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Wet Season changes

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Wet Season changes

Postby js80138 » 08 11, 2019 •  [Post 1]

I spent the weekend scouting my units specifically because 36,000 acres were lost to fire last year. I wanted to make plans A B C D etc however I left with a huge conundrum after travelling the four corners of the units....... Colorado is wet. The specific unit I am in had snow until mid July. It has rained consistently all summer. The amount of vegetation growth made some areas unrecognizable. I am not complaining about the conditions and it is certainly better than the past five seasons where every step was "crunch, crunch, crunch". My confusion is that I have been learning the behavior of elk/deer over the past 6 years when it has been hot and dry but I do not know if they will behave differently with all the precipitation. As a matter of fact all of the watering holes and ponds that appear on the topo finally appeared in real life. :lol: Will the wet weather change the behavior of elk?
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Re: Wet Season changes

Postby saddlesore » 08 11, 2019 •  [Post 2]

No.They will just have more to eat and have to travel less for water
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Re: Wet Season changes

Postby Lefty » 08 11, 2019 •  [Post 3]

With a few weeks to go the woods can still get crunchy
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Re: Wet Season changes

Postby Swede » 08 11, 2019 •  [Post 4]

I look at this from the perspective of a tree stand hunter. When we have a dry year, many springs are dry and the streams coming from the wet ones are usually short before they dry up. Elk travel to water once or twice a day when it is hot and dry. It is easier to set up for the critters under conditions like that. When it is wet and green, the elk spread out more, get more moisture from the plants. At those times elk may go anywhere for water. On the wet years I need to focus more on saddles and places where several main trails come together.
On wet years cattle too can be behave different than on dry years. They may stay out longer in the woods and there may be more of them. These rascals will try to stay around a good water hole for hours and chew the cud. Even if I get out of my stand and run them off, they soon return.
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Re: Wet Season changes

Postby js80138 » 08 13, 2019 •  [Post 5]

Thank you for the reply and advice. It really threw me for a loop when I viewed all the vegetation, full streams, and full ponds. And the silence with each step was the absolute best. Really looking forward to this year as I prepared more this year than any other.
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