I see that the deadline to apply for Colorado elk is march 3 a Tuesday. Does anyone know the exact date that they draw the licenses. I'm just wondering how much time I have to save up for a license.

I believe in the past they got to the elk draw in June. But this year is different with no paper apps, could be earlier, or could be later.

I sure hope you got that date wrong or I'm screwed.....
Ok I checked the application deadline is April 3. This year there is a change, no paper applications, but you will give a credit card number when you apply and will not get charged unless you're successful. There is a $3 application fee that they will charge you to process the application. If you draw the license you want then they will charge your credit card. Good luck in the draw!

April...... not March

Yep, its April. Anyway, you have a choice of rifles.....

Drawing is June 4-8 if I recall correctly. That is the time frame that successful tags will be charged and it should be complete and verified by then. Happy Trails

Thanks wam

79inpa, Anytime! Deadline for applications for CO Limited License draw is always the first Tuesday in April. They won’t charge your card until you are successful, around June 4-8 this year. Good luck and happy hunting! Cheers

Elk numbers are down so there will be reduced #'s of tags available for the draw.. Every year more hunters applying as opposed to past years. Colorado's population has grown so more competition from residents. I was amazed at how many hunters came to Colorado to hunt from other countries. . US citizens from out of state compete directly with non citizens from other countries. Hmm.

Not good news that elk numbers are down. Since all the hunting media is claiming overall hunter numbers are shrinking nationally, it might all equal out in the end. Seems the number of new hunters each year lags the drop out rate of us old timers. Who knows...

I hear reports of the number of hunters dwindling.....but Missouri still sells about 1/2 million deer tags every year

Yep, very few left over elk tags go unsold in Colorado and OTC license are a brisk business.

Deadline is today. Better get it done if you’re thinking about it.

Don’t worry about the numbers. You hunt hard enough, and hunt the entire season dark to dark- you’ll eventually get a chance.

Of course it helps to hunt areas that have lots of elk. Northwest Colorado is usually a good place to start looking.

I keep looking for the spot where they've dwindled, haven't found it yet.

CO had 6,000 more elk hunters in 2017 than 2010 and more deer hunters, but that number of deer hunters is limited to tag quotas available. Numbers may not be indicative of numbers of hunters nationwide due to the urbanization and pussification of the American male. What do you think motivates the outdoor gear companies to target girls and women so heavily the last few years? Happy Trails

NPR and USFWS report / survey... if you believe them

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/20/5930...demagazine&utm_term=who%20will%20pay

And all 6000 of those hunters went to the unit I hunt. Females are the fastest growing demographic of shooting and hunting sports. It's just business. They want to make money and they are catering to the new group of hunters and shooters.

A lot of variables in that study...

#1 there’s almost 100 million more people in the US since 1990 and most live in urban metros where hunting is not a normal recreational activity

#2 in 1990 you could buy over the counter tags for just about any species in most states for a small fee.

#3 In 1990 you didn’t have a thousand outfitter companies leasing up land all over the US to then charge inflated Hunt fees to wealthier hunters

#4 In 1990 a farmer or rancher would allow friends and acquaintances to hunt on their land on a hand shake. Today hunting on their land is a money making proposition.

Stricter regulations, higher license and tag fees, less land available to most hunters and an increase in pressure in the places that one can hunt doesn’t encourage many to either stay in the sport or to enter the sport. My father in law is 70years old and has hunted his whole life and raised his family with game meat as a staple food. I remember some years back when he could no longer buy an OTC deer tag in Utah and did not draw a deer tag. He said it was the first year in some 50 years that he could not hunt deer. You have to really love the sport and the time spent outdoors more than filling a tag these days that’s for sure.

That’s exactly the kind of Bush League bullschitt that’s totally screwing with the CO Draw now. Now that you don’t have to pay for the tag up front.... there’s folks applying, who may/may not even be able to pay for the tag when they’re drawn.

I don’t know what the solution is..... but it certainly isn’t good that they’ll let anybody in now.... for just $13.

Since they have your credit card info, if there is enough room on the card it is getting charged if you have cash or not. If you don't have room on your credit card, no tag for you and the next person in line is getting the tag. What's the big deal with that?

When the dust settles on this new system, I anticipate little change in the points needed to hunt the various areas I hunt in. If there is, I'll move on to upland game hunting and that will get rid of one bubba drawing big game tags in CO.

Bingo!

Over the past 3 years, I’ve spent about 4 total weeks hunting elk.... everything from August archery to late December cow hunts... to all the rifle seasons in the middle. I’ve run into exactly five people that entire time who were further than 1/4 mile from the road. That’s in easy to draw, limited tag units.....

I can’t figure out what everyone is bitching about.... except the fact that most folks don’t want to “hunt” elk. They want to drink beer in a 6 person “camp”, sleep in a $45k trailer, and shoot a 370’ bull about 65 yards from the road.

I ran into 3-4 people way up on the mountain last archery season alone.

I spent 12days elk hunting in the CO 2nd rifle season and only saw my hunting partner. Didn't see but one elk calf.

I do tend to get surprised about how far back some of these youngsters are going.

If you're surprised to see youngsters back there, then I'm sure these guys were surprised to see me......

Hey guys I did apply for a tag. My friends are going to be hunting in unit 62 so that is the only unit that I applied for. I’m a bit short on cash and vacation days so I sorta hope that I don’t drawn for a tag. But if I do get one it will be ok because I have never gotten an elk.

Is unit 62 heavily timbered?
I have heard that it gets hunted HARD
Should I bring a Light weight 308 or 7mm mashburn.

https://huntscore.com/hunts/co/elk/26ba47a0-52dc-4f4a-a9df-c62ce27ef610

Like most GMUs in CO, it has a variety of habitat and is heavily timbered at higher elevations (with lots of open parks) and not timbered at lower elevations. You'll find oak brush, pinyon-juniper, and sagebrush the lower you go.

As far as rifles, I'd take the one that's lightest and handiest because you'll be doing a lot of walking with some steep terrain and your success will be based on finding elk more than which chambering you use. During rifle seasons you won't catch elk out in the open during shooting hours very often.

If it is an OTC unit.It will indeed be hunted hard

They give em a couple wks to come up with the money. Bighorn apps went from roughly 18k to 41k. Mtn goat apps went from 12k to 33k. Moose will have a similar jump, I don't expect the rest to be quite as drastic but it will be significant. Point creep was already an issue, get ready for it to be brutal!

The number of licenses going out will be the same, it’s the roughly 100% increase in number of people getting points that is going to significantly alter the points system.

I did draw a tag for UNIT 62. Does anyone have experience or advice for hunting this unit?

We drink eggnog and whiskey in a 6 person "camp", pass around pictures of the Bulls we've killed over the past decades to get the adrenaline going while looking at the pictures of shot 370'+ bulls sitting 5 yards off the county road. I guess we just enjoy the rustic atmosphere of the falling apart cabin in the high back country we sleep in rather than pull the $100k trailers up onto the mountain byway of the "county road", and chance them getting snowed in.

We eat like royalty, hunt hard, go to sleep at 8 and wake-up at 5. It's a rough hike out the cabin and downhill 650 yards to the Colorado county road.

I guess every "camp" is different.

Colorado first season is oct 13 through the 17th. Should I be expecting elk to be done with the rut by this time? I would think that they would be.

also would I be finding them in the summer grounds or will they be transitioning to more winter grounds?

Don't be afraid to call to them. We have good success first season,and we've had them come in screaming. They are where you find them. Last year,they were on the water,or not far from it. Beaver ponds to be exact. Midday was dead,but first and last light produced. In 2013,we had a big snow event at 10,000 ft where we camp. Thought we were going to get blown off the mountain. The next morning there were tracks everywhere. All headed down hill. It all worked out though. We took 3 bulls out of there the 3rd and 4th day. Then the snow blasted the mountain again last day. Usually,we have bluebird days and cold nights.

We've taken bulls from the quakies, meadows, and beaver ponds/water. We camp at 10,000,and have been blessed with living among them first season. You should have a blast if you get up where they live. Quite often we are serenaded while eating supper. Really gets the juices flowing.

Where I hunt (NW Colorado, 7,000-9,000 ft), they are still bugling and running with the cows during the first rifle hunt. There have only been a couple of years in the last 20+ when it seemed that the rut was pretty much over by the time that the first rifle season opened.