21 elk points in colorado
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: oregon338
11-Nov-17
tired of waiting for the top three units in colorado for elk archery. thinking about 851or 61 draw. anyone hunt this recently went hard and no wining about the terrain or spending time in the woods? Been successful hunting elk with a bow, not afraid to wear out the leather boots. thanks
From: Quinn @work
11-Nov-17
Unit 61 or Unit 10 with private land trespass fee. Easy decision.
From: Treeline
11-Nov-17
Unit 10 took 24 last year. Might be 30 points before you could draw. Don't know much about that 851 hunt, but it seems like 61 can be a good hunt for numbers but not many real top end bulls. Would probably set your sights on something in the 320-330 class as a trophy bull there with a chance for a 340 bull.
From: oregon338
11-Nov-17
thanks. yes my research has also shown that 61 has decent bulls and propbably topping out at the 330 range. that would be good for me, but of course a 350 plus would be a life time bull. the draw section in 851 bosque del oso is of interest to me. have you hunted here before?
From: Treeline
11-Nov-17
I have no experience in 851 to be able to give you any information there.
From: Glunt@work
11-Nov-17
I did 61. Lots of fun, lots of elk, fairly easy access to most of the unit. There are places to bail off and get away from access but I'm not sure they are a lot better than the easy places. First 1/2 of the season was pretty quiet, second half was really active.
From: txhunter58
11-Nov-17
The info I have heard on Bosque has been hit or miss in archery season. Lots of bears though! You will definitely find in in 61
From: oregon338
12-Nov-17
roger on the increase bugling during the second half of the season. i have experienced this in other areas around labor day. bosque hit or miss, perhaps better later in season when bulls get pushed off surrounding private land. a thought. thanks
From: oregon338
12-Nov-17
gluntwork were you able to get away from the crowds during the hunt? been around black bears and usually leave you alone other than waking you up in a tent. perhaps they need thinned out.
From: painless
15-Nov-17
I hunted the Bosque last year. The game wardens are dumping trash bears out there like crazy. I had a spike camp set up in the area I had planned to hunt a day or two before season. No food, just tent, water bags, etc. The friggin bears destroyed everything. They also ate my pack and attached climbing stand and actually stalked me and ate my day pack when I left for 15 minutes to walk up hill to check out a spot. All told I lost hundreds of dollars of equipment. I honestly think it is criminal for the CDW not to inform hunters that have saved points for 12+years that there are trash bears up there that will eat anything with human scent on it.
On another note, there's some monster bulls in there.
From: GrantK
15-Nov-17
I guided in 61 for 5 or 6 years and still spend some time over there every year just checking out what's hanging around.
Glunt is pretty much correct, tons of elk, easy access, not much pressure during archery even in the easy spots, I don't think I've ever run into an archery hunter in the woods...and yeah, most likely bigger bulls are not in harder to access locations, they are right in the easy spots with the big cow herds.
that brings up the negatives... there are absolutely TONS of small bulls... 270-300 inch 6 points, it sounds great, and you hear unbelievable amounts of bugling, but trying to get a shot at the one big bull in a herd of 60 cows and 20 bulls is challenging to say the least, and it can have the feeling that there are no elk in the unit if you manage to miss the huge herd that has every elk in 5 square miles in it..
From: cnelk
15-Nov-17
To the OP - have you shot a 300-320 bull in the last 21yrs?
61 is an absolute blast to archery hunt. No way will anyone be disappointed after hunting it and sticking a 300-320 bull, knowing that the big guy got lucky :)
From: Treeline
15-Nov-17
A lot to be said about having a lot of targets for archery hunting. Totally different kind of hunt than one where you are seeing very few bulls but some real giants versus a hunt with lots and lots of good bulls every day and a few big bulls to add to the interest level.
I really think 61 is a fun, low stress kind of hunt versus a high stress hunt in the nw corner units. That bosque del oso hunt also sounds stressful with the private land boundaries and tons of bears.
From: Glunt@work
16-Nov-17
We had only a couple encounters with other elk hunters in 61 and we hunted close to roads. There are a lot of ATVs, wood cutters, turkey hunters, cowboys, rifle season scouters, dirt bikes, etc but never really had an issue while out hunting, mostly just running into folks on roads. Definitely a good unit to grab a bear tag. There are plenty of places to go where the chances of bumping in to someone are slim. I didn't see the need since the elk didn't seem to be hiding out. I killed mine 150 yards from the truck.
Only "conflict" I had was one night a guy came in and watched a water hole below me as I was sitting a trail 100 yards above it. He never knew I was there and him sneaking in didn't bother anything as far as I know. The only elk that night was a young cow and she walked within range of both of us and never suspected a thing.
From: oregon338
16-Nov-17
killed a 300 bull two years ago and would of been happy with a high 290. it's just waiting for 21 years to hunt a unit in colorado with the string, in a area with 330+ bulls is worth the wait. sounds like practicing on my bear 3d more may be helpful. purchased some lightweight gear last year for our horse pack in trip so can go in light. will keep the bear situation in mind. did you see many people on horseback? thanks guys!
From: Cajunarcher
16-Nov-17
I know it's way over kill but unit 40 private land will rival any of the units u thinking about. Very realistic chance at killing a 350 plus bull on our place.
From: mfg bowyer
17-Nov-17
You have a long wait because of the point crawl, I have a friend that has 25 points & still haven't drawn a NR tag for the NW corner. By the time you get to 25 it will probably take 30 to draw.
From: oregon338
19-Nov-17
mfg bower yes the point creep is stupid. will look at some of these other units to burn the tag. thanks
From: cnelk
19-Nov-17
Here is a pic of a 61 bull that this young lady took during ML season this fall.
Def not your 300-330 bull.
From: wyobullshooter
19-Nov-17
Bull? There’s a bull in the picture? Where?
From: Ucsdryder
19-Nov-17
Cnelk hard to tell from that picture. Can you get a better picture...of the girl.
From: PECO
19-Nov-17
Very nice bull, excellent 3rd's. Congrats to the young lady!
From: LKH
22-Nov-17
Having some confusion on what it takes as a NR to draw 61 for the various hunts.
From: Aspen Ghost
23-Nov-17
How does a young lady get enough preference points to draw a 61 muzzie permit? I figured everyone hunting unit 61 was at least 60 years old. Land owner voucher or on a returned tag in leftover draw I guess?
From: Mossyhorn
23-Nov-17
What’s it take to hunt some of these private lands some of you have mentioned?
From: cnelk
23-Nov-17
About $12000-$15000
From: sticksender
23-Nov-17
LKH- The answer is there’s a slim chance for a NR to draw 61 archery elk in 2018 with 21 pp. That group went 6 for 42 in the draw last year when they had 20 pp, and of course those who failed to draw all have 21 pp now. Those with 22 or more should be guaranteed to draw. Probably will be 4-5 years before those NR in the current 21 point pool in 2018, and wanting 61 archery, will all clear their way through the system.By the way there will be a total of 681 NR’s holding 21 pp going into the 2018 draw and 1635 NR’s who will have between 22 and 30 pp. Most will apply for gun hunts, many will bide their time and apply for points only, and some will decide to burn their points on EE061O1A. With only 14 tags, ‘point creep’ is inevitable, and ‘point leap’ is always possible.
From: Mossyhorn
23-Nov-17
cnelk... and that's after you've drawn the tag on your own?!?! I could expect that if you were buying a voucher too, but simply for access?!?!
From: cnelk
23-Nov-17
No. That’s a landowner tag
From: cnelk
23-Nov-17
If the young lady is a resident it takes about 14-15PP for ML.
From: Treeline
24-Nov-17
Or she could have got lucky on the random draw. There was a 17 year old hunting archery in 2 this year. Blew my mind that he even had a chance. The told me that there random draw muzzle loader tag also went to a 17 year old from the same school in Craig!
From: Teaspoon
24-Nov-17
She drew with 17 points, that bull measures out at 371". Have known her and her family as long as I can remember. She has kids out of high school. A person can draw with as little as 5 if they are lucky enough to draw on the hybrid. If I had the access, I would send for 40 if I didn't want to burn the points or wait a long time. You have a legit chance at a 400" bull in 40, especially on private.
