Your idea's sound very doable if I understood correctly. Colorado has both a lot of game and a lot of hunters. That translates into pretty good odds with a cow or doe tag. Antlers can be tough to find.

I may recommend getting a cow tag early on. After the $650 purchase you will find a way to make the rest happen. Remember to give yourself time to adjust to the altitude...no matter what your condition is. Plus you will need good conditioning for hiking around ~10,000 feet or more.

Getting the meat back to Florida? Another challenge.

A lot of people get it into their head that they want to hunt the high country and don't take this kind of advice to heart or seriously. getting the body adjusted to carrying a pack starts about 4 to 5 months prior to the hunt and even in great condition for carrying packs at home thinking you can just take off and fly along at 8500 plus feet can kill you.. This is super advice.

All around great advice. Thank you for your response. Yes Cow/Calf tag is the route I have been researching to go. Like I said not a trophy hunter. My take on it all is that the tag fee is for the adventure of it all and the life experience,..meat is just bonus. I have a fly rod that I have taken on backpack trips before in the Appalachian Mountains in the east and a AR-7 Henry .22 that is great at getting camp meat (rabbit etc for the pot). You are right,..altitude is one of the biggest challenges. I carried a heavy pack for years in the service and still run and do it with a pack. But thats down here in Florida at sea level with air than you can wear cause its so thick. All I can do is be in shape and arrive a little early prior to my hunting window to let my body acclimate. Any other pointers or wisdom from locals is welcomed. I would be willing to trade some offshore fishing trips in Florida on my boat if anyone wants to share any particular GMU units I might want to look at for pulling a cow tag. I know west of I-25 buts that’s still lots of territory. Thanks for everyone’s support, and input.

Never heard of a calf tag. Or anybody intentionally harvesting one. Have not seen a harvested calf though I once did see a fawn lashed to an idiot's Winnebago in the 70's. People have been known to miss their original target and make other mistakes of course.

When I go elk hunting a calf is often what I target. It is just the wife and I so a calf of the year is the perfect sized elk for me. I have all the horns and antlers I will ever need so I only target meat now and a calf elk is a very tasty beast.

To each his or her own.

Thanks for the apprisement. I almost prefer the cow because I feel sympathetic to the over hunted bulls. Pretty sure that is a unique preference and reasoning. Though we all know cows are excellent cuisine.

Also miss the America of my youth very much and vehemently voted against Monica's boyfriends wife. Surely dodged a missile with that one.

I prefer cow meat to bull meat and would take a cow by preference. I would choose a cow over a calf so I could take home more meat. I don't get an elk every year -- I did not get one this year, for example -- and so a cow keeps my freezer stocked longer than a calf would. Having said this, I have read that taking a calf is arguably better on the herd than taking a cow, from point of view of sustaining elk populations. A calf has a lower survival chance going into a winter than does a cow. If you pass on a calf to shoot a cow, the net result next spring might be two dead elk (the cow you shot plus the calf that did not live through the winter). If you take the calf, the net result next spring might be just one dead elk (the calf you shot, but the cow you DIDN'T shoot may well survive the winter).


Out of our group of 5 hunters, I was the only one to see an elk. We didn't hear shots of other hunters around us. I was sitting near a trail looking to the north where I expected elk to drop down into a deep canyon or emerge from the deep canyon, periodically checking 180 degrees behind me. On one check behind me I saw a 5x5 bull elk walking along the trail towards me. I attempted to swivel around on my butt, however the elk saw me and started running at right angles to me, towards a steep down path into that canyon. He was 100 to 150 yards away. I might have tried a shot at him, but I didn't feel my odds were good. Maybe I should have jumped up and tried an off hand shot at him? Possibly I could have gotten 3 shots off from off-hand before he got over the lip and started down into the canyon. I didn't choose that action.

I PMd you about a Colorado elk hunt.