Hello All - I am hoping to get some help from more experienced members who have done this before. This year is my first year in Colorado and this past weekend was my first backcountry elk stalk. I parked at Berthoud Pass along the continental divide and packed into the Vasquez Wilderness area. This is all unit GMU 28 btw. I saw several hunters on the East side of 28, but my hunting buddy and myself were the only ones in the western part (which is physically more grueling to navigate). We set up camp just below the treeline on Friday evening and glassed nearly 4 giant basins, but were unable to locate any elk. The biggest issue we had was trying to figure out where the elk were. This is where I need you help, where are the elk located? Last week the weather is this area broke significantly. It went from 65 during the day to 40 last wednesday. There has been some early season snow, frost in the mornings, and freezing temperatures over night. During my research I found most importation pointing towards elk being in the very high country during the early season. We however, could not locate anything at higher elevations. We walked from 12,500 feet in elevation above the treeline all the way through the deadfall trees on the slope down to the forrest floor. As we descended in elevation the sign of elk droppings/bedding increased in freshness. We even spooked a MASSIVE bull Moose at about 10,000 feet. My questions for anyone reading this are as follows..... 1) Can a quick weather/temp drop push elk out of the high country when there really isn't snow present? 2) The Colorado deadfall from the bark beetle makes navigating between the tree line and the meadow/forrest floor nearly impossible for both humans and animals. We made the big mistake of camping up high, descending down through the deadfall, and then realizing that we had to crawl hands and knees nearly 2 miles to get back to camp. We have concluded that we either need to camp high and hunt high, or camp low and hunt low. Given the lack of fresh elk sign we saw at higher elevations, we assume that next weekend we will need to head down around 10,000 feet to some of the river bottoms. However, this goes against everything I have been told by others about where to find elk. Given this information, where should I plan to hunt next? 3) We got up shortly after day break, walked around during the day, and then glassed again at night. What is the best itinerary during the day in terms of finding elk? Should we take a break during the day? Is there a time of day when the elk are more active? Do people only typically hunt dawn and dusk? 4) We use a variety of cow calls and could not get any responses. Is there a time of day or strategy for calling that works best? What are the best practices for using calls? Thanks a bunch for your help. We are both younger guys in our late 20's and have spent thousands on gear to try and enjoy colorado more than we already do with our girlfriends/ski season/golf/etc.... Our expectations are low, but it would be nice to actually see some animals and start to learn how to stalk. Any help is much appreciated. thanks, Dustin
Find sign then find the elk. I think your hunting to high. What you believe is too thick terrain due to the deadfall is probably where the elk are traveling. How far were you from any roads? Yes the cooler weather will push them lower. In the day time if the temps are up hunt the dark timber. Elk will rest during the day feeding at night. Glass the timber elk will get up, stretch, pee, move a few hundred feet and bed down again in the thick dark timber. Hope you get on some elk.
very best elk hunting advice I ever got was"90% of the elk are in 10% of the habitat". The key is finding the 10% the elk like in the area. Sure there are generalities, you would expect elk to be high early but if not you have to cover ground until you get fresh sign. Water is fine but I have seen elk go miles to water then bed in the desert ( here in NM). You are young, use google earth, topos, scouting etc to narrow down good habitat then explore, hike, glass, discover, learn, enjoy
Last year the elk in 33 were around 8500-9000 ft. We camped at 9k and hunted down most of time. Night time bugling close to our camp several nights. All encounters were at or lower than we were at camp. Hiked about 3 miles in and didn't see any hunters .
You're over thinking this. Elk are where you find them. You found fresh elk sign, I would start there! It's impossible to tell you exactly how to call to the elk. That depends on a lot of factors. One mistake a lot of guys make is by over calling in times when the elk aren't talking in an effort to locate them. It's unnatural. I start generally but doing some wimpy locator bugles in the morning and go from there. Once it starts heating up and the elk bed down I'll do the same. Nothing better than a mid day nap. Usually from 11-2 the elk will get back up and bugle some more. If they do we will move in on them at that point. I almost always hunt dark to dark. Can't kill them at camp. Checkout www.elknutforums.com The best piece of advice I can give you is to not put elk on a pedestal. Don't over think your situation but don't under think it. Elk don't have the best eyesight but have incredible noses. Don't be afraid To get aggressive but be smart about it.
Backcountry Thanks for the link to elknut's forums. I have chatted with Paul, he is a good guy ! In the elk section there was a good thread on unit 53 Colo, which I appreciated as I hope to hunt there. Thanks again Backcountry. For those who need elk talking/calling info Paul has a excellent book and CD on elk talking/calling titled Elknut's Playbook HH in Pa
^ exactly how I got my cow in Idaho last week (and would have shot a nice 5x5 or smallish 6x6 instead if I had waited another 10 minutes; but that is a story for another thread.) Dark timber, 9k', small pocket meadow on the north face with a nice little water seep. No bugling, no herding. Just bushwhacking, still hunting, and busting our butts. (yes I realize the OP was almost a month ago already, but worth posting to to help others out.)
