From Colorado

[L.M._Rog]

As I sit here in camp these mountains and the elk have put a whooping on me. Opening day called in a bachelor group of bulls that just wouldn’t commit, and it was comprised of a 6x, 5x and two 4x bulls that stayed out around 70 yards. They split and my cousin and I located the two smaller bulls again and got them to within 50 but still no shots. Skunked yesterday and today we jumped a bull out of his bed, he let us get to 25 yards before he crashed out and scared the crap out of both of us. I haven’t heard what I believe to be a bull bugling yet this season. What about everyone else in Colorado as far as bugling?


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[Gerbdog]

First few days the bulls were bugling like crazy for me, and all through the night, and the wind busted me out on 3 occasions... the crap weather and .... well yea. Made for unpredictable wind. Pretty miffed, being sulky and came home after i found 2 hunters (good dudes, gave them some tips for the area and exchanged numbers, hope they get a good bull and send me a photo) on my favorite wallow this morning so.... lick the wounds, pull my big boy pants on and head back out in a few days. Sorry, yea, this was in CO.

Wanna edit this and clarify : They were location bugling all day long from their beds, i wouldnt call this fired up, rut time lets boogie bugling (except one bull who just wouldnt shut up and went off at every broken twig but wouldnt budge either and wouldnt actually respond to my bugles). I was pretty surprised they were willing to talk and respond though this early even to location bugles mid day, last year i had to get them to tell me where they were before the sun came up, this year, at least the first few days, they were still talking to me mid afternoon.

 

[isocyanate]

I’m chomping at the bit to get out there too! Got two more days at work then 18 hours of driving. Sounds like you had plenty of good action so far!


What elevation did you find them?

 

[Gerbdog]

I’m chomping at the bit to get out there too! Got two more days at work then 18 hours of driving. Sounds like you had plenty of good action so far!


What elevation did you find them?

Well this hunting spot is 10k to above treeline and the elk were over that entire range. I didnt hear any down lower but... thats probably more a function of the hunting spot and the available elevation to be present in...

 

[L.M._Rog]

We’ve hunted everything from 9k - 11k. With all the rain the area got on August 31st and 1st of September it’s been more difficult to pattern them


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[Wingshooter]

Good luck out there I don't leave until the 17th.

 

[L.M._Rog]

Head back east tomorrow, we ended our hunt with some great encounters and a better understanding of the hunt area. We saw a total of 7 bulls and not one wanted to give an opportunity for a shot. Everything was silent which to me felt the pre rut just hasn’t picked up yet. I’ll run the mountains again in the future but my 2021 elk hunt has sadly come to an end.

Good luck to everyone that’s still hard at it!


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[Andyman10]

LM, sounds like you at least had some really cool experiences — bummer that you didn’t tag out though. I’ve been getting ready for a mid-Sept muzzie tag, and they’ve been pretty quiet so far while scouting. They don’t seem to have broken up out of the main herds yet, so I’m hoping they do that more this week, and they should be a little easier to find after they spread out a bit.