CO 1st Rifle

[cnelk]

Warm temps and full moon ruined it for most of us.

I can hear it already "The cold and snow ruined it for the 2nd season hunters"

 

[cnelk]

CPW is lying to everyone about the actually number of elk here to promote tag sales.

BINGO. And until the CPW implements mandatory harvest reports, its nothing but a SWAG [Scientific Wild Ass Guess]

 

[Dakota Dude]

I can hear it already "The cold and snow ruined it for the 2nd season hunters"

Ha, so true.

 

[Newt]

Hunting at night is frowned upon...

Yea,

9 people in camp? How do 9 people even hunt the same area? Also, hard to complain about “tons” of hunters in the area when you have a camp of 9 people.

I was not complaining about the other hunters. If anything, the other hunters(and ourselves) were helping to kick up the elk during the daylight hours. Its public land, I actually appreciate it. That's not to say I want to hunt right next to someone, but I actually only ran into one other guy the whole time.

I am not sure where you hunt, but 9 people is nothing where we hunt. I suppose if you hunt really open area's then a few people can cover a lot of ground. We hunted mainly timber. Furthest shot/open area was really no more than 200 yards. Most of the area covered was less than 100 yards.

3 of the gentlemen in our group were only capable of sitting and waiting, not too far from camp, due to physical limitations. 2 others were wives of two guys, and they either sat in one location while their husband would hike the area, or they would be hiking with their husband.

We had a general area that was roughly 6 square miles of pretty rugged terrain. I covered an average of 6 miles each day. There is so much area out there that went uncovered it's ridiculous.

That brings up a good point too. I have always heard that hunting 'pressure' will send the elk miles and miles away into private land. I am beginning to think that this is sometimes an excuse used by some who cannot find elk.

I know for a fact that there were at least 2 other camps in the same area, plus multiple people were driving into it from camps down the road. I would say its safe to say that at least 20+ people were hunting that area - and the elk never really left the general area. The area is bordered on two sides by private land, which the elk could have easily gone into, but they choose to stay in the dark timber instead.

I am sure that some went to private, but there was a lot that did not. This was evidenced by the fresh elk sign seen every day.

 

[Poser]

Ha, so true.

Every year, no matter what, people will describe it as a “weird” year.

 

[5MilesBack]

I've only seen maybe 2 weird years in the last 16 or so. Maybe 4 or 5 weird years over the last 40.

 

[ChrisAU]

Warm temps and full moon ruined it for most of us.

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Warm temps? It was below zero our first night in camp and single digits every night after. I'm sure different parts of the state were different though.

 

[SeanDC]

Warm temps? It was below zero our first night in camp and single digits every night after. I'm sure different parts of the state were different though.

15 the first night in our area. 30's after that. Saw as high as 70 during the day. I was hot walking around. Saw other hunters in shorts. I'm deficient in experience so I am basing this off what I have been told by others. Talked to several guys who claimed to hunt the area for 20+ years and got elk nearly every year. Talked to ranch hands from private and they also said elk were lacking this year.

I gave it hell and learned a lot. Didn't expect a free ride, but hoped to at least see elk. I couldn't find much sign in my area other than mulies.

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[Back Country Hunter 2]

I can hear it already "The cold and snow ruined it for the 2nd season hunters"

The cold and snow ruining the hunt!!! Those are prime conditions for hunting elk and deer with a rifle in my experience.

 

[Thomas11]

BINGO. And until the CPW implements mandatory harvest reports, its nothing but a SWAG [Scientific Wild Ass Guess]

I would agree! I’ve hunted elk enough to know what sign looks like and if there are elk there. Now they may not be moving etc due to weather or full moon. But when u don’t even see tracks etc u know they r aren’t there in abundance and u are absolutely wasting time staying there. I changed spike camps 4 diff times and I glassed a ton of country and I didn’t find any sign of any abundance and saw one cow in places I’ve traditionally saw 10-15 bulls on a 8-10 day hunt. That tells me there are no elk there.

 

[cnelk]

I got my yearly email from the CPW the other day, asking about my harvest data.
If anyone would like to email them about implementing a mandatory check-in, here is the email to do that.

[email protected].

 

[durangobrad]

Warm temps and full moon ruined it for most of us.

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I'd venture to say that the guys that are accustomed to getting it done, filled their tags and considered it s pretty normal season. It was probably colder than average at night. You can check the moon phases before getting a tag. I can't believe how many guys I saw packing up early. It's a 5 day season, hunt every minute of it, if u want to get chances. I was just out collecting firewood, between 5pm - 6pm I bet I saw 10-12 ATVs or trucks with hunters drive past me on a popular forest service road. Get off the road and into the woods.

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[SeanDC]

I never even considered the moon phase beforehand. It is something I will pay attention to in the future. I also am not well versed enough to know exactly where to look for elk based on the given conditions.

My brother and I spent our time hiking the unit looking for sign. I was surprised how little we saw but I would guess that was mostly due to inexperience. Like I said before, pretty much every single person we talked to (aside from first timers like us) said it was a bad year for elk. I feel like we tried hard and learned a lot. We did not hunt the last day because we could not stay later if I got an elk and my brother's knee was bothering him by that point.

I do like reading these posts as I feel it is good to understand the differing opinions. I am certain people sit on both sides of the table thinking this was either a bad year, or just a normal year (if you had the experience to know where to look). At the end of the day it helps me to better prepare for my next trip.

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[JG358]

9 people in camp? How do 9 people even hunt the same area? Also, hard to complain about “tons” of hunters in the area when you have a camp of 9 people.

Their were at least 20 other people on the ridge I killed my bull on opening morning.

 

[Poser]

Their were at least 20 other people on the ridge I killed my bull on opening morning.

I got nothing. I’ve never seen any other hunters while actually hunting elk. I do see them frequently when I’m scouting and my bikinf and I once saw a goat hunter when I was packing an elk out, but the season was already over so not sure if that counts. Anyway, I like my odds better without 20 other guys and a camp with 9 people seems like a lot of farts to smell.

 

[durangobrad]

I got nothing. I’ve never seen any other hunters while actually hunting elk. I do see them frequently when I’m scouting and my bikinf and I once saw a goat hunter when I was packing an elk out, but the season was already over so not sure if that counts. Anyway, I like my odds better without 20 other guys and a camp with 9 people seems like a lot of farts to smell.

There was one car at the trailhead I used this year. Think they were packed in deep. Never saw them.

In the last 5 years I've seen one person while I was in the woods elk hunting, man did I scare the $hit out of her when I waved. ....

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[JG358]

I got nothing. I’ve never seen any other hunters while actually hunting elk. I do see them frequently when I’m scouting and my bikinf and I once saw a goat hunter when I was packing an elk out, but the season was already over so not sure if that counts. Anyway, I like my odds better without 20 other guys and a camp with 9 people seems like a lot of farts to smell.

Elk are where elk are, and in my experience a lot of the time it doesn't matter if theirs people there or not. We were 3 for 3 in our camp and helped a newb we met kill his first bull. 4 tags filled in 2 days in a heavily pressured area. I like the idea of no one around but the pressure of other hunters in the area can also be used to ones advantage.

 

[SeanDC]

Elk are where elk are, and in my experience a lot of the time it doesn't matter if theirs people there or not. We were 3 for 3 in our camp and helped a newb we met kill his first bull. 4 tags filled in 2 days in a heavily pressured area. I like the idea of no one around but the pressure of other hunters in the area can also be used to ones advantage.

I wish I would have run into someone like you out there! Good on you for helping the new guys! We need more of that. It's tough to figure out!

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[backcountry_hunter]

I never even considered the moon phase beforehand. It is something I will pay attention to in the future.

I dont put any stock into moon phases. In my experiences animals move just as easy during a dark moon as a bright one. I also dont believe because s moon is bright they'll suddenly wait until night to move. If its post rut and 65degrees with sun they'll move late regardless of the moon. YMMV

 

[1GIG]

Newbie question in regards to pressure and meeting other hunters. What do you guys do if you are back in a spot and other hunters come through? Do you stay in the area? Move to a new one? How do you use pressure in the area to your advantage? Will elk clear out completely or circle around like a white tail?