Colorado Elk Hunt - First Timer!
 

My brother-in-law and I are headed out to Colorado for our first elk hunting trip. We are both proficient Whitetail hunters and have been for years, but have never been elk hunting. We'll be in the Craig area in Moffatt and/or Routt National Forrest areas and can butt right up to the Wyoming boarder.
What advise can you share with us? Any information would be helpful.
Ideas on where exactly to start looking. Plan of attack? Is it more spot and stalk or bugle and chase? What gear is a must-have? Any tips, words of wisdom or even general outlooks would be great. I appreciate your help. Thanks in advance, and have a great day.
~Justin

I have hunted the same area for 4 years but on the other side of the contenental divide. I also am from Missouri. Biggest thing is get in shape. Walk alot before. It is going to tire you out a lot. Drink lots of water. As far as stategy I can't help cause we rifle hunt and the rut is over so what works for us may not work for you.

Thanks for responding. We're rifle hunting too and will be in the first rifle season which is October 14-19th. My understanding is that should put us during the rut, correct? I've been working on the shape aspect. I'm pretty good, but am starting to work in more stairs for strength. Thanks again for your help.

I can't help you in the "hunting" side of it, but I've done some extensive hiking and backpacking in Colorado. Water is going to be your friend, if you're not peeing throughout the day, drink more. Coming from sea level to that elevation can be difficult, even for those of us in shape. When moving try to keep a slower steady pace to keep from wearing yourself out. You'll cover more ground by keeping a good pace than by moving fast and taking breaks.
My must have gear for a day pack while hiking is
Plenty of water- I drink a lot personally, so I carry about 80 ounces, this is more than alot of other people would carry.
Maps of the area, Compass, and My GPS with extra battery- Some days I don't even turn it on, but I know I have it if I need it.
Good Boots and Good Socks- You'll be putting miles on. And it'll be on hard terrain, not farm fields. Take care of your feet.
Proper Clothing- Weather changes out there quickly, dress in layers and pack accordingly to your elevation

That would be my basics for a day hike, I also typically carry a first aid kit, a camera, my phone, and some snacks. I hope ya'll have a good hunt and I hope this helps a little.
-Jake

I am not heading back for a few years so I have not checked on the rut. We have always hunted the first rifle season like you have and always told by the biologist in the area that the peak of the rut will have passed but we may hear them bugling. We never have but we have taken bulls and cows alike. Just need to cover as much ground as possible and get far off the road.

Savagesniper, I also am from MO and have hunted CO few times and are heading back to elk hunt 2nd season this year. All good questions. If you do a search here for "elk" hunting and "gear" and other similar terms, there has been many indepth discussions on all things elk hunting. Good luck. Elk hunting is awesome. Wish I would have started 20 years ago.

Thanks for all the help. I will do some more searching on the forums and see what I come up with. I'm very excited about the hunt and will let you know how it goes.

The peak of the rut will be over, but as has been mentioned, you may still hear some bugles, especially the first day or two of season, but once they feel the hunting pressure, the bulging will stop.
Be prepared to be out of camp in the dark and not get back to camp until after dark. Stay in the woods all day to give yourself as much chance as possible.
Get a map of the area and have a GPS. When I used to rifle hunt, we'd just go to a meadow and sit the first few hours of the day and the last few hours of the day. If you hear bugling, go to it. Maybe still hunt during mid day on north facing slope. They usually bed on north facing slopes, in thick timber where it's cool.
As has been mentioned, get in shape. Push yourself to get in the best shape possible. Elk hunting will take it out of you, BUT once you kill one and have to pack it off the mtn., you'll quickly see why you need to be in shape.
Good luck..

If you've never been elk hunting in the mtn's. Your in for a whole new hunting experience. Don't bring the whitetail mentality with you. Elk hunting is totally different. Its more like hunting eastern gobblers. Attempting to call them in, and setting up in their path. Being that your rifle hunting. Be accurate out to alot longer ranges than your used to in Missouri for whitetail. Its nothing to reach 500yds. Good optics is a must. Bino's, spotting & rifle scopes. Expect to do alot of walking, and alot of climbing as well to find them. It won't be easy. Your likely in for the hardest hunting you've ever done. Trust the word of a flat lander whose been there 3x's. The better shape your in the harder you'll be able to hunt. Thats the bottom line.

I too am planning a 2nd season hunt in Co-Flat Tops east of Meeker about 30 mi. Never shot a bull but got a cow last time out about 4 years ago in unit 22. I am 67 and sure also wish I had started at a youngeer age. Ever hunt that part of Co?

Are you going on an outfitted/guided hunt or is this DIY? If DIY, where are you staying? It is good to know at what altitude elk are at during your hunting interval. Early in the year, elk are up high near timberline; later in the year, after snows push them down, elk are down low, often on private lands.

While only about 25% of elk hunters take an elk in a given season, and your odds may be lower because this is your first time, be prepared with a plan for handling your elk. How will you get the meat out? You are not likely to be be dragging an elk 1/2 mile as you might a whitetail deer. You might think about dragging the elk carcass to a better place to work on it if the elk is on a hillside that would promote sliding downhill, maybe closer to the trail, maybe to some tree cover and snow to help keep the meat cool. Most people take their elk apart into major pieces at the kill site. For example, some people field dress the elk and then cut it into quarters. Personally, I skin out the up-side of my elk, cut off the rear thigh (cutting lower leg off with a good meat/bone saw such as the Wyoming Saw -- maybe a good gadget to think about buying if you don't have a good bone saw), cut off the shoulder, cut off the backstrap on the up-side, cut off the rib meat. Then I roll the elk over onto the defleshed side. I then repeat on the other side. I end up with chunks of meat that are easier to deal with. I put these in heavy cotton game bags and haul them out one parcel at a time. My smallish bull elk in 2009 had leg portions that weighed 55 LBS. Bigger elk are liable to have yet heavier leg portions. If you were trying to whittle the weight down yet further, you could bone out the meat. To support this work you will want a couple of good hunting knives, not just one. If one dulls you have a back-up. If one breaks you have a back-up.

Take sunglasses and lip balm. Sunlight on snow is going to hurt your eyes. Especially as you may well be at high altitudes where there is much more UV in the light.

Warm clothes, good boots.

Keep track of where you are at and know how to get back to where you started. This turns out to be easier than it might at first appear . . . but I read stories about people getting lost, so it is worth keeping oriented. A cheap GPS is good to have. You can set waypoints in the GPS for the camp, the kill site, other places you may wish to return to. Then the GPS does the work for you telling you what way to go. You may not want to go as the crow flies -- to avoid climbing over a high ridge -- but you may figure "OK, the truck is over there, across this ridge, I'm going to go down this draw to where it hits the road and walk back up the not-too-steep road to my truck."

As with White tails, be in position well before light and all the way until after sun down at night. The most productive intervals may be the twilight in the morning and the twilight in the evening. Many people rest at mid-day on the assumption the elk are napping. On the other hand, I have read some people say you can hunt effectively during the middle of the day.

If you don't know where the elk are, many people recommend starting out on a high place looking for elk using good binoculars or spotting scopes. Look for elk in openings. Ridges are good places to look for elk. People say elk start out mornings low and climb high, bed high, and return low at night. Elk are supposed to be more easily hunted from above than from below.

Right on Alsatian. I'm sure their are many more experienced elk hunters than me. I agree and have witnessed elk heading up hill in the morning and vis-a-versa in the evening. Also I read that putting pepper on meat to keep flies off while skinning and I can tell you it does work. I used it to keep flies at bay while I was skinning an elk waiting for my son-in-law to come back with our frame packs.

Great info everyone. I really appreciate your help. I run triathlons, adventure races and have hiked in the mountains on several occaisions, so while I'm trying to work more leg strenghtening exercises into my workouts, I haven't changed it a lot. I'm confident with my conditioning and navigation in the woods.
There will actually be three of us, so our intent was to quarter the elk (if we are so lucky) and then pack it out. But it's good that I won't have to do it ourselves. The one thing I've learned from whitetail is that scent is crucial and I've heard that helps with elk, as well as plan on being out all day. I appreciate the confirmation of those.
As I've said, I've done a lot of shooting at long range and so I'm very confident up to 400 yards. If I have the time and the steady support I think I could take up to 600 yards without much trouble.
Thanks again for all the input and good luck to everyone. I'll let you know how it goes!

Also . . . I forgot to mention in my earlier post DON'T FORGET THE TENDERLOINS!!!! These are the best piece of meat on the Elk, and Elk tenderloins are considerable in size. These are on the inside of the rib cage, on either side of the axis of the spine. They are the interior reflection of the backstrap. One Elk tenderloin is a meal for a family of four. There are two tenderloins.

Further, you may wish to extract the prominent canine teeth of your Elk, so take a pair of pliers to pull these out. You will need to cut into the gums to free these. They make attractive jewelry.