First time elk hunter, first time hunting period, need help identifying sign!

[Mkrueger88]

First time elk hunting and first time hunting at all. I live in CO and spend a lot of time in the mountains so camping, hiking, backcountry stuff is all familiar to me. I’ve been out scouting the last couple weeks and just wondering if any more knowledgeable people would be able to help me identify some of the stuff I’ve ran across. The hardest part is distinguishing between moose and elk sign for me. I haven’t ran into any live elk this year yet but have ran into about 7/8 moose the last couple weeks. Btw all this is found in CO if that helps any.
thanks in advance!!

 

[Ross]

the patch of fur looks to be from a dead elk and the last turds looks to be semi fresh elk

 

[Mkrueger88]

the patch of fur looks to be from a dead elk and the last turds looks to be semi fresh elk

Any idea what that bone is from? seems to be to large for deer, I looked around the area but couldn’t find any other pieces. I found it in a small aspen patch around 9,500 ft.

 

[def90]

The first pile of poop is moose, the cowpie looking pile is elk, when they are eating food with a lot of water content it will come out like a cowpie, when eating dried food it will come out in round pellets. Fresh elk poop will be greenish in color, as it dries it turns dark brown/black. The bone is probably an elk shoulder blade, scavengers can disburse the parts of an elk carcass pretty widely.

 

[Deadfall]

the pile of of poop is elk. Looks like you are spring range. Getting close to fall hangouts I would guess. Go higher, maybe other side of mountain.

 

[Mkrueger88]

the pile of of poop is elk. Looks like you are spring range. Getting close to fall hangouts I would guess. Go higher, maybe other side of mountain.

Thanks for the help. There was so much sign from deer and what I assumed was elk and moose in the area I was last week. I’m planning on going back this week and pushing a little further north and up over 10k ft to see if I can find them or some fresher sign. I know if they could they’d probably be higher but the area I’m scouting is only about 10,500 at the highest.

 

[Deadfall]

This time of year...north or east facing slopes, with water, benches, good timber. Elk love aspens.

If they around, they'll be few hundred feet below top. 6-800 feet lower. Usually.

Look for somewhere that has alot of rubs that are different ages. May not be able to find elk without scaring the hell out of em.
But if you can find a hole where the trees are rubbed and loj like different years. Meaning some will be alitlle sappy and some will be real faded. Find something like that and you'll find a bull this fall. Even if the original bull has died another eill move in.

Keep in mind eventhough north and east slopes are best place to find elk. Its also best place to get busted. As winds tend to be more unpredictable. Swirly

 

[Deadfall]

Running the ridges might be your best bet. Look for crossing passes. I.e. saddles and or notches, from one drainage to another.

Hope it helps

 

[Mkrueger88]

Running the ridges might be your best bet. Look for crossing passes. I.e. saddles and or notches, from one drainage to another.

Hope it helps

Ya it does, it’s all good info. The area I’ve been scouting in is more kind of rolling with pockets of broken timber then like big defined basins and drainages like say the gore range or somewhere like that. I’m going to go back out there tomorrow, I’ll focus on getting up higher in elevation Where possible and focus on trying to find some areas with more aspens.

 

[SonnyDay]

I am in somewhat the same boat as you.

Lots of Alaska/Pacific Northwest/Colorado Rockies backpacking/mountaineering and general backcountry exploration in my past, but relatively new to Colorado big game hunting.

Moose poop pretty much always looks like little chocolate Easter eggs 1 1/2” to 2” in length. Nicely formed.

Elk poop often is shaped like Hershey’s kisses warmed and dropped in a pile... misshapen and dimpled. Slightly smaller than typical moose poop.

As others have said, there are variabilities in species/food/time of year/health of the individual animal that pooped.

In terms of age... yeah, anything fresh will be wet and, if truly fresh, glossy and greenish.

Fresher poop, if you slice into it or smush it it’ll still be soft and smell Iike poop. Older than that... it just smells like grass/forb feed and a hint of poop.

Moisture content is your guide as far as poop is concerned. With recent rain, older poop may rehydrate to some degree... but you won’t get that gloss/green.

Hope that helps!

 

[Mkrueger88]

I am in somewhat the same boat as you.

Lots of Alaska/Pacific Northwest/Colorado Rockies backpacking/mountaineering and general backcountry exploration in my past, but relatively new to Colorado big game hunting.

Moose poop pretty much always looks like little chocolate Easter eggs 1 1/2” to 2” in length. Nicely formed.

Elk poop often is shaped like Hershey’s kisses warmed and dropped in a pile... misshapen and dimpled. Slightly smaller than typical moose poop.

As others have said, there are variabilities in species/food/time of year/health of the individual animal that pooped.

In terms of age... yeah, anything fresh will be wet and, if truly fresh, glossy and greenish.

Fresher poop, if you slice into it or smush it it’ll still be soft and smell Iike poop. Older than that... it just smells like grass/forb feed and a hint of poop.

Moisture content is your guide as far as poop is concerned. With recent rain, older poop may rehydrate to some degree... but you won’t get that gloss/green.

Hope that helps!

This season I’m pretty much just taking it all as a learning experience. I’m lucky enough to live in Colorado and will be able to get out a lot which will help, but I’m just going to try and gain as much knowledge as possible and if I get some encounters or happen to harvest an animal awesome and if not the time spent will be an investment and also spending time in the backcountry is never a negative whether you encounter animals or not.

 

[SonnyDay]

spending time in the backcountry is never a negative whether you encounter animals or not.

Totally agree. That said, I hope you have some encounters and get to have some fun!

 

[Mkrueger88]

Totally agree. That said, I hope you have some encounters and get to have some fun!

I hope so too, went back out again today to have a look around. I seem to have no problem finding parts of dead elk....the alive ones are more elusive. I’m assuming this is from someone’s harvest last fall as all the legs and head bones were missing.

 

[Rangerpants]

I am in a similar boat with one season of elk hunting on the books. It looks like you are on to something if you are finding previous year's kills. Keep in mind the bulls will get pushed around a lot once the season starts, so where you find them/sign now is unlikely where they will be when seasons begin. Good luck and enjoy it!

 

[Mkrueger88]

I am in a similar boat with one season of elk hunting on the books. It looks like you are on to something if you are finding previous year's kills. Keep in mind the bulls will get pushed around a lot once the season starts, so where you find them/sign now is unlikely where they will be when seasons begin. Good luck and enjoy it!

I plan to go out and either camp or truck camp up in that area the night before season to try and get some time in before the woods are swarming. I know some out of state guys hunt early but I’m betting the majority come for that peak rut time. So hopefully I can get into some elk maybe catch them still in their summer patterns, but being my first season and actually finding some sign I’ll most likely stay around that area assuming it doesn’t become completely overwhelmed and I at least keep finding sign.

 

[Wapiti1]

So, the bones you found

I hope so too, went back out again today to have a look around. I seem to have no problem finding parts of dead elk....the alive ones are more elusive. I’m assuming this is from someone’s harvest last fall as all the legs and head bones were missing.

This is a good sign. Now, try to figure out what season it was shot in. If you're kind of low, it was a later season, and you need to head to higher country from there. If it is already as high as you can go, then you're getting warmer.

Right now they will either be as high as possible, or dealing with the heat near the best food (ag crops usually).

Jeremy

 

[Mkrueger88]

So, the bones you found


This is a good sign. Now, try to figure out what season it was shot in. If you're kind of low, it was a later season, and you need to head to higher country from there. If it is already as high as you can go, then you're getting warmer.

Right now they will either be as high as possible, or dealing with the heat near the best food (ag crops usually).

Jeremy

It was up around 10/10,200 ft or so In a national forest which is about as high as I can go in the area there are a few spots that get up to 10.4/10,500 there’s some spots 7/8 miles north that get up slightly higher maybe 10.8 or so but that’s about the highest in the general area. I don’t have any experience but my inexperienced instincts are telling me with what I’ve been finding compared to other areas I’ve been is that they are in there somewhere and it’s just a matter of finding them. It’s not super glass friendly though so it’s tough to be able to get up high and find them through binos. I was hiking out in the dark last night and spooked something really big about 15/20yds off the trail couldn’t see cause of how dark it was but I’m guessing it was a moose or lone bull, sounded like a train running away haha and about gave me a heart attack.

 

[TheGDog]

Have you spent some time in this area yet just sitting still within a Shadow... backed up against something which breaks-up your outline... with a good Field-Of-View in front of you which contains one of these spots you've happened to find more fresher looking large clumps like that?

Where your sit spot doesn't have your scent blowing across where you found that evidence.

Also... have you been looking at your watch and noticing the wind direction changes at different times of the day while you're in there? You're going to need to start noting that kind of information. It'll come in handy when it's go-time when you're formulating and adjusting your game plan.

 

[Jbehredt]

It was up around 10/10,200 ft or so In a national forest which is about as high as I can go in the area there are a few spots that get up to 10.4/10,500 there’s some spots 7/8 miles north that get up slightly higher maybe 10.8 or so but that’s about the highest in the general area. I don’t have any experience but my inexperienced instincts are telling me with what I’ve been finding compared to other areas I’ve been is that they are in there somewhere and it’s just a matter of finding them. It’s not super glass friendly though so it’s tough to be able to get up high and find them through binos. I was hiking out in the dark last night and spooked something really big about 15/20yds off the trail couldn’t see cause of how dark it was but I’m guessing it was a moose or lone bull, sounded like a train running away haha and about gave me a heart attack.

After you’ve done that a few times and got eyes in the fleeing animal you’ll be able to tell by the sound what it was that you just blew out. We always hope to hear bounding so we can say “it was just a deer”.

 

[Deadfall]

Follow the water.