FillTheFreezer
New member
How'd your scout go?
I've found boots on the ground scouts are great to figure out the terrain, but didn't help me much understanding what the pressure is like once im actually out there hunting.
Colorado Otc Hunting pressure
- Thread starter jarmour1
- Start date
I've found boots on the ground scouts are great to figure out the terrain, but didn't help me much understanding what the pressure is like once im actually out there hunting.
jarmour1
New member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2022
- Messages
- 20
Well I'm here now I ended up deciding to check out some areas south of grand junction instead made me realize I need to be a little better at e scouting terrain lol
FillTheFreezer
New member
Happens to me every time. The terrain is never easier than I expected haha
rjthehunter
Well-known member
Unit 22 in Colorado has the most elk I've ever seen. I'd start there.
See? Anyone can say anything on the internet. I've never been to unit 22 in Colorado. I'd imagine the type of people who are going to go to a unit just because they saw it posted on an internet forum are the type of people you probably don't have to worry too much about. Just go further than a few hundred yards from the road and you'll probably get away from them!
See? Anyone can say anything on the internet. I've never been to unit 22 in Colorado. I'd imagine the type of people who are going to go to a unit just because they saw it posted on an internet forum are the type of people you probably don't have to worry too much about. Just go further than a few hundred yards from the road and you'll probably get away from them!
Mallardsx2
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2015
- Messages
- 2,609
And what's even funnier is that when you do a google search for Colorado unit 22 this thread pops up in your google search. It's amazing how far reaching the ramifications of mentioning unit-specific information has gone.
There's some good irony in non resident hunters saying that posting unit numbers doesn't matter in response to resident hunters saying it does.
I've seen spots get mentioned on shows/podcasts/forums get blown out and filled up with trucks. You think guys that are going to spend 20 hours in a truck to drive out won't spend a few hours going through FB/forums/podcasts? Just because they go to the same spot as another 4 guys doesn't mean they aren't ruining a larger area via increased pressure, excessive bugling, poor wind management, or bad camp site locations.
Giving out unit numbers or identifying info is all good and well on a normal year, but what about a year like 2020 where large portions of the state burn, pushing hunters into new areas? Think some of them won't google up your old posts? Or a year like this year, where winter kill in the NW portion of the state was very high? Or in the future when OTC goes away, and people are forced into picking a unit or a DAU to hunt?
Just look at what has happened to hunting burn areas in the last handful of years as an example of what over-publicizing information can do. You aren't speaking in hushed whispers in a corner both in some backwoods bar, you're running (searchable) banners on the screens in Times Square.
rjthehunter
Well-known member
But it's erroneous in my case above. Would you really take information from a random website that someone posts? Especially when it's posted publicly??? Now if someone sent me a private message in response to asking for some info on hunting in Colorado, that'd be different. But would you really trust the info someone posted for the entire world to see?
It would be different if it was Randy mentioning the units he was hunting in followed by him harvesting an elk. But I don't know any shows that are talking about what unit they're in.
No, I wouldn't. However I live at 8k ft in elk country, so a lot of the advice is see online is laughable already.
Plenty of people do actively search things out by unit number though, as evidenced by the thread views vs replies on almost every thread that has a unit number in the title. If even a fraction of them end up trusting that info and hunting the area, the pressure increase will be noticeable on the ground. Elk/deer population densities are so much lower out here than whitetail in the east; one set of hunters making a poor decision can impact the animals/hunting over multiple square miles.
As for Randy, he's a great example. People have literally attempted (successfully at one point I believe) to get his tag info through at least one state's DNR (Utah?). They actively search for skylines that match backgrounds on his TV shows (the B-roll stuff is usually from various areas, not just where he is hunting) on google earth.
People are desperate for any information they can get that is easier and takes less time then actually getting out there and walking up the mountains. For an east coaster that comes out for a week, that leaves 51 other weeks to 'e-scout'.
rjthehunter
Well-known member
It's sad how desperate some people become that they'd rather spend countless hours researching a video or something instead of just going out there and seeing how it goes. No one should expect to go to a new area and kill an elk first try... If that's what they want, then go to a ranch somewhere. The challenge makes the success sweeter!
Do you think programs like GoHunt are hurting certain units? Compiling all the information into an easy to navigate interface definitely influences people to easier/better odd hunts.
Is it really the people asking unit # specific questions that are the issue or the people who answer them and provide information?
I could ask a unit specific question and sure the thread shows up on a Google search but if nobody answers or gives any info what good is it to anyone? And how will having the number on the internet in and of itself burn a spot? Like mentioned above I HIGHLT doubt the guys who are basing their hunt on finding a unit # posted on a public forum are anybody to worry about getting to far away from a trailhead, trail, or their truck/SxS.
I could ask a unit specific question and sure the thread shows up on a Google search but if nobody answers or gives any info what good is it to anyone? And how will having the number on the internet in and of itself burn a spot? Like mentioned above I HIGHLT doubt the guys who are basing their hunt on finding a unit # posted on a public forum are anybody to worry about getting to far away from a trailhead, trail, or their truck/SxS.
WildWill
Well-known member
This thread reminds me of this.
I am telling you, with my own two eyes I have seen it happen. And in my opinion, both people are the problem.
Here's a link to the CPW statistics for last year https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Hunting/BigGame/Statistics/Elk/2022StatewideElkHarvest.pdf , go look and you'll find that most units have triple digit hunters during any given season. Now go look at a thread with unit numbers in the title, usually it will have a handful of replies but views well into the thousands. It just takes a very small percentage to impact hunter numbers in a given unit (especially on a shorter rifle season tag). And by posting and sharing too much on websites like this, you're even more likely to increase the numbers of backpack hunters just like yourself in your unit or area.
You may also be shocked that there are plenty of guys that live in Colorado that would take advantage of any free info posted. It only takes one extra person to stomp through a bedding area or to run in from upwind on a bugling bull you're working to negate the 4 miles you hiked in.
