Going to CO - GMU 43

[Sigma]

Got a cow tag for unit 43.

That's in the Carbondale area.

I'll be there for the first time - basically a meat hunt. Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated.

bpnclark, you out there?

 

[bpnclark]

Sorry Sigma – haven’t been to the elk forum in a while. I can point you to the campground I stayed in. We hunted right out of it and I shot a cow less than 3 miles from it! Are you hunting the 3rd season?

 

[bpnclark]

Found it. It’s called Avalanche Campground. Its first come-first serve so try to get there a day early. The webpage has a picture of a trailer but I remember seeing signs saying no trailers allowed. We stayed in a tent and the weather wasn't too bad. No ATVs are allowed and everything is on foot or by horse. I got my cow by the Bighorn Sheep area (if that shows up on any of your maps). If you’re going after deer and elk that campground is a great place. There are many more places to hunt in the area and there are some guides near Redstone, but if I was going back (and I probably will next year) that’s where I would hunt. All the hunters you will see in that area will be coming from the campground. We met a lot of nice guys and had a great time.

I also saw a huge Cinnamon Black Bear and 4 Bighorns.

 

[bpnclark]

Sigma - found my pics. These two are from the campground.

[attachment=54387:CO1.jpg]

[attachment=54388:CO2.jpg]

The second pic is looking back to camp. Its circled in red. This is pretty close to where I shot my cow. I was on my way back up for the second load.

[attachment=54389:COcamp.jpg]

This was our home for a week.

 

[bpnclark]

Put the smack down on her. Thank god she landed on this side of the mountain going back to camp. If she would have made it to the top then to the other side, I would have been hurting.

[attachment=54390:COcow.jpg]

 

[Sigma]

bpnclark,

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate the info. Looks like some beautiful country up there. I'll be going up there for second rifle.

What were the temps like? Your pics show cool weather but no snow, and what caliber were you shooting?

 

[bpnclark]

We hunted the 3rd season in Nov. The weather was really weird. The first two days were cool (we got there 2 days early). On opening day we unzipped the tent and there was 2 inches of snow on the ground and it was still coming down. I couldn’t find the trail that I wanted to take. I ended up walking around the two same mountains, almost getting lost, and calling it an early day; I pretty much found where I wasn’t going to hunt. The next day (and the rest of the time there) it was like 20-30 degrees in the morning/night and 65 during the day. All the snow melted the next day and we never saw it again.

I used a 300 Win Mag 165 grn bullets. My brother saw the herd of cows the day before, pretty far back behind those mountains in the first pic. He had a bull tag. He took me to where he saw them last. They weren’t there but we spotted two cows on a side of a mountain. I shot her a little over 250 yards. Hit her prefect and she started to do that little wobble. I thought “Yes, nailed her.” 4 seconds later she takes off. I went for another shot but my brother started yelling “don’t shoot she’s running to the road”, which was a mile a way. 100 yards down the mountain, she turns around and starts running back up it. I took another shot but missed. She died a little higher from where I first shot her. It would have made it a lot easier if she would have just ran to that road and died. She was pretty heavy getting all that meat down, but thank god it was all down hill.

There were a lot of people on horse back near the campground. They all went to Maroon Bells and spent the season there. The trail for that is at the campground too. Everyone else just hunted around the campground. Everyone there seemed to get something. The guys we were talking to got two cows out of the same area. A couple other guys got some nice bucks and some were doe hunting. The Game Warden arrived a couple times and he was very nice and helpful.

We saw some nice bulls but they were miles away. My brother never got close to one. It was really cool to see Bulls and herds walking on steep mountains and seeing how much land they can cover. Too bad they were all across the Hwy and on private land.

I think that area still holds a lot of elk even if its warm. Good luck - you should have a blast.

 

[Sigma]

Hey, thanks again for the info. That's more than I expected. Appreciate the pics also. The area looks great. Sounds like it holds a pretty good density of animals.

I hope the weather is cool for second rifle. I'd hate to have to worry about the meat spoiling. After the shot, I bet you were thinking, "Keep running all the way to the truck." That's about as good as it gets, huh? I about killed myself getting a cow out in Wyoming last year. It was a loooong haul and a looong two days.

I didn't see any good maps with boundary descriptions on the CO Fish and Game website, just an online map tool with funky control features. Any suggestions?

Thanks a bunch, man. Maybe we can have a beer some day.

 

[bpnclark]

You’ll see the signs when you take the road to the campground. It’s a wintering place for Bighorns set up by the CO Wildlife Dept. We saw elk next to and behind that area.

Hopefully the elk are there when your season starts. If not, there are several other places to go.

Carbondale is also close to the campground. We drove into town a lot. There are a couple of nice and OK restaurants there and the people are use to seeing guys that haven’t showered or shaved in a week.

 

[Sigma]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bpnclark @ Aug 29 2008, 01:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

You’ll see the signs when you take the road to the campground. It’s a wintering place for Bighorns set up by the CO Wildlife Dept. We saw elk next to and behind that area.

Hopefully the elk are there when your season starts. If not, there are several other places to go.

Carbondale is also close to the campground. We drove into town a lot. There are a couple of nice and OK restaurants there and the people are use to seeing guys that haven’t showered or shaved in a week.

[/b]

Sounds like my kind of place. Can't wait.