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COLORADO 49

Spent a great week in 49 despite fire, road closure and folks stacked deep at the trail head. Was very disappointed day one - but my son did find a really nice shed. There we multiple trucks and camps at the trail head. Several of the roads used to access the area remain closed due to the fire in July. Day two left trail head an hour before sunup and continued walking til well after sunup. Heard a bugle and answered it was evident pretty quick he was heading our direction unfortunately the larger bull hung up out of bow range but a spike came into 30 yards and my son made a good shot on him. He ran 50 yards and we recovered him within sight. We spent the next 5 days in the same area and worked bulls everyday. I passed an opportunity at a few cows but can honestly say it was the best hunt of my life. We had several encounters several hang ups and a lot of action. At one time we had 4 bulls answering within a few hundred yards of each other. I had a nice 5x5 come in to 75 yards but he wouldn't come any closer. The last day thought we would close the deal and the wind shifted. Best part of the whole trip was the fact that I met a lady day one at the trail head that told me she wanted to pack an elk out - I called her and we were able to take a horse right to the kill. Overall great trip, the grass will be thick in the burn area next year. So good luck to you all

Congrats on a successful hunt.

Congrats, but I really hope not Colorado unit 49.

Edit: My mistake, I'm very sorry! I see now that there is no point restriction for unit 49.

Congrats on the hunt and finding the the horse!

Sounds like 49 is the place to hunt! Good to know!

I’m glad you enjoyed 49. It sounds a lot better than the unit I hunt. ;)

Glad you had a good hunt! If you find another good unit after this one gets harder to draw now, you might not want to let anybody know on the internet! Don't ask me how I know!

We had tags in the same unit this year. If your not in shape don’t bother. Talked with two muzzy guys that spent 12 points on thier hunt and saw one cow in 7 days on an outfitted hunt. Not much different than the otc units I’ve hunted. Wouldn’t spen 5 nr points here again. Lots of dirt bikes, mountain bikers, Jeep drivers/ color watchers and dope smokers sharing the mountains.

If I met a lady that wanted to pack out an elk, I'd let her. I found out years ago not to argue with them, even if you have a horse. LOL.

Bowmania

I may hunt 49 next year, PM me that lady packers number please!

49 is maybe a bump better than if you do research in OTC and willing to work read his post dumped a bunch of point killed a spike and a 5x5 to 75 yards...I'm glad they had fun cause thats what its all about but it just ain't that great...

How dare those Jeep drivers, color watchers and stoners ruin an elk hunt!?

Didn’t say they ruined our hunt, they were sharing the save and we just had to adapt. Lots of extra traffic we didn’t expect

I was in 49 this year. It has been a long time since I've had to work so hard to get into elk, with the drought and the fire it was a hard year. We got into elk, but not the numbers we had hoped. Overall we averaged 10 miles a day in and out. Not sure why but ran into a lot of buttheads in the woods not sure why. Maybe because of the points it took to draw this area some might have felt the point creap pressure to kill something. It's a good area but not a great area.

I honestly think tensions were a little high with everyone stacked on top of each other. They had 433 closed due to the fire but looked like you could have accessed a lot of country if it had been open. Weather was tough we only hunted morning cause it was 70's in afternoons. Honestly had I known it would have burned would have never gone this year cause I was totally unfamiliar with the area we ended up hunting. Being from Arkansas a 12 hour drive away - I felt very fortunate to have the hunt we had without prior scouting. I hunt turkeys and white tail but really have relied on youtube to learn what I know about calling. Didn't have any issues with anyone just had to walk further than they would every morning, Not sure if it usually holds true to 4 miles one way seemed to separate us from most of the hunters. If I knew what I know now would have spike camped deeper but actually took wives with us so there was a lot going on in addition to elk hunting.

We were up there this year camping(in 48) the last week of the season. We did venture into 49 some to take a look around for next year. Lots of really good looking country but was really crispy this year. No fresh elk sign until the last day. Had two bulls going at it. We just listened. It was on private though. I was surprised by the amount of road access in the unit. Hard to get away. We counted 15 trucks at one trailhead (the last day of muzzy season). Saw some really nice antelope bucks on the east side. I am sure the fire really screwed up a bunch of plans. Already greening up in there. Should be open for next year, but I am sure it really concentrated the hunters this year. It was HOT as well, up in the low 80's on a couple of days. Saw more coyotes this year than I ever have. 8 total I think. Saw several bulls in 49 but none bigger than a 5 x 5. Most were raghorns or spikes. Saw a herd of about 75 in 48 on private, just south of Leadville. Only 2 bulls and the biggest was a 280'ish 6 x 6. I don't think they ever leave that field. Just drop into the willows during the heat of the day and back out in the evening.

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