If breath-taking scenery and big game hunting stir your passion, consider a Colorado elk hunt.

I’ve done it three times now, once on my own, once as a paying customer of an outfitter and once as a working vacationer for that same elk outfitter. Each trip I brought home a pocketful of memories and some new friendships. Two out of three times I also brought back some generous elk loins for the freezer.

Perhaps you are at the stage I was a few years ago. You’ve toyed with the idea in the back of your mind, but haven’t quite dared to take the plunge. Maybe a Colorado elk hunt has been kicked around among your fellow hunters at a Maine deer camp. But the years tick off and the aspiration lies dormant there on the dream shelf waiting for one of you to move on it.

Having enjoyed my elk hunts so much, I can’t resist encouraging you to swing into action, to seize the moment, as they say. Maybe this will help you to take the dream off the shelf and make it a reality.

Other Western states offer elk hunts, but Colorado is your best choice and best chance of drawing an elk permit. Colorado has four rifle seasons. Your best bet is to be there for opening day of the first season, which runs Oct. 9-13 this year. There are two ways to get an elk permit. One is by entering the spring draw through application. The other is to take your chances and purchase an over-the-counter permit when you get there. I recommend that you participate in the draw. The odds of drawing either a cow tag or a bull tag are exceptionally good. So far I’ve never been denied an elk permit in the spring draw.

A nonresident cow tag is $250 and a nonresident bull tag is $490. The tag is your license. There are no other permits required. The application requires you to demonstrate that you have passed a Maine hunter safety course, unless you were born before 1949. If you want to participate in this year’s elk draw you must submit your application by April 6. You can call Colorado Department of Wildlife (DOW) for information or a booklet at 303-297-1192, or you can apply for an elk permit online at wildlife.state.co.us.

The toughest decision you will have to make is whether to freelance (go on your own) or hire an outfitter. As mentioned above I have done it both ways. Let’s review both options.

Obviously freelancing is the least expensive. You can drive, as we did, to Western Colorado with your tent and gear for about $500 round trip (gas and tolls). We put in long highway days and bunked at a couple of KOA campgrounds en route. Where to camp and hunt when you get there? Elk are everywhere in Colorado, but I’d suggest that you pick one of the many national forests that are West of Denver. (You will need to select a hunt area, called a Wildlife Management Unit, when you submit your application for the elk draw). The DOW website will explain all of this.

During my first freelance Colorado adventure, five of us did the whole trip for about $1,000 each.

The other option is to hire an outfitter. Cost-wise this can run the gamut from as low as $1,300 to $10,000. What I will outline for you is what I know to be the best and least expensive outfitter option. On our second Colorado trip, we contracted with W-3 Outfitters out of Craig, Colo., for what is called a drop camp hunt.

Here’s how that works. We arrived at the trailhead near a national forest and the outfitter took us and our gear by mule and horseback about 12 miles up into the high country where a spike tent is provided. This is strictly a no-frills deal. The outfitter provides water, the tent, cooking gear, some hunting advice. They also check up on you and take you and your elk back to the trailhead. But, and this is the best part, they place you smack dab in the middle of elk. Lots of elk.

W-3 Outfitters gets $1,300 per hunter for the drop camp hunt. Thus includes the cost of transporting your elk back to your vehicle or to the processor in Craig. It doesn’t include gratuities or the cost of your groceries for the hunt week.

You will not need a lot of fancy new gear. A high-powered hunting rifle with a scope that is zeroed and accurate at 200 yards is a must. Temperatures in the Colorado high country during October are extreme. It can be bone-chilling cold or sunny and hot all in the same 24 hours. Dress in layers and have a water bottle or two. If you are not in shape, start now by walking regularly and doing some cardiovascular exercises. The hills are steep in elk country and the air will seem thin to Maine flatlanders used to breathing at sea level.

The best hunt option depends upon you and your budget. And of course you can modify the aforementioned options, too. Frankly, there is an element of exploration built into the freelance option. I saw elk but never got a decent shot on my first freelance Colorado elk hunt. We had a memorable hunt, but we didn’t see the elk in the numbers that we saw both years with an outfitter. Don’t get me wrong. The Colorado national forests during October are full of freelance hunters who do bring home meat. Like most newcomer sportsmen to an area, though, the guided or semi-guided hunters generally fare better.

I would encourage you, if you can afford it, to get hooked up this year or next with Paul or Adam Moore at W-3 Outfitters. Their website is www.silver-mountain.com, or you can phone them at 970-826-0636. They also have guided hunts at a base camp, as well as unguided drop camp hunts.

Short of that, I would get a small group of hunters whose companionship you enjoy and put together a freelance hunt to Western Colorado. There is a wonderful national forest west of Glenwood Springs. On your way through Glenwood Springs be sure to make a pitstop and soak in one of the natural hot springs. You’ll be sharing a piece of history with one of America’s most famous gunfighters, Doc Halliday, who lived out his quiet years in the small Colorado town.

By the way the Colorado Rockies are spectacularly scenic in early October. The sound of a bugling bull elk against a backdrop of golden aspens, ragged green-black timber and snowcapped peaks will make a lasting impression. However you choose to do it, the main thing is to do it. Go hunt some elk in the high country. You’ll never regret it.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is paul@sportingjournal.com.

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