CO 2nd Season Elk Nuttiness

[Daves762]

Combine all that discussed above with the USFS locking the gates and keeping them locked longer and longer every year. Agenda 30 stuff. It is getting harder every year to enjoy the outdoors without the crowds. Heck today was opening day and I waited in line at the gas station for ten minutes behind orange clad morons buying their tags on their way out to hunt...… some of them didn't even know what zone they were hunting in and had to look it up...…..

 

[shooterntn]

Blame on-x maps

I totally agree.. it can be a good thing when a outfitter puts a fence up and try to say it's private but maps say diffrent. And on other hand the ones that get it and study it and paper map can bring on new people.

 

[DT400]

One way to control demand is to raise prices.

Trying not to get political BUT......
I think there could be one good side to this. If this influx of hunters are basically new hunters and new gun owners that does give us a bigger share of the populous for voting and defending the Constitution...especially the 2A.

Darrell

 

[Barrelnut]

I've always had a hard time believing numbers like above as it seems I see more and more hunters afield every year too. I think the good economy has put a lot of dollars in folks pockets and hunters are out in force, booking destination hunts, and looking for a chance to use that shiny new custom long range rifle they just purchased.

 

[robert l]

Interesting comment.
10-12 years ago my hunting buddy and I started in a new area. It takes 1-1/2 hrs from the nearest town (1-1/4 hrs all twisty dirt shelf type roads) which is the size of a large yard. It's 2-1/2+ hrs form the smallest of grocery stores and we were virtually at the end of the road. Needless to say it is somewhat remote, yet the road is in good shape so getting trailers in/out is easy depending on the snow.
When we first started we would see maybe 1 hunter/vehicle a day that far back, sometimes we wouldn't see anyone for a few days. In the last few years there have been one to two dozen vehicles per day. Most just road hunters. We'd see them drive toward the end of the road then 10 minutes later they would come back by heading out, some like they are trying to outrun a forest fire. At the end of the road we would be the only ones out in foot now there will be 4 or 5 trucks and people all over. The elk situation has dropped DRAMATICALLY in the last few years as well. We have had severe beetle kill so I don't know if the elk have dropped because of the dead trees or all the traffic and not sure if the extra traffic was because there wasn't near as much sign in other areas around us and people were searching......Either way there have been FAR FAR fewer elk than in the past...not sure I believe the statistics saying we have some of the highest elk population in a long time.....

Darrell

Kinda like virginia back in the day.you would hundreds of white all summer then on opening day they would disappear.And i grew up out side of bristol and the nearest houe to ours was 22 miles away.So we were out there.But those deer had a time clock it was crazy.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Brotherbeard67, I am from eastern Montana. Just got back from 2 weeks up there. The economy up there is not thriving because of all the out-of-state hunting money coming in. I used to hunt the breaks, but all of the outfitters and out-of-state hunters drove me out. I am glad I am as old as I am. Just a sign of the times. Too many people with too much money. I remember an eastern Montana outfitter bragging about having huge amounts of acreage leased for his operation. You can probably guess that he was not a local. I know enough people in in eastern Montanana I could have done the same thing. But I couldn't walk down the street and tell all my friends that they couldn't hunt where they have for years because I had leased it all out so I could make money off of it. But that is just me. The local farmers can make more farming hunting opportunities than they can farming the land. Had a friend who had 120 square miles of property that we used to hunt. Five doctors from Florida bought it for 2.5 million so they would have a place to hunt for a couple of weeks a year. Local Montanans don't comprehend having that kind of money. Times change and like I said money talks. Then you have the rich people buying up ranches. I can't blame them. I would do the same if I had the money

 

[Lynn Coleman]

All the western states are crowded. Quit hunting Colorado several years ago due to negative experiences with knuckleheads. Hunting Montana last 7 years. Aggravating when you've hiked in 2 miles, "set up" and here comes a 4 wheeler in an area where Zero motorized vehicles are allowed.

 

[COBrad]

Same experience here. I manage a ranch here in western CO and have great access to some otherwise roadless country. First season wasn't to bad but I was still surprised at the number of people that horsebacked in. When I started hunting in there 41 years ago there was no one but us. Second season was a real disappointment. We had guys camped a quarter mile from the cabin, another camp a half mile further on, the outfitter a mile beyond that, and two other camps on the other side of the ridge. After the second day my buddy and I never saw another elk track. We drove down to hunt above the ranch - new owners won't allow hunting on the ranch - and were amazed at the number of hunters there. With the new map apps now for the first time ever I had guys discover a little corner of Blm that allows access to the edge of the ranch. Hunters there in a place I don't hunt because it's right outside the picture windows at the owners house. Probably go back to archery or muzzleloader, but that probably won't be much better from what I've been hearing.

 

[TrainingSgt]

This year my oldest son and I lived our dream hunt. We loaded up his Toyota Prerunner and drove from Columbia, SC 2 1/2 days to Gunnison. We were snowed on. Had our butts kicked by the altitude and craggy narrow trails in the Ragged Wilderness. We did not even see an elk all week. I learned long ago it is called HUNTING! not killing. I am 61 and there are more days behind me than in front. It is great to get an animal but it is not the end of the world if you don't
Enjoy the experience with your family and friend and stop griping about too many hunters.

 

[26Reload]

What has been said many times......money is buying everything....i saw it happening in western Oregon 40 years ago.....cutoff from FS lands by a guy that bought the access point from a private property owner...then he started buying all the access points to that mountain range.......now a teacher's retirement group has purchased sh-tloads of acres of properties people used to hunt.....now there is so very little to access generations are quitting hunting......its sad...but true...hunting is going away.....its gonna be gone for most people very soon......i may be one....
And i usually hunt between the roads traveled by trucks and atvs....
Just gotta get off your lameasses.......

 

[YZ-80]

There's no state you can go to to get away from it.

We are witnessing the tipping point where there are more hunters than places to hunt.

I think we hit that tipping point a long time ago, Taco. It's sad.

 

[DT400]

What has been said many times......money is buying everything....i saw it happening in western Oregon 40 years ago.....cutoff from FS lands by a guy that bought the access point from a private property owner...then he started buying all the access points to that mountain range.......now a teacher's retirement group has purchased sh-tloads of acres of properties people used to hunt.....now there is so very little to access generations are quitting hunting......its sad...but true...hunting is going away.....its gonna be gone for most people very soon......i may be one....
And i usually hunt between the roads traveled by trucks and atvs....
Just gotta get off your lameasses.......

Don't you guys have something called a public access through private property out there? I thought this was a national standard. Here in Colorado there are many roads that go across privately held land to access public lands National Forest, BLM, state parks xcetera.

Darrell

 

[26Reload]

Don't you guys have something called a public access through private property out there?

Nope..not in the bylaws.....the lands above private property are so intermixed that the blk and fs can careless about letting public in to hunt.....but....guys that are leasing the fs and blm for cattle have full access.....and several of them went from rags to riches....funny how a small herd of cattle can make a man rich.....i guess since they were grazing on wacky weed up there it's okay.......millions made....

Timber company's had regulated how people were accessing so called public lands that they purchased properties around.....gates..dugout roads...trees across...boulders....all that is fine...except the timber companys have the keys to the gatas and use rhe roads during hunting seasons....but public can't....
I used to sneak in a back road bow hunting elk a long time ago...saw lots of elk practically everyday....just never did shoot one.....i was the only bow hunter for many square miles.....i enjoyed the solitude....

 

[huntsman22]

good grief..... where do you guys come up with this stuff? A 'small' herd of cattle NEVER made ANYONE rich. And the same can be said of 'large' herds..... millions made? Have YOU ever been in the cow bizness? I rest my case.....