Colorado Rut Timing This year?

[rockymountainjk]

Elk fanatics, I’m curious what everyone’s experience was this September in CO as far as peak rut. I hunted units 36 and 371 1st, 2nd, and last week of the season. I heard more bugles the first week then the second, and more the second than currently this week, but I’m still finding mature bulls with small herds. What was your experience this month? Thx!

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Depends on what part of the state you are in. The northern part will usually start a little before the southern area because of the weather. This year the deer rut was so late that we are seeing 2 batches of fawns. I saw triplets yesterday that were just getting rid of their spots!

 

[bbkick25]

Quietest last week of September I have experienced in the past several years. I'm still wondering if it was just timing or if there was more pressure early in the month before we got there. Same experience from 4 other groups I know that were there and usually have success. SW Colorado

 

[Phaseolus]

I was in Colorado Unit 61 a couple of days ago hunting grouse and fall turkey. They were screaming all day.

 

[Poser]

I've been out bear hunting quite a bit in SW Colorado. Lots and lots of elk bugling before first light over the last 2 weeks. Starts dying down as sunrise approaches and some vocal activity up until around 8-9 AM, but, I often practice some elk calling without a bugle around mid morning while bear hunting and I've called in bulls every day I've been out. Herds are still fragmented into smaller groups -no consolidation and most of the bugling coming from younger bulls. Cows are still largely disinterested.

All seems pretty normal for this time of year in this area.

 

[patagonialuke]

This season was far quieter than the last where I am in western CO. My notes from 20 days on the ground:

First Week: Heard 3 bulls bugle on their own on 3 separate mornings; each was coralling their cows like it was the peak rut. But we never got a bull to respond to our calls with a bugle.

Second Week: Got 1 bull to respond to an early locator bugle. Heard 1 other bull bugle while moving his cows around dusk, and 1 mature bull growling but not bugling. Very quiet.

Third Week: 1 mature bull grunting and glunking but never fully bugled. No bulls audibly responded to calls. I thought this would be the week they'd turn on, but it was the opposite.

Fourth Week: Ramped up a bit. Have heard 4 bulls bugling at their cows early / late in the day. Still no bulls responding to our bugles.

Will be back out today and tomorrow, but this season has been tough due to lack of vocalizations in a unit that isn't conducive to spot-and-stalk approaches. We've also only run into a single bull that didn't already have cows with him; even spikes and the tiniest legal bulls I've seen have had harems the whole month.

All that said, a friend hunting a unit ~50 miles south of me said they've been calling in bulls almost every day they've been out.

 

[Gerbdog]

Had elk come in quiet all the way to the end of september - answered my location bugles but then would sneak in, up til this very last weekend is my experience. Not bugling there heads off.

I also found bachelor groups still this last weekend of September, strange to me, but my experience is only one dudes experience over some years. These were bachelor groups containing what would definitely be herd bulls and shoulda been battling eachother for supremacy. I saw nor heard any cows and saw nor heard and bulls with cows.

 

[Chris in TN]

I have a theory - because biology will 100% bear this out with whitetails and I suspect that elk are the same - that the rut pretty much always happens at the same time/date every year in any given location, but weather and pressure have an influence on individual animals and sometimes make small changes to the rates at which cows are successfully bred the first time, causing a variable degree of need for a second or third rut later. But most of us only see an incredibly narrow window into the 'rut' every year, whether it's elk or deer or any other ungulate. Maybe elk are pressured into being quiet, maybe they get pushed around by hunters or wolves and fewer cows get pregnant the first go-round but overall I'd be willing to bet that if you looked at spring calf drop dates and counted back the gestation period to first-round conception dates, you'd be within a day or three of the same date as previous years at any given location every time.

I could be wrong.

I'll just say that every year here in the east people will breathlessly ask each other if the rut has started yet, and it always, without fail, for all of my lifetime, always has done so at the same dates, within a day or three.

 

[Poser]

I have a theory - because biology will 100% bear this out with whitetails and I suspect that elk are the same - that the rut pretty much always happens at the same time/date every year in any given location, but weather and pressure have an influence on individual animals and sometimes make small changes to the rates at which cows are successfully bred the first time, causing a variable degree of need for a second or third rut later. But most of us only see an incredibly narrow window into the 'rut' every year, whether it's elk or deer or any other ungulate. Maybe elk are pressured into being quiet, maybe they get pushed around by hunters or wolves and fewer cows get pregnant the first go-round but overall I'd be willing to bet that if you looked at spring calf drop dates and counted back the gestation period to first-round conception dates, you'd be within a day or three of the same date as previous years at any given location every time.

I could be wrong.

I'll just say that every year here in the east people will breathlessly ask each other if the rut has started yet, and it always, without fail, for all of my lifetime, always has done so at the same dates, within a day or three.

This is correct. The breeding cycles were established during the last ice age when calves had to be born within a narrow 2 week window or their chances of survivability dropped to zero. ~10,000 years hasn't been enough time to change that biological imperative. Rut timing is almost exactly the same frame in the same areas from year to year. Weather, moon phases etc influence more of what hunters witness and therefore perceive. Bull to cow ratio could also be a factor as well as major disruption to any given herd -getting broken up and separated during the breeding, herd bull getting killed etc -those factors could spread breeding out longer than usual or breeding could be highly condensed. Regardless, estrous cycles aren't driven by weather or moon phases -its the amount of daylight.

Every year, everywhere I've ever hunted, without fail, I always hear the same comments about the "rut being weird this year." Makes one wonder what a normal rut is and who has experienced it? Some years, your season dates, your time off, weather, moon phases, and being in the right place at the right time align perfectly to experience rutting activity during daylight hours. Other years, not so much. When it comes to elk hunting, some people hear bugling and pronounce that the rut is on. What they don't realize is that elk are vocal year around. I've heard a slope full of screaming bulls in July. There can be rutting with lots of bugling, there can be rutting wiih no bugling, there can be bugling with or without rutting.

 

[cnelk]

Lots of the elk rut happens after dark - and especially in Colorado the 2 weeks of the ‘Quiet Time’

 

[Hank]

This is correct. The breeding cycles were established during the last ice age when calves had to be born within a narrow 2 week window or their chances of survivability dropped to zero. ~10,000 years hasn't been enough time to change that biological imperative. Rut timing is almost exactly the same frame in the same areas from year to year. Weather, moon phases etc influence more of what hunters witness and therefore perceive. Bull to cow ratio could also be a factor as well as major disruption to any given herd -getting broken up and separated during the breeding, herd bull getting killed etc -those factors could spread breeding out longer than usual or breeding could be highly condensed. Regardless, estrous cycles aren't driven by weather or moon phases -its the amount of daylight.

Every year, everywhere I've ever hunted, without fail, I always hear the same comments about the "rut being weird this year." Makes one wonder what a normal rut is and who has experienced it? Some years, your season dates, your time off, weather, moon phases, and being in the right place at the right time align perfectly to experience rutting activity during daylight hours. Other years, not so much. When it comes to elk hunting, some people hear bugling and pronounce that the rut is on. What they don't realize is that elk are vocal year around. I've heard a slope full of screaming bulls in July. There can be rutting with lots of bugling, there can be rutting wiih no bugling, there can be bugling with or without rutting.

It is true a cow’s estrous cycle is initiated primarily by photoperiod. However, it’s her body condition that ultimately determines when, or even if, she can support a pregnancy. If her nutritional status is poor going into fall, she may delay entering estrus or not enter at all. Years with significant drought or poor forage, this can lead to a noticeable shift in the timing of the breeding/rutting, with some cows entering estrus later than usual or not at all. This is what ensures the cows survival. Only cows that are fit enough to carry a calf to term will breed. So no the rut, is not at the same time every year.

 

[Desert_Muley]

I was up in the Northwest part of CO the second week and did not hear or see a single elk. Very disappointing.

 

[chuckD]

They are ripping in SW Colorado now. Some very accurate comments above. Pressure surely influences typical patterns and behaviors.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Had a very quiet and short season so not much help, but my experience is there is rut happening somewhere in the unit in hunting in Sept, now if I’m close enough to hear it/ engage is one thing

 

[Coveyleader]

Had a very quiet and short season so not much help, but my experience is there is rut happening somewhere in the unit in hunting in Sept, now if I’m close enough to hear it/ engage is one thing

This for sure! unfortunately my legs didn't get me there this year. Everything was quiet where I was. I've been on a few 1st rifle hunts with friends, and that 10 days of nobody in the woods can do some magical things come opening morning. Taking candy from a baby.

 

[Hnthrdr]

This for sure! unfortunately my legs didn't get me there this year. Everything was quiet where I was. I've been on a few 1st rifle hunts with friends, and that 10 days of nobody in the woods can do some magical things come opening morning. Taking candy from a baby.

If I was lord protector of the CPW for a day. I would absolutely move muzzleloader from Sept and replace 1st rifle with muzzle loader. Taking candy from a baby is an understatement.

 

[Coveyleader]

If I was lord protector of the CPW for a day. I would absolutely move muzzleloader from Sept and replace 1st rifle with muzzle loader. Taking candy from a baby is an understatement.

I hear you. Never been a fan of ML in the archery season since I almost got shot with a guy using a ML with a scope on it some years back. Wrong place, wrong time almost cost me big time, and I'm not kidding I was seconds from eating lead.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I hear you. Never been a fan of ML in the archery season since I almost got shot with a guy using a ML with a scope on it some years back. Wrong place, wrong time almost cost me big time, and I'm not kidding I was seconds from eating lead.

I love archery! But I’m a generalist, I will pick up my smokepole with a short time line like I had this year, but yeah I fully admit it shouldn’t be in Sept. heck even with iron sights modern muzzys can get to 150-200 without much fuss

 

[patagonialuke]

In what felt like a fitting end to a weirdly quiet season for me, the elk here flipped a switch for the final 2 days of the month; multiple herds with all bulls bugling throughout each day. Wasn't able to seal the deal, but was grateful to be chasing bugling elk during the final seconds of the season.

 

[hunthikecamp]

Northern CO (and like others have said, this is really only a couple square miles within 1 unit so i'm sure it varies widely, but this was my experience):

1st weekend- Hot and quiet. I don't have enough experience to say if/what moon phase means but if it was bright enough to feed at night, I would be too. I maybe heard one or two faint bugles in the AM but hard to tell if it was an elk or a guy down in the drainage on the trail. Never laid eyes on a legal bull.

2nd weekend - much more bugling activity in the AM and some throughout the day as well. They were responsive to cow calls but usually bugles or any aggressive bull behavior would push them off of they'd go quiet. This was an area with a lot of younger bulls as well so it's possible they just didn't want to mess with it. Didn't see any activity from any more mature 6 pt bulls yet.

3rd weekend - Bugling pretty much all day and I could usually fire them back up if they went quiet by getting close and cow calling. Bugles would get responses and i could go back and forth, but I still found cow calls way more effective for just sneaking my way in and peaking their interest (solo hunting). Saw some more activity from the more mature bulls as well, they were still kindof waiting, the smaller bulls had the cows still but the mature bulls were at least in the mix now, buying their time before they run the little guys off.


Unfortunately had to leave the woods early after that 3rd weekend, but I'm heading back up that way this weekend for some grouse hunting and the maiden voyage of the Seek Outside to prep for rifle season so I'll be curious to see what it's like. I've heard bulls bugling in the early morning as late as the weekend between 1st and 2nd rifle in the past.

Can't believe September is over already...