Colorado 4th Season by Craig

[ShtrRdy]

Did any of you hunt over by Craig, CO during the 4th season? Any luck?

 

[ShtrRdy]

Well, I'll start with my experiences. When I applied for a license in this area I was figuring that there would be enough snow and cold to drive the elk out of the mountains. However the weather in Colorado has been warm and dry this year. Apparently the elk have a really good hiding place in the mountains. Probably 10 miles from the nearest road at above 10,000 feet.

We ended up hunting the Routt National Forest between 9,000 and 10,500 ft and only saw a few sets of hoof prints over the five days. We would walk in on a trail using a very slow progression looking for sign or animals then we would typically take a cross country path out. We would spend some time sitting in one spot too. We didn't even hear many gun shots. We saw one cow hanging in a camp and one bull on a trailer in town.

Oh well, maybe next year. I was just wondering if other people had similar experience.

 

[Rick Richard]

Had a buddy from Illinois go out at that time and was able to tag on a 4x4. According to him there were a lot of elk, but quality was not there. His bull was the biggest taken in a week of hunting.

 

[spdcrazy]

I can't speak about that area. but yes, the lack of snow, and warm weather made things difficult.

I camped at 86xxft. and hiked to 9k for the first three days. not a single track or animal seen. then the snow came in and we went a bit higher and found the tracks around 10k. found two small herds on the 4th and 5th day but couldn't put the shot together.

did see some BIG bull tracks, but saw nothing more than cows and spikes.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Had a buddy from Illinois go out at that time and was able to tag on a 4x4. According to him there were a lot of elk, but quality was not there. His bull was the biggest taken in a week of hunting.

What part of Colorado was your buddy hunting? Which rifle season?

 

[spdcrazy]

4th season rifle. Near granby.