Unit 75/751 Colorado elk hunt

[sasqy]

Just reaching out to see if anyone hunted these units this season or is there now?
We just got back after a grueling 2 weeks!
Never could find any good bulls, and only a few cows and rags.
I’ve been going north of Bayfield for 3 years now and it seems it has gotten progressively worse on elk numbers and deer too.
Used to see deer all over in woods and roads.
Saw like 10 deer in 2 weeks this year .
Anyway I’m just curious as to what is going on in that area.
Thought maybe drought, but they had it really wet this past winter and spring.
Let me know if you have experienced the same in that area.
As always thanks in advance
Your Friend “D”

[sasqy]

Anyone ?

[Dru]

We've hunted up there off an on for several years. I was up there this year for the last week of bow season. It sucked. Our group went there for first draw and nothing was killed. They said it was the worst year ever. I'm not sure what the reason is but the elk numbers are way down for that area. The beetle kill is bad. They are logging above where we camp. Talking to those guys they said the cat numbers are way up.

The Wildlife department says the fawn survival rate is way down.

[drwilliams]

We hunted 77 and dropped into 751 with no luck 2nd season. Saw a ton of mule deer and one bull we couldnt make a play on. We spent 9 days up there. The hunting was horrible. Talked to several locals that were there hunting and they said it was the worst they have seen in 36 years. 5 different locals said they have a healthy cat population.

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[tx_basser]

There is an article on herd reduction due to hunting pressure during rut, which pushed rut later and therefore lots of offspring were born late and did not survive the winter.

[Gerald G]

The game warden in unit 71 told us last week in a kinda, sorta, round-about way that they have given out too many cow tags in the last 2-3 years and got the population lower than they meant to.
5 of us hunting, never saw a legal bull in 7 days and not many cows either.

[James]

I killed a big bull in season 2 this year in 75, found 3 big groups really high, 11-14k feet

[Grulla]

Hunted 77 near 751 this year during archery , and saw plenty of animals . Getting to them and making them play the game was a different story . Saw quite a few nice mule deer also .

[sasqy]

Man these all make sense !
I actually saw a lot of cat tracks too.
I’m fixing to start looking for a new area to hunt I guess.
The locals we talked to said same about worst in 20 yrs.
If y’all have any suggestions on new units hit me up
Thanks again
Your friend “D”

[Mudslinger]

Been a long time since I hunted 751 but there were always elk, some giant Muleys, but I know it has changed. Only place I hunted that I saw a legit 400”+ bull. We hunted basically the Snowslide Canyon area east of the Los Pinos River and Rincon la Vaca and Rincon la Oslo area west of the river. Rough, big country

[Grizz83]

If the locals know you’re from Texas, it’s very possible they’re gonna intentionally tell you things are bad, even if they’re really not. Just the way it is. As a whole, we aren’t liked up in CO.

Having said that, I do believe the elk and deer numbers are decreasing in CO.

[Dru]

There is an article on herd reduction due to hunting pressure during rut, which pushed rut later and therefore lots of offspring were born late and did not survive the winter.

Read the same thing.

[ramrod]

I agree with all the above, the numbers are just down. We spent over a week and seen very few elk(we haul horses and camp high). 75/77/751, all have a lot of out of town traffic in these units being that far south. Plenty of local hunters around those towns as well.

[sasqy]

I believe Colorado Parks have been mismanaging the herd !
Hopefully they figure it out .
Until then it looks like I will be looking for a new state to hunt Wapati .