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What are you thinking when…..

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What are you thinking when…..

Postby Indian Summer » 09 23, 2022 •  [Post 1]

You pull up to a trailhead and there are 6 trucks parked there. Or you set camp there and within 3 days there are 5 other camps there.

You know the area. The hunting has always been pretty good. You don’t know any other spots. What are you thinking? What are you going to do?
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby Swede » 09 23, 2022 •  [Post 2]

You are describing my hunting spot. I just go to my tree stand. I have three set up so if one is a problem; I go to another. This season I had a mother/daughter/dog trio camp right between two of my stands in a saddle. I hunted the third one until they left.
I visited with the duo and tried to explain that they were camped in a saddle where the elk passed on occasion. Their reply was: "Great! Maybe we will see some elk." Fortunately, they were there for only a couple of days.
A single hunter was also nearby. He was discouraged before the season opened because he thought the wolves had chased off all the elk.
Another camp had a several young out of State hunters with no elk tag, but there was an 80-year-old resident friend with an elk tag. The out of State hunters had a license and a bear tag. Can anyone here explain how that hunting arrangement will work out? :o
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby saddlesore » 09 23, 2022 •  [Post 3]

No problem. Where I hunt the one trailhead opens up hundreds of thousands of acres. One of them, an outfitter leaves from and there as may as 25 vehicles may be there that he packs into his drop camp. I have set my camper there 15-20 years and hunted the area since 1995. Usually the trail head is empty of people except for a few coming and going. I rode in 3-6 miles everyday and usually killed an elk, hardly ever seeing another hunter,except maybe on the main trail. I showed Luke Kessler the area, and he had shot opportunities every time he hunted there.

Another trailhead I hunted 8 years during ML season had maybe 7-8 trucks , maybe 2-3 other camps that came in after I set up and a sheep camp.It was the only access for 10 miles in two directions. No access for the other two.I usually killed an elk there two . An outfitter two miles down the road let me camp at her base camp if I was hunting solo, and let me use her walk-in cooler when I did tag out. She has ten drop camps spread out in a very large area. If I do ever get to go again she will have her packers pack my elk out.

Colorado does not have wilderness areas 25-30 miles deep. When you go in 6-7 miles,you meet hunters coming in from the other side. In Colorado you have to learn an area and figure out where either hunters won't go or you have to figure out where the elk go to get away from people and what routes they take to get there.There is none of that finding elk in a pristine meadow where no one has set foot.
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby Lefty » 09 25, 2022 •  [Post 4]

I don't like hunting or camping or setting up camp near others, but it's become a fact of life of a public land hunter I no longer have the abilities to hike in further deeper and deeper than others so this year we are really paying the price of seeing others.where we hunt.
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby Indian Summer » 09 25, 2022 •  [Post 5]

I guess everywhere is different but in lots of places deeper isn’t the key. There can be elk pretty close to roads. There are places close to roads that most people won’t go to. Yes that means some steep slopes. But I look at obstacles as the price to pay. There’s always a price. I tell myself… just do it today and maybe tomorrow you can sleep in a little before packing one out.
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby Lefty » 09 26, 2022 •  [Post 6]

It's not a matter of where the game is to me it's more of the quality of the hunt without others interfering "my hunt"


I live next to and near some incredible goose hunting fields. I would drive to Fields where there would not be other Hunters.

I love being out there watching the game and being part of the action.
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby 7mmfan » 09 26, 2022 •  [Post 7]

Indian Summer wrote:You pull up to a trailhead and there are 6 trucks parked there. Or you set camp there and within 3 days there are 5 other camps there.

You know the area. The hunting has always been pretty good. You don’t know any other spots. What are you thinking? What are you going to do?


If I know the area well, like I do, then I'm going to hunt opening morning on a hair trigger ready to bail to escape routes and sanctuaries, as that's where they'll be heading. Once the orange hits the hills. If I'm lucky I'll be able to get on elk in my normal opening morning spots and get it done. If not I'm going to be waiting for them in thr spots I know that they're headed for.
I hunt therefore I am. I fish therefore I lie.
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby Tigger » 09 29, 2022 •  [Post 8]

I am going to work harder in the off season to have backup spots!

But given the scenario, I am going to figure out how to go where other hunters ain't!
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby Swede » 09 29, 2022 •  [Post 9]

The way I look at it is: Other hunters can be anywhere, but they can't be everywhere. Just go hunting.
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby 7mmfan » 09 29, 2022 •  [Post 10]

Swede wrote:The way I look at it is: Other hunters can be anywhere, but they can't be everywhere. Just go hunting.


You haven't hunted Washington's general elk opener in a long time Swede... They can literally be everywhere.
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Re: What are you thinking when…..

Postby Indian Summer » 09 29, 2022 •  [Post 11]

Swede wrote:The way I look at it is: Other hunters can be anywhere, but they can't be everywhere. Just go hunting.


This! They can only be in one place at a time. If I do see one, since I know the area, I just walk the other way. Or, if they are on the move I let them pass then think about the situation.
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