March 2005

Elk Country

Northern Colorado

March 2005

It has been a very easy winter along the Front Range of Northern Colorado. Light snow, mild temperatures, following a wet summer last year has left elk in good health at this time of year. No matter how mild winter might be elk are slowly starving all winter until the new blades of grass arrive in March. Southern slopes up to 9,000 feet can be exposed and warm enough to find grasses and other plants that are ripe and green. Finding elk is easy this time of year. Find greening slopes and you’ll find elk. Elk will nibble on the smallest of greenery all day long. Their fat reserves are nearly exhausted and they appear to be thin under a thick winter coat. The longer days have triggered winter hair loss already.

I found this stinky elk bed at the base of a South-facing slope. Elk were in the area about a week prior to my visit. Probably to avoid the new snow that blanketed the area. Northern slopes still had over a foot of snow, the most I’ve seen this late in winter for that area. The bull tracks that led away from this spot were huge. I was impressed with the size of the bed and the tracks. Wish I could have seen this big bull.

This young 5x6 was out grazing this afternoon. His antlers are still on but I expect the full moon on March 25^th to trigger the hormones that will allow the old antlers to fall off and the new ones begin to grow.

His coat looks in great shape. I didn’t see any embedded ticks and he appears to be healthy. He’s done a good job of surviving winter and the lack of quality food. I’m sure he’s glad to be nibbling on short green grasses. If this area looks familiar to you then you might take a look in the nearby aspens for a nice group of bachelor bulls surviving winter together. There are big bulls that you’ll find on both sides of this valley. I don’t know why they tough it out in the snow when the nearby Southern slope was clear of snow and had plenty of new grasses sprouting up.

This small creek runs all year. It is the perfect example of great elk habitat. It’s a small valley between steep slopes with fresh water and dark pine and scattered aspen. Nobody goes up the slope because it is so steep and off the trail. The elk find benches up there and nobody bothers them. The elk will follow the melting snow up the slope to their summer range in July. They’ll remain up high through October.

Here are some photos you might enjoy. Take notice of how healthy most of the elk are. Winter survivability and healthy calves this spring should produce an increase in elk populations along the front range.

Look at this healthy group. I don’t know when I’ve seen this many fat and healthy looking elk in March. Though most of the elk appeared to be younger. That certainly helps. I didn’t find any dead elk the whole day. That’s rare. We heard a cow elk get after her calf for wandering too far away from her. She let out a loud and demanding cow call. It almost sounded like a bugle starting out. Caught us by surprise. The calf didn’t answer so she became more persistent in her calling. Finally the calf answered her and they shared a brief exchange. Later on we observed two other cows get into a little argument with their hooves. Both sets of ears went back with their noses raised. One pawed at the other but nothing came of it. Apparently they were both after the same patch of grass. Arguments among cows are frequent any time of year.

This is a good site to come upon. A slope full of elk. The herd stretched out for more than a quarter mile. Some cows were bedded, most were up and grazing on the new grasses. My only question was – where were all these cows in January when I had a late season license?

Here’s an early elk forecast for Colorado this year. Expect another great year to hunt elk this fall. Southwestern Colorado has seen a LOT of snow. Above average in fact. Since there is more space on elk winter grounds in that area I expect the elk to be fat and happy all summer. The snowmelt will keep the area green well into July. Central and Northern mountains also had a good share of snowfall. I’ll have more information as May and June roll around. Bookmark our elk info area for hunters. I’ll post all my scouting trips this summer to our site. Use it for reference or a preview to bugling season 2005. Don't forget to visit our Merchandise page to order your copy of the recently released DVD movie of Elkheaven. You will be amazed at the big bulls we bugled in.