Antelope and sunflower "forests"

[loggerchas]

Just got back from dove hunting and scouting in my antelope unit, SE Colorado. That area has received the full brunt of the monsoonal flow and what used to be cholla cactus flats have turned into thick forests of sunflowers 4'-6' tall, and really too thick to walk through with any hope of stealth. I COuld barely fight my way through the sunflowers when dove hunting. Grasses and forbs look great underneath though! Zero chance of frost before muzzleloader season, they might dry out in next 2 weeks but will not die off.

I am hunting muzzleloader there this year in a little over 2 weeks. It is the only public land in a 98% private land GMU unit. The only antelope we saw while dove hunting were on private lands nearby on ridges with fewer/shorter sunflowers, but I did not scout super hard - an archery hunter was in the area and I didn't want to blow any hunt he had going so dove hunted away from his hidey hole. The archery hunter said he was seeing very few critters in general when we chatted at his vehicle during his lunch break.

I've hunted this area for 25+ years, killed 15+ goats here, and never has there been an explosion of sunflowers like I saw this weekend in the area. Landscape looks like a yellow blanket with all of the sunflower forest!

Anybody have any experience with a situation like this? Water sources are on nearby private lands with equally thick sunflowers. Will the goats bed in the sunflowers or will they seek more open ridgelines and tolerate the scattered pinyon trees up there? In years past they avoid the ridges and stick the cholla flats, but now their visibility is severely limited there.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! (The dove hunting was spectacular, however)

 

[Scotch]

Over-run by a sunflower forest, wow I have never heard of such craziness. Has the water dried up enough that you can sit at a water hole? Maybe you could chop out a few shooting lanes, and maybe a quiet, concealed place to hide. Are there any roads through it. I have heard of people hunting elk in private land corn fields in Utah. They have the luxury of driving into them with platforms built onto ladder racks on their trucks. You wont see a thing unless you are high enough. I can't imagine a way to build an elevated blind, on public land, in two weeks, if it is even legal haha.

 

[wytx]

Drove through Se Colorado 2 weeks ago and I have never seen so many sunflowers. All the waterholes were full also.
Antelope were very hard to spot.

 

[spidr]

that's disappointing ..I hope the best for you