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1st rifle, GMU 6 questions...

TheChiro22

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Jun 15, 2019
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Hi,

I've been mostly hunting High Sierra Mule deer out here in California, but a buddy of mine moved to Colorado a few years ago and has been asking me to put in for a tag. This year I drew a 1st rifle, either sex Elk tag in GMU 6, which also allows me to hunt 16,17,161 and 171. I've been using the search function and trying to learn as much as I can about both Elk and that region of Colorado.

would you all consider 1st rifle to be late rut or post rut? I'm trying to identify their primary needs...if it's late rut calls may still work to help locate, but if it's post rut, ideally I'm looking for food/sanctuary, what do elk prefer for forage in that area, in Oct? and is the forage interests different for bulls and cows?

That time of year, if it's colder or even snowy, will the elk head to lower elevation or still hold at 7500' (or so and up) waiting for it to get later in the season before dropping down? Also if it stays warmer is it realistic to find Elk in the 7500-9000' range or am I way off?

Was also wondering about the terrain out there, would you all recommend a sturdier boot or could I run some approach boots and stay a little more agile?

Thank you in advance for any help and insights...please feel free to DM me if you'd rather not share info on the public forum.
 
If they're not getting pounded with snow in the high elevations, the elk won't come down into the valley. That was my experience in those units, at least.
 
If they're not getting pounded with snow in the high elevations, the elk won't come down into the valley. That was my experience in those units, at least.

That makes a lot of sense. Are there high elevations that I should focus on in any of the 5 zones? My friend, who is coming up with me, and I have experience with high elevation/snow camping.
 
I can't answer that because we never found them. We looked in all the wrong places and mostly at lower elevations. There were a couple random single cows lower but they may have been escapees from Whistling Elk Ranch.
 
I can't answer that because we never found them. We looked in all the wrong places and mostly at lower elevations. There were a couple random single cows lower but they may have been escapees from Whistling Elk Ranch.
At least you saw some cows, I'm going out there with an either sex tag.
 
I would say 1st rife in CO would be late rut and transitioning to post rut. You will likely hear a few bugles hear and there. Good luck on your hunt.

Really appreciate the feedback and I've been hearing that from a few folks...wondering if calling is still effective in that transitional phase, or if late rut calling will actually cause the elk to quiet down. If calling is still effective do you have an opinion on bull vs cow calling at that time?

The other question is, if it is post rut, will some bulls still be with cows and the older/wiser bulls will break off and hide out, while the younger bulls will satellite and hang close by?
 
Let me start by saying I am in no way an elk expert. I'm a guy that has hunted elk a handful of times with access to a keyboard to give the world all my opinions. To give myself a little credit I have been successful and after a few years was consistently into elk (insert pat on my own back here).

Do you know what they are feeding on that time of year?
So this is a question I had when I first started elk hunting too. Living in Wisconsin and hunting whitetails my whole life I had no idea what elk ate so I had no idea where to look for "food" or what "food" was to an elk. So my smart ass self is going to tell you "Thats a good question for Google". Funny enough if you google "What do elk eat" you will get your answer. So now you have some homework to do to learn what elk eat. When you submit your answer we can talk more on this subject.


Really appreciate the feedback and I've been hearing that from a few folks...wondering if calling is still effective in that transitional phase, or if late rut calling will actually cause the elk to quiet down. If calling is still effective do you have an opinion on bull vs cow calling at that time?

The other question is, if it is post rut, will some bulls still be with cows and the older/wiser bulls will break off and hide out, while the younger bulls will satellite and hang close by?
I've only ever called in one elk in my life. Mostly because I almost never called to elk, so I really can't speak to that. My question back to you is what kind of elk do you want to shoot? Are you ok shooting a cow to fill your tag or do you want a bull? Do you want any bull or do you want the biggest bull on the mountain? It sounds like you've never hunted elk before so my advice is pull the trigger on the first legal elk you see. I was in your shoes once to and had grand ideas of holding out for a 300 class bull or bigger. Yeah, I learned quickly I should have learned to crawl before entering into running races. As for calls you might want to consider learning to do a lost calf call. Your probably much more likely to call in an elk with that rather than a bulge at that time of year. Again I have almost zero elk calling experience so take that for what it's worth.


Hey good luck planning your hunt, it's one of the most fun parts!
 

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