c-rad

Pic a GMU that you want to hunt. Use the web to your advantage. People post good stuff on these sites. I doubt anybody will give you the coordinates they hunt but they might give you areas to check out. I spend 90% of my time hunting and scouting Rampart so I found a decent spot. Find a spot that holds animals and be very careful who you tell if you tell anybody. Going out without scouting is going to make it very hard to find elk.

bobsspike

Yep I just got back from rampart range rd North and scouted every turnoff from mt herman to 10 miles. I found some spots and going to go camping up there soon to see what is there early AM. called turkeys but no answers. need to get a bugle to see if any elk are moving up and down there. and thanks to all for the help. I just have this feeling I am going to not find crap come season time. I was just walking around and still in the rain guns are going off in the distance. How far back have you had to walk to find the little Bulls?

c-rad

You will find them it just takes time and a lot of walking. Check out my trail cam pics they are all from one area on Rampart. You will hear a lot of people bugling up there in about 2 weeks. Most are road hunters looking for an easy kill. I never see hunters more than 1/8 mile off the road.

Kytus

I've hunted rampart range a little bit, and spend more time over near divide. I've done the burn area, it's way over crowded most of the time. Even with non hunters due to it having some popular 4wheeler trails.

There are elk near signal butte area, in and around phantom creek and manchester creek areas. Just get away from the FS roads and atv trails if you can.

Also I want to point out, "If it has a horn, it's old enough" Isn't exactly right. GMU 511 is one of many GMUs that has the Four-Point Rule: "Bull elk taken in all seasons must have four points or more on one antler, or a brow tine of at least 5 inches long"

I haven't yet myself had much luck with elk in the unit, But I've only been at it for 2 years. It is however a pretty nice unit for deer, If you want to hunt deer close by, I'd suggest at least putting in for a deer tag there every year. Even if you don't draw one, you'll get a preference point for next year, and this unit historically only takes one point to draw a deer tag.

Also, in regards to putting in for tags in 511 for deer. Something else to look into is putting in for gmu 59 instead. Slightly better chance to get a tag that doesn't require a PP, if you don't, again you still get a PP, BUT if you draw a tag for unit 59, you can also hunt deer in the same season in unit 511. It doesn't work the other way around however.

So good chance at drawing a deer tag every other year, and a good chance of getting one that year, assuming you put in the time scouting.

I wish I could offer some better advise for hunting elk in 511. All my experiences thus far in encountering elk, and all my conversations with folks that take elk there all point to the same thing. Go where others are too lazy to go, and scout your ass off. The elk are there, you've just gotta spend time finding them pre-season.

Good luck!

One more thing, if you're near divide and hungry, check out McGinty's Wood Oven Pub. It's great.

cowboykerk

Im not much into big game or turkey but I can show you how to hunt ducks and geese.

Muley Hunter

It takes more than having an antler (not horn) to be legal. You should start off by knowing all the laws.

Read all the chapters on the list on the left.

http://wildlife.state.co.us/HUNTING/...niversity.aspx

cowboykerk

Pete's right. Here in Colorado an elk is required to have at least 4 points on one side before it can be legally taken.

Wildman21

I have hunted Signal Butte and Phantom creek pretty hard for the last couple years because I kept hearing great things about it. There is a lot of sign there, rubs on lots of trees and even some areas that stank of elk, but I am yet to see any up there except one running across the road like a demon was chasing her. You will get frustrated trying to avoid roads and other target shooters, but such is the life of hunting on public land so close to a major city. There are areas though, just look at a map, find the largest areas with no roads and start walking into it. Just out of curiosity has anyone tried the back side of pikes peak? That area should be good for an over the counter tag right?

streetglideok

It seems like I looked into the backside of the peak, a couple of seasons ago, and what I seem to remember is, a lot of private land, so no easy access to public lands, and if you go near gold camp road, then you are in reach of yuppie road hunters. I may remember it wrong, so worth checking into closer. Signal butte, and that area seems to be the best area for 511 that I've heard. I did see a few really nice bulls in 2011, I was on the teller side of the county line, and across the line fence, which is also the county line and gmu border in jeffco, was a heard of elk, with several big boys in it fighting. If we go this year, which is in the air at this point, it'll likely be 55, or something along those lines. I've at least seen elk there.

digidoggie18

If you go up along old stage and just hike wherever there are tons of turkey and rabbits. we always go there when we get our small game licenses. as for bird I hear there are some good spots down by pueblo that are inexpensive. I think my buddy said like 12$ per day to hunt for bird.