Snow has me worried

[Chad44]

Will these storms we are having in Colorado push the Bulls low? I'm hunting 1st rifle in 76 and planned on them still being high but now I'm worried this weather will push them lower. I've read mixed opinions. Some say it takes a lot to push Bulls off the mountain and some say it doesn't take much. What do you guys think?
Thanks

 

[hobbes]

It takes a lot to push bulls off the mountain.....but....that's not to say that you can't find them low also.

 

[justin davis]

I think it takes a lot. I have a friend who killed a 350" bull at 13,000 ft during third season. Bull was using wind blown spots to feed. But my buddy said it was waist deep snow gettin to the bull.

Some elk stay high almost year round. Some stay low year round and some go in between.

 

[Vids]

I think it takes a lot as well. I've heard they will stay high until they can't even kick their way to food, like around 2 feet deep.

 

[Chad44]

Awesome. Glad to here that. Thanks

 

[mt100gr.]

Unless it really piles up the bulls should be high. I have read 3 to 4 feet to MAKE them come down....less might make them think about it, and some probably will come down a bit, but as a rule, until it really gets deep (picture them plowing through chest deep snow) they seem to want to stay up high.

 

[Bar]

This recent snow is not enough to move bulls. We're also going to get warmer dry weather for the next 10 days. It should melt off a lot of what we just got.

 

[ckleeves]

I'm gonna disagree. I hunt lots of timberline elk during archery season and I have put my wife in for 1st season tags thinking I would know where a few monsters were from a month of archery hunting them but by the time 1st season rolls around the timberline basins/dark timber right below them are pretty much empty.

I know guys that have killed big bulls extremely high during the rifle seasons but it is the exception to the rule. I wish they did stay that high, it would be very easy to kill a big bull with a rifle if they did.

It really depends on what your calling high and low in unit 76.

 

[hobbes]

I don't think there is any rule set in stone but in my short 5 yrs in CO i never saw snow move them between archery and 1st rifle. They moved sometimes but it wasn't due to snow. I do remember scouting for my wifes 1st rifle in 6" of snow and watching a big herd bull with aa dozen or so cows above treeline the evening before season. However they were well across unit boundaries and were off limits.

 

[Chad44]

Low of 9k high of 13500.

 

[Bar]

I'm gonna disagree. I hunt lots of timberline elk during archery season and I have put my wife in for 1st season tags thinking I would know where a few monsters were from a month of archery hunting them but by the time 1st season rolls around the timberline basins/dark timber right below them are pretty much empty.

I know guys that have killed big bulls extremely high during the rifle seasons but it is the exception to the rule. I wish they did stay that high, it would be very easy to kill a big bull with a rifle if they did.

It really depends on what your calling high and low in unit 76.

I'll have to disagree with you too. Mature bulls after the rut will be off to themselves in deep timber trying to recuperate from the rut. You won't see them like you will during bow season, but they're there. You just need to go in, and find them.

 

[ckleeves]

I'll have to disagree with you too. Mature bulls after the rut will be off to themselves in deep timber trying to recuperate from the rut. You won't see them like you will during bow season, but they're there. You just need to go in, and find them.

So do you think more bulls % wise winter higher or lower than cows in the same area?

Post rut I have absolutely no trouble finding them I'm just sharing my experience with hunting them in the exact same areas they were in. I never said if she filled those bull tags or not.

 

[justin davis]

So do you think more bulls % wise winter higher or lower than cows in the same area?

Post rut I have absolutely no trouble finding them I'm just sharing my experience with hunting them in the exact same areas they were in. I never said if she filled those bull tags or not.

My personal opinion is that bulls winter higher than cows. But not too far away. Bulls will just find a hideout and be very hard to find. Often living in a very small area and not moving very far from it.

I am a Bowhunter. But have friends who kill bulls at treeline 1st rifle year after year. The treeline in my area is 10,500.

I am always out in the woods from time to time and see bulls and cows above timberline during 2 nd season.

 

[Bar]

Justin beat me to it, but I agree with what he said 100%.

 

[thejones]

Elk are where you find them. Some move with snow, but others move in along the migration path. I think it takes a lot to move them, I think you will be fine. I'm watching it snow right now outside, but in colorado it could be 70 degrees and blue sky tomorrow.
I say still to your plan.

 

[bbrown]

Same here - I literally hunt and guide on the the backside of 76 and we hunt the same bulls to some extent - 1st rifle is our most productive season. Sure the big bulls pull off the herds and look for seclusion to recoup for winter but this snow will not be the reason you find them any lower.

I have a 1st rifle tag in the neighboring unit to the north and have a basin/drainage picked out that is up high and I will be there opening morning. The only things that will change that plan are FEET of snow (mainly because I doubt I can get back there) or if the lil one my wife and I are expecting decides to make an early entrance. Hoping both hold out for a couple weeks yet - ha!

 

[Bar]

Exactly. It's not the snow that stops elk. It's the snow that stops us. Trying to pack out elk in 2 ft of snow is only for a few, and i'm not one of them anymore.

 

[Chad44]

Thanks for the replies. I'm stoked! This is my first rifle elk hunt. I usually go in for archery. Good luck everyone.

 

[Bar]

I'm looking out my window right now, and it snowed pretty good up high. I'm looking at a 14,000 ft peak, and snow looks to be down about to 9000-10,000ft. As I said though. It will start to melt off from here on. I don't see any moisture for 10 days in my area which is the Buena Vista area.

 

[5MilesBack]

I rifle hunted for years, and almost every one of those seasons I was hunting at 11k and up. There were only a couple years when I didn't get my elk, I've even taken cows in 2 feet of snow near timberline.