2022 Colorado OTC Elk Hunt
I’ve been gone the past few weeks for a short family getaway / archery season elk hunt in Colorado. Thought I’d share a few stories and photos from along the way.
This was a 3 week trip with the first leg planned as a family vacation. We started the trip in Estes Park, CO and visited Rocky Mountain National Park. If you haven’t’ been, I recommend taking a few days to explore it. It is free to Veterans and active duty.



This time of year the Old Fall River Road is open. That is it in the background.



It’s a one way, one lane, gravel drive that extends nine miles up the mountain and ends at the Alpine Visitor Center. Several three point turns along the way and sheer drop-offs in several places. I thought it was fun...my wife, not so much.


We stopped for a bite of lunch near the top of the trail. I think this was around 11.7k.



Here is the first bull of the trip. After careful examination I decided to pass and wait for something bigger.



Well, that, and it probably would have been frowned upon had I shot the town bull. You can tell he's not afraid of a few cheeto throwers.




We stayed at Mary’s Lake Campground. Great place to park a camper, RV, or tent for a few nights. Great views, nice staff and clean bathroom/shower houses. (Yes, that is my redneck toy hauler in the picture. I spent the past 3 months converting it from a cargo trailer to a toy hauler/hunting camper and it worked out fantastic for the intended use)



After a couple nights in Estes Park we headed for my hunting destination in southwest CO. The plan was to trail ride and site see for a couple days and then put my wife and daughter on a plane ride home so I could hunt.
We sat up camp in lower elevation, around 9k.



Did some trail riding and sight seeing




The wife wanted to stop for a few glamour shots along the way..



We had heavy rain shower on the way back so we laid up under a spruce tree for a few minutes until the rain quit.



On the 4th I drove them to the Denver airport and put them on a plane to St. Louis. I relocated my camp to higher elevation and started hunting September 5th



About ½ hour in to the first morning I called in a small 5x5 to about 30 yards. He came in silent and by the time I realized he was there he was already moving away. I wasn’t too concerned as my hunting buddies weren’t due in until later in the day and I wasn’t ready to pack one off the mountain by myself.

I went back to camp around noon and help a friend set up his new Davis tent next to my trailer. These tents are awesome and I highly recommend them!




The next morning I went back to the same spot and about ½ hour in called in the same bull again to 33 yards. This happened to be “no free pass Tuesday”. I double-lung’d him and he ran about 75 yards before piling up. This makes me 3 for 3 for an OTC Colorado Archery hunt.





Thanks to my buddy Alan Shadow for helping me pack him back to camp!



This bull is actually smaller than my first two, but I figure any legal elk in an OTC unit with a bow is good enough for me.
So my hunt was over on day 2 of a 12 day hunt. But that was o.k. since we had a great camp set up and had 3 buddies with tags yet to fill.



I skinned the skull on day 3 and had some help from the horrendous supply of meat eating ground bees(wasp?) this year. I’m told these bees are on a four year cycle and this happens to be the year. They weren't too bad to deal with but will sting the out of you if provoked.



ol 'dad

The evening of September 8th Mr. Bob Shadow shook hands with this small 4x4. Bob is 78 years young. He was hunting an active wallow around 9400’. The bull was slightly quartering to, so the exit hole that you see came out near mid body. It ran about 100 yards up hill and died 15 yards from the road. Bob says there are easy bulls and hard bulls, and he only shoots the easy ones. Lol



This was a small 4x4 but he had some of the longest eye guards I’ve seen for a bull that young. I didn’t measure them but they had to of been well over 12”s.



Congrats again to BOB
!
There are other benefits besides being able to give your buddies (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) for not having filled their tag yet 2 days in to a 12 day hunt. It left me plenty of time to find a mountain stream and float a few flies.









I headed back for St. Louis on the 15th. I hear the bugling was really starting to pick up. My buddies Alan and Ron both worked bulls that morning but weren’t able to get a shot. All in all it was a great trip and I'm already planning for next year.



Thanks for looking!

Ol’ dad

And one last picture for all the Sitka haters... LOL

My Sitka calander shot!



ol 'dad

Looks like a great time. Thanks for the pictures

Very nice.

Great read! Thanks for sharing!!

Looks like an awesome trip with family and friends. Great to see hunters tagging bulls, regardless of their size.

Outstanding trip!

Wow, what a great trip and a big bonus to bring back some awesome venison! Huge congratulations!!

looks like a great trip...I know a few that have done do it yourself trips for elk and done zero % more than once...congrats!!

Great pics!

Looks like a great trip!!!

Really Awesome
I've hunted OTC Rifle season there but never took a Elk.
* My tries were in the 90's out of Waldon/ Walden ? CO.

Thanks for taking us along, great pics and story! I was on the Kaibab (AZ) a couple weeks ago and couldn’t believe the number of those same bees. Like you said, don’t provoke them.

Congrats! Must be a good caller to call the same elk in two days in a row

Excellent !!!

Wow, what a trip!

Awesome pics and way to go on the otc success rate! 100%

Great recap!

Thanks for all the comments! If anyone is thinking about trying an OTC archery hunt I recommend just going and doing it. Don't buy into all the negative comments about percentages and low success rates. IMO, It boils down to about 50% luck, 40% hard work, 9% woodsmanship, and 1% wearing sitka clothing.

Seriously, just go do it and have fun. Even if you don't tag out you will be hooked and ready to go back the next year. Happy to answer any questions if you have them.

Ol dad