Contributors to this thread:
How many of you hunt several OTC areas in one season or do you stick to one unit.
I hope to have hunted most of them before long. Always try a new unit for at least one hunt per year. After all, I have to live up to my handle. I definitely have one "go to" though.
Nope... I hunt at most the same 3 units every year with 90 percent of my time being spent in one unit. Heck even in that unit I have focused in on only a couple square miles of hunting.
For me it is way more important to know a smaller area inside and out, than to barely know several units....
If you find unpressured elk hunt them till you kill or run out of time.
I only change areas/units is get into elk.
I know a guy that's going to kill six elk in different units across 4 states this year. All while sitting in his turkey blind. :)
LINK... that guy must be REALLY good!!!
He is quite possibly the best elk hunter that's never hunted elk. His skills are so great they could only be achieved by hunting the highly elusive 1% turkeys in the best training state there is. Most that hunt where he does wouldn't even dream of trying it with a bow. I believe he lives somewhere close to you GhostBird. Of course your deer and turkeys are domesticated compared to the ones he hunts. Don't forget Ghost that big buck you shot this year would be a 110"er if it were in Steve's back yard.
I can no longer even list the OTC units I have hunted in Colorado....not to mention the 1/2 dozen or so draw units I have been able to get a tag for over the years. I always think the latest unit is going to last...but they never do. Like OTC will I believe I will have hunted every OTC unit one of these days.
Will, obviously with one hunt one could arrive at a rather uniformed biased opinion. That being said I would still be curious to know what percentage of the OTC units you decided weren't worth another hunt?
I used to just hunt one unit and that's where I'm going to spend the first week then I'll hunt units closer to my house on my days off the rest of the season.
I'm a believer in learning a unit well and the elk that are in it so I pretty much stick to that unit. I do have some back-ups just in case things go haywire and the elk absolutely have disappeared. That's what scouting is for. Everyone should have a plan A, B and C, just in case.
CO OTC archery elk tags are for people with honey holes and NRs who don't know any better to hunt elsewhere.
I'll only ever buy another when I have a deer tag in an OTC elk unit.
BoonROTO, I've yet to hunt an otc unit that I didn't get into elk. I've got a bit of a recipe for success when finding elk in otc units in CO. That said, some are much better than others and I digiscout hard before putting boots on the ground.
What Will said...digiscout hard before putting boots on the ground.
This pays huge dividends.
The unit we hunt is big enough and not any other otc units close, so we stick to it...at least the group I go with has. Only my 2nd hunt in that unit this year.
OTC is all I've ever hunted. Its tough, I agree, but worth every step. I have areas in multiple units where I bounce between. I've killed 14 bulls in 17 years of chasing them. 4 over 300". I love Colorado OTC, I hope it never goes to an all draw system...
"CO OTC archery elk tags are for people with honey holes and NRs who don't know any better to hunt elsewhere."
Man.......that hurts!
"CO OTC archery elk tags are for people with honey holes and NRs who don't know any better to hunt elsewhere."
Ouch Idyl, guess I should have passed this one up:)
I agree it is hard but the research is half the fun for me. Much better than waiting for years between drawing tags.
Like Matt, I too only hunt OTC elk areas. I've not killed any quality bulls like him, but I have shot a lot of cows and passed on a lot of decent bulls not worthy of mounting.
Next year we plan to dump our 20 years worth of waiting for a NW corner unit. I will be glad when I can draw the unit I live in that takes 0 or 1 PP once we have burned our decades of points.
My son has some great elk hunting not being stuck in the game my dad and I are.
Yep. Very happy do when I rid myself of all those points. I back down to 2 now and will likely use them next year.
I will have to agree with Rick M on this one... I will be back to this OTC unit as many times as my wife will let me.
I'm kidding guys :) Although I'm serious about only hunting CO OTC if I have a deer tag.
Of course there's lots of good hunting OTC in CO.
But I'd rather share the unit with Grizz and wolves than with 500+ archery/ML hunters. Plus, CO OTC units just get hit too hard during rifle season.
I'll be hunting WY leftover and ID OTC this year. The numbers may have taken a beating, but at least I won't have to worry about white tail hunters crawling up by rear end.
I agree Idyl, Colorado bulls get crushed in the OTC rifle seasons. Imagine how incredible it would be if we just went to a limited number of bull tags for rifle? Wow...