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11-11-2008, 07:51 AM
#12
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,320
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
I hunted southern CO, same place where I have since I was old enough to hunt.
Unfortunately the south western part of the state got something like 30' of snow during last winter. It unlikely that the herd remained intact.
Unfortunately the south western part of the state got something like 30' of snow during last winter. It unlikely that the herd remained intact.
11-11-2008, 10:49 AM
#13
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 588
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
Sorry to hear that your killing trip turned into a hunting trip. Elk hunting is not the same as whitetail hunting. Other then the fact that you carry a weapon, ware orange and camouflage, there aren't too many similarities. If you try to hunt elk like whitetail, you won't be sussesful. You really need to do your homework with elk to learn their habbits, the habitat, terrain, and the area you are hunting.If your buddy haddone his homework better, it wouldn't have been a surprise to you guys when you got there that the elk had moved long ago. Elk will move miles because of conditions and/or pressure. Understanding the animal you are hunting is about 60% IMO and being in the right place at the right time is 40% IMO of hunting. If you want to pay $4000-$12000 and go on a guided hunt, you can increase your odds because you are paying someone for doingtheir homework, at least you hope they did. If you hunt public land unguided, you need to do your own homework and pay your dues.
Please share a few things with us. I would like to hear about these things to get a better understanding of your trip.
1) How many miles were you walking a day looking for elk?
2) How far off was the closest road to where you were hunting?
3) At what elevation were you hunting?
4) How many different spots did you try? When I say spots, I mean you hunted on foot one day then drove to a different place the next.
5) Were you "road hunting"?
I've only been at this for 2 years and I got my first bull in second riffle season. We hunted the last half of the season. Guys were leaving as we were getting there. They had been hunting low, had not seen anything, and actually the elk were still high, even with a foot of snow. I have no idea how many hours I have spent researching elk, the area I hunted, and the terrain. I know guys that been at it for 5 years and have not got one yet so I feel very blessed tokilled one. I met one guy last year at it for 12 years and has not got one.To blame the DOW for bad information is an excuse. That's why it's called hunting and not killing. Those guys are very honest about the information they put out and if they said that most of the heard survived, they would know. If you tried to hunt them where they were when there was 3 feet of snow, that is probably the area they will return to when there is 3 feet of snow again. There are winter ranges, summer ranges, and then the places they go to get away from hunting pressure. Your not the first guy to spend $500 on a tag and go back home upset. Good luck with the whitetail and here if you try again. Please answer the questions above so we can better understand how you were hunting.
Please share a few things with us. I would like to hear about these things to get a better understanding of your trip.
1) How many miles were you walking a day looking for elk?
2) How far off was the closest road to where you were hunting?
3) At what elevation were you hunting?
4) How many different spots did you try? When I say spots, I mean you hunted on foot one day then drove to a different place the next.
5) Were you "road hunting"?
I've only been at this for 2 years and I got my first bull in second riffle season. We hunted the last half of the season. Guys were leaving as we were getting there. They had been hunting low, had not seen anything, and actually the elk were still high, even with a foot of snow. I have no idea how many hours I have spent researching elk, the area I hunted, and the terrain. I know guys that been at it for 5 years and have not got one yet so I feel very blessed tokilled one. I met one guy last year at it for 12 years and has not got one.To blame the DOW for bad information is an excuse. That's why it's called hunting and not killing. Those guys are very honest about the information they put out and if they said that most of the heard survived, they would know. If you tried to hunt them where they were when there was 3 feet of snow, that is probably the area they will return to when there is 3 feet of snow again. There are winter ranges, summer ranges, and then the places they go to get away from hunting pressure. Your not the first guy to spend $500 on a tag and go back home upset. Good luck with the whitetail and here if you try again. Please answer the questions above so we can better understand how you were hunting.
11-11-2008, 09:21 PM
#14
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: NY
Posts: 88
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
As far as a killing trip or a hunting trip, I didn't go out there just to see the scenery, I wanted to bring some meat home. I know you can't always kill something for it to be a success, I had a good time last year, and met some real good people that I hunted with.
1. We were sitting in the morning for a2 hours, then we made drives for them where a guy who is 66 has hunted this spot for over 2o years with many elk under his belt,bulls and cows. Just3 years ago, this man and his crew counted over 100 elk that they had seen in the3rd season.The friend that I went out with, his brother set us up in here, Oh by the way he was a guide with his father in law in this same spot for many years on horseback with much success in here.
2. nearest highway, we were 7 to 8 miles off the nearest highway.
3. 10,000 to 11,000 ft we were at
4. we hunted a large piece of the gunnison national forest, thereare many acres to hunt there. we didn't drive out of there everyday. That is the area I was talking to DOW about.
5. I have never road hunted, and that includes whitetail hunting!
When I started this thread, I wasn't questioning the integrity of the people of Colorado, because the people I met out there were very nice. THis wasn't wrote to get in a pissing contest with anyone out there either!! I am writing about I would have appreciated the honesty of: Ya If I were you mr. Johnson, this might not be such a good year for you to return to Gunnison for an elk hunt, we had a bad winter kill of mule deer andelkalso, . I saw many huge muleys in this area last year, saw one decent size buck and few does this year. Last year was lousy with them. You aren't talking to a lazy road hunter who shoots at anything they see. I put my time in the woods.I came out to CO. to try and have some luck and as luck have it, the area I hunted has seen a large influx of hunting pressure in just the past 2 years I have been told. We are all just trying to do the same thing.
1. We were sitting in the morning for a2 hours, then we made drives for them where a guy who is 66 has hunted this spot for over 2o years with many elk under his belt,bulls and cows. Just3 years ago, this man and his crew counted over 100 elk that they had seen in the3rd season.The friend that I went out with, his brother set us up in here, Oh by the way he was a guide with his father in law in this same spot for many years on horseback with much success in here.
2. nearest highway, we were 7 to 8 miles off the nearest highway.
3. 10,000 to 11,000 ft we were at
4. we hunted a large piece of the gunnison national forest, thereare many acres to hunt there. we didn't drive out of there everyday. That is the area I was talking to DOW about.
5. I have never road hunted, and that includes whitetail hunting!
When I started this thread, I wasn't questioning the integrity of the people of Colorado, because the people I met out there were very nice. THis wasn't wrote to get in a pissing contest with anyone out there either!! I am writing about I would have appreciated the honesty of: Ya If I were you mr. Johnson, this might not be such a good year for you to return to Gunnison for an elk hunt, we had a bad winter kill of mule deer andelkalso, . I saw many huge muleys in this area last year, saw one decent size buck and few does this year. Last year was lousy with them. You aren't talking to a lazy road hunter who shoots at anything they see. I put my time in the woods.I came out to CO. to try and have some luck and as luck have it, the area I hunted has seen a large influx of hunting pressure in just the past 2 years I have been told. We are all just trying to do the same thing.
11-11-2008, 10:16 PM
#15
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Central, Alaska
Posts: 1,774
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
ORIGINAL: MTMountainMan
Same story I hear all the time and even tell myself every once in a while.
Elk and mule deer not where they were last year? Pretty sure that there are none within a100 miles?Sounds like elk / mule deer hunting to me.
Must be wolves
Same story I hear all the time and even tell myself every once in a while.
Elk and mule deer not where they were last year? Pretty sure that there are none within a100 miles?Sounds like elk / mule deer hunting to me.
Must be wolves
11-12-2008, 10:51 AM
#16
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 588
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
Well, it sounds like you were with some experienced folks and went in far enough to evade the majority of hunters. What season did you hunt? In either March or May, I don't remember which month, the CDOW will publish the results of their hunter survey. It has stats for all seasons and all areas. If you compare the kill percentages for 2008 to 2007 and 2006 and there is a big difference with a lower percentage for that area, then I would agree on a big winter kill. If the numbers are about the same, then I would think that they just were not in the area you guys were. I'm also wondering how much pressure they had there during archery season.
On a side note, I went with a friend during Muzzle loading season who had a left over tag for an undesirable area. I didn't even have a tag so my ML stayed at home. We went everywhere that seemed logical and didn't see many tracks or eveidence. After 4 days of climbing and looking in all the hard to get places we decided to look lower and closer to the roads. Now this is in a area with tons of weekend recreation use for 4 wheelers and dirt bikes.
Within a halfa mile from the main road we found a bottom that had notbeen hunted,hidden from sight, and thick. They had a huge wallow and tracks all over the place(most was a few days old). We hunted in there for 4 days and saw one cow but it was too dark for my buddy to shoot.We would go there and their were fresh track on top of our boot tracks from the day before.Drove us nuts. They were oviously feeding at night with the full moon we had. Those animals were pros at evading people and didn't act like elk normally do. It was definitly a learning experience.
On a side note, I went with a friend during Muzzle loading season who had a left over tag for an undesirable area. I didn't even have a tag so my ML stayed at home. We went everywhere that seemed logical and didn't see many tracks or eveidence. After 4 days of climbing and looking in all the hard to get places we decided to look lower and closer to the roads. Now this is in a area with tons of weekend recreation use for 4 wheelers and dirt bikes.
Within a halfa mile from the main road we found a bottom that had notbeen hunted,hidden from sight, and thick. They had a huge wallow and tracks all over the place(most was a few days old). We hunted in there for 4 days and saw one cow but it was too dark for my buddy to shoot.We would go there and their were fresh track on top of our boot tracks from the day before.Drove us nuts. They were oviously feeding at night with the full moon we had. Those animals were pros at evading people and didn't act like elk normally do. It was definitly a learning experience.
11-12-2008, 05:40 PM
#17
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Beautiful western Montana
Posts: 752
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
I wish I had a nickle for every time I was standing on the mountain waiting for the sun to come up and rubbing my hands togather in anticipation of the day, only to watch the sun sink into the western sky that eveningwhile shaking my head wondering where the elk must be. How many countless areas have I hunted and said: "well, they were in here last year." Heck, they were in there during archery season and gone a few scant weeks later.[&o]
11-12-2008, 08:45 PM
#19
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Kittitas, Wa.
Posts: 462
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
we were kicking elk in the butt to get them to move out of the way so we could hunt deer....one week later there was not an elk to be seen on opening morning of elk season!!!![:@]
11-13-2008, 11:01 AM
#20
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 588
RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
This information came to me in an email today from the DOW. This would be a good time for your friends that live in the Gunnison area to get info and ask questions.
SPORTSMEN'S ADVISORY GROUP TO MEET IN GUNNISON
The Colorado Division of Wildlife invites hunters, anglers and members of the public to a Sportsmen's Advisory Group meeting in Gunnison, 9-noon, Nov. 22, at the DOW office, 300 New York Ave.
Attending the meeting will be Tom Spezze, southwest regional manager, and other staff members from the region. Spezze will talk about wildlife issues facing the region and the state. He'll also discuss the Colorado Wildlife Habitat Conservation Program.
The meeting will also be open for discussion of issues that sportsmen and members of the public want to address.
For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife invites hunters, anglers and members of the public to a Sportsmen's Advisory Group meeting in Gunnison, 9-noon, Nov. 22, at the DOW office, 300 New York Ave.
Attending the meeting will be Tom Spezze, southwest regional manager, and other staff members from the region. Spezze will talk about wildlife issues facing the region and the state. He'll also discuss the Colorado Wildlife Habitat Conservation Program.
The meeting will also be open for discussion of issues that sportsmen and members of the public want to address.
For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.