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1st Rifle Elk Colorado

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1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby OsoElkHunter » 10 14, 2019 •  [Post 1]

Where did all the elk go? We hunt these areas during archery and see a ton of elk, but two weeks after archery season has closed the elk are no where to be found! What do we do? We keep pressing on and searching! Now there aren’t a lot of places to search for dark timber but the elk have to be here somewhere, but where? This is frustrating!
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Re: 1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby saddlesore » 10 14, 2019 •  [Post 2]

The archers pushed them all out. Now you will have to go into the rugged, nasty timber stuff to kick them in the butt to get them moving.
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Re: 1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby >>>---WW----> » 10 15, 2019 •  [Post 3]

Way back in the 1980s, the Colorado Division on Wildlife (now known as the CPW) did a survey on radio collared elk. It was found that there were two appreciable and major movements in the elk herds in northwest Colorado.

1) Was when herders and ranchers started moving vast numbers of sheep and cattle out of the mountains. aka: the so called quiet time between archery and rifle season!

2) Was when large numbers of rifle hunters invaded the area. This usually happens several days before the start of the opening season date. As soon as they set up camp, they go out on scouting trips. It doesn't take long for the deer and elk to figure it's time to move out when all of a sudden there are gobs of people in their summer area. Statistics have shown that the greatest harvest time is usually the first day of the very first rifle season. Then the elk just seem to vanish.
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Re: 1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby TennMatt » 10 15, 2019 •  [Post 4]

To the points that WW makes:

His first explains my observations about cow pies in open grass/sage range land between aspen glades. No elk seen.

I also found his second point to be spot on. I was just north of California Park for 3 days. Most of the shooting was between 9-11 AM on Saturday. Sunday was rather quiet and I don't think I heard a shot Monday until 5:00 PM. The action was very slow.

I'm only home because I lost my headlamp and made an illogical decision to not spend half a day getting a replacement in town....

I did not see any wolves.

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Re: 1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby OsoElkHunter » 10 15, 2019 •  [Post 5]

Well we finally did see 1 spike bull! Woohoo! We’ve seen more deer than I ever care to see again and no one else that we know or have talked to has seen any elk! We have been hiking around 15-20 miles a day and the area we’ve been hunting usually has elk all over the place, unfortunately not this year! I am fed up with my luck and spending out of state tag money and will probably seek ALASKA as my next venture! I am starting to think that public land isn’t a real good idea anymore to hunt on. Maybe I’ll be wealthy land owner or daddy war bucks in my next life so I can elk hunt on private land! Maybe tomorrow will be a game changer, I doubt it! 7 years of not getting anything has me really down now, granted it’s not always about filling a tag, but it is getting really expensive and harder to persuade the wife to let me hunt and not produce meat for the upcoming year. I am losing weight on a good note by walking a ton of miles everyday though. It’s just gonna get tougher the older I get to still hike like we do. Good luck to the rest of you!
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Re: 1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby Swede » 10 16, 2019 •  [Post 6]

Dear Oso. You have been hunting the same area doing the same things for 7 years and have never gotten an elk. That is the very definition of insanity. You do not need to quit hunting elk. You need to go somewhere else and or hunt some other way. The public land hunts still are running about 10%-15% success. You should be figuring things out by now and starting to score.
I am not trying to belittle you at all. I was a little slow to change areas myself. I went from 100% success to 50% for about 4 years before I moved. You are just not adapting as much as you need to. BTW: Unguided public land hunting is no sure thing either.
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Re: 1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby OsoElkHunter » 10 16, 2019 •  [Post 7]

Deer Oso, oh that’s me, well it came to a close today and we saw only one spike and 2 wolves and a grizzly bear here in Colorado! I can honestly say that we gave it our all! We hunted some of the most wicked places that anyone or anything should be in, but came up short! And yes we have been hunting the same area for 6 years, the other year I drew a 2nd season rifle and I hunter the middle west of the state and came up short there too! Although every year we see a ton of elk, except during any rifle season, this was not one of those years! We have talked to guys that we’re hunting private land and they came up empty too! Maybe I’m hunting the wrong areas and maybe not. Maybe I’m just an archery guy for now on! I had fun and I kinda got too upset to hunt! My family should be proud that I’m not relying on my hunting skills to provide food for the table as we would go hungry and become vegetarians! There is always next year! I do have to say that next year I will be either in Montana, Wyoming or Alaska! It’s time to feed the rest of my hunting passion and put some meat in the freezer (if that’s possible) for me! I kinda think I was cursed by the ex-wife for my hunting and fishing skills! Good luck to the rest of you and for listening to me rant in disgust!
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Re: 1st Rifle Elk Colorado

Postby Swede » 10 16, 2019 •  [Post 8]

Mr. Bear: Lucy in the comic strip Peanuts used to do psychotherapy for a nickel. Why don't you start a thread and tell us about your hunts, and what you are routinely doing. We will develop a dialog with you. Maybe we can help. It can't hurt. Besides, we are cheaper than Lucy. :D

I would like to see you killing an elk on a regular basis. Lets start with why you are hunting where you do.
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