I just returned from three weeks on Colorado, started in Colorado Springs, finished in Grand Junction, hiked 121 miles according to my tracker, did not see an single elk. Hiked high and low, drove for hours, always looking. Spent a day in Pike National Forest, covered miles on a SxS, not even a single sign (note, the forest is mostly burnt). Saw lots of Mule deer in Utah new Zion NP but did not spy a single elk anywhere, near or far. Spent last summer in MT, elk were everywhere, by the hundreds. CO is supposed to be the most populated state, go figure! Although this was a family vacation, I was hoping to get some inside info for a possible DIY hunt, I have since scrapped that idea.

Where the elk are now (summer range) is much different than where they'll be in hunting season.

I doubt the elk just vanished statewide.

If by chance they did, then you can thank a wolf.

I hunted the third rifle season in Colorado in 2018. We hunted near Walden. there were nine of us, and none saw an elk in a week of hunting. Moose were around, but not elk. However, the weather wasn't bad enough to drive the elk down from the higher elevations, and it was windy with light snow most of the week. Critters don't like to move around when they can't hear, smell, or see well.

Some of the greatest numbers of elk that I see out here are in Southern Colorado, between the Purgatoire River and the New Mexico State line.

Interesting, thanks!

Always a lot of elk hanging out in Estes Park , right outside Rocky. I imagine a lot are hanging out in the timber to get out of the heat. If you are not out and about right at day break you won't see many. Some will be hanging out in what snow fields are left, up high to get away form the bugs.

Too many people hiking around Pike NF and they push the elk out. Some of that herd is up on the COS water shed property that you can't access.

All across Colorado though there are a lot more people recreating in the NF that push elk further back in.Trips into wilderness areas, you will meet hikers, backpackers and trail riders all the time. Can't get away from them. If not wilderness, you will be overrun with mountain bikers. Couple that with the fact that CPW way over estimates how many elk Colorado actually has and it is no wonder you didn't see elk.CPW probably has a better handle on the number of elk, but if they would put that number out,their license sales would go down and they are not about to let that happen. I think they are still publishing that 280,000 ,but I doubt if the actual numbers top 200,000 or even come close to it

Hard to believe 9 hunters didn't see and elk but I shouldn't be surprised. I'm sure you saw lots of hunters though, that's the trouble with public land.

Saddlesore, I believe it, people everywhere. Never seen so many campers and ATVs in my life, must be the weather. CO Springs was a nice break, Grand Junction was a desert with heat to match.

Antlers, do you think floating the river would be a feasible option for hunting?

Bob,

If you want to see Elk in CO now, you need to have very good knee's. It's 8 am and it's already 80 degrees.

Expect to find them very high up. As SS mentioned, during the day they will be in dark timber. They will graze at night when it's cool. I'd set on high altitude water sources near dark timber and good grass as sun up and sun down. That would be your best chance.

I saw around 40 elk last weekend east of Grand Mesa...but I know where to go to find them.

No sir.

But from Stonewall east along highway 12, all the way to about halfway between Weston and Trinidad...everything south of that boundary...all the way to New Mexico, is where I’ve seen lots of elk out here.

Antelope, we hiked as high as 10,800 and I do understand that we were more in tourist areas than remote hunting land but I thought for sure I'd see one here or there, even at distance. On a side note, I say as many as 20 mule deer bucks, some very nice, on one stretch of highway near Bryce, way outside the park, in UT.

Have you seen them there this spring and summer?

We are ass deep in tourists. The parking lot to climb the 14ers are overflowing. Had a job by the Quandry mountain trailhead. The parking lot was overfull. Then they parked up to 3 miles away along every wide spot in the road. Many elderly locals refuse to leave their house anymore because of the crowded conditions. Local hunters are suffering to the extreme. So many out of staters that the chance of drawing a license are greatly reduced. Out of 9 license tried for I drew 1. Thirty four unsuccessful attempts for moose. And those damned bicyclists. Grrrrrr, Don't get me wrong some tourist are nice and know how to drive I have been told.

I usually see em’ there in the Fall and Winter. Especially Fall. That’s typically when I spend time down there. In the Spring and Summer I’m typically spending time at higher elevations.

Yep. There’s a lotta people out here right now. That particular trailhead is very easy to get to, it’s right off Hwy. 9, and it’s just a few minutes outside of Breckinridge...so it’s quite popular.

In Colorado? Do tell.

As others have said, it's been hot here for weeks now and you're not going to see them out and about during the day unless you're way up high.

I'd draw absolutely zero conclusions based on your observations on the state's elk herd...

At this time of year, a lot of elk will be found above timberline. They will congregate in large herds at seasonal marshes created by melting snow. Lots of grass and small broad leaf forbes are abundant for a month or so, in those marshes. The elk will stay until they have grazed off the grass. Then they will drop down into the subalpine zone. A good pair of binoculars makes it easier to spot them.

Around our place at 8k elevation in NM there are LOTS of elk - almost all year - and we see them constantly. In summer when it is hotter and brighter, rarely do we see them during the day (except very early daylight when seeing some cows with young calves learning to graze). In such conditions, they begin to move on the edges of the day.

You are looking in the wrong places, also, wrong time of year. I've seen herds of up to 600 elk in the third season in Hamilton.

A lot of tourist high in the mountains now, many well above timberline, have changed elk habits. Private ranches with few people are where many elk now live year round. I work on a few of these ranches and see elk quite often. Places like public golf courses have seen elk become residents. If you know where to look elk can be seen quite low nowadays. A herd of 75 or so are hanging out near Salida city limits in a hay field. Unheard of when Colorado was a wilder place.

There's your problem. ATV's are why we always hunted a wilderness area where only horses, mules and walk in were permitted off road. Elk don't like people and pressure and the proliferation of ATV's and the ease of easy access has driven elk in public areas into far more remote areas. We overheard some outfitters talking that someone had flown the area and told them that there were 10,000 elk in Soap Creek Canyon and the guys were frustrated that they couldn't get to them.

I have some really bad news for you.

You actually vacationed in Oregon. I know it sucks, but did you at least stock up on the local weed strains while you were here?

Have been seeing a steady decline in all big game numbers in the last decade or two. Elk seem to have declined excessively. Many of us old timers attribute the decline to the states issuance of seemingly endless cow elk licenses. When you kill a cow you are killing more than her but also her offspring and their offspring. One kinda secret place I would hunt was the very north west corner of the state in the Sand Wash area. Completely uninhabited. Every trip I would see at least 3 herds of wild horse, antelope in such great numbers that you didn't even count them, large herds of elk wintering there and plenty of deer. Last 2 day trip there, 2 antelope, 1 deer and one small herd of horses was all that was seen. Don't know the answer but I don't shoot females anymore.

99.9% of the river from the NF boundary (North Lake SWA) to Trinidad lake is private property. I have seen lots of elk between Stonewall and Weston in march and April many bulls still sporting antlers but I was not there this year. Many of the elk migrate into NM after April.

Agree, PNF is a zoo this time of year, deer can be seen in some areas early am or very late pm. Some of the elk keep to the bottoms of a few very deep canyons.

The numbers are incredible down there. I’ve seen elk comin’ over the ridge from south to north, west of Weston and south of Hwy. 12...and there were so many of em’ boiling outta there that it looked like fire ants comin’ out of a hole in the ground. Hundreds of em’.
I think the Bosque Del Oso State Wildlife Area down there would be prime hunting grounds for wapiti.

Right now the bulls are in their bachelors groups and cows with calves have just re herded. Likely all on north slopes looking for some water and good grass.

antlers

I've heard that the Bosque hunts best in 4th season but there are only 10 tags.

I bet they’re coveted...!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevor...the-first-time-in-90-years/#7dd838c86f62


I have personally killed wolves where they were not supposed to be before. Like a few hundred miles from where they should be. USFWS are a bunch of liars when it comes to their little pet projects.

Yep, for sure.

Ive heard from some people that Col game folks are trying to significantly reduce the states elk numbers for many years. Dont know if its true but the numbers sure dropped in the NF north of Durango.

I saw 3 collared wolves 20 miles west of Jal a couple of times that I had been informed of. They took care of the 2 antelope herds and a few small groups of muleys that were in the area.

don't worry........

they saw you......

This.

Shoulda played 18 holes in Estes.

Where are all the tourists from? I thought everyone in Colorado vacationed. hunted and fished in Wyoming.

I moved to Colorado near 20 years ago. People bitched then that it was getting over run.

There are simply too many people.

Lotta people from Texas come up here. New Mexico and Kansas too. But I see a bunch from Texas.

"A pack of wolves was spotted in Colorado." Yes, I am aware of this, everyone is. Key word is "a." "A" pack of wolves is not the reason the OP didn't see any elk in three weeks.

the farther north in colorado ya go, the less texans to be seen.....

I bet you couldn't go three weeks without spottin' one......

We got some stayin' at our house, always grilling fajitas and mixing margaritas from scratch, I don't reckon I can take much more of this.

There’s a BUNCH in Lake City.

Sounds rough.

Typical commie closet liberal smokepole response, after you get your azz handed to you.

You asked "Do tell", and rockinbbar Did tell, and like the closet slimy liberal you are, you come back and spin the narrative after you were TOLD what YOU had "asked" to be told, because you're not man enough to take an azz woopin on the internet, which makes your signature so damn hilarious.....freaking mentally sick, you are.

Plenty of elk in Co.

This time of year, they are usually on north facing slopes in dark timber, bedded down or playing in mud holes, and feeding above timberline early and late.

There is a big local group of maybe ~200 head that live and play all around Loveland, Co. I live in a full-fledged urban sprawl neighborhood at the end of a Cul-De-Sac, and my cameras have caught elk eating bird feed out of feeders at my neighbors house.

Anyhow.... I spend most of my elk time around Walden. This time of year, if I wanted to see home elk, I'd focus on NW Jackson County (Mt. Zirkel wilderness, above timberline - Davis peak, for example), or south Jackson County, near the continental divide.

For early archery and muzzleloader I might even run those areas, but later rifle season......... I ain't tellin'

Colorado folk seem to feel the same about Texas folk as Georgia folk felt about Yankees.

I got nooo problem with em’.

They are kinda like snakes and dimocraps, but i repeat myself.

Tough to be part of the convo when your experience dates back to the early 70’s. Back then the wildlife authorities would drop dynamite on the elk herds to break them up rather than allow poachers to slaughter them. I’m talking the New Mexico side of the Co/NM border on the east side of the Rio Grande.

Ha Ha them was the good old days! Used to see small planes with tape over the tail numbers (day before season opener) circle low into the timber basins followed by loud explosions. Opening morning crack of dawn sounded like WWIII. Rest of the trip would be hauling quarters. These days you could go back to the same general area and never find a track in three days.

LOL, you can't make this stuff up. "elkslayer" to the rescue!!! Dumbass, there's one pack in Colorado, and it's nowhere near the places the OP visited.

GregW, I agree, just a little surprised I didn't see any at all...

Well, you gotta look up high.

Unless its real dry. Then you gotta look low.

Beware the wolves. Once they arrive they breed like rabbits. Oregon had NONE for forever, until #07 came through. He magically found two mates in a state with no wolves and started having litters. Now their tracks show up all over, in 5 years or so. A buddy saw a pup the other day. ironically, he said there was zero blacktail deer sign anywhere in the area.