Question on scouting areas when you get to your hunting area

[Bearshirt]

If your going in blind How much time do you spend in an area before you go look to another spot if your not seeing elk or fresh sign? How many miles will you cover in a day looking in that area? The areas we are going into there are not any glassing areas. What areas are you trying to hit first to get an idea if there is elk there? Like do you just hit all the saddles and see if there is fresh sign if so keep looking around? If there is open meadows do you check those out first? Creek heads? ponds? Any low spots on the side of a mountain that might be damper? The areas I have picked are pretty large and you could spend days in them to check out real good.

We went in 2016 and had a hard time finding water. Creeks on a map had no water. Some spots it was damper and had good feed but no water. Areas we found water had no sign at all. So it was kinda tough since we would need water too when we got into spots. We did find fresh sign in a few spots. Nothing real great though. Not sure if this year we start there with it being a even dryer year. Or do we start out in other areas and keep looking till we find the spot?

Also we found fresh elk sign in a lot of areas but it was all from just a few elk. Not what I have seen before from hunting another state where there was a lot of obvious sign. Seemed real scattered and light. This is the first few weeks in colorado.

Devising a game plan and hoping you guys have some tips to narrow down my searching.

Thanks!

 

[jonnycoder]

Would help to know if you are hunting early season bow or October rifle and is it any sex or bull only?
Elk101 talks about knowing elk knowledge which includes knowing what drives them during certain time periods.

Im giving up on rifle elk this year because it’s too damn hard and those bulls have retreated to nasty or thick hiding places, not to mention probably heavily pressured by archery huntersz

 

[Bearshirt]

We will have any elk archery tags for otc SW Colorado area. We will be there the first week and half of September.

 

[Beendare]

No earth shattering news here bro....but the key is finding them. You said in your post you couldn't find water....well heres a clue, elk need to water usually a couple times a day....so they typically won't bed further than 1/2 mile from a water source.

The number one factor in OTC Co is hunter pressure. You can't just bugle up the trail at 10AM and kill and elk [rare exceptions, but you get my drift] You have to think outside the box a little. Cover a lot of ground early and find them...

 

[Bearshirt]

We covered 8-12 miles a day. We found sign and we found some water but it was mostly almost dry water holes and almost dry creeks. Where we found water there was no sign. We did find lots of moo cows though. We never bugled as we only heard one bugle the last night about a mile off the trail and about 2 miles back in on the trail. A rancher was nice to offer us a solar electric fence for our camp though since we truck camped in a unknown to use spot where there were lots of cattle. He said the cows liked to scratch on the tents and thats not good for the tents lol

We didnt encounter very much hunting pressure any where we went. Only one place we had a Texan come walking threw the meadow at prime time one evening. I think he was afraid of the dark. Im from Michigan where hunting pressure is insane. We will get it its just tough being out there for a a few days out of the year. Wish I lived out there.

We have a different strategy this year. We are going to look at steeper dark timber closer to large creeks without trails. We were checking out a lot of lower elevation areas that had water in sat images. We didnt find out until later that it was a very dry summer. Last year was dry and this year was even worse.

In 2014 I was out there in summer and scouted and every where had water ( and elk). I under estimated how dry it can get out there. The other state I have hunted it was dry one year but still water every where.

 

[cnelk]

Have you studied the Colorado Hunting Atlas and looked at the 'Game Species' Elk migration patterns, migration corridors, summer concentration areas, overall summer areas, winter concentration areas?

Some really helpful info there - Colorado Parks and Wildlife Atlas

 

[Bearshirt]

Yep I always have caltopo, google maps, and co hunting atlas, and Gaia open when Im map scouting. I have been talking to bio and co on area and it sounds real dry. No grass in a lot of areas. Its going to be all about feed and water. Will elk migrate out of an area if its real dry? Sounds like its been a week monsoon season so far.

 

[homebru.trout]

I personally am pretty aggressive and move frequently. If they ain't there, they ain't there. If I'm hunting an area blind/first time I will meticulously study every map source I can find and do all the usual pre-season sleuthing focusing on migration and resident patterns, habitat, generalizations from prior experience, and water, water, water. Water is doubly important for me because I almost never pack in water...just what it takes to fill a bladder or nalgene. If I'm in a likely area and see/hear nothing morning and evening, I'm packing into the next basin. See other hunters?..next basin. See a ton of cattle or signs of recent grazing?...next basin.

 

[CX5Ranch]

We have a different strategy this year. We are going to look at steeper dark timber closer to large creeks without trails..

Now there's an idea

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[rayporter]

the darker the better this time of year. remember they will start to grow hair for winter sooooooon

 

[ramont]

If it's dry and hot then the elk will move up the mountains (regardless of how high the mountains are). If there is hunting pressure then the elk will move to hard to get to places. In September both effect where the elk will go. The big question is how high and how bad of terrain will they go to.

Elk like day temps that are cool to us, temps in the 50s is my rule of thumb for where I hunt (it might be different where you hunt) but everyplace seems to have their own little quirks. I suspect that, like people, elk will get used to the local weather and what they consider cool temps will vary accordingly. But in general I move uphill until I find conditions that feel cool to me or as cool as I can find if the summer heat is still an issue.

Then I start looking for water seeps and grass, usually in some closed in area close to drainage or draw. Green grass isn't the key, grass that has the nutritional value or simply the best taste is more important. The grass can be brown and ugly but if the elk like it then that's what you need to find. In the mountains you can find little spring seeps that create a little puddle and in the worst dry spells the elk will use them, otherwise they seem to prefer moving/flowing water (probably safer for their health).

I can't say what your hunt area looks like but one of the problems we have in my hunt area is the dead trees that have taken over the forests. People claim that the dead trees are great security cover for elk and deer - I don't agree. Yes, SOME elk and deer will bed in these places but not a lot. My theory is that if there is no pressure from hunters (human and animal) then maybe more will bed in those places than I normally see but under normal circumstances I find more elk on flat ledges and tables about 2/3 of the way up a mountain on grass with water below them. It seems like the bulls like to sit on good, cool grass with a good view around them for security, the younger bulls or cows seem to want closed in spaces to hide in. I think that big bulls prefer to find a spot that is hard to get to because of the terrain and the fact that they can see threats coming from a distance. They have time to stand up and stretch their legs and then calmly walk away to another secure area. They wont run if they don't have to because they want to save their energy as much as they can so being able to see threats at a distance gives them a better chance of avoiding them. I've seen deer go in to deep canyons but elk just love to sit on a ledge of grass and watch a vast area with fresh water below them and a nice saddle or other easy to get to escape route to their back.