Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Any CO 1st/2nd season hunters here?

Any change in your hunting plans since we got some serious mountain snow? Our area got over 20" last weekend. No way that will all be melted by next week. Last few years it's been so hot, that I'm not sure what to expect now. What's everyone else's plan?

no change.

This year I'm hunting the 3rd rifle season and no changes so far, but will definitely be keeping a weary eye out on the weather for the week before and after the 1st week of Nov. That's why I love elk hunting in CO. I've hunted in deep snow in both 1st and 2nd rifle seasons and had a couple of years when I wished I'd brought a short sleeve shirt.

Received fresh pics from the ranch today: ten inches of snow is all gone. Looks like a balmy fall afternoon.

Hunting first season no changes let it snow!

Hunting 2nd season. Don't plan on a lot of snow being left, unless more come sin.Sloppy trails are more like it.

I'll be hunting second season for elk in Northpark. I'll be scouting some starting Saturday. Plan may or may not change, depending on what I find.

KC

I'm hunting unit 62 2nd. Have no clue what to expect as first ever elk hunt. Hoping for best but preparing for worst

Hunting Unit 18 2nd season and it's going to be a welcome change of weather if snow in fact holds on. Much rather hunt in snow than 70 degrees like last few years. I can only take off so many clothes and still be "legal" to hunt.....

One big change is I cannot make it up to the ranch (unit 18) and hunt this year. Spoke with my aunt Wednesday and she said they had about 8" Of snow on the ground, but Thursday it was suppose to get to 60. So I suspect a bunch of that disappeared. She did say she finally had some animals in the meadow! One herd of about 30 she said had a nice 6 x 6 herd bull in it.

No change.... unless there's a blizzard forecast.

No change hunting 74. 2nd rifle. Be there 17th to do some scouting. Went scouting in June headed back to those places to see if elk still there.

It is supposed to be 50's and 60's with no precipitation near Meeker this week. It will be dry in my area.

Let it Snow!!!

Snowing up at Buford right now, but the forecast for the Saturday opener later this week calls for a low of 28 in the morning, warming up into the low 60s by afternoon. Based on 20+ years of experience hunting elk up there, it is very likely that there will be another snow or two before opening day for the second hunt.

This ! ! !

2nd season. Just going to hunt the same area as I did during archery and hope they haven't changed areas since then.

I hunted pronghorns in Northpark. That's the same general area where I will be hunting elk.

While scouting, I discovered that there has been a flock of domestic sheep illegally grazing on US Forest Service land, where I expected to find elk. The elk are not hanging out where I normally expect them to be.

They have moved in response to the presence of the sheep and I have found where they have gone.

So I'll be setting up base camp at a different location.

There has been a couple of snowstorms but not enough to chase the elk out of the high country. The weather is predicted to be good until opening morning, when it will snow again. Might be interesting.

KC

Good luck to all.

I’m headed in to set-up camp at about 10,500’ on a Wednesday... then my wife, oldest son, and myself will be making the climb back in on Friday afternoon. Em an I have bull tags, while the boy has a buck tag and a cow tag. Supposed to get a little snow Saturday morning, should be a good weekend.

Good luck bud -

Make sure your back is good and stretched...grin...

Just a comment to all snow lovers:
I think maybe one good climb out of a steep canyon in hip deep snow will cure you of that romance.

I kilt a 5 point saturday evening after it snowed about 2 inches. It took all day sunday to pack the boned meat out of the hellhole. But by then it was dry.... And till 1:30 this afternoon to cart him the rest of the way to the truck. But I'm cured of the romance even without the hip deep stuff....

Don:

Congratulations. Let's see a photo.

KC

And just where the heck is the healer's hat?!😁

Congrats!

There were three elk that hadn't left the high drainage where I was hunting, and I kilt one of them Sat morning.......

Been a number of hard freezes in the high country in southwestern Colorado, seems the elk have (mostly) left for "greener" pastures.

Great photo! That cattle dog sure has fun!

Went flying over my hunting area today, saw about 100 elk on the private ranch and only a few stragglers on the edge of the property. I'm still hunting the thick stuff like before and hoping to find them in there again.

Well that sucked. Sometime between archery and 1st season the elk came off the mountain and down to the private ranches below. During archery I was getting into elk daily, this weekend I couldn't find a single elk track in the fresh snow. Just weren't there anymore.

Did my first elk hunt ever in CO in 1st Rifle this year. Got a cow tag as a newbie, and punched it on Day 1. My buddy killed a bull on Day 2. Barely any snow at 10,000'-11,000' where we were hunting.

That's exactly what happened to us too. Saw a legal bull opening day evening with about 20 cows but couldn't get a safe shot due to other hunters in the same area. Was the only legal bull we saw in 10 days. After opening day, sightings of elk just didn't happen until we went south to lower elevations and private land. In a matter of two days of exploring a new area, we saw over 70 cows and small bulls on private land (we saw about 100 elk total, all of which were cows and spikes except for the bull on 1st season opening day.) The early Oct. heavy snow moved them to lower elevations sooner than typical, and any that remained moved out after opening day. Buddy had a 2nd season tag and we hunted opening day of 2nd season too, saw zero elk, and heard about 5 shots total, which could have been deer hunters. Saw a total of two elk tracks in 7 miles of hiking with fresh snow. The elk were gone. We headed home the second day of the 2nd season.

Lesson learned: time for archery or a new spot at lower elevation for the gun seasons.

This season was the first time in 22 years that I didn't hear a single gunshot while hunting. Majority of elk were on private land or the high school soccer field and the few left were 5 hours up by horseback. Saw 1 dead buck opening day but that was it and it was far enough away not to hear it.

Just got back last night from 8 days in CO for 2nd Rifle. Public land. DIY. 8 hunters. Zero elk. Fresh snow opening morning. Zero elk tracks on way in. One elk track on way out that evening... Lots of cat tracks over the next several days. But, no elk sightings. Gotta hunt elk where the elk are. I failed...

Lots of people are ‘failing’ this year, it’s been a tough set of seasons so far. It doesn’t look like the weather is going to change anytime soon either.

Just got to NW Colorado (Craig) for the third season. I like to get here a week early to acclimate and scout. I ran into four hunters that hunted the second season in GMU 12 and they said they saw three Cows and one Bull from last Saturday until this morning. Said it was cool in the mornings but hot by 11. Weather looks like it is going to change somewhat this weekend for the third season. Right now they are calling for high winds and dropping temps on Saturday and then 2 to 5 inches on Sunday and Monday. Temps in the 30's to low 40's during the day and 20's to teens at night. That is here in Craig. Higher elevations are supposed to get higher amounts of snow. We can only hope this comes to be, but seven days out is long way for any accuracy in weather prediction. This happened four years ago the same way. It was hot for the second season and then heavy winds came in on opening day along with snow the next three days. Everyone one of us got an elk and some got doubles. Can only hope it works out that way again this year. Good luck to all still waiting to hunt this year.

I had a first season bull tag for the western end of the Grand Mesa. I have not hunted it before but a neighbor shared good information on places to look. I did see a few elk, including a bull, move across a clearing one morning in "no man's land" over a mile away from me. There was no realistic way to get to them and that was all I saw. I didn't think it was a good sign when I saw a herd down low on private land two weeks before season and it wasn't. I heard very little shooting and saw very little sign during the season. I ran into an outfitter on the trail on the second to last evening. He said he had 17 clients and one elk kill. He was on his way to check on one of his clients, who had fired a couple shots, so he thought maybe he had two elk down. He said he has never seen it as bad as this year.

Two friends came to hunt second season. One had a Unit 52 cow tag and the other an OTC bull tag. We spent five days in 52 with no success. We saw a few cows but couldn't get on them and no bulls. Thursday we went to our favorite hell hole up on the Book Cliffs to look for a bull and spotted one late Thursday evening. We went back Friday morning and found him about noon. He was higher up Friday which was good for the pack out but that made for a longer cross canyon shot. After a couple of "practice rounds" my buddy came through and got settled down and made a heart shot at 550 yards. The bull staggered a few steps and disappeared in the timber.

I have a Unit 52 third season cow tag and I am hoping the incoming weather will improve the situation. They are only forecasting 3-5" of snow so we will see. Anyway here is my buddy's bull.

I had snow opening morning and saw a few tracks down low. None any where I tried to hunt high. With light fading on the last day, had three cows come over a ridge. Was in mixed sage and mainly dead aspen.

2nd Season... worked hard for it...

People really do sign those things 'immedately upon kill'?.......grin

Nice work dog!!!!

Nice work Dog, the sweat from you suspenders or fanny pack adds to the realism of the hard work

As they say any public land elk is a trophy. I believe in 2nd season this year that should count triple. There simply weren't elk moving all around in many places.

Private land and outfitters didn't get into as many as I would have expected.

Lets pray for snow (like we always do) and see if the elk show up.

My first ever elk, 1st rifle in CO this year.

Not a big one, but I was pretty stoked for my first crack at this. DIY on public land, too.




The rifle is a pre-64 M70 in 270 Winchester, used 150gr Nosler Partitions and a fairly warm handload.

I thought they were mostly signed in the pickup with the game warden pulling up behind you.

That is my favorite kind of elk.

The latest ‘storm’ in western Colorado fizzled. Not a drop on Grand Mesa or the Unc

Light rain here in Durango.

Are you sure it's a 270? I heard that the bullets from a 270 just bounce off an elk.

That's a good eatin cow, you'll enjoy that meat Bob

Very cool tddangelo, well played, it’s very satisfying isn’t it?

It was. For a Pennsylvania boy born and raised to get out in the Rockies hunting was really a welcome adventure.

And yes, colorado bob, it's a 270. I know I was living dangerously, but it seemed to turn out ok.