Self Guided Elk


WEBFOOTII

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start training for it now. If you can run ten miles at home, you will sprint 100 yards to get a shot and throw up :). Seriously:

1-call the CO DNR get the name of a biologist and call him repeatedly til he answers... ask tons of questions.(Find out when they bugle and plan for that time)

2- Start training four months in advance and be in twice as good shape as you think you need to be. After week 1, the harder and higher the elk are to reach.

3-practice shooting at eighty yards so a fifty yard seems like a chip shot.

4-Gear... 90% of the time I got my bow, two granola bars, and two water bottles. I dress the lightest possible. Each ounce weighs a pound when you are going straight up 9,000 ft. Be prepared for eighty degrees one day and 35 with rain and snow the next.

5-One week is not enough. Shoot for two weeks, but you can only do what you can do. If you have lmited time, walk as much ground as possible the first few days (get to the top and check the whole area out).

6-Watch your calling. Have seen entire herds bolt the opposite way of a hunter and his bugle or hoochie mama (the worst!).

Good luck, there is nothing better than matching yourself up to the mountain.

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The only advice offered that I don't agree with is going too light. Have enough gear to stay out for the night and not die. Elk hunting requires lots of walking and you will get far from camp and may get turned around or find the terrain too rugged to walk in at night even with a light. Also don't walk the area. Find a spot to glass and study it through your glasses. If you bump them they may go 5 miles before they stop. If you are in an area with lots of water carry a pump it's lighter than water. Try a bowhunt or a first season hunt, the later hunts can be challenging just because of the weather. Take a weather radio to camp. If you have never hunted or driven a vehicle in the mountains of Colorado I always suggest a mule deer hunt first. They are lots easier. I've done lots of hunting in Colorado when I lived there and it's very intimidating for the first time hunter. Plan well and plan to survive it.

Mark

Edited by m gardner
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