Revisiting Old Elk Hunting Sites?

[WapitiTalk1]

I have returned to some of my old elk hunting spots (long after I stopped hunting them) over the years. For the most part, there are still elk present but during my absence, things have changed a bit to a lot. Logging (or lack of), road closures, vegetation growth, fire damage, current hunting pressure, current wolf predation, etc., have individually or collectively come into play and affected the quality of the hunting when I re-visited some of my old haunts. Please share a tale of one of the returns to your old stomping grounds and what you encountered . Why did you stop hunting XXX area and what did you encounter when you returned there...?

[saddlesore]

I hunted a particular drainage up in the Flat Tops in NW Colorado for a lot of years.I quit hunting it because the FS issued too many outfitter permits and it was written up in several hunting mags.It really got crowded. In one particular bowl I hunted and camped in, I took 8 bulls in 8 years straight. The last two times I hunted it,I was hard pressed to find a cow elk.

I always camped on the edge of a big meadow about 34/ mile long and1/2 mile wide. It had a string of beaver ponds in it and many brook trout that I could have for dinner any time I wanted to. It was a picture book elk camp.The main trail that went thru the area was also on the edge of this meadow,but on the other side,so I wasn't worried about spooking elk since that trail was traveled so much

The meadow had a few willows in it, but they were scattered. Two years ago,I thought I might take a pack trip into that meadow and do some trout fishing mid summer. When I arrived, I found willow trees had taken over most of the meadow and were 6-7 foot tall. The beaver ponds were all washed out and it was hard to find any water more than 6" deep. Riding 6-7 , miles I cam upon1 fresh elk track.

The only neat thing I could say about it was one morning while sitting outside my tent having coffee, two moose came thru the meadow,browsed a while, and headed out

[Lefty]

Ive revisited the place I killed my first Montana bull elk about 27 years ago.
A number of things had taken place. Maybe the biggest impact was they changes in grazing. Cattle had been fenced out of the waterways, Willows and beaver had filled the creek bottom all in the name of restoring native cutthroat.
Trails and roads had been closed with designated ATV trails and full sized vehicles. The area is completely closed to vehicles and grazing until after July.

I know a lot of the guys that use to hunt the area have since passed, some lost interest in hunting and blame wolves. Grizzlies have moved in too,.. but it appeared to be better than years back,

I ATV and hike the area where I killed a bull when I first moved to Idaho. Much the same as above,Good changes in pasture management
Likely ill never get back to where I hunted near Mt, St Helens , Yakima or a CWMU in Utah

[Swede]

Many of the places I hunted in my early years are very poor now. One spot Oly and I called Old Faithful, and hunted in the early 90s, has been free of free in season for years now. It seems that once the elk are gone it takes a long time for them to return.