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Who was able to hunt in the snow!

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Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Lefty » 09 17, 2017 •  [Post 1]

We had too much snow to make it to our desired camp, greasy Forest service road. A group we often hunt near had packed up moving lower knowing they may loose a day or two of hunting if they stayed,
My daughter and I chose to start from the bottom and work our way up instead of starting at the top and working down. A long hike in and 2200 foot elevation gain, 19 inches remained; a few inches of snow had melted by the time we got into the elk at 2:30.
It sure was nice to not breath smoke filled air and with everything soaked and snow covered the woods were quiet. The snow covered trees even kept the bugles from caring as far.
The archers were out in full force. The dead end road to the trail head generally has the one other group and us when we show up. Three more camps and two more drive in in the early AM. The elk were mostly up high and we were the only one to hike so far up, We still had the woods to ourselves :)
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Fridaythe13th » 09 18, 2017 •  [Post 2]

We woke up every morning with temperatures in the 40's. The 1 day my truck said 82 degrees at 8800 feet. Snow sounds kinda good.
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Losefreeze » 09 18, 2017 •  [Post 3]

Heading back out on Wednesday to close out the CO Archery season and fully expect to wake up snow covered like I did last year as my camping spot is above 10K feet. Really looking forward to it and fingers crossed will get my first real rut experience as not hearing but 1 bugle last year was disappointing.
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Scorpyd shooter » 10 08, 2017 •  [Post 4]

I got snowed on 4 times in 11 days in bighorns
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Swede » 10 08, 2017 •  [Post 5]

We had a couple of inches of snow where I was hunting. I understand RJ and Joe had more as they went up even higher. We had no choice, so I guess we were "able" to hunt in snow. It was cold sitting in the stand, but not terrible either.
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Cbb » 10 09, 2017 •  [Post 6]

Had 10 inches 1 day in MY at 7800ft.
Went back to the truck in the morning because snow was stuck to my arrows, sight rest.. everything. No way I could have got a shot off. Visibility less than 100 yards
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Tigger » 10 09, 2017 •  [Post 7]

We hunted in December....wait, it was September. We had about 20 inches total. It snowed most of the days and with 1 exception, the other days it rained. It took its toll on us, but we managed to pull through and go 2 for 4! Story to be posted shortly.
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby CurlyTail » 10 09, 2017 •  [Post 8]

We had 3 winter storms move through in 8 days. It was a cold,wet,muddy,slippery mess. And to my amazement, it shut down the rut. Beat down by the end and headed home early when it was clear I was closer to killing myself than an Elk. I took a nasty out of control slide down a steep ravine that took the starch right out of me.
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Mathewsz7-elkridge » 10 09, 2017 •  [Post 9]

15 inches at 6000 feet. Had snow on the ground 10 out of 12 days above 5000 feet.

Wasn't fun walking through alders in the snow!
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Lefty » 10 09, 2017 •  [Post 10]

Mathewsz7-elkridge wrote:15 inches at 6000 feet. Had snow on the ground 10 out of 12 days above 5000 feet.
Wasn't fun walking through alders in the snow!

we did chicken out coming in from the top, It just seemed like a bad idea trying to get down a 50-60 degree slope
We had early that morning, during the hunt and late the evening before snows, on top of other snow.
Hiked our guts out till we found fresh track, then elk 8-)

and melting snow mad it seem like a solid rain dripping from the trees
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby BrentLaBere » 10 10, 2017 •  [Post 11]

I was able to help someone out and hunt in the snow. Sometimes I like it, other times I hate it. This is one of those times I hated it.
Heading out west this weekend to try my luck before archery closes to fill my deer tag. More snow and cold, should make for an interesting hunt.
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby vertical limit » 10 10, 2017 •  [Post 12]

We have had snow out on some of our scouting trips. We will be hunting in November this year for my son's bull, so I am almost guaranteeing we will be hunting in the snow. A week after my son's tag closes, we will be hunting in the high Sierra's for my father in law's muley. Nothing like a rut hunt in the snow chasing some monster muley's through the woods!! Well, except for chasing rutting bulls through the woods with a stick and string!!
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Mathewsz7-elkridge » 10 10, 2017 •  [Post 13]

Yeah lefty I no what you mean all to well. I would have to say our experience with the snow were more negative than positive. It did make it nice to cut a few fresh tracks but mad it impossible to sneak in while the snow was crunchy. Did get the reassurance that the bugle was working we when we elk track in our tracks once. Was a little frustrating but that's elk hunting. We never heard much bugling the whole trip so we decided to soft call talk near a couple definitely saddles working our way down to a creek bottom. About half way down the wind switch on us so we had to turn around. There was a lot of area we didn't cover so we decided to send two guy out a good bit hoping to reach a shooter before a bull would catch our wind. Wouldn't you know the elk came from the direction we originally did some cow talk a hour before. The tracks 20 yards from my calling position. We then went back to bugling more but didn't seal the deal.

How did the snow effect your guys hunt?
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby BrentLaBere » 10 11, 2017 •  [Post 14]

How did the snow effect your guys hunt?

The elk are always moved when snow storms hit in my experience. They will move to areas they dont have to work as hard for feed. Its seems that simple. Ive heard many times that snow wont move elk. But thats just not the case in my experience. They will also hole up, deep timber, while the storm is ongoing. Especially in higher winds. They dont move very far but you can certainly tell they adjust to the weather. I usually dont hear as much vocalization either. During the storm or precip that is.
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Re: Who was able to hunt in the snow!

Postby Kellum » 10 11, 2017 •  [Post 15]

On my last trip in September we had three days that it snowed. It got so bad we had to move down in elevation due to the rodes geting to wet.

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