Elk tag blues…

[Phaseolus]

Maybe, maybe not, or maybe both in the same week

 

[JeffRaines]

there is a lot of truth to this.... if i was elk hunting out of state, i would be looking for lower success rate areas, because they will be less attractive to those basing their out of state hunts on e-scouting, which in theory means less people. my home unit hovers around 4% success rate, and i have had a lot of great hunting there, it's a good unit (relatively) but looks terrible on paper.... it's pretty crazy seeing the pressure, then looking at the stats and wondering what the heck all of those hunters are doing?

 

[Still Hunter]

Go hunt. Too many "if ands and buts", none of us have a "Crystal Ball".
It is all about being at the right place at the right time and you never know when that might be.
Old Wise Indian Wisdom... "Shoot ...Maybe...no Shoot, NO Maybe"...

 

[Overdrive]

All good stuff, thank you.
CO 2nd this year is later and basically 3rd season timing this year. Hard to guess weather, but in a zone that is mostly 10k and up, is this going to be too high by then? Will it be snowed in?

Snow can be really good or really bad, I personally prefer getting a good storm it pushes the Elk around and they tend to feed later in the morning and come out earlier in the evening. The Elk will move down so look for those migration routes.
I spend a lot of time behind glass through all seasons, but when the snow hits I'm not just looking for Elk themselves, but can pick up their tracks from great distances too. For me glassing is the most important tool so I'm not wasting time in areas that aren't holding Elk.

 

[Cplace]

I know, storms and snow are great for elk hunting, I prefer it too. Just that CO, and in particular, a zone I’m looking at, is on another level, literally, high altitude. I was thinking high altitude = too much snow= elk pushed down onto private/other units. Probably overthinking it.
That Star Wars thing is funny, can see it acted out perfectly.

 

[ChrisAU]

I'd much rather be in the mountains competing with a few other hunters than not be in the mountains at all. If anything, getting some boots on the ground with rifle in hand will be invaluable if you want to come back to hunt the area 1R next year. In 2018 I went for 2R for the first time ever, in 2019 I killed the bull in my avatar in the same area in 1R, and in 2020 my buddy killed a 5x5 in the same spot I killed mine at.

 

[Cplace]

Headed out next week for 2nd rifle Colorado elk. Good luck to all in the woods!!