Colorado elk hunt advice

We plan on going in early September I think. I have several pair of Keen hiking boots. They are the most comfortable boots I have had so far. I have a new pair that I can take.

Scrub buster, couple of questions before I start in. Where will you be staying, and at what altitude will you be staying and hunting at? Has your friend hunted that area or out in Colorado for Elk before?

Onyx for your phone is what I recommend, and IIRC they have a guarantee that they will foot the legal bill if you are on private property because their map was wrong and you get in trouble.

You cannot be in too good of shape. Think of going on a hike here with your mouth and nose duct taped shut with only 2 drinking straws to breathe through if you are at 10,000' elevation or more.

If you take an ATV, you have to buy an off road pass to drive it on any trails, and get a map showing what trails you can and cannot take it on. If you are taking an ATV that has a carb vs. fuel injection, and will be at 9500 feet or higher, you will need to get it re-tuned (i.e. re-jetted) for high altitude running. Mine has a carb and it was fine up to about 10,000 feet, then it was sputtering and really running rich. It had a hard time climbing up a hill in anything higher than 1st gear at that altitude.

My friend has hunted unit 74 before and knows that area pretty well. We are also looking at unit 42. I think the elevation on unit 74 where we will be at is 11,000'. We do not plan on taking an atv. I will look into the Onyx app. He has a GPS unit he will be bringing. Thanks for the info.

You may know how but I didn’t so I took my bow to the pro shop they helped me a ton on set up for elk a long shot here could be a short shot were you’ll be

I wished I had lived some were hills were it’s flat here in Adams county but I did the same over filled my pack and walked

Don’t get overwhelmed by gear it’s nice if you can swing it but being in the best shape you can and a good attitude goes a long way in overcoming of lack of gear.

I’ve camped in the bush up north most of my life when fishing with just a tent foam pad and a good sleeping bag as long as you can stay dry and half way warm the rest works out

11,000 feet is high. Really high.

Put a plastic bag over your head and seal it around your neck with duct tape....cut a 1cm slot in the bag directly in front of your nose and then go run 5 miles.

That's what walking up a mountain at 11,000 feet will feel like.

Other than that ... Best sleeping bag you can afford. Good boots with the right soles. Air mattress. Quality rain gear. Good optics. Chapstick.

Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.

Also keep in mind that when you do put one down the work really starts, I had about 400# of boned out meat. You might want to check if there are any ranchers around to hire to pack out your elk.

O.K., here's my experience.

My cousins have hunted South of Eagle, Co., for the past 22 years. They drive to an area with the trucks, set up a large wall tent w/wood stove and take the ATV's about 50 minutes to the hunting area, which is about 7 miles away. The tent was at 9,700 feet, we drove up to about 10,700 ft, them back down to about 9,800 ft. From where we parked the ATV's it was about a 1/2 to 3/4 mile walk to the cliff edge that I set up on to look into the bowl. I got there on Thurs morning, we started hunting Sat a.m. and packed it up the following Saturday. I have also hunted with one cousin in the Greys River area of Western Wy. We camped at Moose Flats Campground, IIRC around 6,500' elevation, drove the ATV's to about 7,500', them backpacked up to about 8,500' - 8,800' before daylight every morning to be up in the hunting area before it got light out.

Bring a good sleeping bag, cot and mattress or sleeping pad to sleep on. Getting up off the ground helps a lot, and you wouldn't believe how fast the temp drops once the sun goes down. When we hunted in Wyoming in Sept a number of years ago, it was 90°F during the day and we had temps in the 20's at night.

Plan on drinking AT LEAST a gallon of water to 1 1/4 gallons of water per day. If you don't, your legs will cramp up at night and you won't be able to sleep. In Wy., we had a Mr. Buddy propane heater for the tent. After a few hours the low O2 sensor would kick in and it'd shut off. We had the bottom of the zipper open about 1/4 to 1/3 the way up... That was only at 6,500' elevation.

I bought an Eberlestock J1 backpack with a 3 liter bladder. I'd take 2 extra 20 oz bottles of water and leave them in the ATV, and I'd have the bladder and both bottles emptied by the time we got back to camp.

Bring very good lightweight rain gear. Tops and bottoms. Pack it with you even if the sky is clear. When I was in Co. in August to scout the weatherman got it 100% wrong. It rained every day and we ended up driving back down the mountain to spend the night in a hotel. Thunder, lightening and wind every night and every day too.

When camping this October, the bears were still out (black bears only in Colorado) but they didn't bother the camp. My cousins said they never have seen any traces of bears at the camping area, but we did see LARGE bear tracks where we hunted, and a local that walked up from the bottom said he watched a Mt. Lion covering up a deer it killed the previous night. I believed him, we never saw a deer that day or the next when the previous day we saw 20+ deer.

Bring tick spray.

Get the boots broken in. Get the backpack early and wear it on your hikes to get it fitted/adjusted to your body. Double check the regs to see if it's legal to carry a handgun. Talk to the local conservation officer/biologist either in person or by phone and ask them about the elk population that year. I did and he was correct, very few elk now where my cousins have hunted. Some new homes in the area disrupting the historical Elk migration, and a golf course down the Mt. is holding the elk on private property.

No need for a genset and freezer. Large coolers filled with ice and kept in the shade work fine. Put the meat in game bags, and put ON TOP of the ice, leaving the drain plug open to drain out any water. Like was said earlier, once the elk is down the work begins. My cousins ended up buying a motorized elk tugger. www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200452220_200452220

That and 100-150 ft of rope has helped them a LOT, but it's not something you need to get unless you will be going back year after year like they do. Packing out an elk is a LOT of work, my cousin said without it it would take 3 or 4 of them a good half day to get it out once the animal was cut up in pieces. If it was shot in the evening, they went back in the next day on pins and needles, making sure a bear or Mt. Lion didn't claim it.

Double check, but I think that you need to carry your hunter education card with you when hunting unless you stop at a Parks & Wildlife office and get it verified. Do that and you never have to carry it with you. I did and I'm glad I did. You need to have it with you to buy an over the counter license, then once you have it verified once you can buy an OTC license without having it on your person.

Bring 2 headlamps and plenty of extra batteries. It'd dang dark out at night. LOL Don't forget the typical canp stuff, toilet paper, something to cook food in and to eat it on, plus utensils.

Good binoculars, tripod, a good spotting scope if you can swing it and a rangefinder. The air is a LOT clearer there and what you think is 30 yds will be 50-70 yds. We were watching deer with the spotting scope that were 2500 - 3000 yds away, my rangefinder will read out to 1,999 yds and they were way further than that. I have a very good spotting scope (20x-60x by 80mm objective) and I could see (clearly) individual trees against the snow on a mountain in the distance. My cousin and the local that walked up both said that mountain was between 40 and 50 miles away.

Get there 2 days early at a minimum. It will take you that long to get partially used to the altitude. I had a headache and felt crappy on day 4, so I stayed in camp that morning. By the morning of the 9th day I could walk with the binoculars, spotting scope and tripod, range finder, 3 L of water, backpack, 12# rifle, extra gloves, ass pad and lunch in the backpack and talk while walking without having to stop to catch my breath.

Forget about boiling water at that altitude, it takes too long.

You got a lot of good advice here.


I'll just say to do your best to prepare, but don't over think or stress over it.

Bring some comfort items like extra padding/blankets for your cot, a heat source for the tent, some way to shower.

I precook and freeze a lot of food at home, I eat pretty good on my trips. Mountain House are OK, but only for so long.

Be prepared for the altitude, but don't sweat it. I've personally never felt much effect even up to around 12k, but I know it hits everyone differently.

I make sure and have plenty of food, water, a water treatment system, a first aid kit, headlamp, GPS/compass/map, and a kill kit in my pack. You want to avoid an extra hike to/from camp before you start breaking down and packing your critter.

There are a lot of logistics that go into making a hunt like this happen, but the planning and scheming are all part of the fun.