The Elk Thread

[Punkin]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good lightweight tripod to use for glassing in the back country? Headed to Colorado in September and working on gathering up all the gear I need.

[Jzoch]

Following!! My dad and I will be headed on our FIRST elk hunt to Northern Colorado this September. I'm more excited to share this bucket list hunt with my dad more than anything. Coming home with a bull would just be the cherry on top. We'll be hunting private land along with some BLM. 211 I believe. Any information would be much appreciated. We'll be there September 10th through the 18th.

[7sdad]

Headed up from central TX for unit 81 in a few hours. Plan to set some cams if I can get on any good sign. Who knows whether or not my cams will still be there mid september[emoji848]. It's a risk I'm willing to take!

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We put out one last year and it was fine, I have 2 out this year and really only worried about 1 of them.

[justletmein]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good lightweight tripod to use for glassing in the back country? Headed to Colorado in September and working on gathering up all the gear I need.

I don't know about good or lightweight or recommended, but I used my Primos trigger stick tripod last year with an adapter for my vortex bino's and it worked well. I just used it since I was already carrying it for my rifle and didn't want to carry additional tripod.

[El General]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good lightweight tripod to use for glassing in the back country? Headed to Colorado in September and working on gathering up all the gear I need.

https://outdoorsmans.com/collections/tripods

Outdoorsman's and Manfrotto if you have some money to spend. I'd get on rokslide and search around if you are looking for a better budget option.

I got one for less, but it had some slop in it that I couldn't ever figure out how to get rid of completely. It was fine for what I was doing, but if I was behind glass all day, i'd consider spending the money.

[Jzoch]

Does anyone know what major airport is the most near to Meeker, CO?


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[El General]

Does anyone know what major airport is the most near to Meeker, CO?


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I would guess Grand Junction. A couple of buddies flew in to there when we were hunting west of Meeker in 2018.

[jaker_cc]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good lightweight tripod to use for glassing in the back country? Headed to Colorado in September and working on gathering up all the gear I need.

Slik makes great carbon tripods, lightweight and affordable.

[Jzoch]

I would guess Grand Junction. A couple of buddies flew in to there when we were hunting west of Meeker in 2018.

Okay that’s what I figured but I wasn’t 100% sure. Thank you!!


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[wytex]

Check into flying into Hayden, Co.

[justletmein]

What can yall tell me about bear? The Leftover list came out and there's a couple of Sept bear tags available in my Elk unit. I'm not hunting until 3rd rifle season, however I plan to be in the unit for several overnight camping and scouting trips in September so I'm thinking about grabbing one to give me a little more scouting drive. All I know is they like fruits and berries and nuts in September. Are they attracted to water sources at all? This wouldn't be a sit and wait for a bear hunt, this would be putting in miles for scouting purposes and intentionally running through some "beary looking spots" to see if I get lucky. Since my hunt is late season I'm targeting lower elevations which seems like where the bears might find their food in Sept.

[Punkin]

https://outdoorsmans.com/collections/tripods

Outdoorsman's and Manfrotto if you have some money to spend. I'd get on rokslide and search around if you are looking for a better budget option.

I got one for less, but it had some slop in it that I couldn't ever figure out how to get rid of completely. It was fine for what I was doing, but if I was behind glass all day, i'd consider spending the money.

I looked at the Outdoorsman's but haven't heard about Mafrotto yet. I'll take a look. I am planning to probably pick up the Outdoorsman's bino mount though.

Slik makes great carbon tripods, lightweight and affordable.

Thanks, I'll take a look at these as well.

[unclefish]

What can yall tell me about bear? The Leftover list came out and there's a couple of Sept bear tags available in my Elk unit. I'm not hunting until 3rd rifle season, however I plan to be in the unit for several overnight camping and scouting trips in September so I'm thinking about grabbing one to give me a little more scouting drive. All I know is they like fruits and berries and nuts in September. Are they attracted to water sources at all? This wouldn't be a sit and wait for a bear hunt, this would be putting in miles for scouting purposes and intentionally running through some "beary looking spots" to see if I get lucky. Since my hunt is late season I'm targeting lower elevations which seems like where the bears might find their food in Sept.

I was hunting Unit 62 in Colorado during the 1st part of Sept 2016 and saw 9 bears during my week there. Most of them were at water holes or ponds.

[justletmein]

I was hunting Unit 62 in Colorado during the 1st part of Sept 2016 and saw 9 bears during my week there. Most of them were at water holes or ponds.

Nice! Are they hitting the ponds primarily in the evenings or just randomly? I actually have a campsite location picked out with quite a few ponds in the area and a nice creek running into it.

[MooseontheLoose]

What can yall tell me about bear?

My experience has been “it depends”

For a couple years, we saw bears every year up high archery hunting in our OTC elk unit in CO. Top of the ridge in the high meadows, high. One year I think we saw 9 bears on one hunt in the high meadows. After that year, I put in for the rifle bear tag, not to go trophy bear hunting, just to shoot one since we had seen a lot of them.

The year I had a tag was much drier up high than the previous ones had been. We didn’t see a single bear up high during the hunt. Not in the area we were hunting or any of the surrounding areas we could see. There were still elk there, so the meadow grass wasn’t completely burnt off, but it wasn’t near as wet/lush as it had been the previous years.

At the end of the hunt walking out, we dropped down 2k feet and heard from a few people camping down lower they had seen multiple bears during the previous few days. The bears were lower down by the creek and in the thicker brush. We never came across any, but if it’s hotter/drier, I’d focus more in the thicker brush closer to water. It was warmer down there, but I assume the food, water, and thick brush kept them close to the creek.