1st Time Elk Hunting

The mountains of Colorado have over 23 million acres of federal and state land and are an amazing place to hunt. People come from all over the world to enjoy outdoor activities here. But like all mountainous areas, it can also be a dangerous place. It happens to the experienced and inexperienced alike. They get into trouble because they make the assumption that they will get back to their camp or vehicle at a certain time.

Day hikers and hunters are statistically most likely to get lost. They are usually carrying only some basic gear and are not prepared for survival situations. Please refer to our “What to Pack List” for details on how to pack for success and survival.

The mountains of Colorado have over 23 million acres of federal and state land and are an amazing place to hunt. People come from all over the world to enjoy outdoor activities here. But like all mountainous areas, it can also be a dangerous place. It happens to the experienced and inexperienced alike. They get into trouble because they make the assumption that they will get back to their camp or vehicle at a certain time.

Day hikers and hunters are statistically most likely to get lost. They are usually carrying only some basic gear and are not prepared for survival situations. Please refer to our “What to Pack List” for details on how to pack for success and survival.

What are the Common Themes for Hikers that Get into Trouble?

1. They did not tell anyone where they were going.
2. Those hiking alone got injured.
3. They got lost.

O.K., it appears the best safety net for everyone that goes hiking or hunting should be to tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back. The second thing is don’t get injured if you are alone. Obviously, nobody plans on getting injured alone or otherwise, but a risk that you are willing to take at home might not be such a good idea when you are five miles from your vehicle and 100 miles from a hospital.

There will always be people that get lost. For whatever reason, they will continue to walk into the wilderness totally unprepared to navigate. Do they expect that all the trails are paved and clearly and properly marked? If so, ask yourself this. Who is responsible for maintaining and marking trails on public land? That would be public employees or volunteers. Now do you get why so many trails aren’t marked?

As Murphy’s Law predicts, the most important navigation signs on the trail will be the ones that are missing. You should expect that trails are not properly marked and that signs at intersections will be destroyed, knocked down or even deliberately turned.

You must be prepared to depend or yourself to get into and back out of these areas, so it is your responsibility to have GPS, compass or maps and the knowledge of how to use them.
Our public lands are a tremendous resource for everyone to enjoy and we want people to come hunt, but we also want you make it back home safely. So make sure you tell someone where you are going. Hike and hunt with a buddy when possible. Spend some time looking at good maps before you go, so you know what to expect from the terrain and that you understand which direction you could find roads and other potential exit points.

If you are serious about elk hunting, the first thing that you should start doing – right now – is getting in shape. Elk hunting is not easy. You will be carrying a good bit of weight on your back before you pull the trigger and if you are lucky enough and put in enough work to get an elk then you will be carrying a lot more weight later. You will be on your feet and hiking for miles every day with that pack on your back over very steep and rugged terrain. Running is mandatory to get in shape. If you have hills and can run them, that’s even better. By mid to late summer, you need to be running with a pack on and gradually increasing the weight in that pack. If you have stairwells in the building where you work, take them from now on and forget the elevator even exists. Make sure that you add in stretching and core building exercises as well. There are a lot of really great exercise videos and workouts online and many are geared toward backcountry hunters and elk hunters. Find one or two that work for you and get on them now. Doing so could very easily mean the difference between a hard, enjoyable, and successful hunt and one that is a painful, miserable, unsuccessful experience.

On my first trip, the elk were still up high. That meant that the elk were hanging out in dark timber, or were right at to just above treeline between 9,000 and 12,000 feet. If you are coming from the east or from flat country, let me assure you that the altitude alone makes things completely different. There is just not much oxygen up there. Getting in shape now will make dealing with that better later. Also, dealing with the altitude takes acclimatization. The severe altitude changes and overall elevation can cause health problems. Research them, know what to look for, make sure you allow time for your body to adjust to the altitude, and if you notice any warning signs please pay attention to them. One hunt isn’t worth your health or your life.

If you are new to elk hunting and have not begun to accumulate preference points for elk, consider some ideas on making an investment in your new-found adventure while at the same time participating in an annual opportunity to gain skills and experience. There are over 80 Over-the-Counter (OTC) bull elk GMUs in the state open for the second and third rifle seasons. Archery hunters can enjoy the early fall hunt with unlimited archery licenses for either sex, valid in over half the units in the state. Note that a hunter can apply for a preference-point-only code in the limited applications draw to make an investment towards a future hunting opportunity in a limited draw area, while planning to purchase an unlimited or left over license this year for one of the unlimited units. Each hunter can develop his or her own "license plan", but the key is to get to the field and develop the skills and experience to become a successful elk hunter.

Wilderness back pack (“light camp”) hunting can be deeply rewarding, but when darkness falls and the temperature drops it tends to separate the men from the boys. In an unforgiving and potentially harsh environment, everything you have to keep you safe, healthy and comfortable is carefully measured in ounces, and is strategically crammed into a pack on your back. Those ounces are all that stand between you and the harshness of a cold mountain rain, wind or snow storm.

The advantage to staying at Wild Skies Cabins as our base camp for your hunt is that you can either choose to come back to the cabin every night to a hot shower, warm bed and hearty meal, or do a one or two night spike camp and still be close enough to the base camp cabin to come back to comfort and rest when you need it.

Will you be bow hunting elk or rifle elk hunting? Deciding on good places to hunt will depend on what season you choose. Elk might be in the same places during both seasons, but more often they move as food supply changes with the seasons and hunting pressure increases.

Archery season is a good time to learn the habits of elk and where they go because you usually see more of them during the early fall. The weather is much more pleasant during that time of year as well.

Bulls are Looking for a Date, and You Could be It!

When bow hunting elk during archery season, there’s a good chance of calling in a bull. Colorado allows either sex for bow hunters. Which means you could shoot either a cow or a bull elk (not both).

If you are willing to hunt with a bow and arrow, archery season opens up a whole new world to bull elk! If you really want to hunt bulls, seriously consider archery. During archery season, it can sometimes be much more feasible to get close to bulls than to cows.

An advantage to archery season is still calm and unaffected by the hordes and noise of rifle hunters. The weather is warmer and you tend to see more elk during the rut, but you have to get in close to harvest one.

When it comes to rifle season, bulls aren't as willing to “come-a-courting” in response to calls. All elk are more wary once rifle hunters start stomping the mountains, so even a cow becomes harder to hunt. Although some hunters swear that the elk are still in the rut during rifle season: that is hardly the case. It could possibly happen at lower elevations due to some unusual reasons, but that is not the norm; especially in the high country where the majority of elk are still in their summer concentration areas.

Rifle season allows longer shots. However, you will not always find elk in rifle season in the same places they were when bow hunting elk or during summer scouting trips. If you have the endurance and tenacity to get away from the crowds, you can still see plenty of animals during rifle season. Big game hunts are demanding and rewarding, regardless of which method of take you utilize.

Hunting with a gun still requires practice in order to avoid wounding animals with poor shots. The time required to become good enough to shoot an elk in the vitals with today’s high-powered rifles is less than with a bow

More Stealth Skills Required

A rifle elk hunter is not as dependent on camouflage, scent control and stealth as someone bow hunting elk is. So many things can go wrong while hunting with a bow. You might spend all spring and summer practicing, only to take one of the many “opportunities” to blow the chance at a shot with a bow. All it takes is one false move, even drawing your bow at the wrong time to cause an elk to turn on a dime and flee.

You might get your bow drawn without being seen, but the elk might not step into a shooting window. As the seconds tick by while you are at full draw, the ability to shoot straight slowly dissolves. Or, perhaps everything goes well for an hour long stalk, crawling on your hands and knees to get closer, only to find they moved away when you had your head down.

These scenarios repeat themselves each year among hunters who get close to elk. If it hasn’t happened to you, you probably haven’t been archery hunting for elk.

Bulls are Harder to Find During Rifle Season

The larger bulls usually separate from the cows after the rut is over. If nothing but a bull will satisfy you during rifle season, just be realistic and prepared to have many “dry” seasons. If you stick with it and continue to add to your research and experience, it is possible to expend the considerable effort needed to regularly get into bulls each rifle season.

The largest number of elk in rut at one time will occur during the month-long elk breeding season. The peak occurs on the first day of fall. The fall equinox always occurs on September 22nd or 23rd. There are variables that affect whether you hear a lot of bugling or none at all during the rut, such as the super moon we had last year. But the rut will go on with or without our hearing and seeing it. The science is well settled on this and is published in the “big elk book” titled, Elk of North America, Ecology and Management, by Jack Ward Thomas the authority by wildlife biologists.