Time to scout!!!!

[longcruise]

Wow! ML deer and elk opener is only 18 days away. Still have not done my scouting. Holding off till after the opening of bow deer and elk this coming weekend. Once the bow hunters hit the woods the demographics change! Not so much with deer, but the elk are already starting in with a new way of thinking as the rut warms up and the introduction of bow hunters changes things even more.

The older I get, the harder it is to get up close and personal with the elk!

Just rambling. Can't help it. All excited.

 

[Goldhunter]

Yep, it's that time. I hunted archery deer last weekend. The Elk here are bugling already! Heading out again this weekend. I'm trying to hold out for the ML season in a month, but I'm seeing too many good bucks. :shake:

Good luck to all!!

 

[longcruise]

Those bucks gotta be tempting.

Are you hunting elk as well?

 

[Goldhunter]

I have a late season cow tag (4 Dec - 31 Jan). I haven't decided if I am getting a ML tag for elk yet. That hunt doesn't start until Nov.

The guys I'm hunting with have archery elk tags as well. I'm focusing on deer for the archery.

 

[runnin lead]

I saw a few very isolated places 2 days ago where the aspen are already changing 20 mi S of Steamboat Springs
Early fall ? Maybe start the rut a little early ?

This was just under 7400 & along the bottom edge of ridges where the cold air sinks down at night.

 

[Goldhunter]

That's my thought. we had a little cold snap and think that may have kicked them off early. I do love this time of year. :thumbsup:

 

[longcruise]

I live on the flats near Denver. We have been hitting 92deg for the last two days. :shocked2: Next Tuesday is the target day to scout! In the middle of helping son in law paint the house. It's gotta be done by Monday night or my bitter half will insist on a later date.

 

[oletymepreacher]

Scouting is never over, but I just finished 11 days in the woods and have my favorite places already in mind. Now, if the sharp stick guys don't stink up the woods and run everything off, it will be my turn coming Saturday. Opening of high country deer hunt on Saturday, Unit 6. Hunting alone with a horse as company. Flintlock and rifleman's garb, spending the nights out using horse saddle blankets for bedding. Doesn't get any better. My queen will be patiently waiting at the camper. She can really pack any meat I get almost as well as the horse.

 

[longcruise]

Geeez! You just cranked my excitement level over the top! :shocked2: Sounds like a fabulous hunt you have planned. I daresay you are a mite bit tougher than me. Willing to go it on horseback with a siwash every night! My hats off to you.

Are you headed into Rawah?

 

[oletymepreacher]

Rahwah could be on the agenda, as the tag is good for Unit 6 above 10,000 feet and that part of Unit 7 in the Rahwah. There are more deer in Unit 6, and a lot of bears, too. This season overlaps the opening of Muzzleloading season, but just for two days. So, if the deer don't cooperate, I'll have to get a deer and an elk on the same day. Some kind of problem(?). I have been hunting this unit since 1978 almost exclusively. It is a lot like going home every year. This year, with all the beetle killed trees losing their needles, the undergrowth that game eat has gotten thicker and higher than ever, and the game is healthy.

Last time I checked, there were about 3,000 leftover elk tags available for the later seasons for the whole of North Park.

 

[Kentucky45]

Texas bow season is the first of October and general gun the first of November. When bow hunters hit the woods it changes everything. Deer use different routes, habits change. Also here, our rut is going on the last of bow season and that changes everything more. I'm getting the fever. Can't imagine being able to hunt Elk.

 

[longcruise]

I have been hunting this unit since 1978 almost exclusively. It is a lot like going home every year. This year, with all the beetle killed trees losing their needles, the undergrowth that game eat has gotten thicker and higher than ever, and the game is healthy.

I love that feeling of going back into familiar country. Seeing it change over the years but yet it still stays the same. I started hunting the north edge of unit 5 in 1964 and had that same pleasure every year until they turned it into a draw unit a few years back. It takes too many points and I'm too old to wait around for the draw to take me home.

This year we are hunting ml deer and elk in 18. Our deer is also good in 28 and 37 so we could swing over near Henderson mine for our deer. We do good on deer over there but not so hot on elk.

Also picked up one of those leftover 1st season rifle elk only tags for north park and the surrounding rim. Have never hunted that area except in the low country for antelope. Got any suggestions? Hopefully can get over that way while up there for ml season since 18 borders on the south.

Good luck on your hunt. Hope you can give us a full report later.

 

[longcruise]

These mule deer are somewhat creatures of habit, but nothing like a whitetail. Our mulies are not too much affected by archery pressure but elk are another matter altogether. They tend to go down into the rough stuff or if the topography suits, they will go up to timberline and higher. :shocked2:

Elk hunting is hard work both before and after the kill. And, IMO any elk with a bow or ml is a hard won trophy!

 

[Bill Hall]

Same here Marmotslayer. The deer will change their habits a little if they're monkey'ed with during a deer season, but shortly after they're right back to their same old year round patterns.

Elk, now that's a different story. You can do all the scouting you want, but after the first season, or any seasonal weather change, and you'd think you were hunting in a whole nother country. They may be up high in September, staying close to the tanks and thicker than flies. But in November, you might see one or two by the roads down low as you're driving into your area.

Always good to scout though, beats going into an area blind and without any kind of plan. Bill

 

[oletymepreacher]

Beaver Creek campground(term used loosely)in 161, 30+ miles west of Cowdrey. Elk can be found just about anywhere, from the willows to the top of Mount Davis. Take trail to Stump Park.

In Unit 6, Ute Pass above the East Sand Hills is my favorite. Access is difficult, horses are needed as you will be 8 miles from the public access. If you don't have a horse, Sombrero Ranches will rent you one, and deliver it close to where you will hunt. Cost is about $600,alot cheaper than keeping your own horse.

Johnny Moore Mountain in Unit 6 is a relatively easy hunt for elk-not too much climbing, no vehicles allowed, low altitude, with a resident herd. Good for half day hunts. Mornings are a little better than afternoons. I once stalked within 40 yards of a herd of about 80 elk bedded down in the open. Not one legal bull in the bunch! This place can become crowded on weekends.

Good luck in North Park. Just hoping this post doesn't stampede too much competition.

The first rifle season is the best for odds of getting an elk in Unit 6. Hunt high unless the snow is waist deep.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Just a comment on the " Miseries" that motivate Elk to move. Their biggest PEST is flies, and the reason they move up to the timber line or above is to find a place where the winds blow the flies off them, or its cold at night for the flies to live very long. Elk will spend the day on the south Slope taking in the sun for warmth.

If you have deep, narrow canyons, where the heat of the sun does not reach until later in the day, and with that rise in heat, comes an increase in updrafts, and wind speed. Both cause the flies to leave, or be blown away. Some Elk are known to seek these low areas to beat the flies, while others, who live in areas of high mountains, will climb above the treeline for relief.

Part of the "trick" to scouting is playing " Let's Pretend " we are an [elk]! Learn what you can about their daily living, from field guides, and from personal observation. learn what their natural predators are, and look for those predators, their tracks, and sign. ( Mountain lions, and Grizzly bears kill elk, along with the Wolf packs introduced in certain areas of the West.) Learn Why it is that Elk will move so high in the Summer, but come down from those high altitudes as soon as the Temperatures drop, and the first snows come to the peaks.

There is an old saying about hunting that goes,


"Don't hunt where the game Ain't!"

The whole point of scouting is to find out where the game is and understand Why they are there, instead of someplace else. That may seem intuitive to most members, but we have a lot of young hunters reading these posts who have never had these things explained to them.

If the archery hunters are overwhelming an area during their early season, you need to be out there with them, to see where and when the Elk move. :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[Kentucky45]

Never been elk hunting thou I'd love too. I know nothing about their habits. I used to have a whitetail lease in the Hill Country of Central Texas. In the evenings you could drive from LLano to Mason (the Deer Capital of the World) on a farm to market road and the ditches would be full of grazing deer. The night before opening gun season, thousands of hunters would drive into the area. The night after opening day you couldn't find a deer in any ditch. That was in the 70's before compounds and when bow hunting wasn't as popular. Friends still have leases in that area and say the same thing happens on opening day of bow season now. Two weeks after all seasons end, the ditches are full again. Smart critters. I'm a firm believer whitetails have dug underground winter bunkers stored with food. They sure disappear.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you live near a Zoo, go there and sit all day at the Elk enclosure and study their habits. Do as much reading as you can before you travel any distance to go hunting Elk, or anything else. Field guides are terrific sources of information on life habits. Send me a PT and I can save you money on buying these, by recommending the best ones I know about. There are lots of field guides, and they are not all equal, or necessarily filled with the kind of information you need.

When scouting, its important to observe, read, and follow tracks of game animals, to know where they have gone. You need to tell old tracks from new ones. Its really not all that hard to do, Trust me. Around here, on the flats, the Deer begin to move out of the Standing corn fields and into the woods, and edge brush as soon as harvesting begins. They do not give up their standing corn- meal on a stick--- until they absolutely have to, but they will begin feeding more at night, rather than during the daytime, when harvesting begins. Watch the air temperatures. Deer often will leave ditches, and ravines at night because that is where cold air settles. You will find them sleeping in leaf beds on the sides of hills and ravines, usually on the South-facing slopes so they catch the warmth of the rising sun. Game animals adhere to the Law of Conservation of Energy, as they have no nice snug heated home to go to when they are cold and tired.

Because hunters mainly hunt within 100 yards of a road, the deer move further away from the roads, where hunters rarely travel, and almost never scout. HINT. :hatsoff:

 

[Kentucky45]

Because hunters mainly hunt within 100 yards of a road, the deer move further away from the roads, where hunters rarely travel, and almost never scout. HINT. :hatsoff:

That must be common no matter what state you hunt. Here so much of our land is leased. But there is also public land available. I hunt both, and many public land hunters hunt within 100yds of the road. If you can get a detailed area map and find a funnel (for you new hunters, a narrow strip of trees or woods, a ditch or ravine, anything that either attaches or devides open areas for the deer to travel undercover) deeper into the woods behind those road hunters, you'll usually find deer moving. That's a great ambush spot. Hunters that don't scout much and don't know the area sometimes keep the deer srirred up and sometimes they'll drive the deer to you. They can actually help your hunt if you know the area.

 

[longcruise]

Preacher, thanks for those tips. Gonna save that info and put it with my maps!

I'm familiar with Johnny Moore mountain at least on the north end. Took a nice antelope out of there five or six years ago. Did not look elky from the north end but maybe I need to poke around a bit more.