What Is High Pressure?

[Swede]

We write about hunting high pressure areas here on the forum, but after reading a post, I got to wondering if all of us have the same understanding of what is a "high pressure area"? It seems to me, if we are going to commuicate effectively, then the terms we use must have a meaning. Therefore if I say "high pressure area". then it means to you what I intended.
With that said, what do you believe someone means when they write or say "high pressure area", as it relates to an elk hunting location?

[GetemDuck]

for me a high pressure area is one that a guy sees orange every direction he turns, I've been lucky the last few years and the seas of orange have not found me. I see one or two hunters in the woods, the rest are driving up and down the road trying to figure out why they can't find an elk.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Good post. I don't believe there's a black and white defination on determining high pressure area's. The individual hunter needs to take into consideration serveral key factors and judge for themselves. One should take into consideration amount of elk in an area, number of hunters, terrain, can they be successful, and how many miles other hunters put on.

Do I hunt high pressure area's? If it's the correct situation and environment, hell yes! One of my tactics is to intercept retreating and vocal bulls that other hunters are pushing up from the bottom. Note, I only do this on bulls that I know the pushers have no chance on catching. Would not encourage anyone to mess up someone elses setup!

With a little conditioning, understanding, and patience, you can be successful in any enviorment.

My 2-cents!

[one_elk]

high pressure: when I have screwed up (lots of options here) another opportunity to kill an elk and I see tracks from another hunter, I can blame my missed opportunity on “high pressure” in the area I am hunting…Now that’s high pressure…haha

[>>>---WW---->]

Unless you have hunted Colorado in an OTC unit, on public land, during one of the MANY rifle seasons, you probably have no idea what high pressure really is!

[one_elk]

So more seriously (that is than my last post), interestingly enough I did some data analysis on a project addressing crowding by a State wildlife agency back in the early 90’s. The project surveyed lots of hunter’s, think there were over 1000 responses and the bottom line was that a strong majority of the survey respondents preferred seeing other hunters in the woods (within some limit, not over ‘x’ hunters per day) as opposed to not seeing any hunters at all….that wouldn’t be my choice but that is what the survey response showed…

[cnelk]

High Pressure = All campsites are full of hunters...

[mtnmutt]

My hunting area is OTC and is heavily used by locals who did not draw for archery and by out of state hunters. It has about 30-40 archery hunters on weekends located on the ridge above me, along the FS road to the end of the road and about 1,000ft below me if they hiked up from another main road. I see and hear other hunters sometimes as walk a long bench that is below the ridge, but I only see them within a 1 mile of the road. It is usually around 8-8:30 am when they get tired of the ridge that they come down. By that time, I am deeper in the forest.

Weekdays have 10-20% the number of weekend archery hunters. This year may be different since the season now starts later. I may see more during the week than previous years.

Fortunately, the area generally gets a bad rap by out of state hunters after their first visit and has even had some locals put off by it. However, there are locals that don't bother with ever drawing because they get elk in this OTC area every year. Elk numbers are high.

This was what I observed over my 6 seasons archery hunting this area. During the thick of the recession, 2008, 2009 and 2010 the numbers were way down for archery hunters I encountered in 2007. 2011 started to see a slight rebound. 2012 Archery hunter numbers increased tremendously from previous years.

It is considered a very high pressure area. CO even has an early rifle cow for the area that overlaps late in archery season because the elk numbers are way above their objectives. I go elsewhere for the last week of archery since the cow elk rifle hunters overrun the area and it is tent city everywhere. Unless you backpack in 2-3 miles into the wilderness, it is not a place to be at that time for archery.

Heavy pressure area? yes. Can the other hunters be avoided and still find elk? yes. Can you find a place to setup a base camp along the road: yes on weekdays, maybe on weekends.

[Indian Summer]

Oneelk, those survey respondents are out of their freakin minds! Don't you agree? If the elk are there to be pushed they are there to be hunted in peace as well. I'll pass on competition for help thanks. I'm a master of hunting by predicting the escape routes of deer in Pa. It's the only way here. I would never diminish my elk hunting experience by making that a tactic in the Rockies! Also if I don't kill an elk the last reason I want to look at are other hunters & 9 times out of 10 they aren't going to help you. That just means I failed to qualify my spot.

Too me high pressure can mean either the presence of hunters, especially in easy terrain, or maybe just one other camp of guys who love to hear themselves calling non-stop.

As far as how many other hunters it also depends on what they are doing. To me you can be 8 miles in but if you don't leave the horse trail you don't count. That's still road hunting. I really don't care if an army wants to do that all day. But if I can't put in a little effort to find a chunk of huntable holes to call my own because they are actually tracking up the midslope benches then that's high pressure, even if it's just a camp of 4 dudes.... I'm outta there.

There is soooo much country out there for the taking I would never hunt a spot, or even a state, where I couldn't hunt for days without seeing another hunter. That is something I have the ability to control unlike all the other stuff. If I lived in an elk state, like I used to, I'd know where those places are. If I lived in an elk state where a draw was the only way to accomplish that I'd sooner be a non resident hunter some where else and I sincerely mean that.

To the old man who said "You're the same dumb pilgrim I've been hearing for 20 days and smelling for three.” 1 other guy on the whole mountain was high pressure!

I'll add that roads might look bad on a map but if there aren't many hunters around they won't hurt. Gated roads are often great hunting.

[easeup]

back in the day when I was still doing everything wrong.....
1st rifle in CO; I observed a small meadow I thought I would check out and snuck in at daybreak to sit and still being dark I had no knowledge that there were probably another 8 hunters around that meadow in the brush. A small spike came out at first light. Gunfire erupted from every direction upon that elk. Holy cow!. I just turned and left and wondered how anyone there avoided being hit. It actually scared me a little.

that is crowded.

[WapitiTalk1]

Anyplace Elknut and his crew are hunting.. Those guys are worse than wolves ..

I haven't hunted with a rifle for years but during the fall archery elk season, I think (due to the uniqueness of vocalizing elk) any more than a few hunters in any given drainage is a potential high pressure situation.

[wideangle]

Yep I agree with what cnelk stated that all the campsites are full.
I might add pressure increases if all the campsites have ATVs.
I hunt units with large road closure areas to greatly reduce road traffic and vehicle noise.

[Trophyhill]

CO OTC. that to me is high pressure. not that i'm complaining because i target the "pressured elk in unpressured areas" and usually find solitude from the crowds

[Swede]

Maybe there is a defination for what it means for a place to be a "high pressuse elk hunt area", but I not sure. I believe my area hunting area is subject to "high pressure" . When I was working for the Forest Service, one of my jobs was to plan and implement road closures. My objective was to get the open road density down to a level where they were spaced approximately one mile apart. I could never get close. Every one of the open roads, I know of is traveled by the end of the opening weekend of archery season. Where ever I go for five miles or more, I pass by other camps. Camps are commonly about two miles apart, but there may have several families or groups of hunters in each camp. Also I usually see or hear other hunters out in the forest, especially on weekends and holidays, but also during the week.
I know for Eastern Whitetail deer hunters this is still light, but the pressure is sufficient to push most elk off of the puplic land within a few days of the opening of hunting season onto the neighboring ranches.
For my purpose I believe, a "High Pressure Area" is one where the elk are displaced or change their normal routine, on a large scale, due to repeated human encounters. Examples of what I refer to would include, large portions of the elk population leaving the area for a significant period of time, or going silent and not being responsive to normal calling techniques.

[cnelk]

HIgh Pressure = Sheep herd

A herd of sheep will pressure elk into another zip code

[Swede]

Cnelk, you are absolutely correct on that. Cattle in signifcant numbers will also do the same thing. Predators can also displace elk. Should the defination include a reference to domestic livestock and predators? Another question: Does anyone care about the defination? lol

[JimKirk]

pressure is when another guy is camped in one of my favorite spots or parked in my hunting area. but living in a elk area certainly allows a person to find those less pressured areas. I found one simple task to at least feel unpressured it to hike a mile into the woods and spend the night out there. if the elks are still there you can sure hear them at night. if not, then it could be time to move on. hunting the deep backcountry would ensure it but carrying everything on your back for 5-10 miles is a whole lot of work not many but the hardiest hunters can accomplish. getting way back is one thing. getting a animal out plus camp is another.

[one_elk]

[quote="Indian Summer"]Oneelk, those survey respondents are out of their freakin minds! Don't you agree?

I definitely agree.....But it is intriguing to hear the opinion of the majority of survey respondents…..but then there are those who choose not to answer surveys like these at all….

[Indian Summer]

One... maybe the people who bother to answer surveys are a different breed than real hunters. I bet no solo hunters voted for company! LOL

I've hunted around cattle and it didn't have an affect on the elk... unless they came to round them up. In Wyoming I'll be in a new spot this year. The guy I'm leasing horses from told me... the sheep herders dictate where the elk WON"T be. He said they are in a different place every year and where ever the elk are when they pull the sheep off the hill is where they'll be come hunting season. Hmmm So I picked an area that made the guy laugh at me it was so far off the beaten sheep path. When he said that no sane sheepherder would go there I saw the light bulb I'm sure the elk are there every year knowing they won't have to deal with it.

Regardless I'll be calling him in late August asking where they sheep have been. That will be the final step to qualifying my hunt area.

[RockChucker30]

I probably passed 5 camps and 10 vehicles driving into my CO OTC area last Sept. I spent the night at the truck, then backpacked in and wound up 3.5 miles from the truck. I never saw a person farther than 1/2 mile from my truck, and I only saw one boot track at a creek crossing on a trail about 2 miles in. I did find what looked like a semipermanent outfitter camp which had a wall tent up that had been there a long time, but it must have been for rifle because there was nobody there.

If I'm seeing people that's high pressure. I don't like seeing people when I hunt.

[Vanish]

I know where we've been hunting in CO is no secret, but I was still surprised both times on the opener. The first time we came in from the South, and there were 4 RVs and 6 cars on about 1/4 mile of dirt road. So we said, alright, we'll try the North side. We barely saw anyone at all the rest of the season, and we saw elk.

So, we took that with us for last year's opener, started the season on the North side and I woke up opening morning to find other camps within 50 yards of us plus a dozen trucks parked at the gate. Holy crap! By the next day there were only 6 trucks and one other camp. After opening weekend, we pretty much had the entire area to ourselves for the rest of the season.

Now, with that I've thought about moving somewhere else for the opener. The thing is, we still had our opportunities opening weekend.

[BrentLaBere]

Indian Summer,
To the old man who said "You're the same dumb pilgrim I've been hearing for 20 days and smelling for three.” This phrase may describe green horns on the mountain? Great quote from a great movie......if it is from JJ.

I had to sit back and take in everyone's opinion before coming to my own on this one. During my first elk hunt I had ran in to other hunters that had hunted within a few hundred yards of me and neither one of us knew each other was there until the head lamps came on for the hike out. Same area later in my hunt on the hike in I could hear music and cans getting kicked around from a wall tent set up near where the elk were feeding. The elk had been in this area everyday for roughly a week. If you were guessing that elk weren't there that morning of the music and three loud hunters you were right!.
Picked up and moved areas to where no one was and ended up finding more elk. I agree with some of the other post and have my own mixed in with high hunting pressure. Elk may be hunted by many but pressured by the few.

[mongopino915]

The numbers of:
- Camps along the road side
- Trucks parked along the road side
- Hunters you encounter in the wood
- Hoochie Momma and Terminator you hear in the wood
- Hunters you called in

You need not look further than most Colorado OTC units with easy access. What the hack, that's sounds like my hunting area.

[Bartfrncs]

Just about any OTC GMU in Colorado.

[Swede]

Indian Summer mentions that cattle grazing does not have much effect on elk in Wyoming. About 15 years ago, when I was reading in the boolk "Elk of North America" by Jack Ward Thomas and Dace E. Toweill, I remember a paragraph where it was mentioned that cattle grazing has a major effect on elk in the Pacific Northwest, but not much in some other places. If I remember correctly Wyoming was a place mentiond where there was little or no effect. I have no explanation for why that is. Also I have noticed little effect on Roosevelt elk from cattle on the farms.