2023 Rifle Season Update from our Colorado Elk Hunts
It’s hard to believe, but the 2023 season has come to a close. The horses are on their winter pasture. The lodge is winterized and closed for the year. We’d like to extend a big thanks to our entire crew – kitchen and housekeeping, wranglers, packers and guides – this team works hard and knows how to have fun. We all love these wild places and big adventures. But the people that we share it with, is what really makes it worthwhile. To that end, we’d also like to thank each one of our guests for a memorable season as well. It was a pleasure meeting all of you and we thank you for choosing to spend your time with us!
FIRST RIFLE SEASON
We had a wonderful time on our rifle season elk hunts this year. The first rifle season in Colorado came with a snowstorm just before the season opened. This change in weather right before the first rifle season was certainly welcome. And no doubt, it led to better hunting conditions – especially compared to last year, which was warm and dry.
This year, our guided hunters out of the main lodge had about a 40% success rate on bulls harvested. In our guided wilderness camps, we had a 20% success rate on bulls harvested. However, a few hunters passed on bulls on opening day – a decision that some of them may regret. With that considered, the shot opportunity rate in our wilderness camps was also about 40% during the first rifle season.
SECOND RIFLE SEASON
The second rifle season usually brings snow any cold weather – and this year was no different. Opening day on Saturday, October 28 was socked in and snowy. While this made for tough hunting the first day, it led to excellent hunting conditions later in the week. By Monday morning when the storm system had cleared out and temperatures dropped, elk were on the move and our hunters and guides took advantage of the conditions.
Out of six guided hunters out of the main lodge, three killed bulls. However, two of those hunters didn’t hunt more than a couple days. One hunter unfortunately had to go home after just one day. And one hunter was content to hang out at the lodge while his friends did the hunting. Therefore, out of the four hunters who hunted the full five days, we ended with three bulls and a 75% success rate!
We also had a guided wilderness camp during the second rifle season, with two hunters. Both of those hunters killed bulls as well. They had tough hunting conditions near their camp, but they persevered, worked hard, and then capitalized on their opportunities.
So between the lodge-based hunters and the two wilderness camp hunters, we ended up with a guided success rate of about 80% during the second rifle season. Knowing that Colorado’s statewide average success rate for over-the-counter bull elk hunts is close to 10%, this is a big accomplishment. Congrats to our hunters and guides for their hard work and determination!
UPDATES FROM THE EARLY SEASONS
If you’re looking for updates from our archery and muzzleloader hunts during the earlier September season, you can find those here. We had a lot of fun once again on our September hunts this year and they were very successful! This goes to show that saving up a few preference points for the limited opportunities can be worth the wait!
AVAILABILITY FOR 2024 AND 2025
We are now booking up for 2024 and 2025. We only have a couple of spots left for lodge-based hunts during the rifle seasons in 2024. If you’re interested in one of these remaining spots, please contact us right away. We also have a couple of guided wilderness camp hunts available next year.
At this time, we still have quite a few openings for 2025. So if you’d like your first choice of dates and location, contact us soon to get that locked in.
If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time. We’d love to help you plan a memorable Colorado elk hunt! In the meantime, you can learn more about our hunts by visiting our Hunting Page.