1st Rifle season questions

[CObowhunter]

Hey everyone, I've been living in Colorado for 3 years now and absolutely fell in love with elk hunting. I've been lucky enough to get one bull and one cow in my first 3 seasons (archery). The reason for my post today is, I was born and raised in PA hunting tiny whitetails. I flew my dad here last year for his first elk hunt and he also fell in love, but he doesn't hunt with a bow. So what I'm looking for is a recommendation on any good spots for 1st rifle season, since I cant talk him into picking up a bow or muzzle loader. At this point it's more important for me to get him on an elk, anything legal we're not trophy hunters, than myself get one in archery season. This past year we hunted public property during the second season and saw a ton of hunters, even though we were 3 miles from the closest dirt road. Any help, whether public or private would help. I have an awesome property in the foothills that holds some moster mulies, you can see the picutre of the big 193" I shot in velvet this year, that I would be willing to let people hut on if we can come to some sort of agreement.

Let's talk....

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

If not interested in trophy quality, has he thought about cow elk hunting right across the border in Wyoming. You can draw some amazing cow elk tags with very few if any points required. You could then archery hunt CO and both cow hunt together in WY. Just a thought.

Ore even a general elk tag in Wyoming. You could draw it every year as a special tag. My last deer hunt in Wyoming, I was sitting on a 260 class bull for an hour glassing for deer. I was only a few miles from Colorado.

 

[BKC]

Where is the picture of your velvet mulie and what unit is your property in the foothills?

 

[CObowhunter]

I haven't thought of Wyoming yet, since I'm still trying to figure out Colorado. But that's a good thought. WHat do you mean by it's a "special tag"?

 

[CObowhunter]

It's in GMU 39, which isn't too hard of a tag to draw in archery.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

I haven't thought of Wyoming yet, since I'm still trying to figure out Colorado. But that's a good thought. WHat do you mean by it's a "special tag"?

Wyoming has two tag types, the "regular" and "special". The regular is $591 and the special is $1071. The only difference between these is the price. The advantage of the "special" is it USUALLY gives you far better draw odds. Up until this year you could apply paying the "special" license fee, have a better chance to draw one of the better limited entry tags on your first choice, then on your second choice, you could apply for the general tag and still draw it. A lot more people know about that after this year, and it will likely be harder next year.

If someone applies paying the "special" tag fee and applied for the general tag as their first choice, they should draw it every year for several years into the future.

The application deadline for elk has passed (Jan 31), but there is still the opportunity to purchase preference points this summer. With that one point you would have very high odds to draw a "general" tag in the "regular" draw in 2015.

General elk tags are unlimited to Wyoming residents, but there is a limited number issued to non-residents.

You also have some outstanding public land DIY elk opportunities right next door in both Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah if you can draw a tag.

 

[CObowhunter]

Thanks for all of the useful information, I'm going to purchase preference points this summer and hopefully draw a tag next year. Good luck hunting

 

[hoshour]

The best way not to deal with tons of hunters is to hunt private land.

You could check into finding landowners whose trespass fees aren't too high. Private-land-only tags are usually much easier to draw.

The other route is to buy fairly inexpensive landowner tags. Since you are not looking for a trophy area, you might be able to get landowner tags that are not too pricey since the cost tends to vary with how much in demand that area is.

 

[CObowhunter]

I as actually just researching this the other day. I had a nice conversation with Dennis Gillilan who gets a large amount of landowner tags each year. Where would I look to find landowners who have trespass fees? Just go knocking door to door, or is there a website that can help?