Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game How much snow and how long to move the elk down?

Long story short, I screwed up with a brain fart on elk dates for my tag! Thought I had until the 15th, but it closes TODAY!

I FINALLY found fresh sign over the weekend, but due to work I can't get there in time today (and no I can't take time off on this short of notice!). That fresh sign was around 7800 feet. What I can do is get to a spot where they winter. Sunday there was about 6-10 inches of snow where I found the sign. Since then add a few more inches, most of it yesterday.

Question is, how much snow will it take to move the elk onto the winter range, and how long until they get there? There is random elk tracks in the winter range, but mostly a random single track. LOTS of mule deer - which I can't shoot.

What's the chances of me crossing paths with a nice fat cow elk today?????? will 10-12 inches of snow at 7800 feet push them down to 6500-7000 ?

Not a real definitive answer. Some seem to move “at the drop of a hat”, others wait until a couple of feet! Possibly a regional thing. Through thousands of years of migration, they seem to know what they may encounter to their destination.....hence the differences in snow depth vs. migration points! No science, just my guess....using the time tested “SWAG” method! memtb

Bob, let us know how you did.

My elk season is over, no elk seen. I did see a bruiser mulie buck right at dusk and a group of 8 mulie doe. None of which I have a tag for. I did see a couple of older elk tracks in the snow while hiking out.

Wife and I knew this was a learning year for our first WY hunting season, we've learned a lot, I am still clueless on how to elk hunt, but that's part of the fun.

We have 3 more weeks of our cow season. It get dramatically better with some snow but so far, none's in sight. The 10 day forecast is for clear and a little on the warm side. We've been waiting for snow but we might have to just go hunt and hope we get lucky. The bull season and deer seasons are over so that'll reduce hunter numbers considerably anyway.

A deep freeze moves them better then a snow unless the snow is deep enough to make pawing for their feed a bit of a problem. A deep freeze makes much of their water turn to ice, and when that happens they will go find some that is drinkable. So it depends not just on snow, but temp too.

Singles digest and sub-zero temps move elk down hill faster then even 18" of snow, if the snow is in temps in the 20s.

Also just discovered I chose my area poorly! The next 2 areas to the south of me have cow tags open til mid-Dec. Oh well, screwed that up!

Oh well, still get to chase whitetail doe for a few more weeks! Haven't even started that yet (wife has one in the freezer already).

Live and learn and plan for next year!

To answer your question, it depends. Bulls will often be in belly deep snow before migrating lower. Sometimes no snow gets them moving. Cows generally migrate with less snow or before temps get too ridiculously cold, but not always. Feed, water, pressure, security and everything else plays into it.

It sounds like you're trying to hunt elk like they're whitetails. I normally don't bother looking for sign. I hike to the best glassing point around, and glass until I spot elk, even if they are miles away. Watch them bed and then go over there and wait for them to come out in the evening. If you find some elk far away in the evening, go after them in the morning. Unless they're blown out, they'll usually be close to the same place come morning. Once you know you're close to where some elk are, then you can hunt them like whitetail.

This is where knowing the area and knowing how to get around there in the dark really comes in handy.

I saw bulls last year in northern New Mexico above 9,000 feet in a meadow with lots of grass underneath 15" -18" of snow. They were negotiating their way through the deep snow without problem. Night time temperatures were probably a bit below zero. I guess as long as they can paw their way to food, there's no reason to leave favorite spots.

If you kick them out of their beds, they won't stop running for 5 miles. They won't be back until they're run out over there.
I agree that if you see elk right at dark, be there before light in the morning. If they aren't in the same place, they'll be mighty close.

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Have you looked into the Jackson elk hunts, Grand Teton and refuge hunts? They are a "shat" show but elk get taken.

I think that depth of snow is not as important as condition. Elk can smell grass through several inches of snow and they will paw the snow away to get to it. I've seen them wandering through a couple of feet of fluffly snow.

However, if there has been a strong thaw and refreeze a crust will form and the elk don't like that crust. First it hurts their shins when they walk through it. Second, if it's thick enough, they can't paw through the crust to get to the grass. So when there's a thick crust the elk will descend below the snow line. I know someone is going to ask 'how thick?'. I don't know the answer to that question. Yeah I know that elk have a very wide variety diet, but they prefer grass and will eat that before they resort to other food sources.

Another thing to consider is when the water sources freeze they can't drink, they willl descend to find liquid water.

But I've seen them go right back up if the snow melts.