Every September I trade in my canoes for packhorses and guide both the archery & muzzleloader elk seasons in the high country wilderness of colorado. I have hunted/guided this same area in the Roosevelt national forest every year since 1999. Nobody else has spent anywhere near as much time hunting elk in this area over the past 20 years. I know this chunk of great wilderness elk habitat like my own back 40 and can quickly get my hunters onto good bulls. I know where to find the elk in this big country and how to stalk/call these bulls into bow or muzzleloader range. I personally accompany you on each of these semi-guided hunts. My GS-2 semi-guided elk hunts are less expensive than the traditional two on one- fully-guided elk hunts and a whole lot more successful than the lower cost drop camp hunts many outfitters run.

Here is how my semi-guided elk hunts work. Three clients plus myself, park our trucks at a wilderness trailhead, where we meet up with the wranglers/horses from the outfitter I work with. This outfitter is the only outfitter licensed to commercially operate in this entire designated wilderness, so we are not competing with any other outfitted hunters. The wranglers horse-pack us and our gear into an already set up remote wall tent camp with stoves, lanterns, cots, and all the camp gear for a comfortable wilderness stay. These camps are beyond the reach of day hunters coming in from any road access, and we rarEly encounter any on-foot hunters as backpacking an elk out of this area is something very few can do. My first goal every hunt is to help each of the three clients get a good shot opportunity at a good bull. I do not receive any payment for these hunts. What the client pays goes directly to the outfitter, who then allows me to hunt out of his camps for a reduced rate for the entire archery season. This enables me to turn these hunts into a “working vacation” and remain in the elk mountains longer each season. So the bottom line here is for just slightly more than the cost of a drop camp hunt, you benefit from my knowledge and skills as a wilderness elk guide by agreeing to let me bowhunting part-time during these hunts. (if I have already harvested my bull during a previous hunt, then I just guide full-time for the remaining hunts). Typically, 1-2 of the hunters will get his bull the first half of the hunt, and I do more of my own hunting the second half, partnering-up with whoever still has a tag.

Hunt expectations: you ride in on horseback (2-3 hours in the saddle) to camp. Unload your gear, pick out a bunk, shoot a few practice arrows and we hit the ground hunting that first afternoon. After that, it is up at 4:30 a.m. every morning, a quick breakfast, and out to still-hunt the timberline for elk out feeding in the alpine meadows. In the evenings, we set up along the timberline, waiting for the elk to leave their bedding grounds to feed up the top in the grassy meadows. This is big open country, 11,000-12,000 feet with thin air but not dangerously steep/rugged. We do a lot of glassing and then spot and stalk style hunting. It is very different than the typical midwest deer hunting, where you are usually immersed in thick woods. Seeing elk is not the problem out here. Sneaking in and beating the herds’ sharp eyes, ears and noses for a 30-40 yard shot is the challenge. Being in good physical condition and proficiency with a bow or muzzleloader are the two most important contributors to success. I have had clients in poor shape shoot big bulls but the better you can hike the less run-down you will get, and the longer you can stay after these bulls at a high-intensity level. Think of the 7-day hunt as a marathon as you are just as likely to get that hard-earned shot day seven as day one. September is the elk rut with actual breeding around the 10-15th, but there is lots of bugling and rut activity before and after when the first cows come into heat. In a week of September hunting from these camps, I will typically see 50-75 elk, of which 20 something will be bulls and maybe 10 of these bigger /older bulls. This unit has a 4-point minimum, which basically means you can’t shoot spikes. Most hunters shoot 3 ½-year-old 5x5’s, which is a real accomplishment with a bow or muzzleloader. But this area has a lot of bigger bulls than many units of colorado. You will see herd bulls that are in the 300-325” class, and my clients have shot bulls up to 365” in these same camps.

This area is a draw unit, not over-the-counter tags like much of colorado. This is why it has fewer hunters and bigger bulls. Archery hunters on my trips have an 85% chance of drawing a tag with zero preference points. If you can plan out a year in advance, apply for a preference point the year before you go, and you will draw for sure. If you book the hunt with zero preference points and don’t draw, plan b is to purchase a special landowner voucher (we will instruct you on this process), which allows you to hunt our wilderness camps just the same as a regular license. (it just costs an additional $300). For muzzleloaders, you usually draw a tag with one preference point. If you book the hunt and don’t draw a tag because you do not have a reference point, (as explained above), you then purchase the landowner voucher for $500, and you are good to go. These GS-2 semi-guided wilderness elk archery or muzzleloader hunts are seven days of hunting, which includes horse packing in/out of camp for you and all your gear and any harvested elk. Trip cost is $3000/person. Limited to 3 clients plus myself/hunt. This does not include your personal one-fourth of the food supplies and your license.