Contributors to this thread:
This time of year when there is not much going on, I like to to pop the top on a Coors longneck and pull out my old hunting magazines and read through them. Its fun to see old photos of todays well known bowhunters back then when they were skinny and had dark hair. And hair for that matter. Interesting though, was reading in Bowhunter Magazine in their Elk Season Sept. 1985 Edition about the Colorado Elk season. Resident tags cost $25, NR were $210. Season begins on Sept. 7, and ends for some areas on Sept. 29. Still open through Oct. 6 in a few select areas. According to the DOW then , "There is serious discussion to go to some sort of antler restriction in 1985", "If this occurs, hunter success will be greatly reduced." In the same issue, their stats shown were from 1983, when they showed a population of 132,500 elk in CO.,13,540 archers took 1,381 elk for a 10% success rate in 1983. In the 1988 edition of Bowhunter Mag. the forecast showed a population of 176,000 elk. 1987 had 9017 resident archers & 5239 NR archers taking 1639 elk for a 12% success rate. The season then opened up on August 13 and ended Sept. 20. Only bulls were legal during August, then either sex may be taken during the balance of Sept. The price of tags were still at $25 for residents and $210 for NR. How times have changed.
Yes, very interesting for sure. I was 49 the first time I hunted Colorado elk as a nonresident, and that was 26 years ago. I do believe the tags were less than $250 then.
The population of elk was around what is stated, 180,000 still 140,000 elk less than the "hay days" in the late 1990s when the est was 300,000 plus, now back down to 165,000.
I know in 1990 there were 20,000 resident and nonresident bow hunters who hunted elk. Now that numbers has increased to 43,000, ie, 19,500 non residents and the remaining resident bow hunters with a current success percentage of 12-15%.
I killed my first bow killed elk in 1998 in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area when it was an OTC unit. Have not been back but plan on hunting the same area this year.
Moved to Colorado in 1992 and never looked back as I wanted to bow hunt elk, etc, every year in my back yard.
Back then we didn't run into many bowhunters anywhere, and rarely in the woods. Our bow camp was running somewhere around 80% success rate, in an OTC unit. We went 6 for 7 and 7 for 7 in consecutive years.
That first week of October hunting could be killer, especially if we got a big snow late inn September.
Only 13,540 bowhunters. Yep, those were the days....
Lou I did see an old photo of you in an 80's Bowhunter Mag. back in the readers success photo section. It was you with a nice Muley
That was my second year of hunting, first of bowhunting for me (Colorado Native).
Deer tags were OTC, and typically we saw a ton of big bucks, just did not manage to harvest many back in those years...
I've managed to kill 15 or so Elk with a bow since then, never shot a bull as I've always set the standard of only killing a bull if it was going to be mounted. Take a cow and maybe next year those raghorns would be respectable trophy bulls.
Have never hunted a Draw Elk tag in Colorado, but hopefully this year after waiting all this time, will draw a limited tag and shoot a nice bull worthy of mounting finally!
Lou, I will show you mine if you show me yours----FIRST ELK
Check out the tree bark camo and woodland camo top. Still works great.
Back then I would think I have 20 years to elk hunt--boy O boy. Now it is one year at a time.
Yes, times have and do change.
So, grab up all of the gusto you can because you only go around once in life.
My best, Paul
It was so cheap that I used to buy Elk AND Deer tags. There was a LOT more OTC back then too.
And you hunted in cotton and survived?
I did my 1st Colorado deer hunt in 1967. I am not sure, but it seems to me that I paid around $10.00 for the tag. I used to have a place near Colburn that would not take any money. Had another place near Hamilton that charged $ 25.00 per day for room & board. Hope to go back to Colorado this yr. I think it W/B my 36th yr. to hunt Colorado Yes, times have changed
Paul You were 49 the first time you hunted as a NR and that was 26 years ago. Dang, I never would have thought you were 75. I hope I'm still doing it (bowhunting-ha) when I'm your age. You look good. Keep at it
Yep, I believe Paul's birthday is today and he was going ice fishing! 75 and still kickin em hard. Cool thread.
Slapshot, my first year was 1967. Hunted with John Lamicq in Roan Creek. Only missed 5 years before retiring from chasing elk in 2009. Happy Birthday Paul!,
Paul is my neighbor and inspiration. Here he is a year or two ago heading in to elk camp. I sure hope I can still do this when I'm his age. He told me the other day he goes to the gym every day for two hours every morning, works out, walks two miles (I'm sure yoga pants are part of his inspiration..)
I definitely hope to be in that kind of shape at the age of 75. And happy birthday Paul.
Co and Ca rifle hunts back in the early 80's are what pushed me into bowhunting.
Co was cool back then as many of those really good spots like the Flat Tops were open units with long seasons- and with less guys than the draw units now!
Happy birthday Paul!! You are an inspiration to us in more ways than one.
Is that a Golden Eagle? bow your are holding in the pic with your bull?
Seems to me that a couple guys I knew used to try to draw unit 76 back in the 80s. I think they would usually draw it every other year at worst.
We started going out in the late 80s. Took us 4 years to finally find some decent areas to hunt. Once we did that our success rate sure went up.
Paul great pic kinda look like chuck Norris
Happy Birthday, Paul! Hope you had a great day!
Paul shared the build plans for that single wheeled cart I will be building this summer. I've got a couple of areas in Wyo that I will be using that thing to get in deep and help haul out some meat solo!
Yes, "Happy Birthday " Paul
My first elk/deer hunt in Co was in 1988.I remember the price being that cheap and tags were otc for the elk and deer where I hunted outside of Craig.Alot of elk and big deer,but I was 19 and had no clue how to hunt either.There was no pressure at all in archery where I hunted,and had the mountain to myself.I know there was point restrictions when I first went.The 2 biggest muleys of my life were spotted on that trip,and none I've seen since have ever come close.I wish the hunting in Co was still that good without having to wait 10+ years for a tag that would compare now days
My first trip to Colorado was back in 1973 and the Non-Resident tags for Deer was $25.00 and Elk was $35.00!
My My How things have changed, it's all about money now days everywhere isn't it?
Those were definitely The Good Old Days!
I can't afford it now,I think it's a shame the way it is now for everyone! :>(
Ole Thumper
Happy Birthday Paul. I love looking at old pics and trying to remember how it was back when I first started bowhunting. Paul I think I had that same bow and definately had the Jim Crumley treebark bibs.
My first elk hunt was in 1985. We went on a semi-guided hunt on the Lone Cone Mtn. near Norwood, CO. Saw elk and I should of at least gotten a cow. A couple of years later another friend and I went up in NW Colorado looking for Mule deer. We hunted a few miles north and east of Douglas Pass south of Rangely. Drove up the switch backs that the natural gas companies created to pull their pipes and equipment up the mtn. You had to have someone walk ahead of the truck to watch for wash outs on the so called road. We seen some awfully big Mule deer up in there back then. Mostly tall brush/ bush country with only patches of pine here and there. I can still see those big Muleys with their huge racks watching us from the bushes with their big racks sticking up. It was a cat & mouse game in the dense brush. And who would have known that the place had elk. We had several close encounters with a few, sending us to town (Rangely) about mid week to purchase elk tags ($250 then) We did not get any elk on that trip. A couple of years later we headed back out to the same place. My friend Chuck ended up taking a bull the first 30 minutes into the hunt on the very first evening of the week. We had just gotten there and set up camp and then we both took off in different directions for the evening hunt. He looked down into a bowl area and there the bull stood. He called once and the bull came right up to him, Chuck took him at 20 yds. with a 60# Rocky Mountain Recurve. Of course the elk had to run and fall back down into the bowl but did not go far. Chuck, being a long time Hormel meat packer, had it expertly boned out in short order. We then had to crawl back up out of the bowl on all fours in the dark with the meat on our backs. A few mornings later I had my chance at a small bull but mis-s-s-s-ed. I was heart broken and still am (ha) Its always the ones that you miss that you remember the most. For any of you out there that eat Spam on your hunting trips, think of Chuck when you are eating it. He is the one who cooks the Spam at Hormels in Fremont, NE
Back then you could knock on a rancher's door to ask permission to bowhunt elk, and he would spend the rest of the afternoon driving you around in his pickup, showing you where the elk were, where to camp, give you keys to gates.
Then you might sit down for supper at the family table that night.
Now you knock on the door and the irritable ranch manager gives you the outfitter's contact info. The ranch owner more than likely lives in another state and flies in now and then to check on things.
Made four trips to CO to bowhunt back then, from Indiana.
First was a solo trip in my brand new '74 Scout. Hunted the southern end of the Uncompahgre NF, later a wilderness area. Then I could drive in on a "road" that ran from 62 west of Ridgway up into the scrub oak flats and on towards Ironsprings Mesa.
NR deer license was OTC and $25. I remembered the elk license as also being $25, but I may be wrong on that. I know it wasn't much more than the deer tag, if any. Stopped at Gart Brothers in Denver on the way out and bought tags and a few other "just have to have" goodies.
Went there again a year later with my brother in law.
Then went a couple times in the early 80's to the Flattops and backpacked in for elk with a buddy from work. Can't pinpoint the years exactly, but probably '82 and '84.
We were in my Chevette for the first one and his VW bus for the second. Learned a lot about drafting on those trips. It IS possible to cruise at 80+ in a VW bus, if you get close enough behind a semi or a Greyhound as you leave a rest area and hang on. Fastest way to cross Kansas in the night, and the gas mileage was great!
Good old days.
My first year hunting in Colorado (actually my first year big game hunting anywhere) was 1974. We almost never had a camera with us back then, but my wife was tagging along on this deer hunt and snapped this photo. I actually had already killed a 5 X 6 bull elk with that borrowed, stock German 8mm Mauser on the third day of my first ever big game hunt. Still hunting with those two guys now that we're in our 60's. We switched to bow in 1983. Not as many elk back then but a lot fewer bowhunters.
OK, lets go back 40 years to 1975 when I first started bowhunting for elk in Colorado. Back when the bulls were dumb and I was dumber. It took me five seasons to take my first bull with the wooden Wing Impact bow in the photo. I still have it a closet downstairs. I was emulating some guys in the Colorado Bowhunters Association who were taking good animals way back then. Maybe they can chime in here. How about it Kurt and Rock?
T-roy, the bow is an Oregon compound bow with recurve limbs. The company went out of business after the owner and his son, out flying their plane, scouting for elk, crashed and killed them both.
Twenty five years ago, the bow was state of the art bow. I killed the Colorado Big Eight, big game species with it and last year, gave it away at the CBA banquet so the bow could live another life.
Thanks all for the BD wishes. Actually I feel younger today as I just filled out all of my forms for pronghorn, elk and deer draws.
My best, Paul
My first year for Colorado archery elk was 1981, non-resident license was 135.00 for elk, 90.00 for mule deer...I backpacked up on Snowshoe Mtn. out of Creede in Unit 76, above Deep Creek..again in 1982 but when I returned in the early 90s Unit 76 was a draw unit..
Yes, Happy Birthday a little late. You give us older folks hope that we'll be able to hunt into our retirement years. I know the Oregon bow well, I shot my bull this year with my Oregon bow. My main bow broke and my Oregon bow was kept around as a back up.
Dan
King I would if I was up to date on posting photos Lyle Willmarth
I hunted 20, 39 and 76 all as OTC - back in the day. Spent some amazing days with my old man and friends in those places chasing elk. Guys like Wilmarth, Marv Clyncke and Doug Beck were my idols.
Lyle, get some third grader to help you figure it out and put some photos up. I hear you have just been compounding your problems lately with training wheels, too. See you in Phoenix !
Ziek, that hair is awesome! lol
Yeah, that's what 'ski bums' looked like back then. Best part is, at 61, I still have all of it, although it's pretty grey.
I still feel that the camo pattern that Trackman is wearing in his photo is still the best pattern ever made. A lot of us on here still remember that was pretty much all there was to buy back then. I still use the same Fieldline day pack that has that same pattern on it now for over 30 years.
Every knows that pattern can no longer work. LOL
Dad and I went out elk hunting in the mid '80's. It cost us each $570, license, gas, food, ice etc and included a economy room on the way out. Good times for sure!
You can note kill the 2015 model big game in old camo you must have the new Sitka or Cabela s new stuff
My 1st trip & then another 35 or so started in about 1965. I think Elk & deer tag was a total of $25 for both, non res, over the counter any where I think. My 1st Elk was shot with a 55# Groves Spitfire, Gamegetter 2117 Aluminum tipped with a MA3 blade at 35 yds. My knees are completely shot or I would still be going.
