D.C.'s spot

[David P. Herne]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

Darryl,
I was REALLY hoping you were gonna say that (that you're secret hunting locale is on public land)!!! You have no idea how much this news revs me up and reassures me that a man of modest means such as myself can acutally hope to get in there (Colorado) and find and take a bull elk without having to shell out thousands of dollars for a trophy fee. You see, almost the entire population of hunters from my neck of the woods believe one can't legally hunt anything without having to pay HUGE money for it. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of successful Texas hunters fall into the following 4 categories: (a) corporate executives whose employers lease extremely expensive game ranches or pay for extremely costly 'day hunts', (b) people who ride into the aforementioned type of situation on the coat tails of their relatives (the means by which I have killed most of the trophy animals on my walls), (c) men of modest means who are willing to go into debt and/or make absurb financial sacrifices in order to go and get their trophy whitetail, elk, pronghorn, or moose each year, and finally, (d) poachers (recently discovered to actually be the most successful of the four categories, being credited with the best/highest B&C averages for whitetail deer in the State of Texas). Incidentally, prices for the big bucks from out of the largest and most intensely managed game ranches down here reportedly run as high as $35,000 (just one animal, mind you)!!!

My wife and I found a couple of promising looking areas after a trip to a family members place in Silverthorne last spring, but one is always nervous about asking alot of questions in Colorado in an effort to lay the groundwork for such a campaign when one is from Texas as they just don't care much for Texans up there. But gimme a couple of years and I'm gonna do this thing!

Regards,
D.H.

 

[Darryl Cassel]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

DH

I believe the feud between the Texans and Colorado folk, goes back to the cattle days in the old west and has progressed from there.

To me,hunting is getting out the topo and local maps, looking for a place to hunt that is on public lands and then trying to be successful.
It is much more rewarding to me to do it this way, not to mention the cost factor.

I will not pay a tresspass fee, or guide service when you don't have too.
I feel it is more "you" when you are doing the hunt and being successful on your own.
Some States require you to have a guide, but Colorado is not one of them.

My wife and I camp the whole season and NEVER come back to civilization till the last day of the hunt has ended. We stay in motels on the way out and back and spend a day or two in town after the hunt has ended. We have made many friends there and visit with them either out in the moutain or in their homes.

The cost is a hunting license, food, fuel to get to Colorado and back home and any extras we bring with us or buy out there. Cost is VERY low for a hunt of this type and especially when you can kill elk or deer at the SAME time.

Before the license price increase on elk two years ago, and when I went with a good hunting buddy of mine (before my wife came along with me), we made that entire trip for 12 days of hunting for about $850.00 each.
Let me add something here, he and I stayed in motels at the time also. That was $850.00 for EVERYTHING. Food, license, motel and fuel to and from Colorado which we split.

So you see, it's very possible to get a good deal while elk and deer hunting in Colorado if you don't have to pay guide fees and pay to hunt on private land.


Good maps are of great value to anyone, but be careful and read them well. They don't take kindly to tresspassers, "especially" from Texas.

That was the first thing I heard when I started hunting there over 13 yrs ago.

Take care and good hunting to you.
DC

 

[*WyoWhisper*]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

Brent,

I have been know to "guide" guys hunting that necessarily can't pay an outfitter. Ther are lotsa ways to swap stuff.. don't give up hope. I realize after growing up in PA that hunting the west is a dream of most hunters. I chased my dream and got lucky. I try to "help" any who want to hunt the west whenever I can. As long as I have enough hunters to guide through the outfitter and I can pay the bills. I usually hunt "freinds" and others that have inquired. I figured what good is this place if I can't share it...

It may happen for you someday...

 

[Brent]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

I'll make it down that way someday, hopefully sooner than later.

Swapping sounds like a good idea. I need to get set up to do something like that up here too. Lots of nice areas up here, I hoped to have my own plane sometime soon, the job loss put a damper on this too, for now anyway.

 

[QuietHunter]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

I may get in trouble for revealing this little secret about Colorado, but here goes.

Colorado has two types of licences; ones you draw for and ones you buy over the counter. While one can certainly do well if you buy an over the counter license, there are definite advantages to a license you draw.
An over the counter license will put you into an area with every other hunter who bought the same tag. Usually you will end up competing against other hunters more than against the game. The best way to make it a good hunt is to get away from everyone by going farther in - something most folks cant do without horses unless you are in great shape and willing to rough it.
Licenses you draw will usually put you into an area that has a limited number of hunters or tags. This gives you a higher quality hunt, is safer in my opinion, and usually gives you a chance at a better animal.
Drawings for licenses are typically done on a straight preference point system. If you are unsuccessful in applying for a tag, you get a preference point and you are that much farther ahead when you apply the next year. A person with 2 preference points appying for a tag will get it before someone with 1 preference point.
What this means is that if you EVER intend to hunt Colorado, you would be well advised to start working on preference points. You can only get one per species per year, so time can work for or against you. Bookmark http://wildlife.state.co.us and you can request applications around February / March. There is an option to apply for a preference point on most animals. The only down side is that it costs 3 dollars (non-refundable) to apply and you have to float the cost of the license until they refund your money.
You can still buy an over the counter tag if you do not draw a license.
Every preference point you accumulate will open up more possibilities for a nice hunt. The only areas non-residents cannot apply for are the Ranching for Wildlife areas.

Darryl's comments are right on about hunting Colorado. There is a lot of public land and there are a lot of animals. I have not killed an elk, deer or antelope on private land since I filled a doe tag on my parents place 15 years ago.
Look at the big game applications and see what areas have over the counter tags (most of the western part of the state). Get one of the new Gazeteer (sp?) maps of the state that show all of the public land and is color coded for BLM and National Forest. Head out, get your tag and hunt.
This information is free, but please leave your ATV at home!

Houston Boy,
Certain parts of Colorado used to be part of Texas. It used to be that most of Texas would come up to Colorado in an attempt to reacquire it. Those folks who came up and acted like they owned the place caused a little bit of animosity. Since then, the Kalifornians have snuck in through the back door (as they are prone to do) and are trying to convert most of Colorado into something like Orange County. Texans have been deemed much less harmful than Californians and are therefore tolerated... and welcome. The general consensus is come on up, hunt, fish and go home.
Personally I would trade all those who threaten the Colorado lifestyle for all the sportsmen who come to Colorado and appreciate it for what it is.

Let me know if you have any questions. Will be away visiting relatives and hunting Ducks, Geese, Pheasants, Coyotes for the long weekend. Will try to get in on a desert sheep hunt too if the guy has not filled yet.

 

[Darryl Cassel]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

Ric

Being a guide and paying the bills is all part of living your dream there in Wyoming.

I to have "helped" my LR friends as to where to hunt in Colorado and have taken them along with me. I guess you could say I was a guide, but without the pay.

I was making light of the fine hunting in Colorado and the fantastic land and mountain scenery. I know Texas is a big State, but if you flatten out Colorado, I do believe it would be one, if not the biggest State, in the USA. Excluding Alaska of course.

QH gives some excellent advice as to hunting in Colorado, but for some of us who use the dirt roads to get back in, a 4 wheeler is needed when you don't have horses like he does. The 4 wheelers can be taken back in very far on dirt roads and then it's foot travel from there, unless you have horses.

Most of the residents in the area I hunt, use the 4 wheelers and horses too. They own "BOTH" and use each for a different purpose.

I took my 4 wheeler this year and never used it. You can rent horses for the week for $250.00 to $300.00 each, in our area.

I think there is room for both as long as the 4 wheeler riders don't abuse the road restrictions they are to stay on.

Take care and good hunting.
DC

 

[QuietHunter]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

I don't want to digress this into a 4-wheeler discussion, but like any tool they need to be used responsibly.
Use them only on roads. Take them the same places you would take a Jeep.
Never make new roads and trails.
Just because somebody else went there first does not make it ok. These ATV's will go anywhere if the driver is committed to getting them there. Plan on hunting on foot no matter what. Hunt uphill if you are concerned about getting them out.

While I have taken a lot of folks out and "guided" them, I have never charged anything except the price of groceries (about $10 / day). I especially like to get out on sheep hunts and since I may be lucky enough to draw a tag twice in a lifetime I take others.
Since I do have to work for a living, and get a limited amount of vacation time, I cannot spend all of my time in the woods. If anyone wants to hunt Colorado, I will be happy to help provide information to them. I will not give out my secret honey holes, but I could tell you where to go for critters in general.
Don't worry Darryl, I wont tell anyone where you go. There is a lot of country just like it though.

 

[Darryl Cassel]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

QH

I know there is a lot of country like the spot/s I go to in Colorado. A fantastic State to say the least.

I tell very few people of the locations I have found for obvious reasons.

All one has to do is to explore, with maps in hand, and they will find great hunting.

My wife and I flew out there during the early fall, many years ago.
We rented a car in Denver with front wheel drive and took off exploring. We traveled over 1000 miles in Colorado looking for Longrange spots and I have a whole book of spots that are dream locations. The front wheel drive got us into many places because the dirt roads were dry the entire time.

We go back to the same area every year because we have a great rapor with the residents who hunt there and many friendships have been made in that area.

We (my wife and I) look forward to going to Colorado every year.
Would like to visit with Ric in Wyoming one of these days too.

Just soooooo much beautiful country to see in the USA.

Take care and good hunting

Later
DC

 

[*WyoWhisper*]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

DC,

Door is always open.
We have hired a significant amount of employees this summer so I should get to "go off" on my own this summer. I got one thing in mind LRH spots!!!

 

[David P. Herne]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

Gentlemen,
I use that salutation (gentlemen) when addressing all of you in its strictest sense. You are all so gracious and I am honored that any of you would even acknowledge my questions and comments here!

Quiet Hunter,
I was especially thrilled to read your most recent contribution here as my own personal philosophy on hunting and the natural world is exemplary of your suggestions and admonitions regarding the same.

At 33 years, I have not been on more than a half-dozen serious hunts in my life, and these were only for Texas whitetail and/or exotics. Still, I have been facsinated with such big game hunting since early childhood when my parents moved from Chicago, Illinois to Glendive, Montana. While there, Dad hunted elk every year near Livingston and mule deer within a 100 mile radius of town. He still remarks how I would get more excited than on Christmas morning when he pulled up to the house with the head, cape, and quarters of a bull elk or a field dressed mulie from right outside town, with my brother, 4 sisters, and mother shuddering in horror in the background. And how I was the only one in the family other than himself who would eat the meat of either species. Unfortunately, Dad's company transferred us all to Texas before I was old enough to accompany him hunting, and once here, his busy career prevented him from hunting altogether. Nonetheless, I started shooting by my mid-teens for the sole purpose of preparing for the day when Dad would hunt again or at least when I would be able to hunt with my own friends. In a way, I'm still actually waiting . . . . . and preparing . . . . . and anticipating. Meanwhile, I have watched and listened to many other more privileged young men go on expensive hunts both here at home and in the Rocky Mountain states. And with each passing year I not only grow hungrier, but also increasingly disgusted with so much of what I have seen these others do in the field. To make a long story short, I have come to the point where what I dream of when I dream of elk hunting in the Rockies (and I do this frequently) is running (not riding in a 4x4 pickup or on an ATV or even on the back of a horse) into the mountains near Buena Vista (where most of Colorado's 28 fourteeners are located) with a pack on back and my rifle in my hands and finding that one great monarch of the mountains up there . . . . . IN HIS HOUSE AND ON HIS TERMS. And if his head comes back to Texas with me, it will have been meant to be! That's just the way things are with me and it can't be any other way for it to be worth it.

Peers of mine have taken B&C whitetails only because they hunted out of a 4x4 jeep or pickup or astride an ATV or even at 2 AM on moonless nights with the aid of spotlights or nightvision scopes. Personally, I wouldn't have the heads of these animals on my wall or show the photos thereof to others! In my opinion, it was about nothing more than killing for those pathetic souls. Hunting for me, however, is about capturing something that a man could never really have by any other means than by taking its life with a portable projectile weapon. As my signature states, it is indeed about 'stealing beauty'. But not, mind you, about stealing it from one another. Rather we steal it from itself as it has its own identity and its own sense of self-determination!

Regards,
Dave

[ 12-03-2002: Message edited by: Houston Boy ]

[ 12-03-2002: Message edited by: Houston Boy ]

 

[Brent]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

My friend Eric said we could hunt elk in Oregon where he grew up after applying for the permits too. He said after you get two preference points and haven't drawn, you automatically get a permit on the third year. Is it that way in Colorado too?

We use ATVs up here almost everywhere, there are limits in some areas but not many. People take pretty good care of the place and manage themselves well. Vegitation comes back with a vengance every year, even on well established trails, these moose highways and overgrowing constantly.

 

[QuietHunter]

Re: D.C.\'s spot

Brent
For deer, elk, antelope and bear preference points can just keep accumulating. For sheep and goat, they max at 3 points and then go to a weighted system. Apply for preference points even if you know you cannot hunt that species that year. You can always buy a tag for a general area later if you can hunt.

Houston Boy
I spent most of a summer a few years ago scouting sheep for a friend from Lousiana who drew a tag in the area you want to hunt. Get a few preference points and get proficient with a muzzle gun and I could point you in the right direction for an incredible elk hunt in a draw only area. I need to check stats to see what it would typically take. While I did not see too many large bulls, the terrain is awesome there was ample opportunity to do spot and stalk at treeline. Saw one nice bull at over 13000' in the middle of a boulder field bedded - a good mile from the nearest vegetation. No chance for ATV there since most of it is vertical.
BTW - Colorado has 55 Fourteeners, and you are right that most of them are in that area. Due to the popularity of climbing Fourteeners, one rarely finds the animals on those peaks - Mountain goats, but not elk, sheep or deer. That helps you narrow down where the critters will be in those areas... just get away from the popular climbing routes.