Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Sheep and no elk

I drew a cow ML tag for unit 12 in CO this year again.This is a great area with little pressure,but heavily grazed with sheep. I had no problem taking a cow last year,but this year was the pits.

Seems the Mexican, the sheep company had hired, did not go out to check the sheep all summer, and quit awhile back, unbeknownst to the owners.

Upon arrival, the Forest Service people were up there and told me all the sheep had been removed. The next day, 5 cowboys with 6 dogs showed up and said they had been hired to find 2800 lost sheep. They readily admitted they knew nothing about sheep, had no maps, and knew nothing about the country.

Opening day I caught glimpse of two cows ,moving thru and the following Wed, I saw 6 cows and a bull, but in an area I could not get them out of. Later that day, the cowboys told me they ran those elk down into a deeper canyon when thier dogs were chasing the sheep thru.

The rest of the time was spent listening to cowboys yelling from peak to peak and dogs barking,chasing sheep, and not all the time in the right direction.

Needless to say, I doubt there was an elk within 5 miles.
The outfitter working that area,moved her clients to other camps, but they still had no luck.

I felt bad for them, as one camp had Wisconsin hunters in that it had taken them 11 years to draw tag, the expense of the trip and the cost of the outfitters. All in order to see hundreds of sheep every day.

One evening 500 or so sheep came thru the trail head and stayed around all night.With dogs barking, sheep baaing,and bells clanging, my mules were ding bats come morning.

During all this a forest service guy came around evry other day and kept trying to convince me,the elk were still around.I tried to bet him $100 to find one and he backed down.

I have killed an elk evry year for many years,but this may be a break in the tradition. I still haev an Either Sex tag for the 2nd season in Unit 54.However, I won't be able to pack in and a shoulder injury might keep me home anyway.

It's the pits for sure.

Saddle that stinks for sure. I would be sure someone who oversee the grazing process(permits?) hears about it (I don't know anything about that process). It would seem that they have a responsibility also.

I hope your able to get out during the 2nd season.

Good Luck,
Claybreaker

Very sorry to hear that.
Hope you have better luck 2nd season.

hmm.. and someone once told me a round up didn't hurt the elk hunting at all...

Hate to hear that. But thats the way it goes sometimes.

Best of luck later on.

Jeff

That does suck. It would interesting to know if the sheep were outside of their grazing permit and if so whether or not the USFS is taking action on the tresspass. My guess is that the USFS guy that kept coming around was documenting numbers and dates to do so; at least that's what he should have been doing.

FWIW, I know a ranch in No UT brings in sheep to move elk out of drainages/meadows that the elk are overgrazing. It appears that the elk don't like to be around the sheep. But, they do like to come back to those areas about 30days or so later to feed on the regrowth.

Wow, that is a major bummer.

Just another episode in the legend of the Forest Circus!

Supposedly the sheep owners will be fined as the sheep were in the area after the grazing permit lapsed.

Sorry to hear of your dismal hunt If ya need the name of a GREAT Doc for your shoulder lemme know, I had mine fixed for the 2nd time a year and half ago and this guy is Excellent, he's up in Denver.

Huntinut

Vince:

Don't give up. I hope you have better luck during the second season.

KC

Wow. Sorry to hear about your hunt. I hope you feel well enough to hunt the second season.

To bad you didn't have a sheep tag

Wow, sounds like a real circus. Sorry to hear it. Nothing like a round up to move elk out of the country to where things are a bit quieter.

Saddlesore

I hate to hear of your misfortune. You have some good luck coming.

Joseph

Sheep are my least favorite animal they born with one purpose in life and thats trying to die.
Sorry to hear about that.I have been called crazy by guys,but I don't hunt USFS that has cows grazing it.I think it runs them off.
Better luck latter on.
BBJ

I've seen that just about everywhere I've hunted in Colorado just about every year. If it's not sheep it's cattle on the public's land. And everyone wonders why the carrying capacity for wildlife is so poor. I believe they are suppose to get them out prior to hunting season, but they never do. You always see round ups during the season in the Nat'l Forest. They should just be considered slow elk once the season opens.

You are wrong! They do not neccessarily have to have them off by hunting season. The grazing season dates are set by their permit from the administering agency, which in the case of federal lands has now bearing on when hunting seasons are.

Welcome to the fun world of federal land management and state wildlife management...

Colorado generally wants livestock out by Oct 15. In this case the grazing lease was up on Sept 15.
I have no problem with multi use in NF.

'Wisdom' all the way from Maryland....TFF



Saddlesore, sorry to hear about the sheep mishap. That is pretty bad when they are a month late with pasture permit grazing. They should get a warning(if they haven't already) and another abuse like that and their permit should be revoked.

The area I ride in July has both cattle and sheep grazing permits. The elk still hang out in the same drainages. I've often ridden past 1000 sheep and 500-600 yards farther up the trail kick out 40 elk. Same goes for the cattle, except they are in much smaller groups. 30-40 cows.

My favorite canyon to hunt in the fall has around 300 cows in it July to Oct. They usually start pushing them down the first of October and try to have them all out by Halloween. Of course bad weather will hurry this up and abundant feed and water will delay it. There is a resident herd of elk that stay in that drainage all summer, And as the weather turns, it is the drainage that collects the big herd of elk for the winter.

I've frequently sat by a water tank and watch cattle grazing nearby and had 16-20 elk come in to drink and pay the cattle no mind. I really don't think the wildlife worries too much about other grazing animals. It's not much different that watching Deer, Elk and Moose all share the same water hole.

Now 6 cowboys yelling at 7 dogs, That probably pushed the elk over the ridge and into the next drainage. That type of activity probably does move the animals. And it's just too bad it happened the same days as your hunt. I'm sure the rancher was under the gun, if his permit was done, The forest service probably gave him an ultimatium to get the sheep rounded up and off the mountain now.

As far as luck of the draw on tags, It's just what happens. I waited 16 years for my Utah Limited Entry Elk tag and had hot dry weather for 10 days. Bulls would not bugle and were holed up in the dark timber. This year my friends in the same meadow, saw 20 bulls in 2 days, harvested a bull each day and were home by the 3rd day. If it's not the sheep, it was the weather, or the archery hunters the week before, or? There is always a reason for us to blame, but we often don't control it. The challenge is to adapt and change our hunting process to match how the game is behaving.

At least thats what they always tell me when I show up in Alaska, "man the salmon were really running last week, Shoulda been here, This week the subsistance fisherman have taken them all,don't waste your time"