Has anyone seen any Elk - TIME SENSITIVE

[hopeisnotastrategy]

I am hunting elk in Colorado with a very experienced Colorado elk hunter. We have been hunting Units 44 and 35 and so far we have not seen a single elk. We have friends hunting in other areas who have also yet to see a single elk.

We've seen plenty of mule deer including several nice bucks, but no elk.

Has anyone been hunting in units 44, 35, 34, or 45 that have seen any animals?

If so, in what general vicinity?

Thanks!

[Gbro]

Not going to reveal the unit I hunted in this fall but it is very close to where you are inquiring about, but yes we saw plenty of elk.
Hope this helps.

[hopeisnotastrategy]

Not going to reveal the unit I hunted in this fall but it is very close to where you are inquiring about, but yes we saw plenty of elk.

How long ago was it? Was it elk season yet?

There's a lot of frustrated hunters up here. Talked to a guy who's been hunting one of the most famous areas for elk in the state for 5 days and has not seen an elk and has only heard 2 gunshots in 5 days.

Saw tons of hunters packing up and heading home this morning after several fruitless days.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Are you anywhere near Aspen Leaf reservoir, Gunnison Forest?

[hopeisnotastrategy]

Are you anywhere near Aspen Leaf reservoir, Gunnison Forest?

Not really.

[Wyoredman]

Good luck.

[joshobrien77]

My buddy near Rock Springs WY is saying the same thing. The just are not where they were last year or years before. Last year in his area during bow season we were seeing 200 plus a day but this year he is not sure he will fill his cow tag.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[old roper]

Every year CDW does harvest report on all big game units and elk they include all hunting seasons also bull,cow and calves harvest. Unit 35,44,34 harvest total on those units is less than 20% unit 34 is the worst with 10% and if you take the cow/calves harvest out it be worst yet.

I've drawn early deer first part of Sept in the Holy Cross Wilderness that's in unit 44,45,444 seen lot of nice bull up there but it's a pack in.

I spend almost 30 days in the high country on archery either sex elk tag and it was pretty slim hunting right now we have 1/2 moon and their feeding evening. I drew cow tag for one of the units that I also hunted during archery season started Oct 13 thru 17th been good unit of course that's when you see the bulls.

All the bulls I'd seen were in pair or by themselves no cow with them and what cows I've seen most have been low on private land. I'd seen few bulls taken not lot. Some years are like this

[FrankenMauser]

Elk hunker down when they get pressured by hunters.
They will sometimes go for more than 5-6 days with minimal food and water, before coming out of hiding for some serious grazing and watering.

Dig deeper.
Push harder.
Find the "deep, dark nasties" that Elk like to hide in.
You won't find them, until you make them come out of hiding.

I used to work with a gentleman that always had good luck around the Brush Creek SWA. But, I don't know if that's close to the area you're hunting in that unit.

[Gbro]

Was it Elk season?

Yes, it was the muzzle loader / archery season. And the bow hunters were doing very well also.
One of the biggest factors I have relied on over the years was weather. Is the weather holding or have you had some changes?
We always liked a big change, although this was all inclusive, the mildest season I can remember. No snow at all below 12000ft
The very best thing about the unit I hunted this year was there were far fewer hunters than past seasons and that is GOOD! that is why I left out the unit number.

[old roper]

Gbro, units I hunted this year not lot of archery hunters we had more muzzle loaders seems like plus we had grouse season had lot of them with dogs plus we also had bear season.

What happen lot is someone doesn't draw a tag then they wait till the leftover list comes out. the unit I drew cow elk had pretty close to 250 leftover tags
local buy one of those hoping to fill freezer.

I think what changed here is having private land tags we never had those for years the rancher sell rights to hunt his ranch. unit 34,35,44 and 45 have cow hunt on private land that runs from Aug15 til Jan 15. On regular season most of the private land tags are either sex elk.

In the high country we have elk being hunted depending on unit with a rifle starting Aug 15 week before archery open.

[Bigboy44]

I live and was raised in the units you mentioned. I've heard many success stories this season. They're out there. I did archery this year. I didn't have much time to spend in the hills. I did one day trip and a couple evening hunts. So I'm stuck eating tag soup!
Good luck to ya pal.

[chewie146]

I sure wish I could help ya. I'll tell you what. You bring me some bucks, and I'll send you some elk.

[fatwhiteboy]

Guys- It's called "Hunting" not "Getting". Same for "Fishing" not "Catching". Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you... At least you were out in the field...

[tahoe2]

Seems kinda silly that grown men would withhold hunting info from each other. I thought we were all supposed to get along.

[Gbro]

I thought we were all supposed to get along.

Get along?
Why I do try my best to get along with everyone i come into contact with in the field/bush/slough/etc. But that isn't always reciprocated.
Its jut easier the fewer souls you have to deal with!
Now Colorado Peoples are about as nice as i have encountered but unfortunately not everyone out there hunting is a resident of that Great State.
Get Along??
Try mooching through the Minnesota North Woods on opening weekend of firearms Deer season. ,,,,,Hey where are you going???? Who me?,,,,, YES YOU!!!!,,,,, Errr, Why?,,,,,,,, Hey, we have been hunting this spot for 30 years and we have 10 people in stands around here!!!!!,,,,,,, Ok, Mack,,, I didn't know this was private property?? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,Well its not but WE have been here for 30 years and there's too many hunters here already!!!
Get Along???
Sad to say but GET ALONG is a pipe dream to many!
Now i have even heard of people getting shot at when they enter into another's supposed turf. Of course they were just shooting at a deer when challenged by a Conservation officer.
And if you say that doesn't happen most other places I will believe you NOT!
And to be 100% truthful i like another hunter walking around in front of my stand about as much as i like a fly in my bowl of cornflakes!

[tahoe2]

I guess I'm lucky, having never met gents like that while hunting, most are very cordial, some not so much, but never any threats or ...move alongs.
Sorry you had that experience, good luck in the future.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by Gbro

And if you say that doesn't happen most other places I will believe you NOT!

Well I've never heard of anything remotely close to that happening around here and our public lands are MUCH smaller, tiny fractions, of what you'd find in Colorado.
I have a friend who's hunted out there for over 20 years and he's never seen another hunter close enough to speak to them.
Heck, we've only got 4.5 millions public acres in the whole state and I've never heard of anyone fighting over it. Colorado has single pieces over a million acres.

[Gbro]

Colorado is a great state to hunt in from my personal experiences. When I have been in an area where I have needed to walk a public road back to camp, it was rare for any vehicle passing by not to stop and visit or if not would slow down as to not choke you with dust. Unfortunately here one would need to cover up as a vehicle blasts you with dust as they fly past.
One of my neiboring hunting groups was displaced, DP's (DPH) because of several huge clear cuts. They spent a reasonable amount of time the next fall looking for a new area and I had even suggested to them an area that I was personally invited To move into by a family that through a death was not going to hunt the area across the lake from me. I passed the info to the wonderful nieboring camp and they scouted it and come opening were met with a shirt tail relative that insisted in a not at all friendly way that they were intruding and were not welcome.
And these young guys just lost their father the past winter and the bitter-sweet first season without him was made so much worse by the territorial claim by many.
I like the frame work Colorado uses separating the seasons thereby keeping the hunter numbers much more spread out throughout the fall.
A bunch of years back we changed areas due to low deer counts and high wolf numbers (back in the early years of the wolf protection) and settled into an area where we didn't see any activity the second week of season. The next fall there was a small family group at the same site and they only hunted the first 2 days so we stayed away from them and got to be good friends and always looked forward to the yearly rendezvous.
Then there is also the transition of hunting methods, back 30 years ago the big groups would drive thousands of acres in 40 and 80 acre blocks. Very few hunters would spend any extended time sitting in a stand. A stand could only be 6 feet and portables were few. Nowadays driving deer is not so common with the stand hunters being the great majority. I personally didn't care for the big drives with all the ground level shooting that came with it and was ready when the time came (die off of the oldtimers) to get my own place and hunt solo by stalking and stand hunting.

[Gbro]

Was told of a hunter/Stand conflict that happened on opening weekend real close to my hunting shack.
A hunter found another in a stand he claimed to have built and got in a verbal conflict with the squatter.
The other gave up the stand, MN regulations state a permanent stand erected on public property belongs to the first person to climb in. We all hope that others would not make a claim on a stand when said hunter didn't erect it, anyway as the displaced hunter walked away be looked back and told the claimant, "I Hope You Like Gateraide"!
Not knowing what he meant by that statement, but when his truck died about 200ft from his hunting shack he understood what it meant.
Sure would be nice if things like this never happen.