No Elk

[Camo]

I just returned from my first real elk hunt in the Gunnison National Forest in Colorado. We got a late start and did not start hunting until Monday of this past week. We stayed after it for 5 days and hiked many a mile from 8,000 to 10,500 feet. We never saw one elk! We found a spike that some one shot and left deep in the woods but it appear to have been there for at least one week or more. We spoke with the Biologist with the Forest Service since he was out riding the National Forest on his four wheeler about mid week. He told us that there were very few elk where we were since most were WAY back in the forest in deep HIGH country and they had not been moved down as of yet due to weather. He suggested that we go hunt the Black Canyon area and we tried that one day but all we saw were a BUNCH of hunters with most telling us they had not seen an elk either. Are we that bad at scouting for elk or have you guys found that same thing. We were in the Gunnison National Forest near the Crawford area. We love being outdoors but I can not believe we did not see one elk. We saw well over 100 mule deer but no elk. We had snow on the ground and saw very few elk prints. We hunted 6 different areas throughout the forest and same thing every place we went. Bright moon and clear skies with lows in the upper 20s. Highs in the mid-to-upper 50s. We did get some snow on Friday morning otherwise it was calm and clear.

[Swede]

Five days without seeing elk where I hunt is not unusual. You can go somewhere else of keep hunting until they show up. Elk move around quite a bit, so an area that is totally void of elk on one day can be elk utopia the next.

[Camo]

I understand about the elk patterns and them being absent from an area. It was great to be outdoors and I am disappointed that we did not see one live elk in 5 days. That was my one and only chance to chase elk this year. I have a mule deer hunt in November but I will have to wait until next year for elk just like many others. I will keep on dreaming.

[Magic]

I have hunted several years without seeing an elk, and in area where there had been plenty the previous year.

This year we saw 8 bulls on Thursday and Friday before the season opened, and we absolutely did not disturb them. It was then the third day before we saw an elk and the final day before a kill was made. That day we saw 5 bulls. Working hard and walking miles does not guarantee anything, but you are almost guaranteed to not see anything if you don't. That is why it is called hunting instead of killing.

[Jaquomo]

Camo, was this your "first real elk hunt", or your first real elk hunt in Gunnison National Forest?

Not unusual at all to hunt five days and not see an elk if the elk aren't there. You haven't told us much about how you hunted, where you hunted and when. How much did you know about the habitat in the six different areas you hunted? Were you just parking at different spots and striking out across the land, or did you know something about the bedding/transition/feeding areas in those spots?

For instance, in some areas I know well, hunters hunt the high ridges in the evenings, when the elk are moving to lower feeding grounds through the transition timber at that time. Then the guys find all sorts of sign in the lower feeding meadows, so they hunt there in the mornings when the elk are already in the timber and enroute to mid-slope bedding areas. Then in mid-day they stalk through timber, in bad wind, and push elk out that they didn't even know were there. You can do a lot of hiking in good elk country, but if you aren't where the elk are, you may not see anything.

When I used to guide rifle hunters on a couple of GREAT ranches, I'd always tell them they may only get one opportunity at a legal bull during a five day hunt. We only had five hunters at a time and hunted very carefully, staying out of bedding areas. Even so, by third rifle season there were very few elk there, and by fourth season it was pretty slim. And these two adjoining ranches are like Yellowstone before the first rifle season opens. You can't sleep for all the bugling.

Keep after it, and you'll figure out a few micro-habitats where you can hunt and find an elk without covering a lot of miles.

[Camo]

This was my second serious elk hunt. My hunting partner's uncle lives in Montrose and he is the one who steered us to Gunnison National Forest near Crawford. We did not pre-scout the area. Couple of the areas we hunted were directed to us by the biologist for the National Forest. The biologist was out running the roads on his 4-wheeler during the middle of the week and he told us that the elk were not yet down from the back country. Of course his 4-wheeler was not doing us any favors. His tracks were on every road we came across. We hunted up high both in the mornings and evenings and at saddles or areas we thought elk would cross on well used trails. We did walk some of the dark forest but we saw very few sign or tracts from elk. It was very evident to us that there were very few elk around. They may be there now but none when we were there. I did notice that by day 4 of the hunt the vast majority of the hunters we saw were gone. We spoke with one hunter in town and he said he has hunted the area for 24 years and that he was going in on horses, but he also said that they saw very few elk. I am sure there are a ton of things we could do better but I also believe the elk were not there. We were hunting 2nd rifle, after the rut so there was no bugling or at least we did not hear any and we would listen both during the day and at night under darn near full moon.

What is the groups experience with the Gunnison National Forest, southeast of Crawford, Colorado? Is 1st rifle better than 2nd or 3rd, or even 4th?

[easeup]

no elk - is always very disappointing no matter where you hunt.

[Elkduds]

Decades ago I hunted on Black Mesa, Mesa Creek, and the area above Hwy 92. Shot beaucoup deer, saw a few transient elk herds marching through over the space of 5 years hunting there. And of course, lots of hunters. I knew the area well then, built trails into Black Canyon for NPS during summers. I believe the elk are chiefly in the wilderness area until after 3rd season most years. Pressure moves them up, they don't come down until snow gets deep. Used to get a good breakfast at the Boardwalk Café in Crawford, long before the town fell under the spell of Joe Cocker.