CO Rifle - First ½ or Second ½ of Season

[Colowhit]

Newbie here, first real post in any forum anywhere actually (just posted in FNG). Thank you to everyone who has shared their knowledge and experience. I have been soaking it up and hope to one day be able to contribute. I have searched the forums for thoughts on what part of rifle season is best to hunt but didn’t get any hits so apologies if it has been discussed before.

I am taking my son on his first elk hunt for CO 2nd rifle near Paonia, CO. I don’t have a lot of experience (3 elk hunts with no success) but love hunting; it is in my blood now! CO 2nd rifle starts Sat. 10/19 and ends on Sun 10/27. I was planning to go the first 4-5 days of the season. I listened to a podcast where Randy Newberg suggested it might be better in the later rifle seasons to go the latter half. His reasoning is that the elk get pressured opening weekend and are harder to find for a few days. Towards the back end of the season they get less pressure and may be "easier" to find.

What has been your experience and what are your thoughts? Does it really matter?

 

[Dakota Dude]

I hunt close to your area. There tends to be a little less pressure during second weekends of both the 2nd and 3rd seasons, but I don't think it really makes a difference for success. Maybe you should take advantage of the second weekend because there aren't going to be second weekends for the next 5 years!

 

[elkduds]

I agree game seems scarce on days 2-5 of those 9 day seasons. Weather and even moon phase are other factors to consider, if you are flexible on timing your hunt. For your hunt there will be less moon the 2nd half of the season. Good luck!

 

[Phaseolus]

I’d hunt the first half, if you need to you can still hunt the second half, life permitting. It doesn’t work well the other way around.

 

[hobbes]

I may be mistaken, but I believe Randy is coming at that with a little more MT perspective than may apply to CO. MTs rifle season is not split like CO and runs for 6 weeks ending on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This year is Oct 26 to Dec 1. If I only had 10 days I'd hunt as many days as I could from beginning to end.

 

[5MilesBack]

When I rifle hunted I always killed my elk on the first day of the season, or the last two. Don't think I ever shot one in between. And have no idea why that was.

 

[LaHunter]

I’d hunt the first half, if you need to you can still hunt the second half, life permitting. It doesn’t work well the other way around.

I agree with this 100%.

 

[Marble]

Choose the largest stretch of days that offer you continuing time in the woods. The first half currently had a stretch of clear weather with no snow. Makes for hunting timber doable.

 

[Walkersoccer]

I have hunted an area near there for over 30 yrs. Most of my elk come on opening weekend. The pressure gets them moving through our area. Make sure you are ready when they come through or you may not get a second chance at them. After the first weekend I get into the aspens and start actually hunting. I enjoy this much more but have been more successful the first two days. very cool you are hunting with your boy. If you are hunting unit 52 hit me up and I will help with what I can.

 

[njdoxie]

I hunt close to your area. There tends to be a little less pressure during second weekends of both the 2nd and 3rd seasons, but I don't think it really makes a difference for success. Maybe you should take advantage of the second weekend because there aren't going to be second weekends for the next 5 years!

Actually they changes 2nd rifle back to 9 days including the two weekends.

 

[Colowhit]

Thank you to those who have shared their thoughts/experience. Based on the feedback I think I will keep the original plan and hunt from opening day for as many days as I can.

I am going to have to look into how the moon affects elk. I hadn't heard or considered that it would until elkduds mentioned it.

 

[Colowhit]

I have hunted an area near there for over 30 yrs. Most of my elk come on opening weekend. The pressure gets them moving through our area. Make sure you are ready when they come through or you may not get a second chance at them. After the first weekend I get into the aspens and start actually hunting. I enjoy this much more but have been more successful the first two days. very cool you are hunting with your boy. If you are hunting unit 52 hit me up and I will help with what I can.

Walkersoccer, we are planning on hunting 521 but 52 is available for us to hunt. I'd like to hear your thoughts on 52 as we are flexible, or 521 if you have any experience. I haven't hit my 10 post minimum so I cant PM you. Can you PM me or do I have to hit 10?

 

[elkduds]

I am going to have to look into how the moon affects elk. I hadn't heard or considered that it would until elkduds mentioned it.

During the bright nights of full moon, pressured elk get more nocturnal.

Elk Hunting the Full Moon | Elk101.com | Eat. Sleep. HUNT ELK!

A full moon slowly rises in the eastern sky, lighting the nighttime landscape. Visions of creatures creeping from their hiding places overtakes the mind, and

www.elk101.com

 

[cnelk]

Here is an exercise I did about 5 years ago, but Im sure the data holds somewhat true.

I havent updated my moon/success since then, but we have still killed a pile of elk.

****

I went thru this little exercise with another guy who ran my numbers.

Me and my buddies have taken 22 elk [archery] in the past 10 years [2004 -2014]

16 harvests were in a moon phase of 50% visibility OR LESS [some were new moon, 1st quarter, etc] 6 harvests were in a moon phase of 90% visibility OR MORE [very near or at full moon]and quick research shows 3-4 days on either side of the full moon date have > 90% or more. Shall we say 7 days are 90% or more visibility? And approx 14 days have < 50%

Category Observed Expected # Expected

1 <50% 16 11 50.000%

2 >90% 6 6 27.273%

3 50-90% 0 5 22.727%

Chi squared equals 7.273 with 2 degrees of freedom. The two-tailed P value equals 0.0263

According to the analysis we did better than expected when the moon was dark, about what you would expect near a full moon, and less than you'd expect (zero) when the moon was out but not bright. It shows some evidence that it's better hunting during darker moon, but I wouldn't schedule a hunt around it.

Good luck

 

[Walkersoccer]

Walkersoccer, we are planning on hunting 521 but 52 is available for us to hunt. I'd like to hear your thoughts on 52 as we are flexible, or 521 if you have any experience. I haven't hit my 10 post minimum so I cant PM you. Can you PM me or do I have to hit 10?

I have never hunted 521. 52 has a lot of weekend pressure and road hunters. We are tucked in away from everyone. Have a look up 3100 RD on forest property. You will need to hike in from the road several miles.

 

[smcnellis]

I can attest 52 is better. 521 as a ton of hunters for some reason this year.

 

[Sportsman247]

Hunted same area and actually stayed in Paonia last year for 2nd rifle. Not sure of the exact area you will hunt but what where we hunted it was extremely crowded and ATV/Side by sides ruled the mountain. Beautiful area but just didn't seem to have the number of elk that we have encountered in other areas/units.

 

[Colowhit]

During the bright nights of full moon, pressured elk get more nocturnal.

Elk Hunting the Full Moon | Elk101.com | Eat. Sleep. HUNT ELK!

A full moon slowly rises in the eastern sky, lighting the nighttime landscape. Visions of creatures creeping from their hiding places overtakes the mind, and

www.elk101.com

Thanks for the article elkduds. This is interesting stuff, especially what triggers the rut!

Here is an exercise I did about 5 years ago, but Im sure the data holds somewhat true.

I havent updated my moon/success since then, but we have still killed a pile of elk.

****

I went thru this little exercise with another guy who ran my numbers.

Me and my buddies have taken 22 elk [archery] in the past 10 years [2004 -2014]

16 harvests were in a moon phase of 50% visibility OR LESS [some were new moon, 1st quarter, etc] 6 harvests were in a moon phase of 90% visibility OR MORE [very near or at full moon]and quick research shows 3-4 days on either side of the full moon date have > 90% or more. Shall we say 7 days are 90% or more visibility? And approx 14 days have < 50%

Category Observed Expected # Expected

1 <50% 16 11 50.000%

2 >90% 6 6 27.273%

3 50-90% 0 5 22.727%

Chi squared equals 7.273 with 2 degrees of freedom. The two-tailed P value equals 0.0263

According to the analysis we did better than expected when the moon was dark, about what you would expect near a full moon, and less than you'd expect (zero) when the moon was out but not bright. It shows some evidence that it's better hunting during darker moon, but I wouldn't schedule a hunt around it.

Good luck

Thanks for the analysis of your experience cnelk. Congratulations on your consistent success over the years. That is impressive!

 

[Colowhit]

Based on the feedback from those who are more familiar with the area than I am, it sounds like we may want to look at 52. I had some areas in 521 that we were going to be hiking a couple miles back with no roads or trails but it is a pretty small area. I am going to get on google earth and see what I can do to familiarize myself with 52 and make some decisions.

Thanks again everyone for your feedback, this community is awesome!