RE: Okay CDOW - Good Job!
Partly to bugs11 and partly to whoever wants to read it.
We hunt high pressure pubic ground; which probably describes most of the public ground in Colorado.
We usually set up camp the weekend before the opener since I like to scout several drainages and socialize with the other hunting groups that come in year after year, then the bulk of our group shows upon or before Thursday before the Saturday opener
On the other hand I have done the fly weight hunt (hate it) where we arrived the Friday afternoon at 530pmbefore the Saturday opener, get up at 1 a.m., hiked back in 4 miles in the dark starting at230 a.m.and get set up, killed our elk the opening day, packed them out on Sunday, and went home on Monday and butchered them at home. A pitiful way to do an elk hunt, but better than nothing; sometimes duties call elsewhere.
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If I was new to an area and short on time, then I would trade 2-3 days off of the tail end of the 5 day elk season for 2-3 days extra advance time. Watch carefully where the early camps are setting up, these are most often the most hard core long time hunters, talk to them, you can ask how long they've been coming to these parts (there is no crime in that), check out their transportation whether it is horses, or atv's [:'(], or on foot. If it is horses or atvs if you pay attention then you can sure figure out where they'reheaded because they're going to want to go scouting. Pay attention to these senior camps, ignore the amateurs. Most the seniorwill be positioning their camps to make it easy to get access to get back in tothe favorite spots, that will at least get you in the right direction, even though not necessarily in the perfect spot.
Look at the map in the direction they'll logically be headed, likely up or down a drainage. Study the map to a point3 to 4 miles back in. Look for saddles and natural funnels, it don't have to be a high altitude saddle between two 13,000 foot peaks. Pretend you are a tired elk running in the public forest getting bounced from one area to the next because there are just hunters everywhere. You are running with your tongue hanging out, your heart pounding in your headand you just wantthe easiest way to get frompoint A to point B. This is how you let the masses, that don't know what they are doing, travel only by day,and just feel they have to run around and "hunt," drive the elk to you. The more hunting camps near the "entry point" the more free help you are going to have.
In scouting, hike back in and check it out (go light and take it easy and take REAL GOOD care of your feet). Shop around and find trails that pass thru these saddles and natural funnels, a couple hundred feet of differential is enough to funnel them. Watch for last year's bone piles from earlier kills; a real good sign. Set up in the natural sniper's position with a command over the choke point. Plan to be sitting there an hour before sunrise the opening day and melt into your position without a trace. This means you either hike it in the dark (gps) or sleep out/spike camp it (gps still a good idea). [If you have a notebook computer [stays in thetruck of course]with the GPS software, such that you can load waypoints to places you have never been, and print out a map that you put in a one gallon ziplock so you can hike right back in and check out these areas usingGPS navigation.... then you're really hot stuff. If you are setting waypoints as you go then have a small notebook and pencil to make notes about the significant waypoints, waypointnumbers in agps cue are colorless and have no meaning.]
As for the hunting, once the opener starts, be patient, stay put, stay vigilant, it only takes one. You may hear other gunshots, lots of them (you hope). You may hear people in the distance (or close) yahoo'ing over their kill or even talking as they field dress. Stay true. All thru the first day elk will be getting bounced from A to B, and even if all the elk are chased out of your drainage, there will be others being chased into it from neighboring drainages. Odds are fair you will hear them coming before you see them (figuring a 200 yard shooting visability horizon).
One last rule, don't admire your shot. The first reaction to pulling the trigger has to be the automatic racking of the bolt for another roundand the reacquiring of the target. If they are still standing then you are still shooting. Elk take a bullet well. They can take a lethal hit without showing any sign of being hit and run off without a limp. Follow up your shots.
Be careful. It is super easy to shoot a velvet spike thinking it is a cow. If you see a pair of "cows," then odds are high that one of the "cows" is mom and the other is a spike or female yearling still hanging out together, study those heads carefully. If the head and the ears are laid back, the velvet spikes can blend in at a glimpse.
If you see outfitters set up along side the road coming into your area, stop and talk to them about whether they pack out meat, how much it costs, and how you contact them. No matter how much bravado you have going in, by the time you put one or two or three elk on the ground and field dress them all and pick up your first hind quarter, you may be ready for a change of plan. Elk hunting just grinds your arse right into the dirt.
Good luck.