So, hypothetical scenario that happened to me a couple of times recently. It's recently snowed--say in the last 2-3 days--just before the start of the elk rifle season starts. You go way up in to the mountains in central Colorado, where you have found an area that, surprisingly, no one else hunts. There are elk tracks everywhere in the new snow--no more than 2-3 days old. Maybe they've moved/migrated through and are gone. Maybe not. Maybe others will come through. Maybe not. To get to the best areas and overlooks, you have to climb fairly far from the nearest vehicle access.

It just seems like, even long before sunrise, if you trounce through all of that crunchy icy snow, the elk are going to be spooked and you'll never see one. How do you get an elk in the crosshairs? Move less and hope they come to you? We camped about a mile or so from where we hunted. Is that a bad idea? Is it actually better to just stay in a hotel the night before rather than producing any camp sound and smell that close?

Any ideas are much appreciated.

Just my opinion, if it’s possible and you think there are elk in the area I’d get high and glass into the area you suspect elk are at before I went into it. Once you bump elk out, they don’t usually hang around.

Thanks Beretzs. What I mean is that getting high before glassing necessarily involves making a huge amount of noise over a long period of time slogging through the crunchy frozen snow. Won't that cause there be nothing to see when glassing because of that? Also, what about camping within a mile or so of where hunting? Bad idea?

What I meant was to find high ground outside of the area you plan or suspect elk are in. Snow is loud but honestly elk aren’t quiet either. If they’re in the area you’re hiking, I’d turn to hunting mode rather than hiking mode myself.

If you mean cold camping near the elk, that’s fine I guess. So many different scenarios it’d be hard to say. If you can camp near where you expect to see elk so you can get on them first thing at daylight, I’d take the chance.

Too many hunters are camping to close to prime hunting habitat now days.A mile should be fine, but keep a quiet camp.No pounding ,no spitting wood, no banging pots and pans and no loud talking, etc. Staying in a motel is not the answer.

Unles the tracks are fresh, the elk are long gone, moving thru, unless it is prime feeding grounds where forage is abundant compared to other areas that migh thave deep snow.

I have never had much luck getting high and glassing.Maybe where I hunt is too much timber though.

Thanks Beretzs. 2-1/2 years ago, my friend and I camped down valley and hiked in in the morning. It took longer than we expected to get up high.

We camped with a big tent and wood stove:









After that, most days we hunted down low, hoping to see something moving through.

Next year (2019), I did it solo. Managed to get my vehicle a few miles to the north on a road that was impassible the previous year. I backpacked up to here and put up a cold camp.



Elk tracks everywhere.

Camp was a mile north of the a bowl at the top of the valley pictured above. The previous year, some days, we made it up to a lake up high, but at the bottom of a huge bowl, and there were were so many tracks around the lake.

So, I would creep up, seemingly into the sky, up over some ridges to get to an overlook on the edge of that bowl where the elk likely wouldn't hear me coming.

Unfortunately, due to an ongoing divorce and work issues, I only got to try for three days, and didn't see anything.



That latter approach seems favorable, but it's difficult, and getting one out likely would require driving 40 minutes around and approaching an expired elk from the south from the lower valley.

Note that there never are any hunters anywhere near these spots when I've been hunting there, but always tons of elk tracks.

It also could be that, in 2021, there will be less or little snow. Just don't know.

Rather than spook the elk, some spots are just better left alone and saved for the evening hunt. If you have an idea of where the elk are holed up, you can then hike in mid afternoon when the snow is soft and get in place. Towards dark the elk will come out to feed or move towards their feeding area and if you are in the right spot it's game over. Stay aware of down drafts as the temps cool in the evening.

If I’m crunching through snow I’ll lightly blow or squeeze a calf chirp to cover my noise. I’ve been able to get within feet of them walking on iced snow. They’ll wait for a lost calf.

Yep, make some cow calls as you walk. Elk are loud too.

Interesting. When doing that, do you walk a certain way?

I read once that, when still-hunting deer, it can be helpful to take two or three steps and stop, then repeat until you get to where you want, because it supposedly makes you sound more like an ungulate and less like a predator. It seems to have worked a few times for me, but that could be a coincidence. Also, I seem to have been able much more easily to get near elk when on horseback than when on foot.

guess I've never worried about if elk hear me walking as long as they don't see or smell me. Our group often walks, in the dark, right through the area that we hunt. Then we hunt that same area all day until the sun goes down, then walk right back through the area in the dark on the way back to camp. We, as a group, kill our share of elk doing it this way.
Seems like the elk hang in the area until someone goes into the dark timber and pushes them. That seems to make them move out more then just walking through the general area that they like to feed in.

Thanks for the interesting comments TRnCO.

One thing that percolates in my head is what happens on my land. I have a small remote cabin on my land in Park County on a ridge about 1/2 mile from the dirt road. Often on the first night I stay there, when I get out to take a leak in the morning, as soon as the first significant sound arises from my activities, I often hear some very loud pounding of hoofs down the forested hillside. It's almost certainly an elk based on the elk tracks around there. It sounds like just one animal. So, that guy takes off at the first human sound he hears. It only happens once per trip. So, I assume he beds down elsewhere for a period once he realizes that a two-leger is around. I assume he must walk up near the top of that ridge in the early morning and bed down after we have gone to sleep and doesn't realize we are there. It's also interesting that there are fresh elk tracks primarily in the forested areas of that land, but sometimes in the open areas, year-round. I assume then that they aren't migrating, but maybe it's different elk.

The most important thing when hunting like that is to be positioned ABOVE where you think the elk are going to be at first light. You can make your move from there. But if you spot elk from below, and they're on the move to get to bed, there's damn few foot hunters who can beat them to it. And have the wind in your face. Elk aren't bothered greatly by the sight and sounds of people. But if they smell you, forget about it.

I agree, wind is everything. They'll smell you before you see them, then all you hear is a stampede in the timber.

I have the good fortune of living where I hunt.Therefore I can hunt when the conditions are right and the snow is quiet.

I suggest you study the tracks, see what is going on. It's not to hard to age tracks. Find the beds, find where they forage. Build your knowledge.

Bottoms line...... Hunt when the snow is quiet. Hunt fresh snow. I don't hunt in really crunchy snow. If I have to hunt crunchy snow, I don't walk much. Take a stand groundblind etc.

I fear the noise much less than my scent drifting. Elk are noisy when they move. They pace themselves for the situation. Plan ahead, if you can't see 50 yards, you better creep if it's after a couple hours of light and elk are wandering. If it's within an hour of light and they're tracks are in a line, they're moving to feed or bed and faster than you will travel.....so boogie.

Wind is always 10x worse than noise.

Camp where you want within reason. Second largest archery bull I’ve killed was within 100 yds of my tent. Of course when backpack hunting into my elk hunting ground I keep a low profile and stay “small” to begin with.

Crunchy snow presents big challenges for still hunting the timber. During the fall, usually mid day temps warm up enough to make the snow soft. May have to set up and glass in the mornings when the forest is like walking on potato chips, and still hunt during the day.

Elk won’t necessarily run if they hear crunchy footsteps in the snow ( or crunchy leaves, or cracking branches on the ground) but will be on high alert and zeroed in on the sound. Trying to get the jump on them in those conditions is usually a lost cause.

Elk will often get up mid day and feed.
Another strategy is to crunch your way into the forest, find a small spot with more open timber, sit down and watch the pine squirrels for a half hour or more. Move along further and repeat. It has worked for me in the past.

Snow has been sparse in most parts of the state this year, especially in the middle altitudes, the elk are probably up around your cabin for that reason this winter.

Thanks for all the helpful comments. I'm going to try to draw on my property in Unit 50. Barring that, it will be OTC in NF lands in Unit 37.

So, the new Colo. regs and seasons are out. I will put in for 2nd rifle in Unit 50 for both muleys and bull elk. I'm not too optimistic though with no preference points. If I don't get the elk draw tag, I'll do OTC 2nd rifle for NF land.

But I may also put in for private land only cow in my unit. It's a class-B permit. So, it doesn't preclude me from getting another bull elk tag. That lasts for four months from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31. So, I would have a lot of opportunities if I can get out there enough. Is there a good answer to when the best times might be to hunt cow elk at 10,000 ft in central Colorado from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31?

I can work remotely. So, I could just hunt every morning and evening and work some days during the day. On other days, I would hunt all day. Perhaps go out there for a week every other week until I get something.

Good luck Marine Hawk! Especially on the OTC public land hunts, you'll need it but it can be done. 👍

Thanks MtnHtr. Good luck with all your endeavors, hunting or otherwise.

On the OTC, I know where the elk have been and where other hunters don't seem to go. I just need to work really hard to get one in front of me. Gonna be a chore. But I just enjoy the process of being out in some of God's best country trying to keep reasonably warm and enjoying the process.

the elk hunting in arizona snow is cold but i have seen some nice ones.

MarineHawk,

Considerable good advice on here already, from some hunters who clearly have experience in hunting elk.

From my experience, I definitely prefer the quiet snow like others here have already said. But that crusty snow may not be as detrimental as you might think. I have walked into elk when conditions were not quiet, and it made me think that the crusty snow may not actually be as noisy as I thought. Moving slowly and at an unsteady pace is always a help too.

The phrase crusty snow covers a lot of different snow conditions. If it is super crusty, really noisy, and you are sneaking in the dark timber, you may not have a lot of luck where shots would be close. If the snow is deeper, even though crusty on top, it might be a bit quieter.

If all I had for conditions for elk hunting was crusty snow, I would go out anyway.

As for camping, I doubt a camp a mile away is a big problem unless it is a very noisy camp, or is poorly located where the likely scent stream is pouring down into the hunting area.

Hunting out of a small backpacking tent over 17 days for bighorn sheep did not seem to cause any problems. Sheep are not known for their noses of course, but their noses do indeed work. Other creatures around the tent site were not particularly put off either, although this was at high elevation. Elk tend to be noisy, and a hunter can get away with making noises that a whitetail would not tolerate.

I would certainly try to avoid camping where I expect to hunt the elk however. They are not going to tolerate you being in the middle of their area.

Best is to spot your elk at a distance and then close in on them, if possible.

MarineHawk,

I might add that there have been times when I could not find an elk no matter what I tried to do. Times like that were when I started to question everything I was doing. Maybe I wasn't being quiet enough, maybe I was going too fast, maybe I was looking in the wrong places, maybe I needed a lucky rabbit foot and didn't have one!

Whatever the problem was, I just couldn't seem to figure it out! Nothing was working! I was hunting hard all day long, and I could not even get a glimpse of an elk.

And then, my wife would come into camp after a hard day of elk hunting and tell me where the elk were located!! And maybe she was packing a load of elk meat too! She has always has a knack for finding elk even when I was convinced there were no elk to be found!

No matter how hard you hunt, if you aren't hunting in the right place at the right time, you probably won't find any elk. And when the elk decide to move, or leave, they don't fool around about it.

Crusty snow and elk camps a mile away are most likely not the problem. The problem is figuring out where the elk are!

WyoM70

Thanks for the helpful comments WM70. The two recent years (not counting last year when worked precluded the hunt), there were recent elk tracks everywhere in the snow. I couldn't tell if they had moved through and were gone or were hiding in the cover. I will try for a bull OTC or draw, but I hope I can draw the PLO cow tag for where my property is. Then, I would have four months week-on, week-off to work on that, starting in early September. Unlike deer, who seem more easily spooked during hunting season, the elk seem spooked all year long. I'm gonna work extraa hard this year.

Also, the sounds from crunching through snow may not be as bad as it sometimes seems. I walked right up on my hunting buddy one year from behind and he never heard me. Perhaps it just sounds loud to me.

Hunting in the snow is pretty normal where I live in Saskatchewan. I don't have much to add to several excellent posts above but the simple advice, If you think the elk will hear you, try to sound like an elk. Wear NO clothing that makes noise when a branch slides across it, even your boots should be of a soft material or rubber. Walk like an elk, not a human. Short steps, irregularly spaced, stop to look and listen often. If you think you're going to spook an elk, do a calf call or cow call. Even after you spook an elk, a call will often calm them down if they don't really know what spooked them.
Be ready for shots at closer range than you think they will be. Carry your rifle in your hands, or slung muzzle down over your non- shooting shoulder. Keeps snow out of the muzzle and is almost as quick to shoot as hand held.

Here’s a more-specific set of questions:

As Plan-A-Stage-1, we may sit above this pond where there always has been a lot of elk activity in past years, based on the density of tracks there in newly-fallen snow during the 1st and 2nd rifle seasons:





This is an aerial map. You can see that same pond in the upper-center:



Assume there are no other hunters around, which, so far, has been the case. We would be camping 2-3 miles downhill on the road that runs SW/NW that goes below and to the east of the pond. Assume some snow, but not so much that I can’t get my 4x4 up that road.

The road below the pond is about 700 yds from the pond at its closest and never in view of the area in the bowl around the pond.

Pre-dawn, would you spend the hour or so, slugging your way up hill on foot through the snow to get to your target positions? Or would you drive up fairly-quietly and have the head-start that would provide? I’m not sure whether or not the elk, if any, up in the bowl would be able to hear that fairly-quiet Jeep Gladiator.

Getting up and around that bowl is quite a steep set of climbing above tree-line, which we would have to do in any event.

If you have any insight, would the elk be more spooked by people approaching on a long march for several miles along that road, or by a giant machine creeping up the same path?

The other completely-different option is to camp a couple of miles north of the view of the bowl and approach that way, which would be easier to avoid spooking anything in that bowl and valley, but sometimes that is not an option due to access road not being passible due to deep snow, as it is on the north slope, and it also comes with additional challenges for getting out an elk if we are fortunate.

Any comments would be most appreciated.

Either people or a vehicle, if they hear or see you,they are gone.. Even in the dark you can push them out.Last option is the best

+1

The sound of a vehicle approaching is the last thing I'd want them to hear.

Hunting in the snow is way overrated. Yes, it's good for tracking but you're tracking because the animal heard you and took off. Snow is usually squeeky or crunchy. Frozen snow is way too noisy. Of course, you usually don't have a choice. If it snows, it snows, and you aren't going to change it other than by staying in camp or going home.
That said, I've taken my share of deer and elk in snow.

Thanks for the helpful comments guys.

My first hope, is to draw a bull tag in the Unit on which my property sits, which would make things easier. I'm also going to apply for a 5-month-long private-land-only cow tag there, which I can get in addition to a bull tag and which should be easier to get.

If I don't draw that bull tag, I will do OTC in the area shown above. If it's not too snowy to access the northern camp area, I likely will do that. I don't think the elk in or below that bowl will hear us coming because we would be approaching from the other side of a ridge. But, if there is too much snow to access the northern camp, we would have to come from the south. If the snow is too deep, I suppose we could access the northern camp by renting snowmobiles, but I'm not too keen on that. There's about a 50/50 chance that the northern road will be accessible based on past experience.

MarineHawk,

Are you thinking of the 3rd season? In the photos that area looks high enough that the elk may not be there by mid Nov this year, even though you saw tracks a week or so earlier. The vantage point you took the photo from appears to be a excellent spot. That area does look plenty "elky". Assuming that the motor vehicles haven't shot at them in the previous seasons the elk don't care much if they can't see the vehicles. I killed both my bulls a 20 minute straight line slow walk away from well traveled two track roads--but that was also in very thick timber.

I would choose to come in from the route that gives you that vantage point in the photo.

RC,
Hunting in 4" of fresh powder in the timber is the ultimate. Cut a set of lone tracks, take off after them as quickly but as quietly as a guy can and get the jump on them. Sometimes. Sometimes they get the jump on me........

Thanks for the comments Alpine.

In the past, that pond during first and second rifle has so many tracks around it in fresh snow, it looks like an elk city.

The vantage point is on the N/E edge of that bowl. I can only approach from the north in the 50% chance that the logging road doesn't have too much snow. I applied as my primary for a 2nd rifle bull tag in a different unit where I have 130 acres of mountain land with a lot of elk ad on which I have a cabin. I also applied for a five-month long private-land-only cow tag for the unit on which my property lies, and which I can get in addition to any bull tag.

If I don't get a bull tag for that unit, I will get an OTC bull tag for second rifle in the place pictured above. That is Oct. 30–Nov. 7. Three years ago, I did the same, and there were elk tracks everywhere, but I never saw one. Two years ago, I did the same place solo during 1st season, but could only hunt a couple of days because of a nasty divorce and tremendous work demands, factors that won't come into play this time around.

The elk will clear out at seeing headlights way before they will at engine/truck noise....

Just to crystalize the specific issue: I can drive that truck with just the fog lights on. If the moon is out, without even that. It's an uninhabited old logging road. And the path of the truck would not be visible from the bowl above. I don't have glass-packs on it. It's pretty damn quiet--not like an ATV or whatever.

I'm not claiming that's it's a good idea. I'm just giving the context.

elk don't know the difference between head or clearance or backup or foglights. All they have to see is a light, whether it's direct or reflected off off of fog, trees, ice, whatever. If you can't get in in total darkness(or under red light), they'll start moving off.

True......

There are exceptions to everything. A few years ago we were driving down a road in new snow just before total dark and spotted a herd of elk on a snowy hillside about 1/4 mile away. The only way to approach them in the morning was up that road. Before light the next morning, I drove up the road to near where they were, parked, and hiked the 1/4 mile to where we'd seen them, getting within easy range when it was barely getting light, just enough to walk without a light. They were still there, out in the open looking down on my pickup, and I shot a cow as soon as I had legal light. The difference here was that it was a well used road with some summer homes plus snowmobilers used it a lot. They were used to seeing cars both day and night.