Was wondering what is the best two weeks of bow season to take advantage of rut crazed bulls in Colorado? We always hunted elk the first week or the second to get the extra day to hunt with labor day. Looking to up our odds for a bull on the next trip. In the past we hiked in and setup camp then hunted from there. Next year we plan on having base camp at the truck and go out for two to three night spike camps. Wherever we are at sundown will be camp. Also will be a two week hunt next season. Thanks for your help
Where I hunt in CO, the bugling gets going around September 7th. This may vary by weather, area and a number of other factors. In a perfect world, based on daylight, the full rut is Sept 19-21. It is not a prefect world. Weather, calf recruitment (did cows lose their calfs), and available Summer food. All female mammals need a minimum body fat to cycle, therefore, cows won't go into estrus until they have that minimum body fat. Drought years may cause a delay where cows going into estrus in October. On average, calfs are fully weaned by Sept 15th. Cows won't likely go into estrus until the calfs are weaned. If a cow lost their calf, they may cycle earlier. The theme here is...bulls need the cows to start coming into estrus to get the rut going. Muzzloader is the 3rd week, therefore, it may be more difficult to hunt that week for the first 3-4 days with the added hunting pressure. Opening morning ML can be good if a person knew where the ML push the elk.
