I'm glad to report that in four weeks from today I'll be headed back out to Colorado for another elk hunt in the San Juans--strictly DIY on public land, as always. I'll probably take a 3-pc. Bill Stewart bow (about 63# at my draw) as my main weapon, though I always take a backup bow as well.

Who else is planning a western hunt this year? What will you be hunting, and what will you be carrying?

Are you taking a partner?

No, my standards for hunting partners are impossibly high--Pdiddly is just too Canadian, and Frisky is just too intimidatingly good at all things archery-related.

Actually, yes; my stepson Alex will be joining me again this year. He doesn't hunt, but is very useful for schlepping water, firewood, groceries, and stones for the fireplace I'll be making. He works for the Post Office, and he had the nerve to tell his supervisor that he needed to "escort an overweight, elderly step-dad" into the Rockies. I'll show the young pup who's overweight and elderly!

I am heading out my back door with a Colorado elk tag, took me ten years draw. With point creep this will be the last time I get to hunt elk in the unit I live in. Will be hunting with my (javaman) Shrew.

Can't wait to hear about it. Good Luck on your journey this year!

MY brother and I, along with 2 frend from Hew Hampshire have deer tags for South Dakota, will be hunting there in October.

Michael I envy you. My old partners and I hunted the "Hills" back about 20 years ago. I have such great memories of those hunts. My friends have passed on now but it seems like it was just last year.

I'll be in my usual elk free area early on the 2nd.

Just being able to be there is hugely rewarding.

Cow elk in Arizona 37 days from now. Toelke Whip. Now if those big bulls will just get out of the way..........

Since I am already about as West as I can get, I’ll be with you in spirit as always. I’m looking forward to the photos and essays. Lance

Nope, didn't draw. But good luck to everyone who is going!

Last week of September here. Elk in Colorado

Gonna try for three weeks in September in the Great Rocky Mts. Haven’t been out much last couple years and this year my 90-year-old mother is looking like she might move on to the next level. We’ll see.

man, I just came back east, terrible timing but the fishing was good! next year, good luck

Behind every tree in Colorado!

Bring water, perfectly enough for a small city.

cow elk in Idaho,,, every year... lots of fun, great meat, and great time,,,,, Yeah my hunts will never make Bowhunter or TBM, no horns,,,, who cares

I've been happy to see a strong monsoonal flow setting up over the San Juans this year--plenty of rain there lately. The elk should be fat and happy..and we should be able to have open fires at our campsites.

There's a bow coming my way from RMSG that may also make the trip this year--it's a Tice & Watts, 55# on a 62" frame; and if it's anything like the other T&W's I've shot, I expect it will be a real burner.

My biggest fear is that the airlines might screw around with my flights; there seems to be a lot of that going around this year. But, as usual, I will just focus on the things I can control, and hope for the best with those I can't.

I'll also be in the San Juan's early Sept. I didn't get an archery tag yet, so I'm not sure what I'll be carrying. C-stix, if you are in unit 71 maybe we can share a campfire one evening.

I for many years lived in unit 71,,,, great times in the 70s thru 80s,,,,, always nice people out there,,,, left in 84, got too crowded......

In San Francisco I once asked a lovely young woman If she had been to Colorado. She replied 'no I have never been back East.'

I have but I did not care for the weather. - lbg

A couple more weeks and I'll be heading that way for mulies. Can't wait, at this point I'm getting all my gear and shooting straightened out.

Yes, I'm trying to average something like five dozen shots a day from the Bill Stewart between now and then, just to toughen up my fingers and get the muscles and eyesight in good sync with each other.

My bull tag is indeed for Unit 71. This will be my seventh year of hunting there--in all that time I've only shot one arrow, but that one got me a nice cow elk. I really go mostly for the scenery and the high-elevation camping; any elk meat is just a bonus.

I sure envy you guys heading west to hunt this season. Wishes for a successful and safe hunt. I've been out there many times over the years, hunted Colorado, Montana, but mostly Wyoming, but they were always rifle hunts. Always wanted to try a bowhunt but the guys I hunted with were not really into bowhunting. I don't know if I could handle that kind of terrain at my age anymore with all my aches and pains but I'd sure love to give it a try one more time. Again, good luck to those headed west, hope you fill your tags, stay safe.

14 Days Antelope season!!!!!!!!!!! Going to be HOT!!!! 42nd yr. and loving it!

"I really go mostly for the scenery and the high-elevation camping; any elk meat is just a bonus."

He's already making excuses for failure. Disgusting!

Joe

With over 52.000 non resident bowhunters in Colorado last year, I'm glad I still don't hunt elk in Colorado. And with cpw cutting mule deer tags this year, many resident bowhunters in this unit didn't draw archery tags.

All the San Juans are now draw units, with cpw planning to make more units up north draw units as well for 2023. Looks like it's gonna take resident bowhunters 2 to 4 years now to draw archery elk and mule deer tags in their home town units.

I've got mule deer and otc bull tag in Utah, mule deer tags in Arizona, and private landowner vouchers in NM. My time chasing elk will be in October, where the hunter numbers are very low, elk are bugling their heads off, and the weather is ideal elk hunting weather.

Leaving on the 4th of September headed to Colorado from Alabama. Meeting friends from Virginia for 14 days of looking for elk.

Not going, but good luck to all that do and take lots of pictures to share with a story when you get home. Pictures can be of scenery live animals or hero shots, even high country camps with rock fireplaces/stoves!

I'll be hunting Elk here in Oregon. Lived in Colorado for 35 years, the hunting in the 90's was great, not much pressure during archery season, totally different these days.

I second the airline issues. Almost a crap game your flight wouldn’t have an issue. Be prepared especially if comin out of a small airport. Just went through this last month.

Crooked - Good luck! I hunted the South San Juans last year and never saw so many hunters! The early archery season was polluted with crowds from all over. Saw a group of 13 Amish guys coming up the hill when I left. This was a an area that was a real bitch to get up into in a wilderness area. Outfitters at every lake also. 5 years ago we might have seen one outfitter and maybe 1 other group of hunters. We had trouble finding a secluded place to camp and a couple geniuses put tents snack dab in the center of a meadow up there! Hoping the area you go to is better... This year we are headed back to CO to a different Wilderness area and hoping it will not be as bad. If it is it may be my last western elk hunt and I'll just drive here locally to hunt deer for a week somewhere. Anyway I'll be up there in CO the first week in a DIY public land wilderness area with my ASL and back quiver for another try.

If Frisky can’t go take Jim Beam

Will be antelope hunting 700 miles west of here.

Crookedstix may like the scenery and the high-elevation camping but he really likes Canadian " maple syrup"!!!

Seems smart to me. Never stand when you can sit. Never sit when you can lay down. Never stay awake when you can sleep. And always guard the medicine.

lol

Hey Phil! That’s EXACTLY what he said to me before he drifted off!!

Conserving energy in the event of a cold snap (on a 65 degree day) and guarding the snakebite medicine before he goes looking for a big snake!

What can I say….great minds. LOL

CO, Mule Deer, 3rd Season Rifle, Unit 44... used 26 preference points to draw.

In the wilderness, a man sometimes has to improvise to find a pillow. That bottle looked softer than it actually was. Peter chose a very unflattering angle from which to take that picture; it almost makes me look like a paunchy bum. Nothing could be farther from the truth; in reality, I'm quite an athlete.

Oh, wait...wrong photo...that's Alex, my stepson--the one who will be gasping for air behind me as we charge up the mountains a month from now. I'll whip him into shape by the end of the trip.

I will say that in the past six years of going to the San Juans, I usually only see a half-dozen or fewer other hunters each year...but then again, I never stay at official campsites, and my campsites are always at least a mile away from any roads. Boot leather always seems to be the best way to find yourself some privacy.

Either sex elk tag for Colorado, drew with 4 points. Been five years since we went out, can't wait until Sept 9th. Herb

Costs, influx of bikers, hikers, leaf-lookers, not to mention the 8 trillion other guys trying to kill an elk has taken the fun out of it for me. God knows I love them golden aspens against a blue sky, but this season I'll be living vicariously through you guys that make it out there. Farthest "West" I'll be hunting this fall is bear in Wisconsin.

Good luck and hope you all shoot one like in Paul's pic above!!

We were 1 mile up, 3 miles of trail, 27 switchbacks just to get up on the plateau to hunt. Nowhere near a campsite. A brutal hike in and we were surrounded by people. I wish you the best and hope you don’t have those crowds we did.

Headin to Montana for the elk opener. 12th year in a row….DIY public land.

Sauk trail Seneca recurve! Stay safe everyone and good luck to you all!

On my hunts with Kerry we spent a lot of time on Google Earth, especially Kerry, mapping out where to hunt and where to camp.

Once in place we’ve been conscious of the value of our campsites not being seen!!

I think crowds grow at spots that are shared through word of mouth or publicized on the internet.

The other part of the equation to avoid hunters is camp at the same elevation and close to where you hunt…have a compact campsite and pack VERY light…the large base camp model invite attention and company.

I skipped last season due to overcrowding but I’m planning to try this season to see if the wave of people has slacked off a little…..

So nice to watch the sunrise up through them aspens!

two4hooking, that's got to be a crappy feeling when you find yourself with that much company. Somebody must have had a good hunt there once, and told everybody they knew about it. I don't doubt that there are lots of honey holes that have been ruined in the same way.

Back when I hunted elk in Arizona once, down around the Mogollon Rim, it was like that--big crowds and plenty of game cams at every promising waterhole. I relocated to the biggest patch of tall timber I could find, and finally got away from the crowd.

Wish i could go,i was out in Colorado many years ago. Great memories & beautiful scenery. Good luck to all who are going.

Wyoming antelope

Late sept. into early oct.

Hunting first with a recurve (Backwoods riser, Dyrad limbs) switching to rifle in oct.

As long as Alex doesn't have to pack you out - or vice versa - it's a successful trip. Taking a porter along is a clever idea.

Leaving on the 23rd for the last week in Colorado. We've been going since 2006 to the same area. It gets hammered with early elk, mule deer and bear hunters. The muzzle crowd is there our first two days. In all these years I took a raghorn and my son took a muley. Now my grandson has gone the last 2 years and is totally hooked. At 73, it's a bitch doing everything here on the farm. I wouldn't miss going with my son and grandson for anything. Their excitement is contagious. Want to be there on their 1st elk. We always seem to find at least one. Killing him or her is another thing. It's just plain great! Camping in the Mtns with the boys is just beyonds words. If you ain't done it don't wait too long.

Brush ape…you said it all…views like this never get tired!

Oh...I'l post the picture I took when I wasn't laying down!

No western tags for me this year but I'll be accompanying my son on his Colorado mountain goat hunt.

yep I be in WA woods the entire season in sept. I do live in WA

My passion is antelope with my trusty Black Widows in Montana & Wyoming but I didn't draw in either state !!! :*( :( :( DEs

I’ll be in co near aspen this year

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