Year 2000 Colorado Muzzle Loading Elk Season Opens on September 9th!

The Hunt this year will be for bulls only.  

Unfortunately we will not be returning to the area we hunted last year and, for that matter,  many other years since 1963.  Our hunts had always straddled two different game management units, both of which were open to hunting with a statewide general Muzzle loading permit.  This year, one of the units was made a draw only unit so we applied for the statewide licenses and drew them knowing we would have to find a new area before the September 9 opener.

Scouting for elk can be pretty fruitless until just before the season since they may change their behavior drastically due to weather and even more likely, the rut.  Scouting has been limited to the past few weeks and we have identified a likely location.  Since our tags are for bulls only and it's a four point or better area, we will be hunting hard in relatively unfamiliar country.

There will be no road access to the better looking areas and no trails either for that matter.  We will have to pack our gear in and stay for a while or hoof it from a base camp through the timber for two or three miles each morning.  We will probably opt for a comfortable base camp and the daily hike.

There will be four hunters in our group this year.  Three of us will hunt with black powder and one will be hunting with a bow.  Cows will be legal game for the bow hunter but if he opts for a bull it too will have to be a four pointer.

So....  On September the 8th we will set off on the hunt.  Base camp will be set up on the 8th and the hunt will be on at first light on the 9th.  Wish us luck, and watch this page for the final report!

October, 2000

Well, it's over and I must say it was quite uneventful as far as seeing and taking game is concerned!

We started our hunt with camp at about 9,500 foot elevation.  This was actually pretty close to the high point in elevation in our area.  A few round and tree covered peaks rose to the west to about 10,600 feet, but for the most part our hunt would take place at 10,000 feet and less.  It was a bit different for us, since we are accustomed to leaving camp in the morning and climbing into elk country.  This year we climbed only a few hundred feet to the ridges to the west and hunted the ridges and the valleys between them.

There was plenty of elk sign throughout the area but it was all at least a few weeks old.  The bow season had been open for several weeks and since the area was easily accessible it made sense that the elk had moved further west into the canyons and roadless areas.  No problem for us, we are accustomed to making our way into the back country when the elk have had their fill of human activity.

It didn't work that way this time.  We spent three days pushing into the thick stuff as far as six miles in but found no fresh sign and heard no bugling.  We decided to relocate the camp to the south about 35 miles into a different range of mountains where we had had good luck in the past. 

Here we found the same conditions; hot, dry and with little sign of elk.  We did find a few fresh tracks and droppings but never did connect with game.

After two days in the new area, it was time for us to head back to town to take care of family and job responsibilities.  We made one more foray for one day into the second area we hunted but found conditions to be the same and we encountered no game.

Aside from the lack of game, we enjoyed wonderful weather, a good camp, companionship and good food.  There is always next year and we still have the pursuit of deer in the eastern Colorado river bottoms to look forward to.