Archery Season Begins!  Archery elk season in Colorado begins August 28th.  If you are undecided on where to go for archery or other seasons this fall feel free to contact me.  I'd be happy to call you back so we can chat about the upcoming season.  If you just want to chat about the weather conditions or elk activity as the peak of the rut gets closer then shoot me an e-mail with your phone number and I'll call you back (as time permits). Click here to see Virtual Elk Hunts and Scouting Trips from 2003-2010.

Part of the west means enjoying the land.  Conservation is important. Remembering the good old days is also important.  Two of the best Cowboy singers and poets that I know of really capture the spirit of the west and the old days as well. Dave Stamey and Don Edwards really capture the raw beauty of what elk country means to me.  I hope you enjoy the clips.

Scouting Trip - July 2010:  We saw 112 elk in the Haystack Creek valley the weekend of July 17-18. The waxing half moon helped I'm sure.  Right now in Colorado you can count  on the upper creek valleys and tundra areas to be filled with elk. The sun was relentless all weekend.  It was warm and dry. The elk appeared around 8pm on Saturday feeding in an area that looked mostly like dirt from far away.  It was a little green but patchy.  The short grasses they prefer are irresistable for some reason. About 25 cows came out  to graze. Sunday morning I saw about 10 more cow elk up high on the tundra.  Then two nice bulls appeared below one of the last remaining snow fields on the east side of sheep mtn.  The biggest group  of elk were found about 0830 feeding in the confluence where a no-named creek and Haystack came together. About 75 cows and newborn calves were feeding in the willows and meadow.  I supposed they have never seen a mountain bike in that area so they didn't spook right away. They became very vocal until they could identify us.  I'm sure we made the cows  worried.  They had to convince the young calves that we were potentially dangerous. That's when they evacuated.  To the east into the rolling hills between Haystack and EFTC they went.  These numbers don't include the stampede of tracks  that carved a new path through the high grasses of upper Haystack creek area. Something - and I suspect a bear - spooked a sizable herd of elk down the east facing slope of Sheep Mtn and up the other side of the valley.  Mt Lion and bear with kits and cubs can be very aggressive. I'll post the photos and sounds - yes sounds - soon.  For once we got a cow bugling on film.  WHAT? That sound isn't exactly like a bull bugle but pretty darn close for a cow.  It was a very vocal 10 minutes or so until the elk melted into the aspen and pine.   The elk are up high.  Early season archers might consider hunting only the upper creeks and timberline where the terrain allows.  The lower valleys were very warm.  It became way too warm to be out in the sun down low.  The only tracks we saw on trail 55 were elk tracks.  And some deer and moose.  The hiking trail is better suited for elk travel than bikes.  In fact there are few places you can walk in all of Haystack creek valley where you don't see an elk track on the trail or in a meadow. Literally, elk tracks are everywhere.  Starting in May when the elk invade the valley until well after the hunters leave in late November the elk OWN Haystack creek valley.  The valley is 3.5 miles long and you can't see it all in a season.  Here's one my favorite photos of the valley.  We scouted a good part of Unit 17 and found the perfect valley east of Arapaho Ridge that I would recommend to anyone looking for elk.  The East Branch Creek in 17 is another a great place to find elk too.  So many great places to find elk, so little time off work!

Scouting Trip June 2010:  Check out our first scouting trip of 2010.  May and June have been some of the best months to see elk.  They are concentrating on having calves and eating as much as possible.  Everything is very green this time of year.  The scenery is incredible. Make an effort to get out into elk country if you can.  Here's another scouting trip link from June 19th.

New Elk Calves Born!  During the new moon in May (dark phase) many cows had their babies.  Cows had their calves around May 13th give or take 10 days.  Some  elk have babies before that date and some after. The elk gestation period is 8-8.5 months.  Which puts the peak of the rut right around the first week of October 2009.  Thanks to The Biological Time Hypothesis (by Bernie Taylor) we have nailed the peak of the rut since 2004.  For those who don't believe the elk rut moves around from year to year it does.   And we have the stats to prove it. We're talking the peak of the rut, not the velvet peeling off.  That's the week when elk will mate as cows come in to the prime time of their estrus cycle. It's the same week when the elk frenzy is the most active.  Herd bulls will visciously defend their harem.  Many bulls will be injured.  Some will even die in battle.  It is the most intense time of the year for elk.  We hope you have the chance to experience that for yourself.  For those who miss it or can't make it to elk country we hope our videos do the peak of the rut some justice.  The higher the bull elk numbers the more competitive the peak of the rut becomes. Any area with a bull to cow ratio in the 30s or 40s (per 100 cows) is a high concentration area and exactly where you want to be this fall.

Elk Forum:  Check out the new Elk Heaven Forum. Enhanced features allow you to post photos as attachments two different ways. Support for large photo uploads is also included.   To view posts from the old forum click here.  Don't forget to check out our Elk Blog. 

Elk Sounds!  New elk sounds from the 2009 rut have been uploaded.  Here's a sample.

Meet me online!   Are you already planning your trip for next year?  With all this technology at our fingertips let's take advantage of this down time to discuss elk topics online.  E-mail me if you'd like to look over some maps online.  Let us help narrow your search for elk. We can chat online while looking at maps online.  The next best thing to being in elk country is talking about elk!

Scouting Trips:  Click on the link to see a list of current and previous scouting trips and elk hunts as far back as 2003.  You can also find virtual elk hunts on the same page for archery and rifle seasons in Colorado.  We have documented six years worth of getting lost, hiking, camping and photographing public land hunts.  For the latest trip click here.

Baby Calf Born:  Click on the link to see a photo of this year's first elk calf - born Saturday, May 30th here in Colorado.  Here's more proof that the Biological Time Hypothesis (see Bernie Taylor's book) is for real.  Gestation period for an elk is 8.5 months.  That means this calf was conceived around mid September 2008. That's right on track with our prediction for the peak of the rut in 2008 (and previous years). Check out the dates for the peak of the rut here.