Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk in the quakies

Its that time of year when hunting seasons have/are wrapping up and thoughts turn to next year.

We ran into a couple groups of guys last year in Colorado with dead bulls that were apparently shot in the quakies during the first rifle season. We didn't confirm with them but noted they were camped 3-4-5 miles from the dark timber and didn't appear to have any way to get to dark timber except to either drive up the mountain or hike - and really don't think they hiked. Also this area is off limits to ATV's or any kind of mechanized travel off the road.

I usually hunt elk at the dark timber - quaky boundary. I've had really good luck in the PM catching elk coming to hidden meadows or grass filled quakies just before dark. I tend to hunt the dark timber on travel routes in the AM catching them coming back from feed.

Last year was my first to hunt the first season and found it a bit challenging trying to figure out the deal. First, the bulls were still bugling the first weekend. I've heard of this before but we probably heard 4-5 different elk in 2 days. I had one bugling at 100 yards but couldn't get him to come up over a small rise that hid his chest and neck when I cow called to him. He simply got tired of peering over the rise and laid down. I jumped him trying to play Daniel Boone about an hour later.

Second thing I noticed was the lack of elk sightings in the PM. I never saw an elk in the evenings despite hunting several beautiful meadows 1.5-3 miles off the beaten path. I was a bit surprised at that.

Which leads me back to the title of this thread - how much time to elk spend living in the quakies? Hunting quakies is about 500 times easier than hunting black timber. Most elk in the quakies I've seen are either feeding at the fringes of daylight or passing through on their way to black timber.

As a side note, none of the dead bulls we saw were big, definitely shooters (decent 5x5's) but not P&Y/B&C category. Wonder if they were still chasing cows the first weekend and got caught in the open in daylight. I also wonder if the remaining bulls went into a post-rut funk/recovery the rest of the week coupled with open hunting season which is why we didn't see many elk and none in the PM.

Thoughts on this past year? Or elk in the quakies?

Thanks.

It's pretty hard to put hard and fast rules about elk hunting. I have killed them in both aspen and dark timber .I think I have killed three cows in their beds in the aspen in the last few years. I sure have not killed many in open meadows on public land.

I don't hunt PM any more. Waste of time and it is hard enough getting up at 3AM that I don't relish getting to bed at 9-10 PM. Nor do I want to be looking for a dead elk after dark, let alone quartering it after dark and I'm not one to let them lay in the filed over night just gutted out.

The 1st 30 minutes at first light have always been the most productive for me,but you have to be where you are going to hunt or sit before first light, not walking to it.

Where I ML hunt, there is littler dark timber, small patches at most everything is aspen. Seems the bulls tuck into that timber, but the cows bed down in the aspen.

The reason I don't hunt 1st season is that it is only 5 days long and a fellow has to pretty much keep to what they had planned for the hunt and if the elk are not there ,you don't have time to go find them. The 2nd and 3rd season that are longer, you can. Everybody does it different though.

They are where you find them.

bw,

You have the right idea to hunt the quakie/dark timber zone.

Elk feed in the quakies because the quakie trees let enough light in to support grass and hold more moisture in during the late summer when things begin to dry out (you will see the same thing happen in the oakbrush--the little area under a Gambel oak bush will hold green grass a lot longer than out in the open between the oak bushes). Also, grass will not freeze as quickly in the quakies because the trees hold a bit more heat, allowing the grass to stay green longer into the fall.

The reason hunters were finding elk hanging in the quakies is almost certainly because it was the 1st season and they hadn't been shot at too much. I find the elk will still act like it's September (including bugling) until enough lead starts flying and then significant behavior changes happen--usually about the 3rd day of the 1st season.

And you are right about the AM vs PM thing--probably 80% of the elk I've ever killed was before noon, and the large majority of those were before 9am. Of course, that could just be our style of hunting contributes to more success in the mornings.

Casey

Also, elk hang in the dark timber for primarily two reasons, to get out of the sun when it's warm, and to hide out from predators--two legged or otherwise........

Casey

I've taken elk in the aspens but they were passing through. As soon as there is any hunting pressure I would look to the dark timber instead.

A few years back I had the opportunity to watch a herd on private land for several days during 2nd rifle season. In the evening they would move out from the black timber into the aspens with a few of the boldest ones moving into open ground to feed before dark. In the mornings the pattern was reversed. This repeated for 3 or 4 days. I think this is a normal pattern but I wouldn't expect to see it on public land and I was surprised to still see it during 2nd season.

If the grove of aspens extends all the way up to a ridgeline then it is worth it to look for elk beds at the top side of the aspen stand.

One of things I look for is grassy aspens that butt up to dark timber on a ridge top with steep and thick on the back side of the ridge. Seems elk like to bed in the thick stuff and simply pop over the top of the ridge to eat in those secluded aspen pockets.

You mentioned none of the killed bulls were big, decent shooters but not trophies. I read an article a while back that went into detail about how towards the end of the rut the big, mature bulls will leave the cows after the majority of breeding is done. The big boys head off to recoup for winter. When they leave the next stage down of bulls move in, satelites and medium size bulls. 5 points and smaller 6 points. These bulls so excited to have the cows to themselves, start bugling and carrying on almost like a second rut. This usually happens up into the first and second week of October.

This article made a lot of sense, from the elk behavior we see in our area. Some years if no one has disturbed elk in a certain little area, they'll be bugling there heads off the first few days of the season which opens Oct. 10 here. They will do this until they get pressured.

Anyways, maybe that is what was going on with that group that killed all those medium bulls.

That late bugling is usually the 2nd time the cows come into heat.They are the ones that did not get bred in the 1st rut. However, it is not uncommon for the main rut to stretch into early October.

A lot depends on where you hunt. I have taken quite a few elk over the years in the first two rifle hunts in Colorado, and I can think of only two that were not were killed in aspen thickets or aspen woodlands. Here in New Mexico, most of the elk that I have killed were in areas that had scattered stands of aspen, but the elk were killed in Ponderosa Pine woodlands or sagebrush meadows.

Most years, elk are still bugling when the first rifle hunt opens in Colorado, but I can remember at least a couple of years when that was not the case. I can also recall at least a couple of years when there were bulls bugling on opening day of the second hunt. Never had any luck getting a bull to come to a call in either the first or second hunt, but bugling does help you find bulls.

YMMV.

The local habitat dictates where you will find them. If 90% of the area is dark timber, you will kill most of your elk in dark timber then or vice vs....
With that said, if every thing was equal, hunting pressure will push the elk into the dark timber very quickly! There will always be exceptions and the occasional elk shot in aspen after heavy pressure but not likely.
I concentrate on the dark timber immediately opening morning of 1st rifle season here in CO. Reason is there is heavy pressure from archery and ML hunters all September so elk rarely use the aspen's in fall unless under cover of darkness. I have seen them and shot them in the aspen too but that was luck and tracking them in the snow. I hunt by percentages and it is a much higher percentage for me to see elk in dark timber than aspen so that is where I spend my time.

Killed in aspens.

Early Oct.



Early ,2nd season.




Midway thru 2nd season.



ML Season.

Was in the aspens when I shot her.



Ditto.



Edge of aspens and timber.

Saddlesore,

You must really hate the taste of elk meat

I ran out this past summer in about July. I about gagged on chicken and beef.

I could post more photos of elk killed in the timber, but a lot of them were pre digital and I would have to scan them..

This one was killed this year that came out of the aspens and heading for timber..



This one was killed in her bed at the edge of the aspens. The above bull was killed in the brush at the end of the meadow above, but fell in a small patch of timber.





In the timber, ML season ,but I was not the shooter.



In the timber. Back when there were only two seasons.



In the aspens,jumped from her bed.



Definitely in the timber.

[img]http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj250/vmautino/blowdown.jpg[/img]

This is where I ML hunt. Very little dark timber.

[img]http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj250/vmautino/006_zpsb91c5a35.jpg[/img]


I killed 8 bulls in 8 years straight in this bowl. Some were up in the aspen, some were in dark blow down timber you could hardly walk thru.

[img]http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj250/vmautino/TurretMeadows-1.jpg[/img].

As I posted earlier, you can't put hard and fast rules on where the elk will be..

Concerning the OP's smaller bulls. In Colorado, they are the most prevalent. Colorado manages for quantity , not quality. With the 4 pt restrictions, most bulls killed are the 2 -4 year old class at least on public land.

If the bull can make it thru the first few years, there is a chance of it getting to what some consider trophy size. However, on public land with a lot of hunting pressure, they are few and far between.

They do exist though, but I generally kill the first legal elk that comes by. I don't know much about this elk hunting. I tell people I just stumble around until I find a dumb one.

Nice pics SS, you must know a few things about elk hunting.

Interesting thread. Between the 2011 and the 2013 first rifle seasons,our party killed 5 bulls in Colorado. No monsters,just small 4 and 5 point Colorado bulls. All were shot in the quakies or on the fringes of the aspens and sage / meadows. Actually there has been a decent amount of bugling early and late in the day.

About half of mine were killed in the Quakies after noon.

Guess I'm a contrarian�.

On the other hand, it is half of a day. Proof that percentages work?

Those interested should mark saddlesores advice....Elk are where you find them! As an example, me and a buddy hunted 2nd season this year in the Gunnison National forest area as well as backpacking into the Fossil Ridge Wilderness Area, sometimes above 12,000'....

It was hot which should have been a factor but we eventually found elk in the dark timber around 9000' with good grazing near by. The pattern proved true in both areas............!


X-VERMINATOR

I've only killed one elk, a 5x4.

Thanks for the nice pics saddlesore, brings back memories. Someday I'd like another crack at them.....