Colorado Hunting Thread

We camped on the boundary of 2 units, 1 is a draw unit where my buddy got his bull but some nasty terrain. Killed on top of the ridge but it's straight down then straight up to there and back. The 4 of us went to help pack it out the next day to make one trip.

Didn't see much on the OTC side, lots of hunters, one I saw walking around without a lick of orange on... Tracks early in the morning, heard some cows, but that was about it. Bulls were screaming in the other unit. Still had a good time

 

I will wear orange going rabbit and small game hunting. I don't trust people. If you do not mind me asking, is this Eastern slope or western slope?

 

Yeah I don't blame you. It was on Western slope

 

Saw about 8 does, 2 cows, a buck, and a moose but we were all too slow on the draw or couldn't take them legally. Another year of going home empty handed but was still a fun week.

 

That's a bummer. I'm willing to bet the pressure is just too much this year and they moved into real deep/rough stuff or private areas. The number of OTC tags I feel was a massive amount.

 

Are you hunting SWA's? Is that why its so crowded?

 

Came across this herd the day before Thanksgiving.

 

How have guys making out so far this season?

 

Not good. Planned to be out near Grand Junction for the last four days over Christmas but after getting setup with everything nice and cold and frozen it warmed up and rained for 14 hours and then just sloppy snowed. Turned everything into muck and half the BLM roads I wanted to drive were just slip n slides. On the plus side my tent stayed completely dry inside and my diesel heater kept it fairly warm so it wasn't miserable, just didn't get any decent elk hunting done. I'm hoping the weather calms back down and it drops below freezing for a while there to solidify everything again.

 

Myself and a two buddies were extremely fortunate second rifle season in CO this year with OTC tags on public land. This is the bull I got in back of my truck. It was my first big game hunt and I'm hooked, will definitely be doing this every year, although this hunt will be hard to top.

 

Nice man! I have never big game hunted before. Where did you go to get the animal processed? Did they piece out for you, mount the head, and tan the hide for you or did you do it yourself?

 

A dandy for your first, congrats.

 

The town over from us (20 minute drive) had a local processor that I used. I want to say I paid 280 out the door for everything which was vacuum sealed and labeled. I dropped it off skinned and quartered (how we packed it out). As far as I know, meat processors don't typically offer taxidermy services. A friend helped me cape the head and I still haven't decided if I'm going to do a full mount or Euro Mount. I much prefer a eruo mount, but this was a trophy bull and most say I'll regret not mounting it...

Thank you very much, it was a lot of work but well worth it. Ended up shooting that one just before sun down up on a mountain at about 11,200 ft in a scree field that was about a 40 degrees tilt... Didn't get back to the truck until midnight 30 and and we still had to go back up in the morning to get the rest. Fun times.

 

that's the jist of elk hunting, it's all fun and games until you kill one. Then the real work begins. The harder you work for it the better the meat tastes

 

Fuck you bull I could easily shoot but it’s not legal. And all you mule deer too. And turkeys. All in all a good time out in nature even if I don’t have a load of elk meat. Ended up calling it after twisting my bum knee and having to face the realization that although I could still go up and down the mountains I wouldn’t be able to do it for multiple trips with a pack full of meat.

 

This State is so screwed...

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb22...lKNwLfdcvUHED7fUVNLevlEndgMvTXHFDam-4tPfRkOg4

 

But maybe you'll be able to haze them....

https://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/cpw-commission-approves-emergency-wolf-hazing-rules/

It guess it took one cow and one dog for them to decide to do something about the wolves.

 

What's more comical...for them to do something before they've even started the "reintroduction" program, cause, ya know, there were already wolves in North Park...

 

Isn't the mountain lion our apex predator?

 

has anyone even taken a pyooma since they banned dogs?