Main elk food source in September at 10-12k feet elevation

[Maverick1]

I’m going out in September for OTC archery in Colorado. I understand elk eat grasses and forbs but what does that mean at timber line high elevation? Should I be looking for open areas with grass along timber? I’m aware I’ll be in some steep country but have not stepped foot in the area yet just e scouting. I’m mainly wanting to know what food source I should be looking for, plenty of water around. I’m planning to head up there at least 2 separate weekends to camp and burn some rubber scouting. I have lots of other areas for backup places with lower elevations around 8-10k. I’ll be staying mobile unless I find elk and then I may bivy in. I can expand more on area in private messages, would rather not drop a google search spot to share with 500 friends.

You know….I’ve killed 15 elk with the bow in the last 15 seasons. (Mostly hunting OTC units, with a few draw tags over those years.). I’ve never killed any of those elk over a food source or given it much thought. (I’ve heard them eating acorns and seen them eating aspen leaves when I’ve gotten in close a few times, but that was way into the mountains without any openings nearby.)

I focus instead on their likely bedding areas and movement patterns, using the predictable daily patterns of rising and falling thermals.

After my first couple of years hunting the edges of large meadows and openings (like hunting deer) I haven’t gone back to those techniques. IME elk weren’t using those areas during legal shooting hours, and on the exceptionally rare occasion they were, I had no way to either intercept them on the way there, sneak up on them when they were in the open, or have a chance of calling them close enough to my position for a shot with the bow.

 

[ElkNut1]

Maverick1 - Now this is spot on by this poster. I too have never considered food sources during breeding/rutting times, I could care less! In arid country I do consider water sources of all sorts but that;s about it. For me, I call to locate, once located the hunt now begins!​

ElkNut

 

[SilentPursuit]

You know….I’ve killed 15 elk with the bow in the last 15 seasons. (Mostly hunting OTC units, with a few draw tags over those years.). I’ve never killed any of those elk over a food source or given it much thought. (I’ve heard them eating acorns and seen them eating aspen leaves when I’ve gotten in close a few times, but that was way into the mountains without any openings nearby.)

I focus instead on their likely bedding areas and movement patterns, using the predictable daily patterns of rising and falling thermals.

After my first couple of years hunting the edges of large meadows and openings (like hunting deer) I haven’t gone back to those techniques. IME elk weren’t using those areas during legal shooting hours, and on the exceptionally rare occasion they were, I had no way to either intercept them on the way there, sneak up on them when they were in the open, or have a chance of calling them close enough to my position for a shot with the bow.

Thanks, I’ll definitely do some research on how to find bedding areas. I know there’s a specific slop degree range they like I just can’t remember it right off hand. I assume with pressure they might change bedding areas and habits?

 

[Poser]

Thanks, I’ll definitely do some research on how to find bedding areas. I know there’s a specific slop degree range they like I just can’t remember it right off hand. I assume with pressure they might change bedding areas and habits?

2 years ago, I walked right up on (both startled each other) a huge bull bedded on a 40 degree slope. He was in a tiny mule deer bed up against a tree trunk. No idea how he fit. I was plowing down the hill to get some water and he stood up right in front of me. I thought he was going to gore me for a second. After he bounded off, I looked at the 2x3’ foot bed and couldn’t make sense of how he was laying in it. That, of course, is an extreme exception, but don’t dismiss the steep stuff as a place elk won’t bed. They do like their benches and flat areas, but they also move around a lot and will bed in between. I find bedding areas relatively easy to identify, you go there and can easily determine that elk have and do bed there, but your odds of showing up to actually find elk there may be 1:10 depending on how much available there is.

 

[SilentPursuit]

I’m definitely working on my calling skills, once located is stalking the best when solo? I figured cows will be where the food is at which means bulls won’t be far away.

Maverick1 - Now this is spot on by this poster. I too have never considered food sources during breeding/rutting times, I could care less! In arid country I do consider water sources of all sorts but that;s about it. For me, I call to locate, once located the hunt now begins!​

ElkNut

 

[SilentPursuit]

2 years ago, I walked right up on (both startled each other) a huge bull bedded on a 40 degree slope. He was in a tiny mule deer bed up against a tree trunk. No idea how he fit. I was plowing down the hill to get some water and he stood up right in front of me. I thought he was going to gore me for a second. After he bounded off, I looked at the 2x3’ foot bed and couldn’t make sense of how he was laying in it. That, of course, is an extreme exception, but don’t dismiss the steep stuff as a place elk won’t bed. They do like their benches and flat areas, but they also move around a lot and will bed in between. I find bedding areas relatively easy to identify, you go there and can easily determine that elk have and do bed there, but your odds of showing up to actually find elk there may be 1:10 depending on how much available there is.

I have been in some bedding areas out here but had a hard time determining if it was deer elk or moose bedding to be honest.

 

[Beendare]

To be quite honest......it's September bow hunting during the rut or pre-rut. You'll find elk above timberline all the way down into the cedars and pinon's. I could care less what they're actually eating.

Yeah, no kidding...and what they are eating won't be the primary factor to consider

 

[ElkNut1]

Unless you are hunting around agriculture areas with alfalfa fields & the such don't worry about what they eat! In Sept feed is everywhere & elk can & do move around with hunting & predator pressure. so they do not go to the same spot daily or weekly, it can be a crap shoot!

Locating bedding areas can be found in several ways! The most productive when hunting timbered country with few openings is calling. (Primarily Bugling is best) Bugles can reach out a long ways. If you hear bugles the 1st hour of light or before then elk are in their feeding area. Once it gets 9 a.m. & later elk are in or near bedding area for the day. This is where they are most vulnerable in timbered mountainous country. I do not walk into the bedding areas but hunt the perimeter of it instead. I call them out of there & make them come to me when no breeding is happening which is most days! (grin)

In more open less mountainous country with juniper, pinion, cedars & sage you will find elk will be in random areas to bed & are easier pushed out by hunters or other bulls, They are tougher to call in but it is possible. I prefer calling elk in cover over glassing & stalking, just my preference.

ElkNut

 

[Dos Perros]

They feed more in the timber than you would think, and later into the morning than you would think.

Even in burned areas that look like moonscape, but maybe every 12 feet there is a little dandelion...they'll feed in there too.

They'll be out in the open more at night and early morning and then feed into the timber with the sun.

 

[mobohunter]

You know….I’ve killed 15 elk with the bow in the last 15 seasons. (Mostly hunting OTC units, with a few draw tags over those years.). I’ve never killed any of those elk over a food source or given it much thought. (I’ve heard them eating acorns and seen them eating aspen leaves when I’ve gotten in close a few times, but that was way into the mountains without any openings nearby.)

I focus instead on their likely bedding areas and movement patterns, using the predictable daily patterns of rising and falling thermals.

After my first couple of years hunting the edges of large meadows and openings (like hunting deer) I haven’t gone back to those techniques. IME elk weren’t using those areas during legal shooting hours, and on the exceptionally rare occasion they were, I had no way to either intercept them on the way there, sneak up on them when they were in the open, or have a chance of calling them close enough to my position for a shot with the bow.

@hubbs77, go down a rabbit hole, find the thread on rokslide, get checked back into lane

 

[SilentPursuit]

Unless you are hunting around agriculture areas with alfalfa fields & the such don't worry about what they eat! In Sept feed is everywhere & elk can & do move around with hunting & predator pressure. so they do not go to the same spot daily or weekly, it can be a crap shoot!

Locating bedding areas can be found in several ways! The most productive when hunting timbered country with few openings is calling. (Primarily Bugling is best) Bugles can reach out a long ways. If you hear bugles the 1st hour of light or before then elk are in their feeding area. Once it gets 9 a.m. & later elk are in or near bedding area for the day. This is where they are most vulnerable in timbered mountainous country. I do not walk into the bedding areas but hunt the perimeter of it instead. I call them out of there & make them come to me when no breeding is happening which is most days! (grin)

In more open less mountainous country with juniper, pinion, cedars & sage you will find elk will be in random areas to bed & are easier pushed out by hunters or other bulls, They are tougher to call in but it is possible. I prefer calling elk in cover over glassing & stalking, just my preference.

ElkNut

When solo are you calling and then moving up to position? Or do you try and call away from the elk to make it seem farther away? Thats some great info I really appreciate it, and just to confirm they would be bedding on north slopes to help regulate with heat.

 

[SilentPursuit]

They feed more in the timber than you would think, and later into the morning than you would think.

Even in burned areas that look like moonscape, but maybe every 12 feet there is a little dandelion...they'll feed in there too.

They'll be out in the open more at night and early morning and then feed into the timber with the sun.

Great info, I assume they feed more in the timber when the sun is out to help regulate heat?

 

[Dos Perros]

Great info, I assume they feed more in the timber when the sun is out to help regulate heat?

That probably plays into it, but I think it's also about security. The may feed in the open at night and then as the sun comes up make their way to bedding, and as they get there slow down and mosey around a feed a little bit more before they actually plop down. I've seen them bed and then get up and move around feeding throughout the day. And then also get up and slowly move along feeding in the afternoon/evening before making a bigger move to where they might water and feed at night.

I used to think of archery elk like a post-rut whitetail hunter, thinking they didn't do anything after the sun comes up and before it goes behind the horizon...but in my experience they are way more active than that during the day.

 

[cnelk]

I’ve seen elk drop 1000’ + in the evenings and work their way back up before daylight.

The main food source can be anywhere along that route, or maybe at the bottom in the middle of the night.

 

[Gotcha_]

I have found the opposite to be true...
Where I'm going this year will have 10-20 trucks at the wilderness trailhead guaranteed, they're gonna push the elk right out to me by the road.

So Just hang in the truck and have a mcgriddle?

 

[Silverback]

Unless you are hunting around agriculture areas with alfalfa fields & the such don't worry about what they eat! In Sept feed is everywhere & elk can & do move around with hunting & predator pressure. so they do not go to the same spot daily or weekly, it can be a crap shoot!

Locating bedding areas can be found in several ways! The most productive when hunting timbered country with few openings is calling. (Primarily Bugling is best) Bugles can reach out a long ways. If you hear bugles the 1st hour of light or before then elk are in their feeding area. Once it gets 9 a.m. & later elk are in or near bedding area for the day. This is where they are most vulnerable in timbered mountainous country. I do not walk into the bedding areas but hunt the perimeter of it instead. I call them out of there & make them come to me when no breeding is happening which is most days! (grin)

In more open less mountainous country with juniper, pinion, cedars & sage you will find elk will be in random areas to bed & are easier pushed out by hunters or other bulls, They are tougher to call in but it is possible. I prefer calling elk in cover over glassing & stalking, just my preference.

ElkNut

Man everything I’ve read online and listened to in podcasts say OTC elk are super call-shy. Is that not your experience?

 

[philson208]

elk are focused on quantity over quality of food. The only reason I would key in on where they are feeding is to try and put myself in between the bedding and feeding in hopes of a nice ambush. I have had better luck with targeting bedding areas midday.

 

[ElkNut1]

Silverback, Don't believe everything you read!​

Most hunters that share info as what you've heard are full of crap! Calling is key when hunting mountainous terrain as opposed to open country elk. I'm not a huge glasser of elk but prefer the thicker country many elk inhabit. To each his own. 35 elk in 31 years on OTC tags with most being call-ins. I'll stick with what works. My success stems from understanding the elk language, don't fix what's not broke! Good luck!

ElkNut

 

[Silverback]

Silverback, Don't believe everything you read!​

Most hunters that share info as what you've heard are full of crap! Calling is key when hunting mountainous terrain as opposed to open country elk. I'm not a huge glasser of elk but prefer the thicker country many elk inhabit. To each his own. 35 elk in 31 years on OTC tags with most being call-ins. I'll stick with what works. My success stems from understanding the elk language, don't fix what's not broke! Good luck!

ElkNut

Appreciate the insight. My first year going, so gonna be figuring it all out as I go.

 

[SilentPursuit]

Silverback, Don't believe everything you read!​

Most hunters that share info as what you've heard are full of crap! Calling is key when hunting mountainous terrain as opposed to open country elk. I'm not a huge glasser of elk but prefer the thicker country many elk inhabit. To each his own. 35 elk in 31 years on OTC tags with most being call-ins. I'll stick with what works. My success stems from understanding the elk language, don't fix what's not broke! Good luck!

ElkNut

This is great advice, I have been practicing my calling nonstop in hopes to be proficient by September. Are you solo hunting and calling? If so any tips? I have herd to try and throw the call so it sounds gather away and then move up for setup. I have changed the area I’ll be hunting but still in a wilderness area but with some better elk numbers. I’ll be hiking in about 3 miles and setting up a camp. If I see no sign or hear nothing I’ll be moving out in the dark and going to backup areas. Sounds like it’s gonna be a zoo with the announcement of no nonresident OTC next year.