A.G.S. said:
AgEng06 said:
Also, Colorado released their 2016 Elk Harvest data, if you're in to that sort of thing...
http://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Hunting/BigGame/Statistics/Elk/2016StatewideElkHarvest.pdf
I'm always leery of harvest reports that aren't mandatory, but there's the data nonetheless.
Dang, 3rd rifle in Unit 55 is looking rough....
It's all relative. The unit Ursus and I hunted apparently had a total success rate of 15% based on that link. Between our two groups we were 2/5 and should have been 3/5. You have to remember that public land units will show horrible odds.
80% of the hunters will never leave a marked trail. We only used one to get to our base camp. Most won't camp away from a road or trail head. I woke up 3 miles ahead of them every morning before heading further in at 5:00am.
Even if they do camp on the mountain, then they have to have a good plan. Randomly walking around doesn't kill elk. And if you do find elk, you have to be able to get a good shot in quickly. Most nonresidents can't get whitetail hunting out of their head. It's nothing like that. It's truly primal hunting that's so hard it seems impossible until you're boning out an elk.
With the amount of elk I saw, the kill odds should be much better. Hell my hunting partner had multiple chances, but couldn't make the shot or panicked and blew it. Even if you do everything correct doesn't mean another hunting group or mountain lion didn't push the elk out. Don't let the odds discourage you unless it's for private property units.