Listicle · 30 tips · Updated 2026-05-29
Four phases: pre-trip preparation, the week of the hunt, in-field tactics, and post-shot care. Each tip is one specific instruction — not 'be patient,' not 'know your gear.' Written from the field-tested mistakes we watch hunters make every fall.
Tips 1–8 · Before you fly out
Colorado's primary big game application deadline is in early April (April 7 at 8 p.m. MT in 2026; CPW sets the date each year). Missing it means waiting a full year. Submit early — the system gets congested in the final 48 hours and the CPW server has historically struggled the night of the deadline.
If you can't draw or can't make the year work, pay the $52 point fee anyway. Compounding matters; a hunter with five points has materially better odds than one with two for the same unit.
If you are flying out for a September or October hunt, the boots you'll wear on day one should already have 30+ miles of training hikes. Hot spots on day one ruin day three.
Bench-rest groups don't matter. Practice from prone with a bipod, sitting with shooting sticks, and offhand against a tree. Most elk shots in Colorado come from positions that look nothing like a range.
The lodge is at 8,500 ft. The huntable benches push 9,500. If you live at 1,000 ft, plan for the first 24 hours to be the adjustment window. Sleep early, drink water, and don't book a steep first morning.
Cell service is unreliable on most of GMU 59 and similar units. Print the CPW big game brochure pages relevant to your unit, your weapon, and your season. Pack them in a zip-loc in your pack.
Your rifle zeroed at 70 °F at sea level will print differently at 25 °F at 8,500 ft. If you can, verify zero at altitude when you arrive — the ranch will have a backstop for confirmation shots.
Print the digital license confirmation. Save it offline. Bring a paper backup. The wrong year on a license, an unsigned habitat stamp, or a missing carcass tag can void a hunt at the worst possible moment.
Tips 9–15 · After you land
Colorado Springs Airport is 60 miles and a 90-minute drive from Elk Glade and adjacent south-slope ranches. DIA is three hours of plains driving. The shorter drive saves a half-day of hunt time on both ends.
September mornings can be 28 °F and afternoons 72 °F. A merino base, a fleece mid, and a wind shell handle the swing better than any single insulated jacket. Add a puffy for first light and final hour.
Altitude dehydrates faster than altitude announces it. Drink water during dinner the night you arrive. Drink water during breakfast. Drink water mid-morning. By day three you'll feel like a different hunter.
5:30 a.m. is too early to feel hungry. Eat anyway. The energy needs of a 6,000-vertical-foot day at 8,500 ft are not subtle. Coffee plus pastry is not breakfast; eggs plus bacon plus oats plus fruit is breakfast.
Every reputable Colorado outfitter will offer a confirmation-shot opportunity at the ranch on arrival day. Take it. A scope that survived the flight may or may not still be zeroed; finding out at 280 yards on a bull is the wrong moment.
Cold-weather batteries die fast. The pre-dawn 30-minute walk to the glassing point is not a Strava session. Keep the phone airplane mode, off in a chest pocket. Use the GPS unit or onX downloaded for offline.
Tell them honestly what your shot capacity is, what shape your knees and back are in, and what your goal is — first bull, biggest bull, or stay-in-camp-for-a-week experience. A guide will work harder for a hunter whose preferences they understand.
Tips 16–25 · When you're hunting
Most Colorado elk are found with optics before they are found with feet. Spend the first 45 minutes of legal shooting light glassing south-facing benches from the highest spot you can reach silently.
Aggressive bugles work pre-rut (Sep 5–15). Cow calls work peak rut (Sep 15–25). Most hunters bugle too long into the cycle and shut down the very bulls they're hunting. See the rut timing guide.
If you're moving fast enough to feel productive, you're moving too fast. The rule is: take three steps, stop for two minutes, look uphill and downhill. Elk in dark timber are usually closer than they sound.
Cross-wind hunting beats up-wind hunting in 90% of Rocky Mountain situations. Elk noses are extraordinary. A perfect setup that puts your scent in front of you is not a setup.
When you find sign, glass for thirty minutes before you commit to a move. The single most common mistake is bumping the bull who was already there because the hunter couldn't sit still.
If the bull is broadside at 280 yards and you are stable, take it. The bigger bull tomorrow is a myth that costs more hunts than weather does. Day-one bulls beat day-six tags.
When you set up on a glassing point, range the tree at the edge of the meadow, the rock outcrop, the deadfall. When a bull steps out, you don't have time to fumble the rangefinder.
Three liters minimum. If you're hunting from horseback, four. If you're hunting solo on a multi-mile loop without a guide who'll pack water in, you've underestimated this twice already.
The drive back, the warm meal, the temptation to sit by the stove — that's three hours of prime midday glassing time gone. Pack a sandwich, find a south-facing rock, eat slow, glass slower.
If your guide tells you to sit on the timber edge for the next ninety minutes instead of pushing the next ridge, sit. They know this country in a way three days of hunting cannot reproduce. The cost of trusting them is one hour; the cost of not is a hunt.
Tips 26–30 · Post-shot and beyond
Unless you saw the bull pile in sight or you have weather coming, give the animal time to expire. Chasing a wounded bull pushes it further and turns a 200-yard recovery into a 2-mile recovery.
Once field dressing starts, the look of the animal changes fast. Even a phone photo of the bull as he fell — clean, in his country — is worth the two minutes.
Field-dressed elk needs to be skinned, quartered, and hung in a cool spot within hours. The ranch processing facility handles this for guided hunters; DIY hunters should plan a meat care strategy before they pull the trigger.
Customary is 15–20% of the hunt fee, split between the guide, the cook, and the packer if those are different people. Bring cash. The work was done whether you tagged out or not; the tip is for the work.
Outfitters and guides remember the hunters who close the loop. A photo of the mount on the wall six months later, a card, an email — these come back as priority on the next year's calendar when you call to rebook.
FAQ
Apply for the draw early — Colorado's primary big game application closes the first week of April and the CPW server gets congested in the final hours. Late applications mean waiting a full year. The hunt itself starts with the application; everything else is downstream.
Train at altitude if you can, or simulate cardiovascular load with stair work and weighted-pack hikes. Break in your boots with 30+ miles before the hunt. Build leg endurance specifically — a 6,000-vertical-foot day at 8,500 ft is the typical demand. Most hunts that go sideways physically go sideways on day three when the deficit catches up.
Moving too fast through dark timber and bumping elk that were already there. The rule is: three steps, two minutes still, look uphill and downhill. Bumped elk are gone for the day; patient hunters who glass first see elk that fast hunters never knew were there.
Yes, by industry convention. Standard is 15–20% of the hunt fee, split between guide, cook, and packer if those are separate roles. Tip whether or not you tagged out — the tip is for the work, not the harvest. Bring cash; some camps prefer it.
Broken-in waterproof boots, a layered clothing system (merino base + fleece mid + wind shell + insulated jacket), quality optics (10x42 binos minimum, rangefinder out to 1,000 yards), a 3,000+ cubic inch pack, a reliable rifle or bow with verified zero, and a first-aid kit with altitude-specific items. See the full pack list for details.
