Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Help with late season elk stategy

Don't know the area you are hunting and apparently you don't either. I would say not a chance in Hell to kill a big bull on public ground. Most people that hunt public ground hunt the private ranch boundaries and hope for elk to make a mistake. Some areas that is practical and some it is not because of distance to get game out without pack animals. Also without setting something up before season with landowners, I would not expect to get on private land late in the hunting season. Landowners get many calls and visits from hunters during the season asking to hunt. They are so sick of hunters by the end of the season and this is one reason why many hire outfitters to manage hunting. Good luck.

I might add that I have hunted the same ranch property in NW CO (unguided) with mostly the same group of guys for 13 of the past 14 seasons and I can share that bull and cow density and success rates vary from year to year. For one 3 year stretch, we had about 70% success on bulls including a few good 6x6 in an area not known for producing trophies. We also have had years where a few elk were killed and others when none were taken. Certainly the weather patterns varied during those years. Four years ago, I shot a cow early in the week and the 9th and last morning of the hunt, my buddy shot a great 6x6 after the other 6 hunters bagged it early due to not seeing elk Last year 2nd season, 3 cows were taken and zero bulls for 6 hunters. The following season, we killed 4 bulls for 5 hunters / tags and 0 cows for 1 hunter/tag. Unless you really know the area and hunt it often, it is very unpredictable. Go with someone you enjoy elk camp with and not worry to death about odds, etc. Unless you go with an outfitter with a 100% success guarantee, it’s all a crap shoot. I have stopped inviting folks to camp that are a pita on the road trip or in general in the hunt. Good luck, amigo!

This bull was taken last year on public land,but in Colorado. It is doable,but you need to be an experienced elk hunter.They year before young fellow,1st elk hunt,public land took one bigger than this and the year before a guy from PA, first elk hunt took a bigger on even yet on public land.All with a mile of each other. If a person is willing to work for it,killing big bulls on public land DYI, without a guide is very doable.

Drove out and looked around for 3 full days. Found a few elk, but not as many as I had hoped. Would have liked to talk to more people, but did get a few opinions. Sounds like elk kind of bounce around from drainage to drainage more than move out completely?

Secondly, looks like not very many areas that are more than a couple miles from a road/2 track trail that are open year around. That was a little surprising that they did not shut down some of them.

Also found out we can use the permit during archery. So should a guy go day 1 even though it likely will be hot and definitely pre rut, or should a guy wait until later sept and in the rut? I dont think we will be harvesting before the very end of sept, so i think i could do a week or so somewhere in sept.

So im excited to prepare to archery hunt in sept. Still interested in learning about what to look for to possibly find a mature bull very late.

This time of year the elk aren't likely to be anywhere near where they'll be in Oct or Nov. After the Sept rut, through Oct. the cows will begin to bunch in large herds. In late Oct it's not uncommon to see 75 to 100 cows without a bull in the bunch. The bulls will separate and go into hiding until the snow gets deep. They probably won't be far away but they're hard to find.

Bingo.Not too many hunters pick up on that.