Best of luck my friend! I hope you have the time of your life, regardless of whether you smack one or not! Having said that, I'm expecting some pictures upon your return!

Thanks again, guys... It's funny; with whitetails, I've gained enough experience and wisdom to learn how to position myself for opportunities at the big boys, and there has to be a corresponding amount of discipline involved with that (meaning letting immature deer walk).

My wife has made it clear that she wants elk meat, and I better shoot the first legal thing I see! And I kind of agree with her; unless I see some monarch trailing behind in the distance of his herd, I'm basically taking the "if it's legal, it's getting a Muzzy zipped through its lungs" approach on this, my first, trip. I'd be ecstatic just to come home with a few hundred pounds of elk meat. I don't want to wrap my tag around a calf, but other than that...

I don't blame you,first time out you want to avoid tag soup. Good luck to you and shoot straight!

Greg,I hope you have an excellent time,take it all in,have a blast!

Greg:

I am curious to learn more about your hunt.......

Is this an outfitter? Do you plan to horseback in, or is this a DIY hunt? Just curious to learn more about how you selected the hunt you did.

I am very seriously considering an elk hunt in 08' with a good friend that recently moved to the St. Luis Valley, CO. He has access to and is scouting the public ground in that unit extensively and will have a full season under his belt to learn how to get on them, so hopefully that will help us out more than just showing up for a regular DIY hunt.

Looking forward to pics and a good story, too bad you probably won't have access to the net out there!!

Can I be yourcaddy.....good luck....we are all jealous!

huntingson,

Again... thanks for the PM. I did see your recommendation to go by the Red Barn, but glossed over your question about where around Montrose. To be honest, I'm not sure. I've got a neighbor who's become a good friend and almost grandfather-like to my four-year-old who moved in across the street from me; he's been out to the same area somewhere around Montrose for close to 20 years or so. He's killed quite a few elk, and he invited me and another neighbor to tag along this year as his usual hunting party has went seperate ways to do their own things these days. I truly have no idea where we're going other than "near Montrose."

Matt,

I probably summed up a lot of your questions up above, too. I want to tag along with this gentleman for a few years until my oldest gets old enough to start going with me. Then I can bring him, my wife and our youngest and start our own family vacation trips out there somewhere.

It's totally public land, and about as DIY as you could possibly get. I think we'll get out there with one day to scout around before the season opens. I've already thought about wishing I could update every couple days or so, instead of having to come back with all of it at once. But... if it's anything like when Matt / PA came out here and we hunted so hard (and it'll probably be worse in the mountains and all the hiking I'll be doing), I probably wouldn't have the energy to write up anything on a nightly basis anyway!

Greg,
Like I said, there are a ton of elk around there. Last year I had 13 bulls within 70 yards throughout the week yet I never had the opportunity to loose one arrowI did pass up a few open shots at cows b/c the bulls were following them, but of course they changed direction before getting into the open and I ended up with nada. That's bowhunting though I guess and I certainly hope that your luck is better than mine was last year. Although just getting that close to that many elk was awesome by itself. I am certain that you will love it!

You got that right i still got about 4 weeks left