Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Where would be the best place to go? Also, which places on public land allows ATV's and what are the restrictions?

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Area 7,8,9,119 All the areas north and west from Ft Collins are pretty easy to get tags for... They are either Over the counter or leftovers.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

And....
please leave the ATV's at home.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Son and myself usually unt area 15...south of Steamboat Springs.OC bull tags are unlimited. I agree, leave the atv's at home, you can only use on established roads.
Dan

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Although I don't own an ATV, I don't have any problem with them when used as a transportation tool, not to hunt from. You can only drive them on established roads and trails, period! Follow that, and you will have no problem with me. Drive them off road illegally, and you may have to go get some new tires, wiring, patch a hole in the gastank...etc. At least, that is what I have heard.

As far as where to go, there are too many places to count. Need to narrow down your parameters, if you want any real help.

Good luck.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

In the area where I hunt elk (between Craig and Steamboat) the established ATV trails that are open during summer are shut down thru the hunting seasons. If you takean ATV (or a truck)off of the open, graded, marked roads, then you will be in violation of regulationsand the "target" of legal hunters.

God bless the USFS on this one item.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

From the DOW website:
Off-highway Vehicle (OHV) Registration
OHV owners must have a Colorado OHV registration, valid registration or license from another state, or Colorado nonresident OHV permit. Out-of-state registrations or licenses are valid here for 30 days. After 30 days, a Colorado nonresident OHV permit is required. Colorado OHV permits are $15.25 a year. Some license agents sell nonresident OHV permits. Contact the State Parks Registration Unit, 13787 S. Hwy. 85, Littleton, Colorado, 80125, 303/791-1920. You can register at State Parks regional offices and most OHV dealers.
OHV and all-terrain vehicle (ATV[/b]) use[/b] laws and regulations differ from agency to agency. Be sure you know what applies in the area you plan to use[/b] your vehicle. For example, these vehicles are illegal on public roads and highways unless otherwise designated, and, in most places, off-road travel to retrieve game is illegal.
The Bureau of Land Management offersextensive information and advice for off-road vehicle use[/b] in the Gunnison/Lake City region, but it's also practical advise and applicable anywhere.
Also, each national forest has its own rules and regulations for ATV [/b]use[/b], so contact the national forest office for the area you plan to hunt.

Here is a link to more info from BLM:

http://www.co.blm.gov/gra/gra-atv-lightly.htm


Here is a link to the brochure: http://wildlife.state.co.us/RulesRegs/RegulationsBrochures/BigGame.htm



My wife and oldest boy use an ATV; since they are both handicapped, it is the best waythey can get around.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Units 3,301, 4 & 441 all have good success rates.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

cacheriver.....are you still with us???

What season? Have you hunted Elk b-4??
Helpus get you on the right path!!

7,8,9,19 and 191........There are always tags avail. These are combined units. 9 and 191 are mostly private land ans at lower elevations.My opinion .....Not worth it. You cannot use an atv for any reason on the west end of 19( Long Draw). Commanche peak, Pingrie park area on est. roads. 7 and 8 are the same.Lots of atvs! There are Elk......But there is a reason that the success rate over the years rides around 7%.

Other units mentioned do have good rates and lots of private land as well.This can skew the #s for a public land hunter. BLM land is always a good option.......Get maps!!! You had better know where you are!

National Forest areas around Steamboat are good. But it's a tough go for a first time out if you go ito it blindly.

Bill

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Cache was asking about drop camps earlier.
I'm guessing an outfitter may have caught his ear and if so then it was probably a good thing.

Jonesboro, Arkansas.... did some business there once, nice folks.... deer patch country for sure.
Deadline for Colorado tags via the draw (absolute best route IMHO) was April 3rd....
Over the counter and left overs (August) is all that is left now.

Doing a DIY remote/away from home hunt, especially if you are trying to take hunting partners with you, is a steep hill to climb.
Many start, some get past the internet stage, few finish.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

I'm still here. I am new at the out west hunting and just trying to figure some things out. We deer, bear, turkey, and coon hunt here and sometimes it's in the wilderness areas in the ozarks and we are allowed atv's all around them just not directly in them. Just trying to make sure I have an idea what to expect. We probably won't go this year but are planning a hunt sometime in the future and since we really can't afford an outfitter are having to do some research. I have already purchased a topo map and just wanted to know what areas were best and where we might could camp and ride atv's. Ya'll are so helpful and I really appreciate it. I have 2 horses I can use but my buddies don't. Might consider renting some horses if they will let us do that. Thanks

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

I am wanting to elk hunt and 1 of my buddies is wanting mule deer so just trying to figure out what places meets our needs with otc tags and where I needed to start with my topo maps.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Don't be discouraged by the atv averse crowd. There are plenty of areas in Colorado that allow atv use during the fall hunting seasons. As part of your research, you should contact the National Forest of the area you are looking at and they can tell you. Where we hunt, atv use is permitted on marked trails and roads AND for game retrieval. To me, someone riding in to an area I am hunting at 7am is the epitome of stupidity!!! But then for every time that has happened, there has been 5 occasions where someone has walked in on me at that same time. Which is equally frustrating. Part of doing business on Public Land. Best advice is to get further in and then the chance of either are very remote. We have gone to the same area for several years now and not one time have we seen someone riding in a way or in an area in violation of the law.
If you listen to those on this site,well that's all that atv'ers do! In fact, it'stheir intent!!!!
Using this kind of logic would lead one to blame the "gun" and not the person doing the shooting? I would suggest if you consider yourself a 2nd amendment proponent, careful where your "ban all atv" logic takes you, it's slippery slope on which you perch!
Personally, I would rather shoot a horse than ride one. But that doesn't mean that if I catch you riding in on my "honey hole", you will return from a day of hunting to find your fair steed gutted and ready for grilling!!!! But I bet those ham steaks would taste nice dressed with someflour and having just taken a swim in some hot peanut oil!!!

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

One last word on atv use and how it will lay bare all hunting within a 1000 square miles........
Opening day 2006 first rifle season......2pm......ride atvs to a spot (parking area where there are pickups sitting) and then start walking to a place that had been shown to us the day before. Couple miles in its starts to snow pretty good and we notice atv tracks. We start to curse the day of their births and as we progress we can hear them! Someone better be severely hurt or these guys are going to get an earful and then we will report them post haste! We meet them a little further down the trail with quartered elk on the atvs. Perfectly legal in the area we hunt. Okay, but if you listen to those that yell the loudest, we should head back down as any elk that isn't deaf will be long gone from this area. Upshot is, not only did we continue on to the little valley as intended, the guys we met had killed the bull in that same valley around 1p.
I shot a 6x6 in that same draw (about 500 yards from the other fella's gutpile) at a quarter to 4. Guess that bull and his harem shared the same genetic traits! Inbreeding had surely left them all deaf!!!

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Sorry, on the other side from ya on this one Red,

ONE:

So let see if I understand the timeframe correctly....

They killed the bull "miles backin" at 1pm.
You parked your ATV's at 2pmwalked in, found tracks, and came to them with the elk dressed and the quarters already on the ATV....

One of two things:
(1) These guys were lightning fast on the field dress (deer yeah, elk no) and then after the field dressingthey (or one of them)dropped all gear, put on Nikes and sprinted back to the "atv parking lot" and then fired up the atv and drove back to the kill (a "couple miles in" and then some), loaded everything up, got all their stuff together and then finally met you (following your 2pm departure from the atv parking lot)while you were on the way inand they were on the way out. Hmmmmm....

OR

(2) The atv wasn't in the atv parking lot when the bull was killed.
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TWO:

Opening day of the rifle season on public ground, the elk tend to get bounced like ping pong balls. On a Saturday morning with amateurs and pros alike and Monday's job still distant, elk can have a hard time finding a safe place to run to that don't have hunters waiting in it, amateurs close to the roads, and pros further back in on the "choke points." I killed two elk within250 yards ofsomeone's empty wall tent/spike camp on opening morningonce, so camps, man-made objects, etcand even noise aren't super critical when they are running so hard all they can hear in their head is their own breathing.

Opening morinng on public ground is great --- the action can happen any time, at any place, all day long.

Now give these same elk one night of darkness anda chance for lead cows to take them into cover and IMHO Day 2 and aftertend to be a way different critter, clear'em out for a 1000 square miles? 30x30+ miles?....nah. More than hunters on foot, yes. More than hunters on horse back, for sure. More than one will want to walk to catch up with them, probably.

I'll take hunting in the quiet (hopefully with gun shots) elk woods (right next tothe "slippery slope*) .... gun shots last an instant,plodding atv'sseem to last nearly an eternity.

*(If it became necessary due to increased access restrictionsto place the base camp further away and then strengthen the now more far awayspike camp and increase the number of horses used a bit, then that could be okay.... not my first preference, but could be kinda cool really.)

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

One: We were told that the shots occured at 1p. By 2:30 or so we passed them on their way down with a small raghorn field dressed and cut in half, each half on the back of an atv. Perhaps they shot it at 11a. I know not and don't really care. I do know that they were trying to get out as weather was moving in and we were close to the top of the highest peak in that area. They could have shot the elk the day before season opens for all I know. Heck, now that I think of it, since they drive atv's there is no doubt that they did something, if not several things, illegal!!! Criminals!!! Bet they didn't even have licenses? And they claimed to be from out of state (Texas) and we all know what that means!!!

Two: As long as the laws don't prevent it, guess we'll be driving our atv's right amongst! Drinking beer and discarding the cans along the trails, starting forest fires wherever possible and just generally destroying that habitat completely! (Who are we kidding here, laws won't stop us! Only illegal if you get caught!)

Have I mentioned that I ate horses? (Oops, left out an "h"!)

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

I will speak up and say that unlike some very loud anti-atv'rs here I will say that they don't bother me at all. I have hunted all around them and them all around me with very few side effects from them. I believe the people that don't like them are more bothered by the noise of them then the animals are. The last thing we need in this sport is a bunch of elitist's that preach about the evils of atv's, but if they are legal in areas then get off your ethical high horse. Unless you hunt with a traditional bow, hand carved arrows, feather fletching and animal sinew bow string you are also taking advantage of technology breakthrouhs of the modern world.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

While I agree with Waterproof... I also think ATV's are used for all the wrong reasons in Colorado. If your going to use them for hunting then I am all for them but if your going to tear **** up and rip around the national forest... then thats quite another. Yeah there is a possiblity they frighten and run game to the other end of the world. No wrose then they do every other day when there are guys pleasure riding thru the mountains. One of the areas I hunt is frequented by ATV'rsall year long.The deer and the elk could give two craps about them. But come hunting season the small dumb ones will stand there andget whacked. But the ones I am after are long up the hill by me.If you use them to your advantage and aren't scared to walk to get in there. These other guys on ATV's can be your best freinds. Who cares if someone rides around all day on an ATV? Thats one less guyI have to contend where I am at.
I once had a lady chase me down on my ATV late one Feburary morning to chew my arse. She made it very clearthat ATV's were NOT allowed on this paticular road. She asked me what I was hunting? When I replyed Cutting lion track ma'am. She said I had one drag my goat over a 6 foot fence a few nights bac and next time you come up here just park in my driveway no one will give you troubles. Now had I been ripping around and cutting donuts, I doubt that would have come out that way.I probably would have had to talk with the ranger about it.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Cache: Debating ATV's asside, it is sometimes difficult to hunt elk and deer on the same public ground, but not impossible. Before the snows hit, the elk are usually in the higher elevations of a given area and the deer are lower, but there are deer up high and elk down low, just less. Also, after the hunters move in and the guns start popping, the game will either move to hellholes, very far from roads, or private ground.

One thing you might consider is a muzzy hunt. Hunt the higher country for elk and there should still be some good bucks up there. Can't beat it! You will need some preference points though.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

OK.........OK....OK!!!.................Look there are plenty of people who own atvs and use them properly during hunting season and as with anything.............There are those who don't and have gotten my blood boiling a time or three....If you hunt in an area that allows ATVs wherever they can go and you don't like it .................Well find an area that does not allow'em or only allows them for very specific purposes! I personally am not a fan and willhike as far and as long as I can to not have them interrupt Me vs Nature!( still spry) I hunt in one place that does not allowANY OHVs on any road system for any reason!I hunt another that pretty much just allows them. But as they circle around..... the Elk move through the pockets and the riders have NO!!! idea!!! So do whatever you want..........JUST FOLLOW THE RULES!!!!!!!!![/align][/align]Now..........Ladies and Gentlemen...............BACK TO OUR POST!!!!![/align][/align]Cache,[/align] The units that were mentioned earlier.........3,301,4,441 around Craig or Meeker would be a good place to start for both good #s of Elk and Mule deer. ATVs are allowedand theirnot terribly hard to draw??Some of the places in southern Colorado will require Preference Points and will take longer to draw. It is too late to put in for a PP now and that would help you to draw a tag( Especially for the Mule deer) in the future for theabove mentioned units. Probably not required but would help![/align][/align]Bill[/align]

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

Red,

I only worked with thedetails ofyour story that were provided("lay bare all hunting within a 1000 square miles........ "). Faced with "elements" that did not seem to add up, yourresponse to inquiry seemed to be to pull a hard left turn andlaunch off to the far side of ludicrous.... rather than pull it togeher.... that bodes poorly for your position.
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Cache,

Well, two routes:

Fast and Direct:
First: Find and joinan experienced DIY groupthat encourages atv use, there appear to be some.

Second: Utilize an outfitter that encourages atv's, there appear to be some.

If those are unsatisfactory and you are going to do it DYI, then while it isn't that complicated,it doesrequire work and won't don't happen by accident....

School Of Hard Knocks:
First,go tothe CDOW web site and work the statistics and make the phone calls to the local gov't managers to identify the best places to hunt per your hunt parameters.

Second,reference the "ATV okay" info provided above.

Third, mapthe "ATV okay"areas on a GMU map.

Fourth, overlay the "best places to hunt" ontothe same GMUmap.

Fifth: Apply in the areas where the twozones (atv's permitted areasand desired hunting areas)overlap.

Then comes the real challenge:
Check to see if your hunting partner is still on board.
Check to see if your hunting partner's wife/girl friend/significant otheris still on board.
Get your equipment together.
Get your money together (dedicated accounts would be a good idea.... guess you could ding it onto a credit card.... irritates the wife though).

Repeat monthly thru the spring, summer, and into the fall.
Come October, if the wheels are still on, then....
Go.

Good Luck.

PS: Personal recommendation, skip the mule deer, focus on the elk, work back in at least 4 miles from nearest road, scout in advance of opening dayand gps your strategy accordingly, travel in the dark both ways to and from camp so you can huntfrom "can't see to can't see" thus capturing the two most productive times of day, dawn and dusk, on stand and in the prime hunting area.... and ....
move as quietly as possibleat all times.

But hey, that is just me.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

I appreciate all the help. Didn't mean to stir up the ATV controversy. We use them here legally for transporting game and to keep from tearing our trucks up. We don't hunt off of them and ride them all the way to our stands. We hunt a wilderness area in the ozarks that is over 17,000 acres and we are only allowed to ride on 2 roads but those roads are rough and tough on our trucks. I am not afraid of humping the miles to hunt but am not experienced with elk,both hunting them or the ability to get them out of the woods. I'm just guessing but I think it would be quite a task.

RE: Do it yourself Elk hunt in Colorado
 

My momma always says Ludicrous is as ludicrous does!!! Justifying my position would be fruitless when consensus is, regrettably, unattainable. Only went the other way in order to counter the effects of the "other" side. Atv's don't kill elk, guns do! (???)

Cache.....go and enjoy! Proper preperation and proper attitude will prevail.
Best single advice I have ever received about elk hunting you probably are already aware of as a deer hunter......
Take notice and play the wind....always!

Especially when trying to slip up behind a herd of elk on your Polaris 600!!! O sure, the "Stealth" exhaust device will quieten you down considerably, but those elk can smell gas fumes for miles. So make sure you ride into them from down wind!!!! :)

Good luck and report back when you have made your choice/trek/etc.....