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RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

We saw plenty of elk and hunted DIY the second rifle season. We were in a different area than Gunnison but it was about the same as the past 3 years for us. I think the DOW does a pretty good job ofmanaging the resource. I guess everyone has a decision to make. Hunting eastern whitetails or going out west for elk....no problem with my decision making. I plan to go out twice next year.:D
OBTW we got 2 elk (7X7 and a 5X5) and a mulie (one guy had a deer tag). The warm weather hurt us until we went real high and got away from the crowds. Getting 2 was pretty good considering we had to spend two days, dark to dark, packing them out on our backs from 11,500 in a wilderness area.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

NOPE!!!:DColorado's DOW does a great job in my opinion!

This was this year with my group. I know a ton of other groups that did just as well!

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RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

the winter kill happens every year and this year it was really bad down in the area where you were but everywhere else is fine. I have yet to go elk hunting yet i leave on tuesday

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

Good luck and if there isn't much snow ya gotta go high and way back.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

Your friend in Gunnison gave just as bad of info. as you say the DOW here in CO did. Sounds like a great friend. You picked the area, you knew about the winter kill, sounds like there was plenty of blame to toss around.

Elk hunting in CO was excellent. Hunted 3 days to find the big herd, fourth morning picked out my animal at first light and dropped it where it stood, spent the rest of the day prepping it to bring home.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

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 ;)

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

Damn wolves!:D
There was winter kill everywhere in the high country last year. I doubt the area you hunted saw anymore then the rest. Even us guys that are fortunate to reside in the state(and hunt primarily public), rarely kill elk year after year. Thats the name of the game and thats why it's called hunting. I really feel for the guys that come in "blind" from out of state. It has to make the hunt that much tougher. However I don't feel bad'nuff to give up any of my holes.;)

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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.

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.

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.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

Very good response...

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.

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]

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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!!!![:@]

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.

Quote:

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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.

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RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

Thanks for the information, just sent it to him. Not sure if he will get the chance to attend, but I sent it to him so he has the option if he can, thanks again.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

No problem, your welcome.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

If I were you I would show those Colorado Dow guys and just never go back! The DOW here sucks, the hunting heresucks, so I would just go elk hunting in New York If I were you.

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RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

I read the whole thread skeeder. Bottom line is your attacking our DOW and calling them liars, even in your last post. Not honest=liar. I know a ton of Colarodo Dow employees and they are not liars. They go out of their way to help you all they can. This year I had 2 DOW officers passing my name and phone numbers out to land owners to help me fill my bear tag. I think you need to take this years elk hunt and try to learn from it and see what you can do to be successful next year. Blaming your hunt on the DOW makes no sense at all.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

I have hunted Colorado the past 3 years and made the drive from the east coast. I always found the DOW/ and associated ranger stations to be of great help. I wish our own state F&W Dept was as good about putting out information and helping hunters. DIY Elk hunting is a hit and miss game and success has nothing to do with being told where or where not to go. This year we had to move a couple of hours away to find the animals. If they aren't where you hunt them you have to go out and find them. It took going far into a wilderness area before we were satisfied we were even in the game.

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RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

Now they are not just liars, they are lying to pad their own wallets.You want us to believe they were out to get you, so they could make money for themselves! LMFAO:D

You had a bad hunt, let it go. Lots of "How To Hunt Elk" books at the library. I'll tell you right now though, read all the books, watch all the videos, listen to experienced hunters, and do everything just right....and your still going to have years where you eat your tag instead of elk. That's why they call it hunting! Good luck next year!

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RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

All I can say is, I'd bet money no one lied or was dishonest. What would they have to gain personally? All the DOW guys and gals I know are just really good down to earth people that love their job and helping hunters. I have met some that were not that smart, but most of them know what they are talking about or will get you someone who does.I hope you have better luck in the future.

RE: Colorado DOW misinforming hunters
 

skeeder;
I fail to see yer point....yes lucky dog is a local BUT!!!!!!! if the elk aren't in the area ...they aren't in the area!!!! you need to blame yer friends NOT the DOW.!!!!!!!!
likeI said we were in elk in the area that I have hunted for 45yrs during all of deer season, but in the week between seasons they flat evaporated!!!! I saw six cows all season, but I have had 200 run thru camp in years past!!! Give it a break U are barkin up the wrong tree here!!!! If yer buds were locals they should have known the elk weren't there!!!!!!:eek:

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