Colorado with some new young hunters

[Jas1984]

I have hunted Colorado off and on since I was 13 now 33 and this year me and my hunting partner have some new hunters coming with us, his 2 sons and 2 new hunters from our work. The trip will be totally geared toward his 2 sons since this will be there first trip and they are excited to finally be able to get into the hunting game (him and his sons finally talked the wife into letting them come along).
With all the new people in camp this year and me and my partner being the only ones with a little experience we have decided to split up into 2 groups so we can try to get the sons and new guys on some animals, they would really like to concentrate our efforts on elk but we will also be picking up some deer tags in case we are have problems pin pointing the elk.
With that said the new hunters have no points so we will need to stick to easy draw units which isn't going to help us too much on getting on some animals, again this trip is centered around my partners sons and we would like to make it enjoyable for them. We are just looking for meat and some what easy hunting or atleast see some animals since we all know they call it hunting instead of killing.
His sons are 13 and 15 and we are excited to have them but its going to be hard to keep there confidence up if we aren't atleast seeing some animals so I'm hoping we can get some good info from here.

As far as me I hunted around Eagle when I was younger in units 25 and 44 and as of lately I have hunted 11,22 and 211. I have been successful in 211 and 44 for deer and 22 for elk but it was luck as I see it.
I was too young to remember much of the Eagle area but I wouldn't mind trying that out again, I have noticed 44 might be pretty tough for a deer tag and the elk success rate isn't looking very good from the past couple of years.
I have hunted 211 and 11 the past 5 years with the first year being the only successful year on a small buck, I normally only hunt elk and didn't put in for deer the other 4 years.

The thing that's going to hurt us this year is with how everyones schedules line up which means we can only hunt 2nd season.

I'm not looking for anyones specific honey holes or exact areas mainly just units to check out or look into while we try to get everything figured out, any info is good info in my eyes and we will take anything we can get.

Thanks for the help in advance and sorry for the long post

 

[Gerald]

Eagle is a great location for what you're looking to do with the boys.. Tags are over the counter for elk in second season and it has second choice to leftover tags for buck deer in those units north of i70. Units 33,34,35 are probably most ideal for this type of hunt looking to get elk or deer on the same hunt. I tried 34 this past fall on a leftover tag and it seems like some rough country and tough hunting but if you start early and get yourself in the right position to where they're moving through on top or on their way into the oak brush/ mountain mahogany to hide for the day you'll have plenty of chances at a decent buck. Elk are up high of course and you'd be wise to concentrate your efforts on top close to the northern end of the units. 33 might have a better hunt but if you want everyone to have a tag 34 will give you the best chances of getting a guaranteed tag through the draw for everyone in your party. when we were hunting 34 we were glassing down a busy road where everyone was driving past to get to the top where the good hunting areas were and we spotted a 6 point bull bedded way down low on the bottom of the mountain in the oak brush area and I really never thought I would see one down there so they're in there you just have to look hard and hunt hard no matter where you are. You're right it'll be a difficult hunt being its a over the counter unit and there's always leftover tags for deer but that's a good way to get the boys a preference point for a better hunt in the future and get them used to a tough hunt that when they finally hunt in a good unit that took points to draw it'll be that much easier and fun for them to hunt with much more game around, better terrain to hunt in, and less hunters to hunt around. Also keep in mind Colorado has some excellent youth hunting opportunities and tags those two boys are still eligible for before turning 17. They may be able to hunt two seasons in the same unit for elk or deer if they get a either sex or doe tag and there's some tags that are allocated for youth only hunts which gives them a much better chance of drawing and hunting a great unit. Just a opinion on where I would put in for and I'm sure there's plenty other good options around the state for y'all.. great idea to talk to parks and wildlife and have their input on your decision making process they have good advice and hunt planners who can help with your choices for this years hunt. Wish you all the best of luck!