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2018 Routt early season archery ELK

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2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby LineLife89 » 07 24, 2018 •  [Post 1]

Hi Everyone I'm Brian. I'm new to the Wapiti forum. I'm from Illinois and headed back out West to Colorado Unit 14 again this Sept. Last time we set up at Pearl Lake on Labor Day week and that seems to be the plan again. Myself and a Buddy went back in 2016. He Harvested a Bull and i got a muley doe. We were happy granted we are private land deer hunters back home and had never really step foot of Public land before. Last year he went again and his dad shot a Cow. Has anyone hunted around Pearl Lake before?
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby Tigger » 07 24, 2018 •  [Post 2]

Welcome Brian! Glad to have you on board. While I have never hunted that area, I am confident someone in the stable here probably has. I sure hope to see some pictures of your trip this fall!
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby saddlesore » 07 24, 2018 •  [Post 3]

Can't help here. When Iwas younger, I hunted the country a little further east.It's too rugged for me now
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 07 24, 2018 •  [Post 4]

Welcome to the forum Brian. Pull up a log by the fire and chime in whenever you wish! I know zip about the Centennial State, can't help you out there. RJ
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby LineLife89 » 07 25, 2018 •  [Post 5]

Thanks everyone, how about some basic elk public land hunting advise. I feel i don't get enough info sitting on my couch :lol: :lol: Everything i read says elk drink a ton of water multiple times a days. The buddy of mine shot his over a little water hole 2 yrs ago. Am i best to find one and if it had good sign sit there all day? Also what about open meadows that pop up, are they any good? Would a elk be like a whitetail and graze along say a field? Sorry for the rookie questions we don't have elk at home. Thanks again Brian
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby saddlesore » 07 25, 2018 •  [Post 6]

If you belong to RMEF, get on their web site, they have a section that covers a lot about elk hunting
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby under H2O hunter » 07 27, 2018 •  [Post 7]

Most guys who hunt the area you are looking at either have to walk around the lake to the south as the north end of the lake is private land so you cant step on the ground. But if you use a boat or canoe you can cross the lake saving you lots of time.. From what I am told it will save you about an hour and half of hiking... Something else to keep in mind is that drainage (Lester Creek) is not a secret.... So plan on having company.. Back about 10 years ago or so the CPW wrote about the hunting and how good it was on the south side of Farewell mtn. Well that caused the hunting to go to $hit as they say... The outfitter (Del's Triangle 3) Does put a camp back in there But you would have to hike a ways to get to it. Not something you would get to in a day's hike unless your really moving and covering ground... Most of the elk in that area will be sub 280 inch bulls small harems. So take the first legal animal you can. Good luck and if and when you decide its to crowded for you and you want to check out other areas... You can check out some of the trailheads up Seedhouse road. There was a very large fire (Hinman/Burnridge fire) in 2002 and you can find some elk on the edges of that. I suggest looking at the wilderness South of the Elk river. You'll hear and read a lot about the Dome. Which is another popular place so stay away from there but look that direction for out of the way places where elk like to go and you should do alright. My dad and his buddies use to hunt the area in the early 80's and it was awesome back then... Its done the roller coaster of good, bad, good, and so on for years. My friends who hunt in there tell me its rebounding but the amount of blow down is unreal and early archery they see lots of trail walkers and photography people in the wilderness so take that for what ever you want.... Good luck.
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby >>>---WW----> » 07 28, 2018 •  [Post 8]

Keep an eye on all the fire websites. There sure is a lot of smoke in the air over that way. I heard it was in the Sarvice Creek area but haven't been able to confirm it yet. All I know for sure is it is drier than a popcorn fart in NW Colorado. The whole area is just a place waiting to happen. Many fire bans are in effect at this time.
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby Ben Nicholson » 08 09, 2018 •  [Post 9]

I’ll be off Seedhouse. Wave if you see a guy with Iowa plates.

Good luck,
Ben
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby saddlesore » 08 12, 2018 •  [Post 10]

I was up that way this past week,a little further west. First thing to do is locate any water. It was sure dry.9500-10,000 feet had a lot of green grass and a few seeps were still wet and a few good springs.I dropped down 1000 feet and it was like a desert.
It took me three hours of riding rough country to get up that high.The outfitters does real good up there, but I figure there weren't any elk I wanted to shoot up there and pack back down some really steep country.Those young packers don't mind that though.

That grass had ice on it Thursday morning.It was 92 degrees down at the truck
Pringle meadow 2.jpg
Pringle meadow 2.jpg (403.82 KiB) Viewed 4598 times


Pringle meadow.jpg
Pringle meadow.jpg (222.8 KiB) Viewed 4598 times


Directly in backof the tent about 20 yards was good spring with pools 2 ft deep.The tent is Luxe Megahorn that I just got.Rory put me on to to it.
pringle camp.jpg
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby Lefty » 08 13, 2018 •  [Post 11]

Some simple public land hunting advice from my perspective. But my disclaimer first. Colorado is so much different than many of the other Rocky mountain states, there seems to be lot of private ground mixed in with public land, and lots of access is blocked by private land.
So know that you are on public land!!!
Talk to whome ever is grazing the area.
Personally I stay away from "popular" areas. Which means roads and easy access. Watch out areas with easy vehicle or ATV access.

I have always been a map guy. I use to set up traplines using Department of Transportation County Highway maps, Road use Indexies (sp>?) land ownership, and topography maps. Now I use Google earth and other maps.

Use the states mapping sites. I checked out the type of topography then road/trails and stay away from trails.

The local National Grassland, Forest Service, BLM folks can be a great help,.. But beware that some employees may favor and area and protect it with less than truly accurate info then talk to someone else,.. and some dont know what they are talking about at all :lol: Call the local office.

My theory: deep and steep and far away from roads or across water or cliffs are one way to eliminate the general lazy hunting population.
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby Lefty » 08 13, 2018 •  [Post 12]

More of a general suggestion since I know nothing about your area look for public land that is difficult to access. Maybe private land surrounded by grumpy landowners.


I have a buddy they and several other ranches surrounding a large piece of state land. Totally landlocked property . He swapped a contractor work for private hunting access.

And one more biggie to me. Ive have found great places of private land where area landowners have kept the public out by being a nasty bully. If your willing to put up and addressee (confront) the adjoining owner.
Some of these guys can be real jerks at first. Stay calm , be cordial. Ive gained lots of unique property to trap. Once many of these landowners realize you know the facts can be very workable so do not get in an argument. and make sure you are 100% correct.
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby Roosiebull » 08 13, 2018 •  [Post 13]

very nice setup saddlesore!!

are you hunting or just hanging out? pretty country.
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Re: 2018 Routt early season archery ELK

Postby saddlesore » 08 13, 2018 •  [Post 14]

Roosiebull wrote:very nice setup saddlesore!!

are you hunting or just hanging out? pretty country.


I was up looking at the water situation for an up coming ML elk hunt.
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