Colorado Blues

[specialk]

I came here last year, read a lot and posted a little - hunted GMU's 77 & 78 during 2nd Rifle, didn't see a single Elk. No biggie, I talked to a few people out in the field and even the experienced hunters said they weren't seeing elk. Theory was that the very high temperatures kept them at the high elevations.

FF to this year, back again. The weather is even warmer - 75* the first three days, it finally cooled down about Tuesday - when I saw my first ever male elk during hunting season - as he walked by my campsite just after I got up No shot though, he was just a spike - did I mention I finally spotted my first elk while hunting We also saw 4 cows a couple of days later - so this year was not a complete loss. Funny thing was, we were on a piece of FS land that was posted, but every resource I had showed it as public. We verified with a Game Warden that the land was indeed public - interesting.

Anyway, finally to the point of my post. I watch Randy and he's got these areas that he can walk into that are public - they might be OTC, they might be draw, doesn't matter - and what I see is that he can get to his areas via logging roads and get to spots where he can glass over long distances; this is one of the things that drew me to elk hunting but what I'm finding is that throughout so much of these 2 GMU's any walking that I want to do is through forests full of downed timber and there just aren't any places where I have greater than 50 (maybe 100) yard 'vistas'.

Are there other parts of the state where I can not hunt in a closed in forest and get a little opportunity to glass a little bit? Or should I be sleuthing my maps better?

P.S. I saw mule deer everywhere and will definitely be applying for a draw tag in these units for next year. I see that 77 has 3:1 mule to elk harvest and about equal in 78. Hopefully some meat will be coming home next year.

 

[Madman]

This state is variable in the terrain, go a few miles and you drop from lodge pole pines to scrub oak. If the territory allows, go above timberline. The dense trees are where elk are most of the time, so don't get discouraged simply because you cant glass, elk spend most of their time in the black timber as they are pretty safe in there.

 

[kansasdad]

I believe that hunting shows, because they are going to show the animals and the action, will intentionally choose units or areas within a unit that will allow for more open vistas and allow the camera to show the viewer what's going on. There is a reason why rain forest blacktails and Roosevelt elk hunts are not shown often, as they are hard to make as "good" tv.

 

[Jorgy]

google earth is your friend in finding places like you want to. They are in every unit west of I-25, but sounds like you need to gain some elevation if you stay in the same area

 

[Khunter]

been hunting colo for 20 years. have spent very little time in thick timber. Guess i hunt like a TV star but without the video cameras.

a lot of giys hunt the same areas regarsless of quality simply because they started there or "know the area". Don't be that guy...

 

[Big Fin]

I find that elk spend their daytime hours in the patches of thicker timber near edge areas they need for feed. I see very few elk in big hillsides of black timber. Nothing for them to eat. Yeah, it is cooler temps, but they need to eat and that just isn't in abundance in big expanses of dark timber.

I just got back from a CO hunt. Temps were 65+ every day. Saw 20 bulls the first day and killed one in a very thick, nasty, but shady and cool canyon that was much higher in elevation than I expected to find them while doing my desk scouting and research with past tag holders. But, given the temps when we got there, I knew they would be somewhere higher and given it was the Late Season period of November, I knew they would have formed bachelor groups in sanctuary areas. So, I looked for sanctuaries that were higher on the transition areas they use to get from summer to winter range. If it was colder, I would have looked for sanctuary areas at lower elevations along their transitions from summer to winter range.

Yeah, this was a limited entry hunt, so it was easier to find elk. Yet, the same basic rules apply. Find where you can glass as many sanctuary locations as possible from one vantage point. Late season elk hunting is a glassing game. You need good optics, you need to be effective using them, and you need to get to locations where you can use those optics at the low light periods when elk will be on their feet during these warm temps.


I have not hunted those units you mention, but I would be looking for broken more open terrain; higher when temps are what they were in CO the last week, or lower if there was a lot of snow and cold. Looking for them in super dark timber is a crap shoot. The densities are lower and you are not able to see a very large percentage of the terrain, due to the thick vegetation. Put the odds in your favor and be where you can glass many "edge" areas that will have food near bedding cover, with bedding cover usually being a key part of what makes a "sanctuary."

I spend 90-95% of my hunting time looking for elk. The remaining 5-10% is spent killing the elk I might find. It is my opinion that an elk is easier to kill with a rifle than is a deer, once you locate him. In late season patterns, even if you can't get into shooting position that morning, odds are the bull will stay nearby (unless disturbed) and you can kill him when he comes out that evening or be in position before shooting light the next morning.

In the hunt we just finished, we did a lot of discussion about hunting public land bull elk in a warm late season period. I was showing other tag holders bulls, but they would have no part of it. They did not have the mindset of how much work it would be to extract one from the locations they go to in very warm November temps. I suspect this episode will be filled with far more "how to" information than any elk episode we have ever done. Some will watch it and call BS or have a different strategy. The strategy and approach we show is what works for me, even with cameras following us around.

Now having burned my elk points in CO, next year, and for the foreseeable future, I will again be hunting OTC elk in CO. And, I am looking forward to the fun and challenge that opportunity presents.

 

[Trigger50]

Thanks for the Insights Randy. I'll be looking to burn my 17 NR CO elk pts next yr.

 

[specialk]

Thanks everyone for all the information - and I feel privileged that I got a response from Randy

I will use google earth for more information next year - and I'll be in better shape so that I can get to those higher elevations.

I look forward to the show that was just thought, I'm not likely to call BS anybody who comes out with Elk - those are the guys I have to trust!

 

[LuketheDog]

Get out and scout before the season so you know the terrain and where the animals are hanging out. I learned early to 'let your eyes do the walking', and I'm in good shape. Pounding your body to death up and down the mountains and through deadfall is not the best way to hunt!

 

[Big Fin]

Though the two dimensional nature of photos does not do it justice, here is the type of terrain bulls were hanging in last week during those super hot temps. This bull was just up on the shaded side you see in the left of the images, maybe a hundred feet from the bottom of the canyon. This is a true sanctuary. And there were dozens of similar spots in the eight square miles we focused on. Not all held elk, but by hiking to many different locations and glassing hard we were able to find the sanctuaries they preferred. Again, late season elk hunting on public land is about glassing and going where others will avoid.

This was the first leg of the extraction, where it required 800' of vertical in quarter mile of horizontal. Once to the first saddle, we could take a trail about a mile south where we then had to gain another 600' of vertical through more oak brush/aspen over another quarter mile of horizontal. I hope the video can do it justice, but like many things in hunting, nothing equates to being their and struggling through it in person.

Just in the small area you can see in this image, there were six different bulls we glassed, either in their beds or comfortable to be up and feeding during midday thanks to the shade and sanctuary this location provided.

 

[Elkfitness]

Awesome insight. I'm more of a lurker here, but the advice is always honest and spot on.