Colorado Unit 18 Conditions following fire in 2020

the org i work for is also a major funder and is co-project managing much of the post-fire aerial mulching in this area. we have folks in the field looking at the regrowth quite a bit. there is in fact regrowth.

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i'm curious @squirrel did you ever go looking for the elk where the DWM said they were wintering? or just dismiss his claims as conspiracy unicorn chit? cuz "the elk ain't where they used to be."
Do you answer questions or is casting dispersion your only talent? I asked you upon what personal observations of locations and #'s you base your assumptions upon. #'s and drainage will get you extra credit if you wish to not show your vast intimate knowledge on the area a pm will do. So as to not pull all these people into where you saw and elk and shot an elk during your in depth grand county adventure.
 
Sounds like you spoke to Lyle W... (area manager CPW) While complaining to me about his inability to find an elk on my neighbours haystack he could shoot he explained to me they were all wintering up high because of all the re-growth that occurred post fire.

Now the time line matters here. Late Oct. start of the fire, two weeks of inferno, put out by a 36" dump of snow followed by -10/-20 degree temps.

it may be different in WI but here we don't generally have to mow our yard when it is -15 outside. I may be the only one but generally have my mower put away after Labor Day.

Yet here was an Area MGR explaining how grass will grow up through 3' of snow in -10 degree temps to a height where elk will feed off of it. (this specific conversation occurred a few weeks after the fires were out, early dec, 2020). And Lyle learned a lesson that winter that shooting a theoretical elk is easier off the meeting room table than off of the hood of your truck.

There is a very good way for all you people to prove me wrong, come here, buy two tags each, come back on here strutting and gobbling about how easy it was to fill all those tags with all that free meat. I'll even rent you llamas for your adventure and you can gloat all winter knowing how you made me soak and scrub to get all the blood stains out of those panniers. I cant see any downside for you here at all.

Now many of you want to believe your gov't agency. But I believe my eyes. Some members on this very site have explained to me that what I saw happen actually did not happen, because they say it did not, and they have a badge, along with a gun, and truth dwells in their heart...

Besides stogie saw and elk and shot it, who can argue with that?
I take all of this with a grain of salt having seen a trend in a number of your posts that is definitely anti-government. I know Lyle well-I believe he is retired now by the way. I have spoken with him on several occasions about hunting and game management and I have a great deal of respect for him and his service. He was a very dedicated public servant who was and still is a strong advocate for all hunters. So spare us the trashing. By the way, it appears that you profit off of the public lands renting your llamas out to hunters and hikers who use these lands that belong to all of us. How would you do that if we did not have any public lands or wildlife managers? Or maybe you think that you have better ideas for habitat and game management than the biologists and resource management specialists and their generations of predecessors, all who spend or have spent most of their adult lives managing habitats and wildlife for all of us, including you.
 
I will be going to Colorado OTC next year for my first elk hunt and I have been researching units. I have a couple narrowed down but was trying to pick up more bits of information about the units in particular. I know unit 18 had some pretty bad fires in that area in 2020 and was trying to see if there is any regrowth coming about. I read on here and from other places that the fires burned really hot which is usually no good for regrowth. Any info would be appreciated.


PM sent.
 
the org i work for is also a major funder and is co-project managing much of the post-fire aerial mulching in this area. we have folks in the field looking at the regrowth quite a bit. there is in fact regrowth.

View attachment 230811

i'm curious @squirrel did you ever go looking for the elk where the DWM said they were wintering? or just dismiss his claims as conspiracy unicorn chit? cuz "the elk ain't where they used to be."


I don't know if those purple flowers are good elk forage or not. I think they may be small flowered penstemons, I have no idea of their forage quality but they smell great! The hills on the replanted areas are covered with them.
 
I don't know if those purple flowers are good elk forage or not. I think they may be small flowered penstemons, I have no idea of their forage quality but they smell great! The hills on the replanted areas are covered with them.

well yeah, but regrowth is regrowth and ecosystems certainly require more than just elk food.

plus, i only have so many options when it comes to stealing pictures from my co workers without permission ;)
 
well yeah, but regrowth is regrowth and ecosystems certainly require more than just elk food.

plus, i only have so many options when it comes to stealing pictures from my co workers without permission ;)
Hey, 100%. I really do not know if they are good forage (I take it not), but I love the work you guys did and were doing while I was just out there. Hearing the helos going everyday and seeing them dragging bambi buckets was a great thing.
 
I will be going to Colorado OTC next year for my first elk hunt and I have been researching units. I have a couple narrowed down but was trying to pick up more bits of information about the units in particular. I know unit 18 had some pretty bad fires in that area in 2020 and was trying to see if there is any regrowth coming about. I read on here and from other places that the fires burned really hot which is usually no good for regrowth. Any info would be appreciated.
If you're looking in that area and don't like 18 go down to 28. Tough country, thick timber, lots of beetle kill. You can encounter elk everyday...can you actually see them? Questionable... Good place to learn. Best chance to kill if you're hunting first time? No. A lot of hunters? Yep. But that's OTC. Haven't found many areas you don't find sign. Gotta know the right elevation for the season. Don't rely on getting super far from roads. The beetle kill dead and down jack straw creates safe areas very close to roads.
 
If you're looking in that area and don't like 18 go down to 28. Tough country, thick timber, lots of beetle kill. You can encounter elk everyday...can you actually see them? Questionable... Good place to learn. Best chance to kill if you're hunting first time? No. A lot of hunters? Yep. But that's OTC. Haven't found many areas you don't find sign. Gotta know the right elevation for the season. Don't rely on getting super far from roads. The beetle kill dead and down jack straw creates safe areas very close to roads.
Welcome to HT.
 
If you're looking in that area and don't like 18 go down to 28. Tough country, thick timber, lots of beetle kill. You can encounter elk everyday...can you actually see them? Questionable... Good place to learn. Best chance to kill if you're hunting first time? No. A lot of hunters? Yep. But that's OTC. Haven't found many areas you don't find sign. Gotta know the right elevation for the season. Don't rely on getting super far from roads. The beetle kill dead and down jack straw creates safe areas very close to roads.
2020 was bad year for fires unit 18 and 28

 
There is still 925 public and private land either sex 4th season elk licenses available on the leftover list for unit 18. Sounds like a real honey hole. That is a for sure sign CPW is smoking crack when it comes to tag numbers and elk populations.
 
There is still 925 public and private land either sex 4th season elk licenses available on the leftover list for unit 18. Sounds like a real honey hole. That is a for sure sign CPW is smoking crack when it comes to tag numbers and elk populations.

I am ok hunting that unit in the first season, I definitely wouldn't want to hit it during the fourth season. For one, the burn area wouldn't be very safe with if there is a snow load and wind. The number of trees potentially falling would be scary. I also doubt many elk are going to hang out in the burned out area once snow flies, they still need wind break/cover during snow I would think.
 
There is still 925 public and private land either sex 4th season elk licenses available on the leftover list for unit 18. Sounds like a real honey hole. That is a for sure sign CPW is smoking crack when it comes to tag numbers and elk populations.
First draw rifle unit 18 total draw elk tags 1671 and 421 ML tags. I didn't count private land or second draw, either sex archery,antlerless elk archery.
Myself I won't do 4th.
 
CPW makes available 2 elk licenses per square mile for the first season in 18/181. It's 2.3 licenses/mile for 4th.
 
CPW makes available 2 elk licenses per square mile for the first season in 18/181. It's 2.3 licenses/mile for 4th.
It probably doesn't change your point and I don't really care either way, but the 4th season tags mentioned above are Private Land Only - did you take that into account in your calculations? Just curious.
 
It probably doesn't change your point and I don't really care either way, but the 4th season tags mentioned above are Private Land Only - did you take that into account in your calculations? Just curious.
The ES 4th season tags mentioned above are 566 unit-wide tags and 357 PLO, for a total of 923 currently left. We have managed to talk two more folks into giving it a go since Dinkshooter posted. ;) There are also currently 640 4th season cow tags left.

My calculation was total number of tags available in the initial draw (1,680 1st season, 1,910 4th season) divided by square miles of units 18/181 (827).

There is still nearly 82% of the limited 4th season licenses available.
 
Unit 18 elk sounds like Montana deer. Tighten those laces boys! They are over the next ridge!!😂😂😂.
 
I will say that I am not around elk as much as some of the other contributors on this forum since I live in WV but I also know that animals adapt and they are not confined to a certain location especially when the terrain is altered from either manmade issues or naturally occurring. From what I have read, the herd numbers in Colorado are considered the largest in the world and an elks range is quite large compared to that of whitetail which I am accustomed to hunting and their feeding patterns/composition is different as well. The game also go into places that are knarly and nasty "where most people don't want to go" even for whitetails. I use this forum not just for gathering info and learning as much as I can, but also helping others as well. And yes I am a nonresident of the western states that hold all the elk but I would love to hunt elk in the western states where there is actually some wilderness left that man hasn't touched.
I hiked and glassed a good bit of 18 last year in second rifle otc as a dirty lowlife non resident. I didn't see elk. I found sign, I saw really good pockets they could be in and heard from some resident Backcountry guys that had horses that the elk were in hellholes they didn't want to go into on the west side of the unit. I am an USFS wildland firefighter for 17 years. I can tell you unit 18 was burned hot. However, there are tons of places that didn't get that severity. If you listen to people that have lived in places their whole lives they are always going to think it is armeggedon because anything changed after a fire. The fact is lodge pole forests require stand replacement fires. They are on a century schedule. Not a human schedule. The land management agencies know that now and are trying to balance safety and land restoration. With the build up from a century of fire suppression we are going to have hot fires unfortunately.

Be careful going in those burns to hunt if there is wind, we don't go after fires in there because there is a good chance you're gona get whacked by a tree...and if you do there is no place for a medivac helicopter...newsflash there aren't always helicopters that can hoist you out of the mountain fellas. Be bad asses that chase elk in shitty burn scars until you have to pack a buddy out of there. If you don't have a chainsaw with you to cut a place for a helicopter you are f#"':;. If it is night time there is zero chance they're going to come get you. I love to watch the gritty guys but in the back of my mind is how are you getting out if you get hurt! Gives me anxiety lol
 
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