Originally Posted by
Alsatian
I submitted my Colorado non-resident elk license application on-line this morning. The deadline is approaching. It isn't TOO close (3 weeks out?) but I had kind of forgotten about this for at least 2 weeks. I would hate to see the deadline slip past and forget about it! I put in for first rifle season GMU 075, my usual. I had no shooting opportunity in 2015. I had ONE shooting opportunity 2017 but passed on the shot from uncertainty of the distance (I'll be taking a new Leopold laser range finder along this fall, if I'm drawn). I'm hoping for a good hunt this year.
I hunt GMU 075 as a CO resident too, and just put in for a Muzzleloading Elk tag in September. I normally hunt up along Missionary Ridge Road most of the time. Your season will be a few weeks behind mine. Last year was pretty tough with very late snows, the elk stayed high for most of the fall, and not a lot of animals were taken out of there. One guide friend who hunts GMU 77 over near Beaver Meadows only brought out one elk in all 5 seasons. Feedback here is that the deer and elk populations are down to about what they were in the late 60s, although I do not know enough to make a comparison.
I passed on a few deer muzzleloading shots last year due to distance since CO primitive weapons season requires open sights. This year I put in for a 2nd rifle deer tag over along the border with Utah hoping to catch one of those nice mulies coming off BLM land headed for those pinto bean and hay fields just to the east.