- Nov 13, 2013
- 17
- 0
I just got back from a second scouting trip into my unit in CO and had some questions since I am a rookie elk hunter. Some of you may recall I am planning this first elk hunt with my 13 yr old son so I looked for a unit with an either sex tag with good population.
We went into a wilderness area that is big country. We camped at 10,500 feet and hike in. We are ok hiking in 3-4 miles so I found a few spots as follows:
* a small saddle about 3 miles back in dark timber on a ridge going up to the main peak. The saddle was around 11,400 ft, on the right side was an upper small valley with south facing pocket meadow/park. On the left about 40 yrds was another pocket meadow facing west. I found old sign on the saddle, nothing I would say was under a week old and even older. I would say we were maybe 1.25 miles from timberline.
* the south facing pocket meadow on the right of the saddle was really tough to get to based on the very very steep hillside and the large number of huge dead-falls. Again, we found some older sign along the hillside getting over to the pocket meadow. We did find a set of tracks leading up out of the meadow that were fresh from that morning. Again, about 1.25 miles from timberline and this upper valley ran parallel to the main drainage. The valley curved up towards the peak NW and the only semi open pockets with close timber was west facing. This south facing spot was a small draw half way up the valley.
* I located another few spots at lower elevation (9,500) that looked good as well with older sign.
My main question is....barring any snow before the 1st rifle season in mid Oct, are the elk going to stay around timberline? Or, will they be dispersed throughout these elevations?
Also, I read so much about N or E facing hillsides and hate to pass by the few spots that looked hunt-able that are not NE facing. How important is this?
I know weather changes everything, however, if no weather has brought snow I need to know were to spend my time.
Also, my plans have changed a bit for this hunt as we will not be able to hunt this season in this unit due to person reasons. I just got him a left over 1st rifle tag for 35 so he can hunt late season youth.
So I am looking for info/shared knowledge to build my knowledge for future hunts.
Thanks in advance.
We went into a wilderness area that is big country. We camped at 10,500 feet and hike in. We are ok hiking in 3-4 miles so I found a few spots as follows:
* a small saddle about 3 miles back in dark timber on a ridge going up to the main peak. The saddle was around 11,400 ft, on the right side was an upper small valley with south facing pocket meadow/park. On the left about 40 yrds was another pocket meadow facing west. I found old sign on the saddle, nothing I would say was under a week old and even older. I would say we were maybe 1.25 miles from timberline.
* the south facing pocket meadow on the right of the saddle was really tough to get to based on the very very steep hillside and the large number of huge dead-falls. Again, we found some older sign along the hillside getting over to the pocket meadow. We did find a set of tracks leading up out of the meadow that were fresh from that morning. Again, about 1.25 miles from timberline and this upper valley ran parallel to the main drainage. The valley curved up towards the peak NW and the only semi open pockets with close timber was west facing. This south facing spot was a small draw half way up the valley.
* I located another few spots at lower elevation (9,500) that looked good as well with older sign.
My main question is....barring any snow before the 1st rifle season in mid Oct, are the elk going to stay around timberline? Or, will they be dispersed throughout these elevations?
Also, I read so much about N or E facing hillsides and hate to pass by the few spots that looked hunt-able that are not NE facing. How important is this?
I know weather changes everything, however, if no weather has brought snow I need to know were to spend my time.
Also, my plans have changed a bit for this hunt as we will not be able to hunt this season in this unit due to person reasons. I just got him a left over 1st rifle tag for 35 so he can hunt late season youth.
So I am looking for info/shared knowledge to build my knowledge for future hunts.
Thanks in advance.
