Colorado Elk

[PVS31sInTheDark]

So I’m building a house in Colorado now and I’m shifting my focus from fly fishing to hunting for now. My military experience has made me an excellent mission planner. Land Navigation, route planning, terrain association and analysis, imagery, equipment needed, food, water, safety, etc. Planning for hunting will be very similar for me. My training exercises typically involve a 7.5 mile infill at night followed by 48 hours of continuous observation/surveillance. On longer missions we would carry extra water and patrol to the next objective at night, sometimes 3 to 7 miles away. If they really wanted to kick our ass we would have resupply’s (food,water, batteries) staged and do this process again until exfill.

Questions: When elk hunting in Colorado specifically. how do I identify escape routes?

How do you increase your odds finding pockets of elk when pressure is high. Would you rather be patient and wait in escape routes or be on the move?

What are some common mistakes people make after glassing while moving in for the kill besides from the obvious (wind). I would imagine terrain , distance and trees really screw people over... I’ve never stalked elk/deer only humans.

What are some good glassing spot options so you don’t miss out on opportunities. For high elevation, medium and low?

Lastly, what are common mistakes people make when opportunities arise. What are common mistakes people make when they realize their original plan isn’t working out for them?

Scouting is huge but as far as being out there in public land with the pressure being high, elk on the move constantly, trees, draws etc. how do you avoid stupid mistakes?

 

[One-shot]

A couple of thoughts on your post:
1. You clearly have strong organization and planning skills, so these attributes are conducive to avoiding “stupid mistakes” in the field.
2. Spend time in the high country where you plan to hunt and get you’ll get a feel on how and where to a) find and get close to elk, and b) avoid heavily hunted areas. It’s been my experience that most hunters won’t hike in, at any altitude, beyond 2-3 miles. In the area I like to hunt, just hoofing it in 3.5-4.5 miles gets me away from most of the hunters. Note the key word here is ‘most’. Granted, the pack out is harder, but part of the fun/challenge.
3. To err is human. Once I was in perfect position to take a clean shot, squeezed the trigger, and nothing. Forgot to load my single shot Ruger 1. I’ve only made that mistake once.

Good luck to you and just enjoy your time on the mountains, seeing fall colors or snow, and glimpsing various wildlife as hard to think of any ways better to spend time.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Escape routes could be many things, a densely treed slope, a saddle or draw, up and over a mountain, who knows. It's just the nearest most convenient cover or route the Elk might take to get away from...you...or any other predator. Good Elk terrain will likely have several of these options all around, which is why you typically won't see Elk just standing out in the middle of big flat meadows on public ground.

 

[Donjuan]

I can't answer all your questions.
First and foremost, thank you for your service.

As far as avoiding mistakes, the only way to do that is to make them and learn from it.

I would say the biggest mistakes are hunters not being in shape (maybe doesn't apply to you) and not being ready to make an ethical kill from a variety of positions with their weapon
Another would be losing their way when making a stalk. However on x and gps has eliminated some of that.

Escape routes are usually going to be steep nasty stuff that leads to private land.

To be honest, I don't know how to escape pressure in CO. It seems there's always another trailhead within 10 miles and if you go in 5, someone came In 5 the other way.

Glossing points are generally higher elevation. This may sound dumb...but they can be lower too. What I mean is, stand at the bottom of a canyon and enjoy the view! Everyone assumes you have to look top down.

In general, with all types of hunting 2 things apply: the game is where you find it (not where you think it should be) and patience and persistent work are usually rewarded

 

[Next Ridge]

Some of your experience will be very applicable, like physical training, land nav, safety, rehearsing, etc.

But my main advice is to actually not over apply military experience to hunting. Drop the focus on tactics for a bit and pick up biology books. Tactics will then be better applied. Understanding food, water, behavior, environment is more important. Spend time learning how to find elk first and then how to hunt and close on them. That can be different for different areas. For example, elk in the unit I hunt don’t have major escape routes, sure they do what they have to get out danger now, but under pressure they tend to just sit tight like rabbits and people just go past them because they’re “working hard”.

 

[Seamaster]

You hunt elk with your boots and lungs. Wind is important, noise is less important.

The biggest problems I have seen with new elk hunters are not hunting where the elk currently are, and not being ready to shoot without wasting time. Playing with the scope and not being able to get into a solid field shooting position quickly can result in a missed opportunity.

 

[E in CO]

All good points noted so far. Also, don’t get attached to a place where you see elk in the summer while scouting if you will be rifle hunting. That’s ok for archery but I find they move a lot from September to October in many of the places I hunt.

 

[LostArra]

I would suggest watching this video from the Traditional Archery section. Colorado elk hunting looks pretty straight forward to me:
Drive up a narrow road pulling a trailer
Set up camp
Walk across meadow from camp
Buddy calls
Bull responds
You make good shot (caught on video no less)
Elk runs by camp and drops dead
Pack out.
In fairness, I think they did some pre season scouting.

My elk hunt video

I know i said I would do a write up on my elk hunt but i got busy with work and trying to get a deer as well. The wife got my video done first so here is my elk hunt from this season. Feedback welcome!

www.rokslide.com

 

[brsnow]

Mountain winds will mess with the best laid plans. The mistakes are some of the best parts of the experience and how you improve. Time in the mountains and remembering it is supposed to fun are my main focus points.

 

[PVS31sInTheDark]

I am starting to get a better feel for elk hunting after watching some hunting clips. It looks like for the most part I won't necessarily be glassing into meadows but rather into slopes with trees.

As far as finding elk goes, I would imagine this is incredibly difficult when they are call shy. The last thing I would want to do is be noisy and bump some elk away from me. Focusing on glassing into escape routes and transition zones should increase my odds. Imagery should help me plan a good hunt for each day. Now that I understand they like slopes and trees I have a more realistic idea of how I will maneuver around and spend time glassing.

Thank you for all the advice thus far. For those just reading my thread now, I would be extremely grateful to hear some stories or tactics that have been successful in your past.

 

[PVS31sInTheDark]

You hunt elk with your boots and lungs. Wind is important, noise is less important.

The biggest problems I have seen with new elk hunters are not hunting where the elk currently are, and not being ready to shoot without wasting time. Playing with the scope and not being able to get into a solid field shooting position quickly can result in a missed opportunity.

I would imagine most likely the only way of knowing where the elk are at is by knowing the land. Putting in the time year after year and scouting prior to the rut might help for first season. With over the counter tags time spent learning the land will help with judgement on areas to capitalize on escape routes, transition zones, routes to private property when the pressure is on, etc. All the scouting prior to a hunt doesn’t matter if the morning comes of first day of season and they’re not there. Walking defiantly increases your odds but there has to be more to it.

 

[Tsal]

I would imagine most likely the only way of knowing where the elk are at is by knowing the land. Putting in the time year after year and scouting prior to the rut might help for first season. With over the counter tags time spent learning the land will help with judgement on areas to capitalize on escape routes, transition zones, routes to private property when the pressure is on, etc. All the scouting prior to a hunt doesn’t matter if the morning comes of first day of season and they’re not there. Walking defiantly increases your odds but there has to be more to it.

There is more to it. Homework and fitness at the front end; patience and hardwork during the pursuit, and experience throughout are all important. That said, I didn't take a shot this year in 7 days out in Colorado.

 

[PVS31sInTheDark]

All good points noted so far. Also, don’t get attached to a place where you see elk in the summer while scouting if you will be rifle hunting. That’s ok for archery but I find they move a lot from September to October in many of the places I hunt.

What terrain would you put yourself in to be successful on a 2nd season OTC Elk tag?

 

[4rcgoat]

Go............hunt.........enjoy.

 

[TDL]

Go............hunt.........enjoy.

Yes. Also always be prepared to find them where and when you don’t expect to. That’s usually where I find ‘em anyway

 

[TDL]

And I’ll throw out the clique...never leave elk to find elk.
almost forgot, hunt private land

 

[cnelk]

Buy this book - written by a friend of mine here in Colorado.
Good guy, good elk hunter.

Public Land Elk Hunting (Black & White): Dworak, Matthew: 9781492176992: Amazon.com: Books

Public Land Elk Hunting (Black & White) [Dworak, Matthew] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Public Land Elk Hunting (Black & White)

www.amazon.com

 

[Tsal]

What terrain would you put yourself in to be successful on a 2nd season OTC Elk tag?

Depends on the weather/climate for the year, but very generally I would be at treeline wherever I was hunting. Glassing open expanses and the edge of timber, and diving into the timber systematically to check for sign. If there are lots of hunters (assumed because you are talking an OTC tag), go higher and further from roads.

 

[Grant K]

Don't overthink it is good advice, having a plan is good but flexibility helps as well, don't be afraid to throw out the plan if you see a reason to change on the fly, it's really easy to fall into paralysis by analysis if you are obsessed with where the escape routes, movement routes, etc. are, more often than not the elk will break the "rules" and if you are rigid on your approach you will miss them.
I think successful OTC elk hunting is pretty simple, cover ground by foot or glass until you find elk and then plan a stalk and go shoot one, if you are failing at locating elk keep moving, it's helpful to walk where you can see opposing hillsides if possible but whatever you have to do to see is worth the time.
I personally almost never still hunt through an area or sit funnels or feeding areas unless I watched elk go in and I can see all of the exits, elk density isn't all that high, it's entirely too easy to miss them if you are just wandering through an area...

 

[PVS31sInTheDark]

Depends on the weather/climate for the year, but very generally I would be at treeline wherever I was hunting. Glassing open expanses and the edge of timber, and diving into the timber systematically to check for sign. If there are lots of hunters (assumed because you are talking an OTC tag), go higher and further from roads.

This helps !! Especially for pre season scouting