Heck yeah! Way to get it done, Congrats. GREAT buck!
2019 Western States Draw Deadlines
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Last: 4 yr ago by cupofjoe04
hot damn! y'all didnt mess around
Pack out was no walk in the park. 2 miles with about 400 ft up and about 600 ft down. In the dark with very rugged softball sized rock terrain the whole way. Kid still hasn't woken up.
you a fine uncle
Hell yeah! That's awesome. Nice buck and a trip he'll never forget
Stop spoiling the boy!!!
You've totally warped his expectations of the reality of western hunting.
You've totally warped his expectations of the reality of western hunting.
I'm not so sure about that. The minority does the majority of the killin out west.
Boy's a 10%er, at least with his good luck uncle in tow.
Boy's a 10%er, at least with his good luck uncle in tow.
LEJ said:
I'm not so sure about that. The minority does the majority of the killin out west.
In your opinion, what are the top things that move that cream to the top and leave the majority of folks eating tag soup?
PFG said:LEJ said:
I'm not so sure about that. The minority does the majority of the killin out west.
In your opinion, what are the top things that move that cream to the top and leave the majority of folks eating tag soup?
I'm going to take a stab at this: effort, time, and grit
Or maybe sweat, sweat, and more sweat...
cupofjoe04 said:PFG said:LEJ said:
I'm not so sure about that. The minority does the majority of the killin out west.
In your opinion, what are the top things that move that cream to the top and leave the majority of folks eating tag soup?
I'm going to take a stab at this: effort, time, and grit
Or maybe sweat, sweat, and more sweat...
No one asked me but I think experience and a little know how help. You definitely have to put in the miles and hours. Perseverance (grit as Joe said) is key. Then there's a healthy dose of luck involved in most successful hunts. Things have to break the right way.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
I have a bad habit of only posting here when I've had a successful hunt, but I think that's disingenuous and maybe skews the perception of what success is in hunting. So, I'm posting my elk hunting trip report that didn't end in an elk down.
TLDR: hunted hard, tag soup, there's always next year.
This year I drew a 4th rifle hunt in southern Colorado near Trinidad. This was a private land hunt. "Private Land" may bring up a certain image in some peoples minds but imagine 40,000 acres of some of the most rugged and steep country around. Good elk genetics but a tough hunt in tough terrain. Full disclosure, this wasn't the back country hunting I'm used to. We slept in beds in a lodge and hunted a series of day hunts. I averaged 8-12 miles of hiking each day looking for a nice bull.
Day one we woke up to a bright full moon. We headed up to a glassing point and tried to glass up some bulls at first light to give us a direction and a plan for the day. It was pretty warm in the 40's and between that and the moon there were no elk to be seen.
No luck with glassing we headed to ridge where some elk had been spotted several days before. Up a steep ridge through some nasty oak brush that was over my head and across the top. We came across a fair bit of sign that appeared to be 2-3 days old. This finding would become the theme for our hunt. After about a 9 mile loop we were side-hilling back to where we started. My right foot was down the slope and slipped on some loose rock then hung up on some foliage turning my ankle. My boots are usually pretty sturdy but I think my laces had come loose over the course of the day and I felt a tearing-pop as I hit the dirt. It hurt pretty good and I could feel it swell pretty quick. We got the rest of the way down and headed for the truck. Back at the lodge I got my boots and socks off and had a pretty good goose egg on my upper/outer ankle. I iced it up and took a bunch of advil. I wrapped it up and shoved it back into my boot and we headed out for the evening hunt. We sat a meadow that night because I couldn't walk so good. We didn't see anything. The next day my ankle looked like this:
I was pretty discouraged, thinking my hunt was over before it had barely gotten started. I kept taking ibuprofen like it was candy, found and ACE wrap put it on tight. I laced my boots up secure and double knotted them and it felt OK enough the next morning to give it a go. I had them drop me on a low ridge where I could glass two adjacent ridges. I hunted alone that day because I didn't want to slow anyone else down. As I hobbled up the low ridge to my vantage point my ankle loosened up a bit a didn't feel too bad. About an hour after first light I spotted a pair of bulls feeding two ridges over. My range finder showed 840 yards. I was hunting with my long range rig which is a pretty straight shooter but I told myself I wouldn't go over 600 on a live target. As I was glassing I noticed there was a low saddle between me and them that would shield my approach from them and cut the distance. I hobbled down the ridge I was on and up the other side. It took me about 45 minutes to get up the other side and the elk were out of view the whole time. As I crested the low saddle I caught sight of them again still feeding in the same place. I ranged them again at 415 yds. A very makeable shot with my 300 WM. The sun was rising behind me and the wind was good so I got set up for a prone shot. I made my turret adjustments and got comfortable. I started looking at them through my scope. The lower elk was a young 6x6. He had nice length everywhere. Picking him apart for about 10 mins I guessed he was about a 310" bull. It's not snobbery, but I've shot a few bulls of this caliber and I was hoping for something the next level up. I turned my attention to his buddy who was directly up the slope from him. He had his head behind a bush most of the time but when he would clear it I could see he was definitely a bigger bull. Long main beams and fronts past his nose. He finally cleared the brush he was in and I saw that both of his fourths were broken off. One flush with the main beam and the other with a 4" stub. His 6th on the left was broken off as well. Again, not the bull I was looking for either. I knew some of my hunting companions would be happy with either of those bulls so I texted them to meet me and try to rendezvous to get them an opportunity. Long story short we hiked the long way around and back to the top to try to get back on them but they had disappeared.
The next 3 days were spent similarly with increasingly long hikes but never finding fresh sign (everything seemed 2-3 days old no matter where we went). A couple of the guys in our party had some close calls but luck didn't go their way and no one was able to connect. Because of the moon and the warm weather the elk were spending most of their time holed up in dark timber. We tried bushwhacking through it to push them out of their beds. Had some close calls doing this as well but its tough shooting in tight timber like that. One guy got a shot at a bull at 50 yards but somewhere in all the bush beating something stuck in his muzzle and his barrel split when he shot. Luckily no one was hurt.
The last day of the hunt we went up high again in the morning to glass. The clouds were really low that morning and it made for a beautiful sunrise.
Not great for spotting elk but beautiful. We did spot some elk on a ridge several miles away that morning. We made a play for them but they were gone before we made it to them. That evening I went back to the low ridge where I had seen elk the second day. Right before dark I spotted some elk filing down the ridge and coming out into the meadow below. I snuck down there and got in range, but it was a group of 8 cows, not a bull among them.
Overall, it was a good time. For me its all about spending time outdoors and in the mountains. I eat most of the tags I get, so I'm used to that. It was pretty tough and even somewhat discouraging with the moon, the weather, my ankle injury, etc. But I'll be headed West again next year to try it again.
I still am not sure how my ankle held up for the rest of the week. I hiked 42 miles on it after I injured it. I iced it every chance I got and kept full of ibuprofen. It looked worse everyday but didn't feel that bad. After being home for 4-5 days it took a turn for the worse and I'm paying for it now. I suspect I'll be hobbled up for the next month or so but now that I've moved back to Texas, I only get to back to the mountains once a year, so I suppose it was worth it.
TLDR: hunted hard, tag soup, there's always next year.
This year I drew a 4th rifle hunt in southern Colorado near Trinidad. This was a private land hunt. "Private Land" may bring up a certain image in some peoples minds but imagine 40,000 acres of some of the most rugged and steep country around. Good elk genetics but a tough hunt in tough terrain. Full disclosure, this wasn't the back country hunting I'm used to. We slept in beds in a lodge and hunted a series of day hunts. I averaged 8-12 miles of hiking each day looking for a nice bull.
Day one we woke up to a bright full moon. We headed up to a glassing point and tried to glass up some bulls at first light to give us a direction and a plan for the day. It was pretty warm in the 40's and between that and the moon there were no elk to be seen.
No luck with glassing we headed to ridge where some elk had been spotted several days before. Up a steep ridge through some nasty oak brush that was over my head and across the top. We came across a fair bit of sign that appeared to be 2-3 days old. This finding would become the theme for our hunt. After about a 9 mile loop we were side-hilling back to where we started. My right foot was down the slope and slipped on some loose rock then hung up on some foliage turning my ankle. My boots are usually pretty sturdy but I think my laces had come loose over the course of the day and I felt a tearing-pop as I hit the dirt. It hurt pretty good and I could feel it swell pretty quick. We got the rest of the way down and headed for the truck. Back at the lodge I got my boots and socks off and had a pretty good goose egg on my upper/outer ankle. I iced it up and took a bunch of advil. I wrapped it up and shoved it back into my boot and we headed out for the evening hunt. We sat a meadow that night because I couldn't walk so good. We didn't see anything. The next day my ankle looked like this:
I was pretty discouraged, thinking my hunt was over before it had barely gotten started. I kept taking ibuprofen like it was candy, found and ACE wrap put it on tight. I laced my boots up secure and double knotted them and it felt OK enough the next morning to give it a go. I had them drop me on a low ridge where I could glass two adjacent ridges. I hunted alone that day because I didn't want to slow anyone else down. As I hobbled up the low ridge to my vantage point my ankle loosened up a bit a didn't feel too bad. About an hour after first light I spotted a pair of bulls feeding two ridges over. My range finder showed 840 yards. I was hunting with my long range rig which is a pretty straight shooter but I told myself I wouldn't go over 600 on a live target. As I was glassing I noticed there was a low saddle between me and them that would shield my approach from them and cut the distance. I hobbled down the ridge I was on and up the other side. It took me about 45 minutes to get up the other side and the elk were out of view the whole time. As I crested the low saddle I caught sight of them again still feeding in the same place. I ranged them again at 415 yds. A very makeable shot with my 300 WM. The sun was rising behind me and the wind was good so I got set up for a prone shot. I made my turret adjustments and got comfortable. I started looking at them through my scope. The lower elk was a young 6x6. He had nice length everywhere. Picking him apart for about 10 mins I guessed he was about a 310" bull. It's not snobbery, but I've shot a few bulls of this caliber and I was hoping for something the next level up. I turned my attention to his buddy who was directly up the slope from him. He had his head behind a bush most of the time but when he would clear it I could see he was definitely a bigger bull. Long main beams and fronts past his nose. He finally cleared the brush he was in and I saw that both of his fourths were broken off. One flush with the main beam and the other with a 4" stub. His 6th on the left was broken off as well. Again, not the bull I was looking for either. I knew some of my hunting companions would be happy with either of those bulls so I texted them to meet me and try to rendezvous to get them an opportunity. Long story short we hiked the long way around and back to the top to try to get back on them but they had disappeared.
The next 3 days were spent similarly with increasingly long hikes but never finding fresh sign (everything seemed 2-3 days old no matter where we went). A couple of the guys in our party had some close calls but luck didn't go their way and no one was able to connect. Because of the moon and the warm weather the elk were spending most of their time holed up in dark timber. We tried bushwhacking through it to push them out of their beds. Had some close calls doing this as well but its tough shooting in tight timber like that. One guy got a shot at a bull at 50 yards but somewhere in all the bush beating something stuck in his muzzle and his barrel split when he shot. Luckily no one was hurt.
The last day of the hunt we went up high again in the morning to glass. The clouds were really low that morning and it made for a beautiful sunrise.
Not great for spotting elk but beautiful. We did spot some elk on a ridge several miles away that morning. We made a play for them but they were gone before we made it to them. That evening I went back to the low ridge where I had seen elk the second day. Right before dark I spotted some elk filing down the ridge and coming out into the meadow below. I snuck down there and got in range, but it was a group of 8 cows, not a bull among them.
Overall, it was a good time. For me its all about spending time outdoors and in the mountains. I eat most of the tags I get, so I'm used to that. It was pretty tough and even somewhat discouraging with the moon, the weather, my ankle injury, etc. But I'll be headed West again next year to try it again.
I still am not sure how my ankle held up for the rest of the week. I hiked 42 miles on it after I injured it. I iced it every chance I got and kept full of ibuprofen. It looked worse everyday but didn't feel that bad. After being home for 4-5 days it took a turn for the worse and I'm paying for it now. I suspect I'll be hobbled up for the next month or so but now that I've moved back to Texas, I only get to back to the mountains once a year, so I suppose it was worth it.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
PFG said:LEJ said:
I'm not so sure about that. The minority does the majority of the killin out west.
In your opinion, what are the top things that move that cream to the top and leave the majority of folks eating tag soup?
What Cowboy and Joe said are the biggest parts, but know the drawing system helped me a lot over the years. Knowing the country always upped my odds, especially for elk.
1. A Mentality of true confidence - built through preparation/strategy/experience. "Fake it til ya make it" has little value here.
2. Critical Assessment - before, during and after. Learning from all the failures (large/small) and even the successes. As Cowboy mentioned, the separation between these two is razor thin most of the time.
The physical stuff, including effort, will only take us all so far. It absolutely has to be there, but you'll max out on physicality/effort before items 1/2.
2. Critical Assessment - before, during and after. Learning from all the failures (large/small) and even the successes. As Cowboy mentioned, the separation between these two is razor thin most of the time.
The physical stuff, including effort, will only take us all so far. It absolutely has to be there, but you'll max out on physicality/effort before items 1/2.
Here has been my recipe for success.
1. Days in the field - I have beaten the odds by going 3 for 3 on out of state elk, but the first year I spent 17 nights on the mountain before I shot one. My next 2 hunts took 4 and 7 days, but were planned for up to 14.
2. Miles hiked away from the road - You don't have to be 6 miles back, but be at least one ridge over from the road. The more miles hiked away from the road your random luck odds go up. For example this last hunt with my Nephew we had done over 8 miles that day before we shot that one.
3. Planning - Have a list of places to try, and don't be afraid to move on to the next spot. This helps a lot on the positive attitude aspect as well. It is very easy to not find anything at your first one or two spots and then not have any confidence in any other spots.
4. Knowledge of the animal - This is gained from days in the field, but I can now look at a map and a landscape and narrow my search by 90%.
5. No excuses - There is always a reason to not go over the next ridge, go home early, not wake up early, or not go after that elk you saw 3 miles away.
1. Days in the field - I have beaten the odds by going 3 for 3 on out of state elk, but the first year I spent 17 nights on the mountain before I shot one. My next 2 hunts took 4 and 7 days, but were planned for up to 14.
2. Miles hiked away from the road - You don't have to be 6 miles back, but be at least one ridge over from the road. The more miles hiked away from the road your random luck odds go up. For example this last hunt with my Nephew we had done over 8 miles that day before we shot that one.
3. Planning - Have a list of places to try, and don't be afraid to move on to the next spot. This helps a lot on the positive attitude aspect as well. It is very easy to not find anything at your first one or two spots and then not have any confidence in any other spots.
4. Knowledge of the animal - This is gained from days in the field, but I can now look at a map and a landscape and narrow my search by 90%.
5. No excuses - There is always a reason to not go over the next ridge, go home early, not wake up early, or not go after that elk you saw 3 miles away.
My whitetail season has been frustrating. Bow hunting mostly public around my locale. Got 8 cameras out (1 more I pulled due to pendejos) and multiple blind options for wind, road conditions, etc.
Getting some good bucks but there are no real patterns, except ol LEJ getting skunked on almost every sit. Probably need to commit to 1 or 3 specific blinds, which is what Ive slowly been working towards. I'm a slow learner.
At any rate, I'm headed to New Mexico on Sunday to hopefully pull a camera card that's been there for "a while", scout and maybe pop a quail or 2. My tag is archery only FAD for Jan 1-15.., Muleys should be rutting. Drew this tag 2 yrs ago and saw tons of deer and several shooters. Just couldn't put it all together. I'm ready and really looking forward to hunting the desert again. It ain't over yet.
Getting some good bucks but there are no real patterns, except ol LEJ getting skunked on almost every sit. Probably need to commit to 1 or 3 specific blinds, which is what Ive slowly been working towards. I'm a slow learner.
At any rate, I'm headed to New Mexico on Sunday to hopefully pull a camera card that's been there for "a while", scout and maybe pop a quail or 2. My tag is archery only FAD for Jan 1-15.., Muleys should be rutting. Drew this tag 2 yrs ago and saw tons of deer and several shooters. Just couldn't put it all together. I'm ready and really looking forward to hunting the desert again. It ain't over yet.
Good luck!
Went on a late season antelope hunt here in CO this past Sunday. Saw quite a few and buddy and I both shot one. Long day trip with 2.5hr drive each way and covering 14miles out there. Slightly makes up for getting skunked on 3rd rifle elk.
Went on a late season antelope hunt here in CO this past Sunday. Saw quite a few and buddy and I both shot one. Long day trip with 2.5hr drive each way and covering 14miles out there. Slightly makes up for getting skunked on 3rd rifle elk.
Land of Enchantment
Desert poop imminent.
Desert poop imminent.
I usually go one and one.
Godspeed. Send us some game cam photos of big sumbiches.
Godspeed. Send us some game cam photos of big sumbiches.
I ordered 2 chimis but this is what I got. The 9am Hobbs hobos were stirring so I didn't dilly dally.
Fresh rub andbuck with does spotted "kinda nearby".
My camp wood from nearly 2 years ago... shinnery oak.
Not much greenery in the dunes
More later
Fresh rub andbuck with does spotted "kinda nearby".
My camp wood from nearly 2 years ago... shinnery oak.
Not much greenery in the dunes
More later
My season isn't quite done yet, seeing if anyone wants to help a little and armchair this with me. Going to line out what I did, so any criticism or suggestions for my next go are welcome.
I've got a late season cow tag 12/15 through 1/15 in Colorado unit 31. Not a super desirable tag, I got it as 3rd choice and some went to the leftover list. Think the success last year was 25% though so not too bad.
Got out Saturday the 14th. Roads from Denver over the Rockies were a mess so got in after dark. Roads in the unit were a muddy sloppy mess and I didn't get quite to where I wanted. Camping in my car btw.
First day I learned how bad the cold can zap a phone battery, so alarm didn't go off and I'm woken up by trucks down the road about an hour late. Day 1 and first half of day 2 I spent glassing and hoofing it around the area in the red circle. Find tons or deer tracks and scat, but don't actually see any animals. No elk sign at all. This was my plan A as I don't really have an experience to go off of and CPW has this marked as a winter concentration area.
Second half of day 2 I wonder if they just aren't into the winter areas yet and drive to see if I can get to an area that is in a migration corridor. The area is around 9000' compared to 6000' of my plan A. But no way I can get in there roads are impassable without probably a snow mobile.
Head back in to sleep in another area further back in to give it a go on day 3. Day 3 I'm immediately into elk tracks. Put a lot of steps in in the green circled area. Again no live animals though. Found a lot of tracks that looked like they were heading down into a draw, too steep for me. So I circled around to where I could get into the draw and work back towards where I lost the tracks, but I didn't find anything convincing. I was at least seeing elk sign. Plan for 3rd evening was to sit the area circled yellow as that was around the area I saw the highest density of tracks, it was a south facing area with waist to chest high shrub, was thinking maybe bedding area?
Ended up popping a tire and didn't want to chance being 20 miles back on the spare, tire shop took to long, so just called it and headed home.
I am planning to get back 28/29/30 to give it a last go. So any ideas or suggestions??? Not sure really how to attack it after being out there. There are roads of some sort through most of the territory. Only heard one guy at the gas station say his kid saw one while they were driving roads, but jumped out and missed it. Not really interested in just cruising dirt roads, but that may be the trick? Going much more north of what's shown in the above maps will be tricky du to terrain, but looks to be too much for the elk too. Just not sure where all the ones making the tracks I saw went.
As always appreciate any help or knowledge y'all can impart.
TL;DR cause I know reading that is a lot to ask, I've a few specific questions:
How do you age tracks or scat? I saw some tracks that were in the snow so that's obvious, but is the best you can say just "since the last snow"? What about scat, everything was rock hard, but some was white and really old, then some was normal color with frost only on the bottom half. It was in the single digits at night and not much above freezing during the day.
How important is water right now? Everything I saw was frozen, will they push on until they find a source? There was still forage most everywhere.
Are they in a pattern right now where they will stay in an area to bed, or bed during most of the day? Or are they pretty much on the move getting to lower areas with food/water?
How much would the moon play into me seeing so few animals, only a handful of deer on private land while driving. I had basically clear skies with 3/4 full moon each night. Before New Years should be much better.
I've got a late season cow tag 12/15 through 1/15 in Colorado unit 31. Not a super desirable tag, I got it as 3rd choice and some went to the leftover list. Think the success last year was 25% though so not too bad.
Got out Saturday the 14th. Roads from Denver over the Rockies were a mess so got in after dark. Roads in the unit were a muddy sloppy mess and I didn't get quite to where I wanted. Camping in my car btw.
First day I learned how bad the cold can zap a phone battery, so alarm didn't go off and I'm woken up by trucks down the road about an hour late. Day 1 and first half of day 2 I spent glassing and hoofing it around the area in the red circle. Find tons or deer tracks and scat, but don't actually see any animals. No elk sign at all. This was my plan A as I don't really have an experience to go off of and CPW has this marked as a winter concentration area.
Second half of day 2 I wonder if they just aren't into the winter areas yet and drive to see if I can get to an area that is in a migration corridor. The area is around 9000' compared to 6000' of my plan A. But no way I can get in there roads are impassable without probably a snow mobile.
Head back in to sleep in another area further back in to give it a go on day 3. Day 3 I'm immediately into elk tracks. Put a lot of steps in in the green circled area. Again no live animals though. Found a lot of tracks that looked like they were heading down into a draw, too steep for me. So I circled around to where I could get into the draw and work back towards where I lost the tracks, but I didn't find anything convincing. I was at least seeing elk sign. Plan for 3rd evening was to sit the area circled yellow as that was around the area I saw the highest density of tracks, it was a south facing area with waist to chest high shrub, was thinking maybe bedding area?
Ended up popping a tire and didn't want to chance being 20 miles back on the spare, tire shop took to long, so just called it and headed home.
I am planning to get back 28/29/30 to give it a last go. So any ideas or suggestions??? Not sure really how to attack it after being out there. There are roads of some sort through most of the territory. Only heard one guy at the gas station say his kid saw one while they were driving roads, but jumped out and missed it. Not really interested in just cruising dirt roads, but that may be the trick? Going much more north of what's shown in the above maps will be tricky du to terrain, but looks to be too much for the elk too. Just not sure where all the ones making the tracks I saw went.
As always appreciate any help or knowledge y'all can impart.
TL;DR cause I know reading that is a lot to ask, I've a few specific questions:
How do you age tracks or scat? I saw some tracks that were in the snow so that's obvious, but is the best you can say just "since the last snow"? What about scat, everything was rock hard, but some was white and really old, then some was normal color with frost only on the bottom half. It was in the single digits at night and not much above freezing during the day.
How important is water right now? Everything I saw was frozen, will they push on until they find a source? There was still forage most everywhere.
Are they in a pattern right now where they will stay in an area to bed, or bed during most of the day? Or are they pretty much on the move getting to lower areas with food/water?
How much would the moon play into me seeing so few animals, only a handful of deer on private land while driving. I had basically clear skies with 3/4 full moon each night. Before New Years should be much better.
I'm not super familiar with late season elk, but from what I've learned from Randy Newberg they will be where the best food is. And they'll generally be bunched up so you should see quite a bit of sign and know they're there. South facing slopes get more sun and will be where the best feed is. As far as bedding I would guess they're not traveling great distances anymore just to bed.
I would think it'd be a hot/cold sort of hunt so I think whatever your best method is to stay mobile and cover the most amount of country with glass vs foot. If I remember and have time I'll stare at OnX some tomorrow. Hopefully some of that was helpful. Good luck!
Edit: also maybe the best thing you could do would be call the CPW office for that area and see if you can talk to a Game Warden or biologist who can give some specific info to that area.
I would think it'd be a hot/cold sort of hunt so I think whatever your best method is to stay mobile and cover the most amount of country with glass vs foot. If I remember and have time I'll stare at OnX some tomorrow. Hopefully some of that was helpful. Good luck!
Edit: also maybe the best thing you could do would be call the CPW office for that area and see if you can talk to a Game Warden or biologist who can give some specific info to that area.
Steb is right- concentrate on food. Don't worry about water.
Sign this time of year is tricky. I don't really ever rely on elk droppings, personally. Unless they are steaming hot, they aren't reliable at all for telling how old they are. If they aren't in direct sun, they stay about the same color and consistency for a LONG time. This time of year, they just freeze up.
Tracks and yellow snow can be a bit of a better indicator. Aging a track in the snow is difficult to explain - you gotta see it. And there are SO many factors. Basically, it will tell your something came by between the last snow and now. If that was yesterday, great. If the last snow was 4 days ago... might be worthless info. And just because it came by since the snow, doesn't mean that elk will ever come back there. They could be moving on because of that last snow. Sssooo many factors.
Finding tracks is only one clue. Don't play the game of following them- you will spend your whole hunt chasing nothing. If you find fresh tracks, you need to relate them to another indicator- food, beds, or a nice sunny hillside to warm up in. Something that tells you that elk isn't migrating or in the next county by now. Put the pieces together, and it narrows your search.
The best thing I can tell you is cover ground and find food. Cover as much as possible with your glasses- let your eyes do the walking. Don't hike into and check every area you think looks good on a map. Optimize your footsteps- focus on finding ridges and lines that overlook multiple drainages or meadows. Spend time on your butt there, letting your glass work for you. Dissect hillsides- they might be there, laying in a small hole.
Here is a pic I took just this morning, scouting for cow elk. I barely caught a glimpse of an ear moving from the elk on the right behind the bush. The longer I stared, the more elk I began to see. There are 6 in the group (not sure if you can pick them all out in the picture). They aren't all bunched up in giant herds of 150 like people think. They certainly can be, especially if there is an agricultural field. But it sounds like you are hunting the mountains, like me- and you are more likely to find 3-4 than 30-40. Plus, I think those smaller bands are much more killable- less eyeballs and noses to stalk up on.
After almost 20 minutes of watching these young cows stand there, finally an older cow steps out and lays down in the sun. She didn't move for 2 hours (except to keep looking over towards me- so I had to lay in the snow as well). It would have been SO easy to miss her and go right on by.
That's just my .02- which may be worthless. Hopefully helps some. Stay after it brother- you'll find one!!!
Sign this time of year is tricky. I don't really ever rely on elk droppings, personally. Unless they are steaming hot, they aren't reliable at all for telling how old they are. If they aren't in direct sun, they stay about the same color and consistency for a LONG time. This time of year, they just freeze up.
Tracks and yellow snow can be a bit of a better indicator. Aging a track in the snow is difficult to explain - you gotta see it. And there are SO many factors. Basically, it will tell your something came by between the last snow and now. If that was yesterday, great. If the last snow was 4 days ago... might be worthless info. And just because it came by since the snow, doesn't mean that elk will ever come back there. They could be moving on because of that last snow. Sssooo many factors.
Finding tracks is only one clue. Don't play the game of following them- you will spend your whole hunt chasing nothing. If you find fresh tracks, you need to relate them to another indicator- food, beds, or a nice sunny hillside to warm up in. Something that tells you that elk isn't migrating or in the next county by now. Put the pieces together, and it narrows your search.
The best thing I can tell you is cover ground and find food. Cover as much as possible with your glasses- let your eyes do the walking. Don't hike into and check every area you think looks good on a map. Optimize your footsteps- focus on finding ridges and lines that overlook multiple drainages or meadows. Spend time on your butt there, letting your glass work for you. Dissect hillsides- they might be there, laying in a small hole.
Here is a pic I took just this morning, scouting for cow elk. I barely caught a glimpse of an ear moving from the elk on the right behind the bush. The longer I stared, the more elk I began to see. There are 6 in the group (not sure if you can pick them all out in the picture). They aren't all bunched up in giant herds of 150 like people think. They certainly can be, especially if there is an agricultural field. But it sounds like you are hunting the mountains, like me- and you are more likely to find 3-4 than 30-40. Plus, I think those smaller bands are much more killable- less eyeballs and noses to stalk up on.
After almost 20 minutes of watching these young cows stand there, finally an older cow steps out and lays down in the sun. She didn't move for 2 hours (except to keep looking over towards me- so I had to lay in the snow as well). It would have been SO easy to miss her and go right on by.
That's just my .02- which may be worthless. Hopefully helps some. Stay after it brother- you'll find one!!!
Pic assist on your three circled areas. (The pics didn't load for me for some reason, not sure if it's the same for everyone.)
Thanks for the thoughts and the pic help, thought I did them all the same.
Once all Christmas stuff in died down I'll have to get back and do some e-scouting now that I know the terrain a little better. I humped it up a lot of hills thinking it'd be a good vantage point for there to be no opening in the brush or limited visibility. When I was in the tracks I probably couldn't see more than 50 yards which isn't too practical but I was just happy to be in sign.
Once all Christmas stuff in died down I'll have to get back and do some e-scouting now that I know the terrain a little better. I humped it up a lot of hills thinking it'd be a good vantage point for there to be no opening in the brush or limited visibility. When I was in the tracks I probably couldn't see more than 50 yards which isn't too practical but I was just happy to be in sign.
Yeah, been there and done that hiking up hills only to have no vantage point or not be above the trees. From those experiences, I now spend way more time using Google Earth to really select down glassing points ahead of time and it's helped save me a lot of time once out there.
jayelbee said:
When does the 2020 thread come out? I want to put in for next year and many of the draws are coming up in mid Jan, right?
Usually the first person to get their hands on a western state's Wildlife Annual (such as CO), posts a pic of it and starts that year's thread. But there is no rule- I would say about Jan/Feb is when it gets stated, right?
Feel free to ask any questions you have about apps- this is an appropriate thread, and great spot for those answers, regardless of year.
FIFY. He has started each year of these.cupofjoe04 said:jayelbee said:
When does the 2020 thread come out? I want to put in for next year and many of the draws are coming up in mid Jan, right?
Usuallythe first person to get their hands on a western state's Wildlife Annual (such as CO), LEJ posts a pic of it and starts that year's thread.
(I realize the OP username is different on each thread, btw.)
Speaking of 2020 you guys see the new changes for Wyoming elk applications? Still due by 1/31 but results not published until third week of May and you can withdraw by May 8. I see it as good and bad.
The negative is obviously keeping that amount of money on a credit card for that long.
The positive is If you have 2-3 points and feel good about drawing the Wyoming General tag though, now you can still shoot for the stars in other states and withdraw your application in Wyoming if you draw elsewhere. Or go hunting in Wyoming if you don't. In other words now its a decent backup option.
The negative is obviously keeping that amount of money on a credit card for that long.
The positive is If you have 2-3 points and feel good about drawing the Wyoming General tag though, now you can still shoot for the stars in other states and withdraw your application in Wyoming if you draw elsewhere. Or go hunting in Wyoming if you don't. In other words now its a decent backup option.
AgEng06 said:FIFY. He has started each year of these.cupofjoe04 said:jayelbee said:
When does the 2020 thread come out? I want to put in for next year and many of the draws are coming up in mid Jan, right?
Usuallythe first person to get their hands on a western state's Wildlife Annual (such as CO), LEJ posts a pic of it and starts that year's thread.
(I realize the OP username is different on each thread, btw.)
BOOM- there's your answer. This greenhorn hasn't been around long enough...
Not western, but a draw hunt in south texas. Nephew got a nice bull nilgai this morning.
Awesome!!! Great to see those draws actually work out sometimes.
Way to go! Supposedly some of the best meat around. I've never had the privilege to try it
Way to go! Supposedly some of the best meat around. I've never had the privilege to try it
Brother and I shot 2 last year, on two different hunts. Meat is good, but not my favorite. It is very white and no gaminess, but I like the richness of Elk.
He killed this bull from the exact spot my brother killed his last year.
He killed this bull from the exact spot my brother killed his last year.
Which one of the WMAs, if you don't mind me asking?
This one is from east lake NWR. We also shot one at Laguna Atascosa.
East lake is actually really small and I think they get pushed off the property pretty quickly.
East lake is actually really small and I think they get pushed off the property pretty quickly.
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