to you as well. From Hamilton go to miles south on Highway 13 then go south on County Road 41 go 2 miles to access Blm land. access is steep and up to 2 miles from CR game retrieval may be difficult. Only access is from parking lot on BLM land on County Road 41 on southside of property.

Those are reasonably good spots, not state secrets but not known by everyone. All the patches of BLM mixed in the middle of private have potential for deer.