First Time CO Archery Elk

How's it going guys? Like the Subject says I will be new to archery elk hunting, elk hunting as a whole honestly. I am in the U.S. Army and will be PCSing to Ft. Carson within the month so I'm looking for any kind of advice on areas to try. My goal is to be able to hike in and hunt for about a week so I'm trying to get away from roads and easy access. I've been using the CO hunting atlas and the conjunction of areas 42, 421, and 521 have caught my eye. However I've noticed that the area appears to be cut up with forest service roads. I know back home in VA growing up hunting the forest service would open and shut roads at different times of the year though so its hard to tell how easy the access will be. Growing up hunting the hills of western VA my dream hunt was always to come hunt elk in the rockys and now I'm finally going to be able to get that chance. Any advice yal could give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Are you in Ft Hood now? I deployed with 1st Cav to Iraq in '04. I was the medic with our scout platoon.

No, I'm currently at Ft. Drum. I just happen to be a Cavalry Scout in a light infantry division. Two dudes from my platoon that I deployed with just went to Hood a few months back though. One of them got to go on a guided whitetail hunt through the mwr and took a very respectable buck. It's too hot in TX for my blood though.

I would also like to say thank you for your service. I have the highest levels of respect for those that came before me, especially during the early years of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars.

Hey buddy thanks for your service. What part of VA did you grow up hunting? Im from bristol and grew up hunting the nat forest in grayson and smith counties. We archery hunt northern CO every year. Shoot me a PM if you look at any units around Steamboat and Ill try to help you out.

ifyouaintcav said:

No, I'm currently at Ft. Drum. I just happen to be a Cavalry Scout in a light infantry division. Two dudes from my platoon that I deployed with just went to Hood a few months back though. One of them got to go on a guided whitetail hunt through the mwr and took a very respectable buck. It's too hot in TX for my blood though.

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My platoon was 19D within a mechanized infantry brigade. We were the BC's pet children, so we did pretty much what we wanted and got away with a lot of shit....lol Screw Ft Hood!!! That's where I got stuck. They treated us returning wounded soldiers on med hold like absolute crap. I grew up near Rochester, NY and did some guard time in Drum before I went back to active duty. They used to stick us in the old WW2 barracks in the middle of winter...lol

The area you are looking at has a lot of ATV use. It is well controlled and folks seem pretty respectful of staying on the trails but it's hard to get away from vehicles. Beautiful area though.