The Colorado DOW said that they would post elk draw results on the 25th of May, but I checked mine today and found out I was successful for my 1st Rifle Either Sex tag. So if you were waiting until the 25th, go ahead and check it out today! Good luck!

You lucky dog... two tries and 0 for me.
Ed

Congrats Good Luck !
Joe

Congratulations on your draw...and best of luck on your hunt!!

What do they mean by "first rifle"?

Do you have to designate what firearm you are going to use?

Cheers, Vince

I checked the website, found out that I didnt get drawn this year for muzzleloader elk even with 2 preference points. Seems its getting harder to draw tags, in the past have drawn muzzleloader with only 1 point. Oh well, will have 3 points for next year. First rifle means the first rifle season which is draw only. The other rifle seasons in most areas are over the counter tag sales.

Vince:

They lead off with Archery & Muzzleloading then they have a series of rifle seasons (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc..). I usually try and get the 1st rifle season for elk as they haven't been chased as hard and since we usually hunt at a higher elevation the snow percentage is usually less than the later seasons. I am not sure if in your Army days you ever worked cold areas or not, but there isn't anything worse than putting your boots by your bunk at night and then waking up in the morning having to break them out of frozen mud - really sets your attitude for the day - oh yeah, your beer gets frozen solid too, nothing to hike back for. I hope that helps explain.

Got a Colorado Ranching for Wildlife cow tag for Snake River Ranch, buck tag for Unit 4. Hunting buddy got a cow and doe tag for Unit 4. I'll likely buy an over-the-counter bull tag for Unit 4 as well.

Well, I won the lottery BIG this year!

Got my Ranching For Wildlife cow tag in the mail last week, then Friday I got a letter from the Division of Wildlife. The letter, in essence, stated the elk populations were out of control on some of the the RFW ranches and stated that if the ranch I had drawn for was one of those that I would find, enclosed, a voucher entitling me to purchase a SECOND cow tag for that range. Further, the tone of the letter was PLEASE buy the tag.

Eager to do my civic duty, I headed to Wal-Mart Saturday an dpurchased an Unlimited (over the counter) bull tag and the second RFW cow tag. As I write this I have three elk tags in my pocket!

Better yet, the ranch the cow tags are for had a 78% success rate last year.

My bull tag and buck tag are for Unit 4, as are my buddy's cow and doe tags. We have had excellent success in Unit 4 in the past few years, averaging over 50% for elk.

Its shaping up to be a good season!

For the second year running, I'll be hunting unit 751 North East of Bayfield during 2nd Rifle with the same guys as last year. Had my leftover cow tag picked up on Tuesday.
It'll be great to be back in the US & meeting some good friends once again.

Welcome to the HuntingNut Mike. Congrats on your tag :D. Always good to see old friends, Good luck on your hunt.
Joe

That is awesome Mike, I hope our elk are polite and civil, the Bayside group is well bred - so you should find them most agreeable. Good luck on your hunt and congrats on being able to be with friends.

Thanks guys

We're doing it in style this year with a 31' fifth wheel, rather than last year's 22' - where we set that up gained more than a few surprised looks by passing hunters.
Better glass & a new rangefinder are on the list for this year & I'm minded to go with the Nikon Monarch ATB bino's & their Monarch Gold Laser 1200 rangefinder, unless anyone has better suggestions in the same price range?