3rd Late Rifle Season '04

Virtual Cow Elk Hunt

3rd Late Season

January 1st, 2005

Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado

Game Unit 20

Saturday – Opening day

Went to a new area just East of Allenspark, Colorado. According the CDOW map there is an elk concentration in there. Take Taylor Rd off of Hwy 7 and stay to your left on the dirt road. Also, note that this part of the highway is also where elk cross according to the CDOW map. I believe the actual name of the small town is Ferncliff. You’ll wind through a neighborhood until you reach the National Forest sign. There is plenty of parking so you don’t need to 4 wheel back in there. You can but if you’re elk hunting I wouldn’t recommend it. Studies have shown that elk will spook 2,000 yards at the sight or sound of ATVs and other vehicles on jeep trails. Is that true? You be the judge. The same study also says elk will spook 500 yards if they see a hiker. At least you have a chance to track elk or attempt to circle them if you’re hiking. If I can find the article I’ll post the link here.

This area is a little high between 8,000 and 8,600 feet. I don’t like to go above 8k during a winter hunt for cows but that’s just me. Since it’s been so dry I figured I would hunt higher since the snow wasn’t deep. I hiked about 3 miles this day. Circling the West end of the elk winter concentration area showed promise. There were roads everywhere but all but one was closed to vehicle traffic. I ran into some very fresh deer tracks. I always do. With so many deer I think about deer hunting instead of elk hunting. I found a long meadow with some old sign. The elk in the area seem to move North and South depending on the weather. You can hike the 4wd road all the way to the end, which isn’t a bad idea. It allows you an easy walk day or night. You can jump off the road at any point to check out certain areas.

I’d like to think the elk that summer up in the nearby high country also winter in this area I’m hunting today. There are so many elk in and around Estes Park that they have to spread out. There is a lot of private property in Unit 20, which drastically limits their wintering grounds. Basically the elk eat all the food in Estes Park and have to find other sources. Some have migrated as far as Loveland, Colorado because of this. Others don’t travel as far. Remember elk (and deer) are starving to death all winter. Only their fat stores and strong will get them through until spring. Food and safety are most important this time of year.

I like this area and hope to return. The locals didn’t seem to mind me hunting not far from their homes. I said hi to a few of them along the 4wd road. It was a great day for walk with your dog in the woods. The only problem with today was the weather. It’s been too nice for too long and that means all you can do is walk your feet off in hopes of finding elk. What we really need is some snow and cold. The forecast calls for a little storm on Tuesday/Wednesday the first week of January.

Along the ridge that parallels the 4wd trail I found this. It appears that two or more bulls ate this leaf-bearing plant then bedded nearby. This location is on the end of that ridge before it drops down into a lower elevation. It’s on the North side of this slope. It was good to see strong elk sign. Interesting to find because I’ve always suspected bulls to bed on North-facing slopes even in winter. I didn’t follow their tracks as they were old and I have a cow tag. In my experience cows are found at lower elevations than bulls are during winter. I do think I would have ran into more elk sign had I continued down the road and further away from civilization.

The view was great today. Snow flurries were flying up high and made for a nice photograph. As with any hunt the weather and the land are just as important as finding the elk. They are all related. Hunting Colorado just makes it that much more exciting. Every time I’m out it’s an adventure. I know there are other places to hunt out West but I just can’t get myself to break away from Colorado long enough to discover new areas. I like it too much here.

Sunday

On my way back to Allenspark I decided to stop by a place on the CDOW map that had a small concentration of wintering elk. Just North of Jamestown is a road named CR 87. It’s a steep dirt road that takes you along an elk migration route. There are some really nice meadows up there and I ran into a lot of really fresh elk sign crossing the many roads up there. I’d say most if not all of the land on top, where the elk are, is private land. However, there is some public access back in there. The bad news is the Overland fire of 2003 (I think) closed all of the public access area up there. I called the Roosevelt National Forest Ranger at the Boulder Ranger District office and she said the area will remain closed for at least to more years. Good for the elk population but bad for elkoholics. This sign says it all

I headed up to the Dry St. Vrain Trailhead, which is at, or around 7,600 feet. This area is part of the Allenspark wintering herd so I wanted to check it out. There is a lot of private property on the private road that takes you to the hidden trailhead. Click here for directions. The trail is in the trees the whole time but it does allow you to see some distance in a few places. It’s a two mile one way trip to the creek valley below. It’s an easy trail that doesn’t get a lot of use. I did see some scat along the ridge West of the trail.

Here’s a view near the end of the trail. It has potential and some nice, sparsely wooded ridges to glass. Not a bad place if we had a lot of snow. This is a migration route for some elk to winter around Button Rock Reservoir, which is several more miles East. From what I can tell you can’t touch the winter herd down by the Reservoir because it is private land. The city of Longmont uses that man-made lake for its water supply.

I’m hoping for several inches of snow so I can return to Allenspark and see a herd of elk in that long meadow. I learned that lesson the hard way from last year’s hunt. The day after a lot of snow and cold the elk moved right into Piper Meadows and bedded around the trees we stood around the entire day before. I’m not going to miss that chance this year. I’ll head up Wednesday afternoon when the storm is scheduled to break. It appears to be my best chance at an elk during this entire season. Elk should be easy to find in the winter because they are bunched up in large herds. The problem is the dry, mild weather spreads them out. The snow and cold bring them back together and migrating.

Stay tuned.