Are there any elk in colorado?

[surich725]

How often do you check the wind while you're hunting?

As much as I can. Is there a way to work the wind when you dont know where the elk are?

My dad hunts Colorado every year rifle. . . Sometimes their group of 6 gets skunked and has a year with no elk, some times they kill 4 or 5 a year, but most years they kill 2 or 3 for the group

Their first year in a unit they get there 3 days early and scout escape routes and thick timber hiding pockets with water close, and look at where pressure will come from. Opening day they sit on escape routes and hell holes. . . For the most part it pays off for them, and they don't have to do too much walking after their first year once they nail down some good spots.

They spent 10 years killing 0 or 1 elk before switching strategies, many years without even seeing elk.

If it's not working switch it up! After 20 years OTC have you built any points for a limited entry unit? Nothing more fun then getting to chase low pressure elk!

Yeah we usually are in draw areas but when we dont draw its otc. Mostly hunted unit 19 draw but some otc mixed in

 

[BBob]

Is there a way to work the wind when you dont know where the elk are?

Man I'm sorry, but if you haven't figured out where the elk might be after all those years hunting them I just don't know what to tell you. Most after a bit of experience will have an idea of likely areas or spots and will work the wind accordingly. My experience anyway.

 

[surich725]

Damn, I had a big ol reply typed out and then this popped up and encompassed most of what I was going to say. The only thing I can think of is if there's no fresh sign, they've moved or migrated from where you're hunting and you need to move. If there is fresh sign, they're just possibly doing pressured elk things and hiding well. My best advice is to be at their elevation glassing first and last hour or two of light. For the rest of the day I would search for sign going into timber or cover and slow hunt it calling softly as you work it.

How do you find their elevation if you can't find them, I can find sign all day long but never elk

 

[aachey]

Elk are where you find them. If you find FRESH sign, they're either close by or in the next county. That's what I love about elk hunting. I would generally argue if you hike around enough you have to stumble into something sooner or later. I have killed one archery bull and one rifle cow, and the conclusion i've come to is archery elk is just tough to be successful. Odds are definitely not in your favor. I'm surprised with all the golf comments that no one has suggested you buy a boat?

 

[CJohnson]

Part of me wants to say that you are just plain unlucky. Part of me thinks you’re trolling a little bit. And, another part of me thinks you walk through the woods spending most of your time looking at the ground. I don’t have any meaningful advice that hasn’t already been shared. I do wish you the best of luck this season though. Maybe drive around after dark and one will run out in front of your truck or something. Idk.

 

[String&stick]

Taking this a little more seriously. . .

Have you sat up high and glassed as much country as you can with good glass?

Are you finding FRESH sign? I mean green scatt that still has some shine to it? Walk into a feeding area and it smells like elk? A wallow with damp mud thrown around it? That kind of fresh?

Take the times you've been with friends and they have killed. . . What was different? What was the same?

I've hunted 3 states, granted Colorado isn't one of them, but it's to the point where I fell confident pulling out of the driveway I'm going to SEE elk when I get where I'm going. Escorting, looking at topo maps, etc and looking where I've found them in the past all allows me to dial in on new areas. I know Colorado is a different game but man. Grab a rifle and switch it up.

If my old man and his group are killing elk somewhat consistently anyone can, they focus more on food and beer than the hunt!

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

Maybe upgrade your white cane to a seeing eye dog?

 

[Crowmangler]

As much as I can. Is there a way to work the wind when you dont know where the elk are?

You don't have to know where they are, but you do need to know what the wind is doing when you're planning your route. I can promise you this, if elk are in an area & the wind is going from you to them, they will not be there a few seconds later & you'll never know they were even there to start with.
Watch some videos on YouTube & learn the concept of thermals.
Wind isn't as critical when rifle hunting because you can still get a shot if you spot them 400 yards away, but for archery it's the single most important thing

 

[bz_711]

Hopefully you buy Preference Point each year. 25 years is several hunts in premium archery elk units with much higher success rates.

Hunt as high as possible during archery - elk often above treeline making easier to spot and hunt
Talk to locals, mailmen, deliver drivers, deer hunters, hikers, fisherman, UTV'ers, etc and ask where they've seen elk recently
Spend time at high lookouts late at night listening for bugles

Congrats on not giving up...stay positive and be ready, could happen at any moment!

Good Luck!

 

[Predator_SD]

Meh, i think you’re probably just at the average. I know a guy that no joke has been hunting Whitetail in WI WITH A RIFLE for 30 years and has never killed one. Yes, you read that right 30 years and never killed a deer.

Our convorsation when i met him a few years ago sorta went like, Me: “Oh you deer hunt that’s cool man me too. Where do you hunt?” Him: “I hunt up north but i suck at it. Actually, i’ve never killed one yet” Me: “Oh that sucks but don’t worry about it it will happen. Especially if you’re new to it. How long you been hunting (thinking he was new)” Him: “I started when i was in my teens so that would be 30 years now.” Me: Not really sure what to say after that after learning that degree of ineptitude on whitetail was possible, lol.

I actually think there are more guys like him than avid hunters would believe.

 

[Harvey_NW]

How do you find their elevation if you can't find them, I can find sign all day long but never elk

If you're finding fresh sign and still not seeing elk but also covering 10 miles a day, you've gotta be mobbing on a trail or open hillsides and walking right past them. Not very many people can cover 10 miles in a day in timber if there's any blowdown or heavy gradient to it, which is likely where the elk will be bedded through most of the day.

If you find fresh sign, cautiously get to that elevation or a good glassing point near, and glass the first hour of morning. Doing some cold calling into drainages/draws on the way is also effective, if you get a response just let them be and try to listen until it's light enough to pursue, then go. If a bull answers to a cow call, I try to be a sleezy cow and pull him to me in the timber. If I get an answer to a bugle, I charge that MF as fast as I possibly can like a drunken idiot, but I get as tight to the location of the bugle as possible before challenging him. 50% of the time, it works every time .

 

[WoolyBugger]

I’ve caught hundreds. My wife has 8 over 50 including a 55. Three of us in a boat had 65 rips in one day and boated 57 of them on Lake St Clair. The day before that we caught 38. Two days prior to that 34. Once you figure them out, it’s not that hard. But timing is important.

People say this but did it actually happen? Or are you trying to get me to spend more money on gear..

I’m fly fishing for them on small rivers and get one day a year and I’m usually rowing my drift boat for half that day. I’m not exactly fishing hard for them. Had plenty of friends boat them in my boat but not me. Always the bridesmaid never the bride..

 

[Fogalo]

What are you actually doing? I know a guy who hunted the same area for 25 years. Killed a bull one time and has been stuck doing the same thing. Rarely sees elk but hunts the same spot for two weeks every year. The area has some good feed and water. Plenty of fresh elk sign.

After talking to him for awhile I found out he was consistently hunting those low areas with water and feed. Turns out the elk were in there. At night. I went to the top and got into elk immediately.

So my question to OP is what exactly are you doing that is resulting in such struggles? Statistically speaking there must be a handful of people as unsuccessful as you but woof.

You’re either not hunting the elk where they are at that moment or spooking them before you see them.