Anyone not NOT hunting this year?

[Lynda]

I have been elk hunting three times in Colorado and I have seen legal elk every time. I shot my first elk on an UNGUIDED HUNT, on PUBLIC LAND without the HELP OF ANYONE my parents drove me up there, rented the whole family one hotel room, and dropped me off with a rifle at the trailhead before dawn in the morning when I was the ripe old age of SEVENTEEN. I was by myself, neither my dad or my mom were hunters. Daddy did help me get the cow down to the road.

Awesome! Love that! I'm in the same boat of being an only wannabe in my family, and am determined to get out there, on my own, on public land. I still haven't got a suitable vehicle, but you know the saying... Where there's a will, there's a way.

[MountainMan]

Man if I were in your shoes I'd through down the $47, thank the pretty lady behind the counter, grab my bow, and strap up my hiking boots. Would kill for that opportunity at that price. It's not all about the kill you have to enjoy the hunt!

It is a good opportunity for the price, as long as you don't encroach on someone else's honey hole. For me, if I'm going to hunt, I'm there to kill something. If I wanted to hike around the mountains and look at elk, I wouldn't take all that gear and go by myself. Do I enjoy the hunt? Absolutely. Is the main reason I'm there to make a kill? Yup.

[haas0311]

I wish i could!!!!! Grad school will eat-up my whole season except for maybe a day in December.. We will see. Im dying to put an arrow through a hog, deer, coyote, bobcat, javelina, squirrel, raccoon....

[Mossback]

Why you worried about someone's else's honey hole go find your own and if it happens to be someone else's you boys need to learn to share real quick, you talk like the elk are concentrated in one tiny area or something....4 hour drive, childsplay man, that's avg for us down here to our places. You'll be a better hunter by going out and finding new places and you'll learn everytime you go out. I've killed lots of deer onpublic land in California where I grew up, had no land in San Diego to hunt on so we talked to game wardens/biologists/national forest fire guys and made do with what we had of national forest and I know there are way more elk in Montana than deer in souther California. Not picking on you or talking trash it's just your coming off as the guy who complains about paying the taxes on his lottery winnings

[Bowhuntamistad]

My elk tag? $47. And while you may be right about the drive time and cost, how many out of staters come up, pay the fees, but have buddy that already has the scouting done and knows where the animals are, or lives here, or has hired a guide? I would imagine there is a low number of folks that drive 12+ hours and pay the big bucks to hunt here don't just find a random patch of ground and call it good.

Trying being in my shoes....

I am driving 8 hours throughout the night to a trailhead, after working a full swings shift, and hike six miles to a hidden lake in the Ruby Mountains, set up camp and catch a nap before I start glassing my eyeballs out for a muley suitable for my wall and table, any will do lol. I will be going it alone for about three and a half days ( all the military will allow me to have due to our manning). The 12th of September can't get here fast enough

I HAVE NEVER EVEN BEEN THERE.



Strap your boots on and get going Sir You are in a very lucky position. I have been trying to get orders to Colorado for years now.


I got a guy at work that does DIY hunts in his car with a pack and some food.


Please don't take offense. Life and hunting is only as hard as you make it.

[Bowhuntamistad]

If its public land...its nobody's honey hole. Hate to break it to folks, but they do not own the land.


I had a tourist horse trail riding company try to pull that card on me because I was using one of the trails their very destructive horses were leaving. They claimed they owned all the National Forest land I was on and that they would have the law remove me. Said they were afraid I would shoot one of their horses mistaking it for a deer During an open site only muzzleloader season


Got that fixed quick. They leased the acre they had stables on. They actually left their FM radios on at full blast every night they left. There was a giant buck that was living on the opposite side of the hill they were on in a canyon. Needless to say, I never did see any deer in that area ever again.


Pack some tissues in case any hunters you run into have any issues with you there.