Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting CO unit 12, 23, 24, 11, 211

So after 3 years of hunting elk and NOT harvesting anything(I missed a bull, passed on cows, and only saw cows when I had an OTC bull tag) our group has decided to increase our statistal odds of harvesting and hunt the above units. We'll be hunting 12, 23, 24 1st season rifle. Then going back to hunt 11/211 4th season rifle.

We have a few ideas of where to start. We'll be camping off a road, we are in good shape so hiking 2 miles to start hunting in the morning isn't a big deal, and have no access to horses. We will only be able to scout in mid-September for a weekend.

Thus, are there places to avoid as far as too many hunters?
Areas to avoid with low desities of elk?

How far west in 11/211 do the elk typically migrate by 4th season?

If anyone has experience in these areas I'd like to bounce more questions off you.
Thanks!

Have hunted 11/211 in 4th season many times. The migration into Axial Basin depends on snow in the high country. I have seen migrations as early as 2nd season but lately there has been minimal migration until the end of the 4th season. The elk typically can be found scattered throughout 211 when the migration happens. Last year hunters reported only a few groups of 3 - 5 elk making there way into Axial basin throughout the 4th season. Did see a group of about 20 cows on private land in unit 12 with 2 days left in the season. Good luck.

I have been hunting this area (23, 24) for about 12 years, almost always in the first season rifle. The first 5 years were a learning experience (so no elk). Since then I average an elk about every other year. There are a huge number of elk in the White River herd but finding them every year is not easy. The past few years we have found elk high in elevation. I guess maybe the late warm weather is to blame. When we find the elk on opening morning they are still in large herds. By Sunday and Monday they are busted up into smaller herds and in the dark timber with smaller open meadows. There can be a lot of hunters up there and you have to get away from the roads. We park our ATV's on the main road and hike in about 2 miles. The only other people we hunt with come in on horses. If you stay near the main and secondary roads you will run into quite a few other hunters (at least on Sat and Sun).
I would give you more specific info but our area does get crowded at times. I have noticed that the out of state hunters seems to have decreased since the fuel prices went up a few years ago.

Good luck.

As taglarry said, if you are hunting public land in 23 and 24, you will have lots of company. When the camps go in, a lot of the elk drop down low and take refuge on private land. The ones that remain on USFS land are generally up pretty high.

By the second morning, almost all of the elk will be in small bands and they will be in security cover before sunrise. Where I hunt, this cover typically consists of very dense aspen stands or tight stands of mixed conifers on north-facing slopes, although decadent stands of old, tall sagebrush can be used, as well. That is not all bad, because it is not all that hard to ease into these areas and find elk. The down side is that, once you kill one, game recovery often becomes a bitch, so to speak--one of the reasons that my hunting partners often refer to me as "Chainsaw".

The dense cover on the 2nd say makes sense. I'll keep that in mind when scouting.

The areas we plan to scout are 10,000 to 11,120. Too high or just right? There isn't much public land either there, so where will they go under pressure, higher or lower?

That's higher than I have hunted in 23 and 24, so I can't really offer anything based on experience. The last time that I hunted that high (over 25 years ago over on the east side of the Flattops), elk were scattered in small bands in isolated pockets of thick stuff. I don't think that we ever glassed up a bull. We just went around to the thick stands of conifers, listened for bugling or cow talk and looked for fresh sign.

That is high but who knows where the elk will be come October. I hunt 8000 to 10000 feet. If I knew where they would go then I would write a book (as well as kill an elk every year). You will just have to learn the area and learn what the elk will do. I suspect they can't go much higher than 11,120. It sounds like you are starting off the right way with asking advice and scouting. Good luck and see you up there in October.