NW Colorado

[blicero]

Anybody doing archery in NW Colorado and have any info on how bad (or not bad) the winter kill looks to be turning out?

 

[Iowafarmer]

Local guy from Meeker said not high winter kill there more up by Craig and north of there he said it was a winter like they had when he was young

 

[gwtravis]

My buddy said he was shocked by how many deer he saw the last week of August including some very good bucks. Normal year for elk from what he said.

 

[greenBastrd]

Take it for what it’s worth. Lots of dead heads and complaining in FB groups for that area. Archers saying they’ve never heard it so quiet. Bulls still in velvet, no satellite bulls, etc.

I have a 4th rifle tag in 13 and I’m in agony waiting to see what’s there by thanksgiving

 

[Frontier Mulie]

Take it for what it is worth. Hunted unit 22 early archery season. Saw one small rag horn that came into blind cow calls (only elk we saw). Hunted 7 days and saw a couple sets of cow/calf tracks. Did not hear a single bugle. Not sure if it was winterkill or just hot early season. Local cowboy that we talked to said they had a lot of winter kill but we did not see any deadheads and we covered a lot of area. Only saw 4 mule deer also again not sure the reason for this. First time in the unit but area looked like very good elk habitat. Lots of grass and plenty of water around.

 

[blicero]

Closing out my own thread; in my experience, it was pretty thin compared to previous years. We saw very little sign, heard no bugles despite being there at what should have been primetime for rut.

Talked to a local outfitter who said it was the worst he'd seen it in decades. He said that many of the elk that didn't die over the winter were too weak to migrate to the high country like normal and many just stayed where they were.

Just my two cents, good luck everybody.

 

[RO1459]

Closing out my own thread; in my experience, it was pretty thin compared to previous years. We saw very little sign, heard no bugles despite being there at what should have been primetime for rut.

Talked to a local outfitter who said it was the worst he'd seen it in decades. He said that many of the elk that didn't die over the winter were too weak to migrate to the high country like normal and many just stayed where they were.

Just my two cents, good luck everybody.

I spoke with a long time outfitter in area 12 last night and was told the same thing. Not sure if the kill was the culprit or the warm weather, but they are seeing very few elk this year.

I'll be up there for third season and am hoping the weather will cool down and bring what elk there are down to the 9,000 ft level.

Best of luck to all hunters this year and especially those hunting in NW Colorado.

 

[greenBastrd]

Closing out my own thread; in my experience, it was pretty thin compared to previous years. We saw very little sign, heard no bugles despite being there at what should have been primetime for rut.

Talked to a local outfitter who said it was the worst he'd seen it in decades. He said that many of the elk that didn't die over the winter were too weak to migrate to the high country like normal and many just stayed where they were.

Just my two cents, good luck everybody.

This checks out. I’m hunting private land in 13 4th rifle and the word has been that there are plenty of elk that never moved out. Hope for my sake it’s true but makes it even harder on guys right now who aren’t holding a permission slip for a ranch under 9k feet

 

[greenomics]

Just my luck. Book first elk hunt well in advance and get kicked in the nuts by mother nature

 

[greenBastrd]

Just my luck. Book first elk hunt well in advance and get kicked in the nuts by mother nature

Man me too. I’ve been footing around for years and finally went for it. Couldn’t have been worse timing trying to make the best of it! GL

 

[cnelk]

Hell, all you gotta do is look at the turned back tags for NW Colorado each week to figure it out.