Archery 2003 Week 1

August 30-September 1^st

This may be the best opening weekend I can remember for Archery Elk season in Colorado. I awoke to rain! Couldn’t have asked for a better weather report. However, with every good situation luck has a lot to do with the outcome. I walked, walked and walked some more. The woods were very quiet. The elk weren’t convinced the breeding season is here like I was. The amount of daylight is what determines hormonal changes in elk. As the days grow shorter these hormones are triggered and changes occur. It was clear the breeding season was still a ways off.

Here are the pictures of the first weekend.

I never give up if I’m seeing fresh sign. The area I was in showed lots of fresh elk prints and scat. It was clear this area was very active. However, not in the evenings. I stayed out late one night and heard a lot of movement, some cow mews and a faint bugle. The mornings have always been my most productive time of day to see elk.

This young pine was recently scraped. It will provide a nice color for the bull who scraped it.

Elk will sometimes eat grass and plants down to the soil. However this picture shows the elk just wanted the tops of this unknown plant.

Elk seem to enjoy clumps of certain grasses. Notice again how the tall grass around this rock at 11,000 feet were eaten. Elk normally prefer short, rich grasses to tall ones. However, these clumps of tall grasses they seem to love. I can’t tell you how important it is to find great feeding areas. It’s more important that actually seeing elk. Because if you hit these areas at the right times of day then you’ll be in elk heaven.

I saw these elk right around treeline. What caught my eye was an elk running. Turns out two young calves were playing tag or chase and I thought I had spooked them but I was too far away. You know you’re in a good place when the elk are playing rather than running from you. That’s the time I put the stalk on. To see if these cows had a bull with them.

I actually smelled elk before I found this wallow. If I smell elk I immediately stop, look around, glass the area and then throw out some cow calls or a short spike bugle to see if anything bites. In this case all I found was a nice wallow. The good news is it was a smelly wallow. Bull elk urinate on themselves and in the wallow to create an irresistible cologne to attract cows. Well the dirt was torn up around the wallow and it sure stank. The bad news is the water was clear. The bull hadn’t been here in some time. I made a note of it and continued towards the elk I saw running up ahead.

End of a long weekend. I saw this young bull from a long ways off. He was bedded on a hillside I just didn’t have the energy to walk up. He’s a small 5x5 and a fine elk but it’s early and I was still holding out for a bigger elk. He’ll be a small 6x6 next year if everything goes right (he survives hunting season, the winter and eats well next year).

To summarize I had a wonderful 3 days of hiking in the mountains. I hunted a little and hiked a lot. I enjoyed camping and the quietness of the great outdoors. I knew it was too early to be out and hearing a lot of bugling. That’s later in the month. There is nothing better than being in elk country during the peak of the rut. It’s so exciting and amazing. Anything could happen and sometimes the elk will come running to my calls. Most of the time it’s a lot of work followed by an amazing, but brief encounter. That is what keeps me coming back every year. Soon the aspens will change, it will frost at night and the elk will be bugling a lot more. Stay tuned.