Elk - Unit 61 Colo.

[bentquarterpanel]

I drew a Non Resident Rifle Elk Tag for 1st season any body with suggestions thanks Robert

 

[bill338]

depends on where you want to be. 61 is a large unit. I have hunted in the "gateway" part of it most of my life. And it depends on if you have a Bull or cow tag as well. More info would help. Good luck. Bill

 

[sambo3006]

If you have a bull tag, first off, congrats. Second, get out there early and do lots of scouting. Some local help or a guide would definitely be worth it if you can't do lots of scouting on your own. Third, if all else fails, chase a big bull across the road to me in 62!
Best of luck!
Sam

 

[bentquarterpanel]

I have a bull tag. I'm also a do it yourselfer. Me and my hunting partner will be going with 4 mules. we'll spend 3 full days scouting. We will be covering territory. with animals and optics.

 

[sambo3006]

Sounds great. If you can get back into areas that are not accessable easily by truck or ATV, you can afford to be a little more picky on your bull. The bulls that hang out anywhere near a road or ATV trail get hammered pretty hard the first day.

 

[coloradoultramag]

Thats a great tag a 300 bull should be fairly easy even if you don't use your pack animals. If you have time try for something 330 plus. Try the more remote country and you should find bigger bulls and I bet they will be bugaling in 1st rifle season. I will be bear hunting 61 in september If I find a big one you want me to tell you where I saw it?

Good luck Gabe

 

[bentquarterpanel]

sorry for no reply I have a new 1st grandchild and sick parents and have not been on computer for awile. Any help would be app. thanks Robert

 

[mixerdriverm]

Well, tell us how did it turn out for ya did ya bag a big one?

 

[bentquarterpanel]

No this area is highly overated. Seen more beef than anything badly overgrazed seen no legal bulls scouted and hunted 8 days what a waste of points we do better when we go over by Gunnison hunt off 4 wheelers With our mules we covered miles of territory. They did have a good herd of beef somwhere around 1500 head.

 

[mixerdriverm]

You know I hunt unit 35 and normally all the beef is gone however this year they were still grazing beef. There was a large winter kill in the area we hunt last winter and it hurt us pretty bad as well. There were way less animals than normal however we did run across alot of winter kill carcass's. How about yall did yall see alot of winter kill carcass's?

 

[bentquarterpanel]

no not any elk carcasses but in the middle of no where we found about 7 or 8 beef carcasses pretty decomposed within 50 yards of each other

 

[sambo3006]

Sorry to hear about your lousy luck. I was across the road from you in Unit 62 with a cow tag. I only saw 2 elk in 5 days of hunting/scouting, was lucky enough to kill one of them with a near 600 yd shot.

The wind and the moon and the leaves still on the oak brush all conspired against us. It would also be nice if the cattle ranchers actually got their cows out of there by the beginning of October like they are supposed to. There are definitely big bulls in 61 but you basically had a perfect storm of bad conditions piled up against you. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just hit an Easy Button and get rid of the cattle, 50 mph winds, full moon and oak brush leaves?

Sure hope you have better luck in 2009!

Sam