Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Flatland Elk hunting

I don't see much posted here concerning Flatland Elk Hunting. But I do see that there is a Colorado season dedicated to Flatland elk hunting.

So, how is Flatland Elk Hunting.

And, being from Minnesota, I would like to take this opportunity to THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all of the Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming residents who faithfully and unselfishly post here giving all of us out of staters advice on hunting elk and mule deer. I have read some great information on this forum, things I could not have gottem from the various state DNR sites. So THANK YOU.

I assume most of the flat land elk hunting is east of I25.if that is the case I don't know of any public land where one could elk hunt in the eastern part of Colorado.There is a smaller herd,north of me that moves around on 7-8 differnt ranches.

Here in Colorado we have unlimited licenses for elk east of I25, and a very generous season. It's basically an attempt to exterminate them in country where they will cause problems. I do know of a few pockets on private lands where the ranchers allow them to persist and make some money off of hunters.
In Wyoming they also have elk in and around places like the Thunder Basin Grasslands and the Red Desert. These are very high success hunts and are in great demand. They only do the Thunder Basin bull hunts every three years in order to maintain some trophy quality. not much chance for a big trophy bull in the Red Desert as they tend to shoot over 40% of the bulls every year.

Can't speak for CO, but Idaho has flat land and Idaho has elk. However, for the most part they're mutually exclusive.

Flat land elk go to Arizona

I read an article a while ago about elk hunting east of I-25 in Colorado. It stated that there are about 800 to 1,000 elk east of I-25 and about 250,000 elk west of I-25. I stopped reading when I got to that statistic.

I've heard that some people pack into the Picketwire Canyon and kill elk there.

KC

"flatland" elk hunting is more like antelope hunting, in that the excellent vision that elk have soon comes apparent. They'll get up a move 5 miles on a whim and that can make problems in getting an elk due to the amount of private land they inhabit in the "flatlands"
There have been some good bulls killed in Colorado around the Stoneham and New Raymer area. Most locals think those are probably elk that escaped from an "elk ranch" that was in the area.
Here in Wyoming we have several "flatland" areas, two of them are general license areas and the rest are limited quota. Private land dominates the region and if you don't have a good amount of access the chances of getting an elk is slim. The trophy quality is very high due to the small number of permits allowed and the excessive number of elk.

Don't think the Picketwire canyon is exactly what I would call "flatland"

What is "flatland" and what kind of elk is that?
I consider all of my elk hunting as flatland its just turned up on its side.

Prwlr:

Yeah I guess you're right. Those canyons can be pretty deep at places. It is on the plains though. I guess I'm not quite sure what is meant by "flat land elk".

For that matter the sage hills of northwest Colorado might be considered "flatland" compared to hunting in the mountains.

KC

I am mainly refering to the Colorado "Plains" Elk Rifle Season with the over the counter tags.

Seems to me that the nice folks at the Colorado DNR wouldn't run a seaon on elk out in the plains unless there were some elk out there to hunt in each numbered unit.

I wouldn't bet on it. However, I would bet that they would run a season anywhere that they think they could get someone to buy a license.

KC

Good point there.

+1 Lots of licenses but no where to hunt (unless you have access to private land.)

For years there has been a herd down on the Arkansas river near the Oklahoma /Kansas border. All on private land. CO DOW had tried to get Kansas to go in on a project that would allow a hunter with either a Kansas tag or CO tag to hunt there in either state, but Kansas backed out and I think still has season on thier side of the fence. Oklahoma does not have season and the Okies shoot the heck out of them when they cross that line as they are not protected.

That herd was about 200 and I had heard that archers took several Pope & Young class elk out of there. I have not followed it for several years now.
This small herd around here that travels around and there is a high fence ranch about 6 miles east with about 300 elk in it.The wild elk play hell with the fence during rut.

Vince:

I've heard people mention a small herd that supposedly roams around on the Monument/Palmer Divide. Is that the one you are referring to?

KC

KC.There are three - four herds actually.
One is on the AFC and sometimes moves onto the median at the north entrance and then a little further east, but not much.

The one at Palmer Lake/Monument is known to get up to the Greenland area and onto the open space, but get on to private land pretty quick if anyone bothers them.

The small herd north of me runs east and west along the Doublas /Elbert/ El Paso County line and traverses that country all the way to Bijou Basin where the high fence herd is.
Two-three bulls get poached every year out around Elbert.

Then there is a herd of about 20 , southeast of me that mostly live on the Audubon Concervancy land,east of Vollmer Road

In general, how do Colorado land owners respond to requests to hunt on their land?

They only respond to large checks or wads of cash.

Taz4570 is about right.I have one ranch I hunt pronghorn on as I have known the owners for 15+ years. I drew a pronghorn tag for unit 112 two years ago, knocked on every door I could find and the cheapest trespass fee I found was $850. I never have encountered a goat worth$850. The chances are slim to none of finding a rancher who would let you hunt elk for nothing.

Another problem is that you don't have the 1000+ acrea ranches that have elk on them. Most are a lot smaller. The elk move from ranch to ranch and where you pay to hunt on one,the elk may be on another