The Elk Thread

[Michael1221]

Any updates from the first rifle season in CO? We leave for Meeker on Wednesday for the second season. It will be our first Elk hunt, so we're pretty excited.

[ELKAHOLIC]

Any updates from the first rifle season in CO? We leave for Meeker on Wednesday for the second season. It will be our first Elk hunt, so we're pretty excited.

Got a text from coonazz today. He connected with a 6x6 in the Meeker area!!!!
Congrats! Tony!!!!
I will let him post his pics when he gets back.

[Kolpin10]

Got back from New Mexico late last night had a great hunt between scouting and hunting probably saw 300+ different elk but very few mature bulls. First day of scouting saw a really good bull but it was slow after that. For all purposes the rut was over where we were. The cow herds we chased did not have any mature bulls with them and there was very little buggling. Saw lots of cows, calves, spikes and young bulls. Stalked a good bull we spotted from about two miles away, I was able to get within about 400 yards of him and had to climb anouther ridge to get in position for a shot and he and the two bulls he was with dissapeared into the PJ canyons, glassed the canyons for 4 hours after that but he turned into ghost. Heard this bull bugle a couple times at night and was able to find him the following morning he was still with a herd of 9 cows.

[a3dhunter]

I just got back to Colorado springs, my buddy and I had cow tags, he killed his on Saturday in four inches of snow, I killed mine Sunday up near Craig.
Another guy in camp killed a 5x6 bull.
Seemed like everyone was killing elk this weekend.
Weather turned very mild and windy, mid day temps in sixties.

[ELKAHOLIC]

Got back from New Mexico late last night had a great hunt between scouting and hunting probably saw 300+ different elk but very few mature bulls. First day of scouting saw a really good bull but it was slow after that. For all purposes the rut was over where we were. The cow herds we chased did not have any mature bulls with them and there was very little buggling. Saw lots of cows, calves, spikes and young bulls. Stalked a good bull we spotted from about two miles away, I was able to get within about 400 yards of him and had to climb anouther ridge to get in position for a shot and he and the two bulls he was with dissapeared into the PJ canyons, glassed the canyons for 4 hours after that but he turned into ghost. Heard this bull bugle a couple times at night and was able to find him the following morning he was still with a herd of 9 cows.

Beautiful bull Congrats!!!

[tookeymonster]

I'm out now looking to fill my cow tag. Had a heard full walk throug our cam last night and bugled till 4 am.

[ELKAHOLIC]

I'm out now looking to fill my cow tag. Had a heard full walk throug our cam last night and bugled till 4 am.

Good luck buddy! Fill that freezer!

[RJK70]

I board a plane this evening and will be hunting in Norther New Mexico by tomorrow morning! There is a cold front coming through this week and I hope that is enough to get them moving on the ranch I will be hunting!

[a3dhunter]

I'm out now looking to fill my cow tag. Had a heard full walk throug our cam last night and bugled till 4 am.

Any luck?

[kingranch]

We tagged a big bull on public land hunt unit gmu 21
Unbelieveable experience!
Rut definitely over in that area, hunting pressure didn't help either

[kingranch]

One things for sure, u can tell over the counter is second season, I've never seen so many trucks and trailers and atvs burning up the highway on our trip back to Texas!

[a3dhunter]

Here's a picture of my cow elk from first rifle season in Colorado: (2nd elk this year)

[Black Dog]

So what's everyones take on when the rut was this year?? We hunted the last week of CO archery OTC, packed in deep, up high.....heard one bugle in 5 days. 3 yrs ago was much different, lots of snow pack the year before we were there, cold weather and lots of elk bugling. I think the combination of warm weather and dry conditions did not help this year.

[a3dhunter]

So what's everyones take on when the rut was this year?? We hunted the last week of CO archery OTC, packed in deep, up high.....heard one bugle in 5 days. 3 yrs ago was much different, lots of snow pack the year before we were there, cold weather and lots of elk bugling. I think the combination of warm weather and dry conditions did not help this year.

I hunted the whole archery season in Colorado this year. I also hunted 1st rifle season as well.
In between I spent a few days in Yellowstone National Park viewing full rut activity on Sept 28-29.
Not sure about the peak of the rut in Colorado, but I heard more bugling the first two weeks of season. The last two weeks were hotter than usual and a lot of the bulls I saw were not herded up like usual.
I did see one big 6 point with 13 cows herded up the first week and he was bugling his head off like it was the peak of the rut.
The bulls seemed to be actually responding to calls better the last week of season, but some of the big herd bulls were still alone.
Seemed to be a year of contradictions.
I found things were completely different just a few miles away though.
Seems to me the rut was late overall, as during first rifle season we were hearing a lot of bugling and some cow vocalization as well.
Sept 28-29 in Yellowstone we watched bulls fighting over cows and heard over 250 bugles in 30 minutes of time. We saw multiple bulls with herds and a lot of fighting and challenging for cows during that time.

[a3dhunter]

More pics from first rifle season: