Bowhunting gmu 47 in CO

[Arrowslinger615]

I'm new to Colorado and I've never hunted elk here before. I've hunted them up in Wyoming but haven't been able to venture down here. I've been looking at unit 47 I've read that it's thick and steep but that's all I've been able to muster up. Any info on the terrain or campgrounds in that area would be much appreciated. I'm not looking for anybody's honey hole or secret spot so don't get the wrong idea.

[Backyard]

Google maps, Caltopo.com, a Sat. morning before anyone gets up, and a cup of coffee is all I need to find out that kind of info and more. I do some of my best scouting in my pajamas when it's -20 outside.

[jmez]

Very thick and very, very steep. I've hunted in there several times. Terrible deadfall everywhere off a trail. It is tough country and tough hunting.

Glassing isn't a great strategy as the only place you can see anything is above Timberline. When they are up there, and they will be, you don't need the binos to spot them! They have never been real vocal in this unit for us. Most all of the bugles you hear will be after dark. You need to put on miles, a lot of them, to find fresh sign and then set up and cold call the entire area where there is fresh sign. That is how we hunt it and have good luck doing that. You just aren't going to see many elk, too dense. Plan on 10-15 miles a day walking until you find them.

I don't know of any campgrounds. We just camped at the trailheads the first two years. After that we started spike camping up in the mountains, I would recommend you plan on doing the same. A lot of recreational users in the unit, rarely see other hunters. The rec users stay on the trails, hence the elk avoid them during daylight hours. You have to get high to hunt them and the trails all start out low, in a relative sense in 47. When we camped at the trailhead we were getting up at 4am, walking by 4:30 to get to where we needed to be hunting by 6am. You will have to climb to find them, your hour and a half walk in the dark will be straight up the side of the mountain about 1500 feet, (did I mention it is steep), through deadfall the entire way. You will then have that same walk back to camp every night, getting you back about 10pm. By about the 3rd day I woudn't even eat supper, walk into camp, fall right onto my cot and go to sleep. I've hunted it 5 times and never found elk down low anywhere close to the trails.

Because of the above we quit camping at the trailhead. We just pack in and camp in the areas we hunt. We didn't see many hunters up high but drove past a lot of camps in the lower elevations in the unit. We never hunted these as we were always alone and into elk in the higher elevations. Most of our spike camps were between 11,500 and 12,000 feet.

[Arrowslinger615]

This is a huge help. 47 sounds like a challenge but I wouldn't want it any other way. Thank you!