Advice for CO GMU25

I tried to avoid posting this thread for as long as possible, but now I'm getting desperate for any leg up I can get. This is my first elk hunt, and my first archery hunt. I went out to the unit over the weekend to scout and took a look at all of the spots I'd picked for my e-scouting. Honestly most of the spots just seemed kinda meh, they all seemed fairly similar but nothing great. The terrain doesn't lend itself to glassing, it's mostly just meadows broken up by pines without lots of elevation changes, and it goes on and on like that. I am trying to figure out what kind of strategy to employ for finding elk. Anybody with some general advice or who has been to 25 before and wants to help a beginner out?

I'm thinking of started early before first light and sitting on field edges where I've seen trails/sign, and then as the morning goes on, working my way along edges and cow calling and trying that for a day at a time in each area until I find something.

I feel like I've done a ton of work planning and spent a ton of money on gear and now I'm getting anxious. Especially with not knowing how busy the woods are going to be. Have you been to 25 before, could you tell me which trailheads were a mess, which ones were okay? Obviously things change, but a general idea would put my mind at ease. I was initially going to backpack hunt, which is what led me to 25 despite hearing how bad the unit was. But now I'm thinking hunting closer to the roads and camping in my car would allow me to be more mobile and probably stay out longer.

Since you are desperate and no-one else has responded, you will have to make do with me I guess. This is my first post and I am eager to contribute, so we will both have to have some patience

I hunted Unit 25 perhaps 20 years ago, so this may not be the best info - hopefully someone else will chime in. We were in the Muzzleloader season, and started at Sweetwater Reservoir; a local guide packed our camp in about 7 miles, up to the Turret Meadows vicinity.


"I'm thinking of started early before first light" - most definitely!

"sitting on field edges where I've seen trails/sign, and then as the morning goes on, working my way along edges" - might work; it can be pretty darn warm in September, so you may need to get back into the darker timber instead of near the edges of the meadows, especially as the day wears on.

"I feel like I've done a ton of work planning and spent a ton of money on gear and now I'm getting anxious." - Ya! Exciting isn't it?

"how busy the woods are going to be" - based on my experience and specific to 7 miles in, not very busy with hunters. The established, licensed outfitters sites will be full.

"which trailheads were a mess" - I don't about any except Sweetwater Res, and that is a well-travelled road; if you have a problem there either the winter is getting off to a real bang, or your truck has serious issues I do know that the Derby Creek (Crescent/Mackinaw Lakes) access is a pretty rough road, at least farther in, with potential for mud bogs; could by highly weather dependent.

“despite hearing how bad the unit was” – what do you mean by that?

Anyhoo, hope that helps; good luck!

Quality 1st post, Alpine. Don't hold back. Welcome.

I agree, awesome post Alpine.

Are you saying that I should sit further away from the meadow on account of the elk not wanting to be in the sun, or me? I'm from Florida so the heat doesn't bother me a bit, but I'm sure the elk are very picky about that sort of thing. Perhaps I can start on the edge at first light and work my way into deeper areas as the day moves on.

I did look at trekking in from Sweetwater but it's a long hike on foot with a 45lb pack. I also looked at access from Indian Camp Pass, which seems a little easier, but still quite long. I am going to start closer to the roads based on some other advice I got, and leaving the 7 mile trek for if it's insanely busy

I have heard Crescent Lake is one of the worst roads in the forest. I'm looking at coming from another area and my Outback gets in there just fine, but I do have to mind heavy rain.

I have heard that the unit is bad, not as much elk as the good old days, lots of outfitters, very popular with non-resident hunters. But eh, who knows, I haven't heard anyone with a glowing review of an OTC unit, so I'm just going to put that aside as noise.

Thanks again! I am very exited for my hunt and with the advice I've gotten here and elsewhere, I'm feeling much more confident.

Mvmnts said:

Are you saying that I should sit further away from the meadow on account of the elk not wanting to be in the sun, or me? I'm from Florida so the heat doesn't bother me a bit, but I'm sure the elk are very picky about that sort of thing.

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I meant the elk. Meadow's edge in the early morning and just before dark, may work well, but as you said, as the day wears on it is likely the elk will be retreating to the cooler, darker forest. You, on the other hand, may find the sun quite nice and want to take a nap Nothing better than sunshine on golden aspen....

Mvmnts said:

Perhaps I can start on the edge at first light and work my way into deeper areas as the day moves on.

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Exactly

Mvmnts said:

I did look at trekking in from Sweetwater but it's a long hike on foot with a 45lb pack. I also looked at access from Indian Camp Pass, which seems a little easier, but still quite long. I am going to start closer to the roads based on some other advice I got, and leaving the 7 mile trek for if it's insanely busy.

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Yea, when we were there we ran across two bow hunters on their way out, and they certainly indicated that 7 miles was a long way with a pack of that size! Don't forget if you harvest one out there you also have to haul it out!

Mvmnts said:

I have heard Crescent Lake is one of the worst roads in the forest. I'm looking at coming from another area and my Outback gets in there just fine, but I do have to mind heavy rain.

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Typically you won't see much rain at this time, much less heavy rain, but it can occur. Just four Septembers ago the Front range had a rain event which caused major flooding, to the tune of many millions of dollars. More likely the think you should think about is a snowstorm or freak proportions. September you should *probably* be okay.

Mvmnts said:

very popular with non-resident hunters.

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As long as someone treats the land and fellow hunters with respect, I don't care where you are from.


Good luck; let us know how it turns out!

I hunted GMU 25 last year pretty hard during archery season.

If you are coming from Derby Creek on the east side of the unit most people park before it hits the 4x4 trail towards Cresent. On the weekends there are tons of parked trailers. I am assuming they are hunting the BLM or just the east side in general. A lot of that traffic was during muzzle loader season.

You can drive all the way back to Cresent but take it slow, there will be a lot of rock crawling. Should be just fine if its dry and you have a decent 4 wheel drive. If you get caught in a snow storm you need to be VERY prepared if you are going back to Cresent lake tire chains, recovery gear, more than one spare etc. As Alpine stated you should be fine in Sept but..............you never know at 9K plus.

I meet a handful of hunters out there and one cattle rancher. Real nice people.

Pretty much everyday I hunted last year was terrible elk weather "sunny and warm." Bring a packable rod and real in case of those really hot sunny days. There are some good trout lakes up in the mountains.

Cold calling probably wont do much but..............you never know. Hope you spent good money on Binos. Should be using those a lot more than calling.

If things aren't working out make sure to have a planA, B, C, D, efghijk.........be mobile. If this is your first year you should car camp and take you time getting use to the environment and altitude. Flat Tops is a beautiful place so make sure to soak it in.

I am planning to be there later in the archery season. Feel free to PM me. I would love to have another contact out there. If you get in a sticky situation I would love to help you out.

Timmy: great post and pic. Nicely done.

I hunted 25 last year as well, I believe we were there a total of 4 hunting days with 2 scouting days prior to the season. We hunted the Sheep Mountain area from the east side during second rifle. This was during the over the counter season so our experience may be a little different than yours.

Ran into a ton of people to be honest. We made it up there the day before opening day, and it was already packed. Finding a camping spot where we had originally scouted was difficult. Luckily we were able to find something on the north east side of Sheep Mountain. Like I said we were there during second rifle, which is later in October and the weather was extremely warm the entire time we were there (I bought chains for my truck and definitely did not need them, you never know in Colorado though as we have seen rain/snow in September on numerous occasions). On opening day we hiked in close to two miles and set up well before day light only to have two hunters with head lamps hike straight through the valley we were glassing. The rest of the time we were out there we did our best to put miles behind us. We hunted anywhere from 8,000 feet to close to 11,000 and did not see a thing. Ran into a bunch of outfitter camps and a lot of deer hunters I believe.

We did see a truck come down the mountain with a bull in the back and saw another guy pack out a cow. Heard some shooting on opening day, but other than that it was pretty quiet. I am not going back this year, but that is mainly because we drew a first season bull tag as we wanted to avoid the chaos of the over the counter crowd. I am a pretty inexperienced hunter so hopefully you can learn from my experience a little bit.

Good luck!

Alex

Mvmnts said:

I'm thinking of started early before first light and sitting on field edges where I've seen trails/sign, and then as the morning goes on, working my way along edges and cow calling and trying that for a day at a time in each area until I find something.

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If you set up on a field edge and call and are lucky enough call get one's attention, they'll probably come to the other side of the meadow and look for you. They won't see an elk and they'll bugger off.

You might catch some elk in the open at very first light, but they don't usually hang around too long. Cold call setups only work if there are elk nearby. In my opinion, if you're not bugling and you're not glassing, you're going to want to keep moving until you find fresh sign; not recent sign, but literally steaming scat, cow calls, warm beds or the smell of elk. Seriously, you can smell them.

For a solo hunter, packing an elk out is a boat load of work. Each mile from your vehicle turns into about 6 miles out depending on your fitness level and the size of the bull.

Thanks for all the advice guys! I think I need to round out my plans for the year, I have a few ideas, but I need to be having backups for my backups. Unfortunately I blew my scouting trip already and didn't find too many good glassing spots. That is why I wasn't too hot on glassing but I do have good glass and a tripod, so if I find something in-season I will definitely be on it. Maybe I can do some midday hiking while things are slow to check out some potential glassing spots for the mornings/evenings.