THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT


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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

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well, so far i feel 6 for archery, and 6 for rifle, and a few who never gave any preference. we'll let this go on for another month or so, and see what happens. i'm actually surprised that so few have responded. this will be a hunt to remember.

what a whimp, rileman. cowering down to firefighters boast of pulling you out. i'll put my duramax against your powerstroke any day..... lol

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Neither of us needed a tow in Nebraska did we? As a matter of fact The day before you arrived I had to go pull Mike S's Ford out where you and I started with the spotting scopes when you showed up. You might remember he and I both gave and recieved a little ribbing over that one.

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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

You guys better sign on here. I'm planning on being there and want to meet and spend some time with many of you. I told Steve B. today that I am leaning more toward the Oct. rifle hunt because of the timing and other commitments I have. Let's get this figured out and scheduled.

And please realize that these hunts are a once in a life time chance because you usually have outfitter charges added on.

Like most of you, I can't afford those and will do all I can to do this now. S

S

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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

The Oct. rifle hunt sounds fantastic to me...Im not sure if I can afford it but if I can I am so there...I am also in Eastern NE so maybe I would tag along with Rifleman25...I can't commit to anything till it gets a little closer though cause I have no Idea what the money will look like this fall....

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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

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The Oct. rifle hunt sounds fantastic to me...Im not sure if I can afford it but if I can I am so there...I am also in Eastern NE so maybe I would tag along with Rifleman25...I can't commit to anything till it gets a little closer though cause I have no Idea what the money will look like this fall....

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I am only about 45 min north of you. I am near Oakland.

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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

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Great Idea,

Bull elk tags for Unit 55 of Colorado’s 2nd rifle season, ( the dates of the proposed hunt) are over the counter and unlimited in number. You do not need to apply for a OTC bull license, as long as you buy it before opening day you are set. If you would prefere better odds of tagging out you could apply for a cow elk tag, $253 last year, and should draw with no preference points. During any of Colorado's rifle seasons you may hunt with the legal weapon of your choice (rifle, bow, blackpowder). 55 is a pretty good elk unit.

If you are wanting to hunt deer you will need a pile of preference points to draw a mule deer. Last year there were 170 mule deer buck tags for unit 55 during 2nd rifle and 802 applicants of which 40% were available to non residents. It will be less in 2006. Here is a link to CDOW's big game page. If you want to click on statistics you can visit 'hunt recaps' and figure out the preference points. They are not easy to figure out. http://wildlife.state.co.us/hunt/BigGame/

BeanMan

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Not to rain on this parade, but if it is indeed unit 55, it has only a 10% success rate, 128 animals for 1285 hunters during the second rifle season.... that does not make it a "pretty good elk unit" in my book.

However, it looks to me like it may be Unit 481 not 55. 481 has a 40% success rate, but that is only 82 animals for 204 hunters. The down side is that 481 is a draw unit, for both cow and bull tags, as the OTC tags are not valid there according to the 2005 big game Brochure , draw stats in the 2004 second season were 319 aplicants for 179 bull tags, 116 of those had at least one Preference point leaving only 63 tags for the other 203 hunters to draw from.

The draw stats were much more promising for Cow tags, however, with only 280 applicants for 246 tags in 2004. Of those only a handful had any Preference points.

(Note: The draw tag numbers and the harvest numbers don't add up because hunters drawing these tags had the option to use them in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th rifle seasons, while the harvest rates were for 2nd rifle season only.)

So, Unit 481 has a higher success rate for tagging out but fewer tags while Unit 55 guarantees you a tag (OTC) but much slimmer odds of filling it.

Or we could both be wrong about the unit # and just blowing smoke. shocked.gifgrin.giftongue.gif

Steve, can you confirm what unit this would be in? The only Taylor Reservoir I can find on the CDOW map is rather far south of Gunnison. However, I found Buena Vista on the Eastern edge of unit 481, north east of Gunnison by about 25 miles.

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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

I am not quite sure how this has gone on so long without me seeing it, but, now I have. So, put mine name down for the rifle time frame. May have to do some re-arranging of plans but will definately try to be there.

For those that are wondering about how everybody would get along, the hog hunt that was held a few years ago had 20 - 30 attendees and almost everybody got along great. And I believe everybody had a great time. If you have the chance and can, you should attend. You won't be dissappointed.

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Guest Phaseolus (BeanMan)

Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

Reloader,

Try looking for Taylor Park Reservoir. It is north east of Gunnison and smack in the middle of unit 55. You have to cross the continental divide to get into 481. I agree that Steve should clarify to the camping and hunting site. I've fished

The Taylor River and Taylor Reservoir a bunch and it is some of the better fishing on the state. I've climbed all the 14,000 foot mountains around there too but never hunted that part of the state. I would expect odds to be better in draw only units.

Beanman

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Unit 55

HWats the deer and elk situation in unit 55? I spent 4 hours last eve mapping and planning a scoutijng trip to 55 very soon. Is there a lot of priv land there or none or ...?

"Reloader,

Try looking for Taylor Park Reservoir. It is north east of Gunnison and smack in the middle of unit 55. You have to cross the continental divide to get into 481. I agree that Steve should clarify to the camping and hunting site. I've fished

The Taylor River and Taylor Reservoir a bunch and it is some of the better fishing on the state. I've climbed all the 14,000 foot mountains around there too but never hunted that part of the state. I would expect odds to be better in draw only units.

Beanman "

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Re: Unit 55

as i initially said, there is no specific spot selected yet. i am favoing the taylor park reseoir area. i think it would be great. once we confirm the area, i will get with the national forest and get a specific spot. right now, we're seeing if this will be a bow or rifle hunt, and about how many are even interested. we'll know a whole bunch more in just a month or 2. so far, looks like a big "go". steve

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Re: Taylor Park unit 55

My wife will kill me if I bring this up to her...with all the "projects" around the house...baby due at the end of June etc...LMAO...but I will! If you don't hear from me in a few days, she killed me!!!!!!

As far as the hunt goes, I would prefer a rifle hunt and if I can do this...Pete will go with me as soon as I tell him he's going.

Let me throw it past the boss.

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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

Thanks BeanMan, that made it easy to find.

While cheap for an Elk HUnt, $500 bucks plus gas and food isn't realy cheap to my wallet. I just want to know what I am getting myself into. Getting skunked on a hunt is nothing new but it isn't something I look forward to either!

You called this a "good Elk area" in your last post. Assuming you are sticking by that, what did you mean by it? I know statistics lie a lot but they still looked fairly dismal for season 2 rifle.

I am still very interested and the money situation is looking managable to go, now just to iron out the expectations... grin.gif

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Re: THE GREAT COLORADO ELK HUNT

Steve, what kind of fishing doe's this place have to offer ??? There's no way I could pay to have any meat transported back here to VT.... crazy.gifcrazy.gif

But I may be able to squeeze a fishing license and air fair out of the wife,, You got extra tackle and a pole, a broke guy could use ??? I'll need sleeping quaters as well, is there a way a guy could work for food ??... grin.gifgrin.gif

Maybe I should talk to Mr. Waddel about his travel sign.... grin.gif

I need to get out of this state,, for a breather... wink.gif

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