Are there any elk in colorado?

[stumblinhorse]

Don’t play with them too long… I did that last year and left without any meat haha but it is early, good stuff man! They talking a little yet?

Not a peep out there. So quiet I could hear squirrel farts today brother. 28° this morning tho. So hopefully soon.

 

[tkhuntsman]

Nope woofs et em all.
On a serious note switch units and change your strategy. Don't overlook micro habitats in heavily hunted drainages and make it a point to check out the places that no sane individual would purposely hunt. Those elk you saw on camera moved most elk don't rut where they summer and they are good at dodging people when the pressure is high. Time and effort only equal success when you are where the elk are and they are where you find them there are no secrets in this game.

 

[PWahlquist]

Very few where my friend is. Before daylight

 

[surich725]

You should provide some better details about what a typical day looks like for you. Be specific with time, activity, habitat and elevations you're in. Then when your typical day ends, what do you do the next day? And the day after that?

Ok back at camp, we headed out in the truck at around 4 for about 30 min to a trailhead some one messaged me about on the th by 530 ish and bombed back2.5 to 3 miles to get to elevation. Started at 8500 ft and off the trail at around 9000 ft, we skirted the south facing slope into the bottom of the first drainage as thermals were still pulling downhill. Silently slipped up into drainage and looked for sign and listened for animals. Started working north to the next drainage and saw little sign but was a couple days old. About this time the thermals were getting ready to switch so moved up the north face of that drainage to the south side and waited out the thermals. Had a snack then went back to the north side slope maybe and 1/8 of the way down from the summit and cold called as we moved west on the slope to the top and wrapped around to the south ridge. Went over the south ridge watching the wind. We then did the same thing except worked the ridge west to east. Cold calling and looking for sign. We worked that ridge into a blow down mess and worked our way back to the truck. Back around 9 pm to camp eat dinner and plan out tomorrow. Most of the terrain was heavy wooded lodge poles on the ridges and in the drainage was nice grass and water. Glassing this area isn't really possible as the trees are so dense there are only a few places you can see out. Most of the day was spent at the 10k contour line.

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.

The hard part is finding sign of elk and then finding the elk. If we can find them we have been pretty successful on having shot opportunities. But finding them for me is impossible.

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

I understand thermals and prevailing winds, but do you just assume that you are going to blow some of the elk out ro get the wind right? Take where we are hunting now most everywhere we have to loose elevation to get off the road, in the mornings there is nothing I can do to prevent the wind going down into the drainage. Do you just pick one to go down and then stay at contour line to the next drainage? I dont know how to hunt that or what to do.

 

[Fogalo]

Have you found any areas where there is feed and what elevation is the top?

 

[Fireflyfishing]

Let me get this straight. You’re out on a hunt now. Can’t find animals and asking for help on a forum on how to hunt elk?
I heard pickle ball is cool.

 

[Str8shooter]

This is a cardinal sin

"Take where we are hunting now most everywhere we have to loose elevation to get off the road, in the mornings there is nothing I can do to prevent the wind going down into the drainage."

if your scent is pouring down into the areas you're hunting, it's as good as hunting these areas with a boom box on your shoulder blasting techno. Ive watched elk catch my wind at 400yds and some studies indicate they can detect human scent over 800yds in good conditions. In thick timber you're just blowing out elk before you even get there. Respect the wind above all else. If you know there are elk in these drainages below a road (from glassing/hearing bugles/trail cams and not just because there were elk there one time last month or last season) then you need to hook way around (think 1/2-3/4 mile minimum diameter around these areas) well before shooting light and be downwind of these elk before you ever think about calling or still hunting through these spots. If there are cliffs/rivers/private ground in the way of routing around, you probably need to consider hiking downhill during the afternoon rising thermals and either spiking out or evening hunting only. Lastly it may be possible these elk are here because its a scent vortex and they can scent/hear anyone that moves around in there and you're better off with the most basic and under utilized strategy in elk hunting, move to new country.

 

[LaFever]

Kinda curious as to WHAT DOESN'T WORK ?
I live in Colorado and sorta dab at elk hunting so I'm not really an expert but as of this writing which is 9-7-25 , I'm going to guess that the "elk" as a species are still up high where it's cool and there's fodder available.
The bulls aren't 5 miles from the cows,elk are pretty gregarious and very herd oriented or family pod oriented, then those pods tend to combine as the weather cools and the available fodder is not as high up as it was .
As the season wears on,Frost depletes the fodder up high and the elk will feed down hill at night and climb back up during the day
So what doesn't work? I don't know where you're hunting but I'm thinking if you get farther back and up you'll see fewer people.
In 25 years of elk hunting, I suppose the fitness lecture isn't necessary, the old timers say sit on your ass and glass but certainly it depends what you're glassing.
In 25 years, I would assume you changed tactics in a series of "5 year plans " I'm not being smart but you should certainly be familiar with the mountains. So.. again, what doesn't work ?

 

[Tjdeerslayer37]

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.

In the u.p., and equivalently the northern part of WI, i could see totally see that lol.

 

[lantern68687]

The largest elk herd in the country hangs out on the Flat Tops in Colorado.

 

[Hnthrdr]

The largest elk herd in the country hangs out on the Flat Tops in Colorado.

Largest elk herd in the world