Originally Posted by
RockyMtnGobblers
My first priority is to find out about preference points then decide on an area, so I'll check dow web site the call if need be.
I just remembered that I have this year's official preference point issue of the Colorado Outdoors magazine. I looked up the points for you.
Unit 84 is lumped in with unit 69 for both bear and elk tags. Under the unit 69 info, bear tags require no preference points. Elk tags for a bull require between 2 and 3 depending on the season but a cow tag doesn't require points. So, based on that, my advice is to put in for a bull tag to begin building points and get a cow tag as a second choice and also get a bear tag. This way you can hunt both elk and bear. You just won't be hunting a bull elk. There are more huntable cows in any herd so your odds of filling an elk tag are better for a cow anyways. Of course, if the antlers of a bull elk are your driving force then my advice won't do you any good.
By the way, if you do take a cow elk you could, depending on where it hits the ground, keep a watch over the gutpile. A bear may just decide that would be a tasty meal. I know a guy that took a bear that way up by Steamboat Springs about 15 years ago. According to CO law, you can't intentionally bait for bear but a gutpile, left where it is and not moved, doesn't qualify as bait. The most important thing is you can't relocate the gutpile to attract in a bear. Relocating it equates to baiting, it has to be in the place where the elk/deer hit the ground.