The Struggle & Adventure that is...Elk Hunting
The Struggle & Adventure that is...Elk Hunting
Within these pages we will attempt to explain our elk hunting experiences in hopes of helping anyone with the drive & motivation to give elk hunting a "shot!"
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While we began as total novices in the fall of 2010, we have learned many valuable lessons. Most of these were learned the hard way of studying, discussions, and actually doing. We've tried every method here in Colorado except for the full-blown guided hunt on private land.
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All of our hunts have been on public land and DiY except for an Archery and guided hunt. While we weren't successful in tagging out, we offer many, many valuable tips for those thinking about a similar hunt in the future!
Our first Colorado Elk Hunt in October 2010. We hunted GMU 59 and you see can the rough terrain and pics of Pike's Peak. Glenn & Jim set up a base camp in a public site and was good enough to share his camping gear...we would hike in along access roads early in the morning and come back after dark. This was, again, our first Elk hunt so little did we realize that the trails were shared with 4 Wheel Drive vehicles. We had hiked in deep about six to seven miles and set up an overwatch near Elk Meadow about noon. After a few minutes we heard a loud grinding sound and, lo and behold, there appeared a jeep...they pulled up and asked if we'd seen any Elk yet! After some words, we pulled out and hiked back to base camp. We quickly realized that public land that's near or on vehicle access trails are to be avoided at all costs. We were at the bare minimum as far as gear goes, but the experience was amazing!
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Our second Colorado Elk Hunt in October 2011. We hunted the Sangre De Cristo Mountains from a base camp in Mike's outfitter tent that has become our elk camp home. One of our originating members bought it years ago and it's still holding up. This was another public land hunt that the public was out in force on...the trail head area looked like the infield of a NASCAR event with dozens of RVs and established camp sites. The sound of ATVs filled the early morning air from day one. But this year we tried three different hunting methods in our four full days. We walked in on the Brush Creek Lakes trail about four miles, we spike camped on another trail, and we used ATVs to get in over eight miles, then hiked another two to three from there. We did get a shot on a huge bull in the previous forest fire area as he and two cows were coming down to feed just prior to the end of legal shooting. On the spike camp location, we saw a lot of sign but no elk...after the treacherous ATV trek, we barely saw any sign at all. Our gear was getting better, but still in the initial stages of what we needed. On the last night, it began to snow and by the next morning we were blanketed by almost two feet, as you can see in the last few pictures!
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Our third Colorado Elk Hunt in October 2014 during first rifle season (one of our members missed two seasons due to some time in Africa). For this hunt, we tried a drop camp concept through one of the local outfitters and hunted the Flat Tops Wilderness. We specifically hunted along the Marvine Creek about a mile from Marvine Lakes. We trekked in via horseback and pack horses for over eight miles to the drop camp. We did some thorough recon via Google Earth and arrived in camp two days early to scout the area. We rented a satellite phone for emergencies as we were in a potential survival situation due to help being 3-4 hours away at any time. We had great weather for scouting but it started to snow on the second day of the season, which slowed us down quite a bit. We saw plenty of elk, but they were all above treeline at about 11,000 feet. We watched them all day (at least 50 or more) get up, eat, then lay right back in the snow! We learned plenty on this trip and have more great memories as you can see below!
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Our fourth Colorado Elk Hunt in October 2015 during first rifle season. For this hunt, we tried a spike camp concept and hunted the West Elk Wilderness just north of Crested Butte. We trekked in via our "leather personnel carriers" for about two miles from the trail camp to our spike camp. We did some thorough recon via Google Earth and arrived in camp the night before opening day. We ran into hunters who'd hunted the area for many years and came to the quick realization as to why they were on horses! A truly unbelievable gain in elevation! After an early wake-up on Day 1, we hiked straight up another mile or so and sat for the morning in the gorgeous Beckwith mountain pass. We hunted the "dark timber" for the entire day and found numerous wallowing holes and elk sign. Our time was limited and, while we didn't see any elk, we gained a much better understanding of what it means to hunt in both high elevation and in the "dark timber." Once you descend into the timber, you always have to climb back out!
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