Rifle or Archery?

[cantgetdrawn]

I posted this over at MM, but I figured I'd re post the question here. Most of the tactics mention are seem to be to hunt bulls in the rut, but there is a wealth of knowledgeable people on here and one thread mention location bugles can be used year around.

I am going to Colorado for an OTC hunt. I hunted CO for the first time last year during second rifle. A friend had talked me into an archery hunt this year, but now he will not be able to make it. That's ok with me I am planning on going regardless.

At this point in my hunting career I just want to kill a bull. I have killed cows early in my career but was not able to seal the deal with a bull. As my handle suggests the last decade and a half I have been unlucky in the draw here in NM which is why I'm finally starting to hunt CO.

I love to hear bulls scream and they get your heart beating. The rifle season however, has much better harvest rates.

Basically I am looking for people's opinion as to which hunt I should choose.

[Freebird134]

What's "MM?"

If your only goal is to kill a bull, then I think you need to pick the hunt that is most likely to give you a shot at a bull. I'm not saying that to sound like a jerk. If that truly is what is important, then you need to evaluate harvest data and pick the spot (reguardless of weapon) that you think will put you on a bull. Hopefully some Colorado guys can make more specific recommendations about which CO OTC tag is going to do that for you. But if the rifle season is really much better, and you just want to down a bull....rifle it is.

[eltaco]

Personally, if I wanted the experience of hunting during the rut but only focused on my success odds at a bull, I would be hunting CO muzzleloader. Its the absolute perfect combination, IMO! The success odds might show rifle higher, I don't know for sure, but I truly believe that if you can call elk and don't mind getting off of a trail more than 1mi, you're going to have excellent opportunities at harvesting a bull. Hunting during peak rut with the accuracy of today's muzzleloaders just doesn't seem right to me, but as long as its legal I think it'd make one heck of a hunt!

[cantgetdrawn]

MM is monstermuleys.com sorry about that. I don't have enough points for a muzzle load yet. If the stars line up I will put in for unit 65 next year, there was about a 25% chance with one point this year . Right now I have scouted unit 70 and will hunt that unit.

The harvest data for rifle is about 2 times that for archery, but it also seems that more rifle hunters pay trespass fees. So although I am sure the rifle harvest rate is better than archery on public land it is difficult to figure out how much better.

[Swede]

I have hunted both ways. Here is why I have switched to just archery for elk, and almost only archery on deer. #1. I can still hunt where I want every year. #2. I can have a lot more hunting experiences with archery. #3. Because I have been able to learn over the years how to get elk with a bow, I have killed a lot more animals with my bow than I ever could have with my rifle. #4. I have fairly poor eyesight. I don't see them hiding in the brush anyway. This probably doesn't make any difference to most hunters, but it is still one of my reasons.

[CrazyElkHunter]

I've been a bowhunter for 45 years, never hunted elk with a gun, I've taken 25 elk with a bow in 35 years, so I guess you could say I would choose bowhunting. I just love hunting elk during the rut and getting close. When I see these guys shooting elk at 800 yards+ it tells me they are a good marksman. When I see a bowhunter shoot a elk at 10 yards it tells me they are a good hunter. Not trying to knock gun hunters, It's Just a lot more exciting at 10 yards! Catch the fever!

[mongopino915]

Rifle hunted for 20 plus years and harvested 20 plus elk. Tried stick/string three years ago just to get a feel for what elk archery is all about and never looked back. For me, it is all about the challenge of getting one on the ground using my hunting, archery, and calling skills. It is physically and mentally demanding.

I hunt exclusively OTC public land and have seen more bulls in the last three seasons than all of my rifle days put together.

Like Eltaco stated, ML is the best of both worlds if you can draw your tag. I am not against ML during the rut but I have come to accept that killing an elk with a ML during the rut is quite easy if you know what you are doing.

As for archery, there are those same 10% that take elk home 90% of the time every year and then there those 90% that go home empty handed every year. If you just want a bull, archery will give you more opportunities to see/hear bulls but taking one home is a whole different story. If you want a bull bad enough, you will know what to do to get one. Good Luck.

[ElkManDan]

If you want to become a better elk hunter Archery is definitely the way to go. If you want to kill an elk this year then your odds are probably better with a rifle. There is a huge learning curve with archery hunting. You have to spend time in the field communicating with the elk to understand what they want to hear. My success rate on an OTC public land archery hunt is about 3-4 times higher than the OTC rifle tag in the same area. I have been bowhunting elk for 12 years now with a bow and even though I do not get a bull every year I have the confidence going into every year that I will get a good chance at one.

I still do put in for trophy draw rifle tags in Idaho where the season opens up Oct 1st, I have been fortunate to draw twice and also to guide family members on some of these hunts. Success rates on these rifle hunts for me is 100% because of what I have learned archery hunting.

[cnelk]

With success using a rifle being higher with a gun than archery, I never could understand why my personal success went thru the roof when I switched from rifle elk to archery elk...

MY first love is archery, but when Colorado offers leftover cow tags, you will also see me hunting elk in Oct/Nov with my rifle

3 times I have taken 2 elk in the same year... I sure do love elk hunting!

[ElkNut1]

Have you ever bowhunted elk? It doesn't sound like you have? If so, starting with a bull on your own would be a tall task especially as a runner & gunner! Spot & Stalk, sitting trails or sitting water sources may be your best bet to start with until you can get a good feel & understanding on how to hunt & call them. Going with a rifle allows you to reach out & touch them a bit better!

Can you get out & scout 2-3 days before the season to locate elk via glassing? Get away from the crowds & find where they are living previous to your opening day. 1-4 miles depending on your area will be a good distance to consider, get up on vantage points where you can glass long distances & be willing to glass for many hours early & late especially! Once located, get the wind & cover in your favor & get their direction of travel & plan an ambush. There's other considerations but this is a place to start!

ElkNut1

[cantgetdrawn]

Thanks everyone, good advice so far.

The advice had convinced me to take vacation time in Sept. I plan to split the time between hunting Deer in NM and then Elk up in CO. I cannot get all the days I wanted but I will hunt deer for 3 days ( I wanted more but I can hunt again in Jan.) Then the plan is to get to CO the last day(s) of the Muzzle load season and hunt the rest of the archery elk season.

I first started hunting elk in 1987 with a bow. Afterward for about 10 years I alternated between Muzzle and archery with a rifle cow hunt mixed in, but was never able to close the deal on a Bull. I do however consider myself a rookie, since I've gone through a drought of 15 years without getting drawn. Any skills that I did accumulate back then are gone.

One thing I do remember about my first season, was renting VHS tapes at the local archery shop and seeing people showing you how to bugle by going to Yellowstone or other national parks. Back then the knowledge the "experts" were giving was very limited. Either no one knew what the elk where saying or they were not sharing. So I am grateful for the knowledge shared on this site and Paul's products.

[pointysticks]

i feel your pain about "not being able to draw" a NM tag. to the core pain.

the year, i did draw..i call it "FIRST". it was my first draw attempt..i drew unit 36. it was the first day, i scored. it was my first BULL! to add to the LOTTO feel of the entire event. it was a strange weather year. they bulls were actively bugling during rifle season. it was so easy to locate them, and standing there with a high powered rifle? man, i could have been wearing a rodeo clown outfit..

having said that..i will kill my next elk with a bow (cow or bull, whatever is legal)

for you? man, tough call. maybe rifle.

[spyder24]

Archery season is approximately a month long and rifle season is approximately 9 days. If you have the leave from work you can take off 2 or 3 weeks and hunt alot longer in archery season. I would advise you to get some calls, videos and books on calling and start practicing calling if you are new to calling and you want to hunt the rut. Good luck, Mike

[Bullnuts]

I've hunted Colorado my entire life and have killed a lot of elk with my bow - more than I ever did with a rifle. For me, learning to bowhunt was tough becasue my brother and I just started doing it one year and didn't have anyone showing us the ropes. We blew a lot of opportunities by doing stupid stuff, and we learned a lot. We've been very successfull over the past 20 years with bows, though, and you will too once you get the hang of it. The number one lesson I can share with you is that when you start bow hunting elk, forget everything you ever knew about hunting elk with a rifle. Your set ups need to be close, the animal has to be positioned correctly for a good shot, and putting the crosshairs on its back and letting it fly rarely ends well with archery equipment. You will have more opportunities than actual shots fired with a bow, but each of those chances should go into your memory bank as a lesson learned.

The second lesson is, learn to call, learn when to call, and learn when NOT to call. Calling is highly effective in archery season, but there are a lot of educated bulls out there that will come in silent and they will absolutely zero in on you from a 300 yards away. Paul has some great videos and recordings for learning the different sounds that elk make, and he's a great resource for you here on this site.

Last, take your heart medication before you have that first 10 yard encounter with a screaming bull! I've had bulls at less than 5 FEET and no matter how many times I get one in my face, there's very little that I can do to control my breathing, heart rate, ability to see, speak clearly, maintain bladder control.... Besides my lovely wife of 18 years and our three wonderful boys, bowhunting elk is what I live for each year and you will too! Good luck!

[Bullnuts]

Oh, and one last thing - shoot the same bull on the first day that you would on the last day. It's hard advice to follow, especially when you have a few smaller 5s running around the fringe of a herd and the big boy is a beast, but you've got to shoot an elk to take one home and unless you're absolutely committed to killing a monster and you're willing to eat tag sandwiches every year, take the first good shot and be overjoyed that you got one!