I have a friend that has been elk hunting in the past and is looking for a place to go this next year. We would likely be bow hunting and have never done it ourselves. We were needing recommendations for where to go, how the tags work, best units, etc. Preference is in CO, just due to the fact that we have been there before and love the scenery, but definetly not limited too CO. All suggestions would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks in advance.

If you would like to consider Idaho, you might check out this series of posts that I'm doing on my blog, comparing OTC hunts in Idaho. I try to give some photos, description of the different hunt zones, and what the stats look like. If anything strikes your fancy, feel free to ask away.

I notice that the elk per sq mi seem to be the greatest in the dworshak zone. This being said would it be the best zone to have a chance of harvesting an elk. We would prefer to be in a low pressure area where we would not run into many/any others. Also as far as a camping, is it allowed throughout the zones or are there designated areas. Do you have any maps of the areas? Thank you

Yes, Dworshak has good numbers of elk, and you would have a good shot at harvesting one. There are plenty of hunters there, but you can get away from them if you're willing to do the work of hiking way in before dark, or if you can stalk in some tough, thick terrain. Incidentally, that's where the bulls are anyway.

I always tell people that are coming from out-of-state to decide what kind of terrain they want to hunt in, and ask themselves what kind of shape they are in. The terrain changes a lot in Idaho. You can hunt in Dworshak and feel like you're hunting in a rain forest. Some people hate that. Or you can go further south and hunt in the high desert mountains.

Either way, there's elk all over. But that's why I tried to talk not just about elk numbers, but also about terrain in the series of posts that I linked to earlier.

You can find places to camp in the Dworshak Zone - no worries there.