Elk season approaches
 

My elk season starts October 14. I hunt in SW Colorado out of a camp at about 11000 feet elevation. We are DIY hunters and set up a 12' x 14' canvas wall tent and heat it with firewood. I look forwards to this hunt and prepare almost all year long. Probably by early February I'm thinking ahead, not very constantly or intensely, but still thinking ahead. Of all my different outdoor pursuits and activities this has been the best, the most absorbing and gripping.


I am 61 years old and exercise most of the year. In the winter months, my exercise is less frequent than it is when the season is closer, but I keep up some exercises like deadlifts, barbell squats, and the like to keep from having to start those from scratch. But I'll walk less frequently; I'll walk without a loaded pack. I'll skip planned workouts more often. But as spring time is spinning up I'll work harder in the gym, working hardest the last couple of months before the hunt -- right now.


As the hunt approaches I reread books on elk hunting, less to find new information than to conjure the spirit and excitement of elk hunting, to start getting in the mood, to get my mind focused and imagining scenarios. I like to start finding my gear well in advance of the hunt and checking it out -- first to avoid a huge task all at the last minute (distribute the work over extended time to reduce the perceived load and trouble) and second to enjoy the reminders of past hunts and stimulate imagination of the coming hunt.

My freezer getting empty is all the stimulation I need to start looking forward to hunting seasons. Like everyone else in my family, my twin boys are some carnivorous little wolves and easily eat their body weight of meat every week. Want to see a good magic trick? Come to my house and set a 5 pound elk roast in between them. Watch it disappear in damn near the blink of an eye. I swear I don't even think they breathe. Woosh gone then an hour later you hear mooooooommmmm I'm hungry. 2 little black holes.

How old are your boys? My boy has been a very big eater -- particularly of meat -- since he was about 15 years old. He is an athlete and burns a lot of calories. Also, protein is good for repairing stressed muscles.


I love elk meat and eat it prepared in several different ways. I made an elk meat dinner this past Saturday for my son and a college buddy of his. Two Saturdays ago I made an elk meat dinner for a couple my wife and I know. Everyone always loves the elk meat. I have never served it to anyone who did not like it very much. I definitely think it tastes better than deer. The elk meat I'm eating now is from a cow elk. The two previous elk I have eaten were both bulls. While the bull meat was good, the cow meat is noticeably better.

They are now 9. Wife and I didn't think we were going to have kids then pow, double tap. And yes, the female from any meat animal is always better. I think the only species I have eaten where I didn't detect a big difference in flavor and texture was Fallow deer. Caribou would be next. Not a huge difference between the same aged male an female. When you get them, as in season, is also a big taste changer. Anything rutted up is dang near nasty without some help in the marinate department. Aging time can make a huge difference in flavor and texture as well.

I still chase after elk but have left the old backpack behind.

I have hunted many things in many places but lacing up the boots and chasing elk will always be tops.

Mine ended 9/15.

Very nice bull! Where were you hunting (state, mountain range -- not your specific spot). Any cool details about your hunt?

In the "West" along with Clean Living and Straight Shooting!!! (Stolen from a hunter I know) Wilderness hunt on public lands and guide cow called him in. First good look at him 125 yards and 7 mag melted him. Fly fished in light snow for the rest of the trip. A true wilderness adventure. I wish all the same and good luck this season. Next up is a May mother ship hunt in Alaska. Last trip included halibut to 90#.

Used to live in Denver and had pretty fair spots in the Flat Tops and greater Gunnison area. Moved to the San Luis Valley area (southern Colorado) and have been literally working my ass off finding a decent spot in the near by Sangre de Cristo range. Sometimes I feel a little discouraged.

There are deer in the navigable areas, the elk like the higher ground of course. The problem is that the neighboring Sangre de Cristo's are pretty much....just brutal. Very steep and very rocky. I see more black bears than anything else. Not used to finding so many elk hooves with part of a leg bone attached. Clearly the work of a black bear.

I have a great Jeep but there are almost no Jeep trails around. Unless you want to risk your life on the road that is rated "toughest in Colorado".....the Como Lake Road, aka: Blanca Peak Road. Walked it once and definitely didn't want to try climbing the surrounding terrain without ropes, carabiners, and climbing axes. A big snowstorm would strand your Jeep until next July.

To top it off, there is a lot of thick and thorny brush. Hiking is just tough and visibility is limited. There probably are plenty of elk if one toughs it out and climbs as much as hikes. Then carrying it out may be very difficult.

#Challenged in Colorado

Love hearing everyone’s ELK stories
 

Hello everyone,..first response ever on this board but have read it off and on for a bit. Been hunting since I was 6 and at 38 I have been planning for an elk trip that just never seems to happen for the past 4 years. I have lived in North Dakota and hunted the plains, Eastern Montana, Missouri, Tennessee backpack mountain hunting for a number of years and the swamps of North Florida where I currently live. None of my buddies around here are willing to go out west on a hunt and I figure I am just going to have to do it along unless I hook up with a few locals out west. I do a lot of inshore and offshore saltwater fishing and caught about everything off my offshore boat,..if anyone is interested in a trip I can make that happen. Maybe you could share a few OTC areas I might want to look into for Elk in Colorado. I am willing to hike, climb,..not a trophy hunter, I am a meat hunter, ya’ll can have the horns haven’t found a good recipe for them yet,..but a nice bull or Buck is still nice. Opportunist hunter if you know what I mean, never turn down a gift of fresh meat and you won’t go home empty handed,..lol.

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.