Virtual Scouting Trip

Virtual Scouting Trip June 7, 2003

Join me on a virtual scouting trip in Northern Colorado.

The day started out early. Up at 5am and out the door at 0530! I’d like to be on the road at 4am so I can catch first light in the mountains but that wasn’t going to happen today. Today in Saturday, June 07, 2003. Can you believe we had snow last night above 9,000 feet!

The day started out with a nice young 3pt grazing in a meadow. It's still early in the year. He may be a 5 point bull by time the velvet comes off in August.

This young bull educated me on what elk eat. We know they prefer most types of grasses but check out this shrub he’s eating. A close look reveals small, budding flowers. He was either after the leaves or after the new buds.

After fighting my way through two creek valleys full of willows and tons of water I ran into these cows. Notice the calf still trying to get milk from its mother? She’s a bit too old for that it looks like.

Scouting for elk in the mountains is always an adventure. You never know what you might find. You can spend all day walking and not get close enough for a picture or you could be surrounded by elk and end up holding still for hours until they graze by. I found what appears to be the upper shoulder/hump of elk hide and 3 broken eggs on a Northern slope in dark woods. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I can’t even begin to explain it.

The good news is I must have seen over 100 elk today. The big herds of winter are broken up into smaller groups. Sometimes I’d see 3 cows together. Other times I’d see 20. The bulls were either by themselves, with other bulls or mixed in with cows. What’s hard to explain is that a lot of bulls are still down low. However, the really big bulls have isolated themselves and gone up higher. I can’t prove this but it’s my experience that tells me they have left the security of the herd for the solitude of higher ground. The evidence is there but I have yet to catch one on a digital image. This cow busted me from her bed. She stood up as I walked by and took me by surprise. Notice the bench she was bedded on? She didn’t spook. Must have figured I was lost or something.

I can’t tell you how perfect it is to find a place like this next picture. It lies on a large North-facing ridge full of all sorts of pine (Douglas fir, spruce, lodge pole) and aspen trees. It has springs, benches, plenty of browse, cover, and game trails. This is where the elk live. When summer arrives in full force they will abandon this area for higher ground. An elk’s summer range can be very large and remote. However, elk will always, always frequent places like in this picture. If you know of a place like this you’ve found the best elk habitat there is.

Here’s a cow I spotted nearby in her summer coat.

Having said that here is a cow in the pine trees. The herd of about 15 cows was in a small opening in the aspens grazing but the wind wasn’t right and they smelled me. However, they didn’t see me. One cow alerted the others and they all moved away into the pine where they bedded briefly. Elk have a very routine response to perceived danger. If they here a stick break they look in that direction. If they don’t see anything they smell the air. If they don’t smell anything the will continue doing what they were doing. It doesn’t always work this way. I almost always get busted. I’ve learned to freeze and wait 5 minutes (or longer) before moving again. Elk trust their instincts and they are almost always correct. If they smell, see or hear you they will usually leave. Sometimes quietly, sometimes in a stampede.

Elk will even smell the air for other elk. This young cow smelled the air as another group of cows worked their way down the hill. I watched as a cow from a different clan made her way through the herd of bedded cows. She stopped by a bedded cow, but her ears back and sniffed the other cow’s nose. The other cow didn’t like this, got up from her bed and even began to rear up like she was going to fight. She kicked at the other elk once, missing her. The other cow backed off and that was the end of the conflict. Of course I didn’t get a picture of that. A tree was in my way. Cow elk from different groups have little patience for other cows. These conflicts are almost always brief and harmless. Cows will make a fighting mew sound, rear up and kick with their front legs when the situation becomes heated.

My day ended well into the afternoon. I must have walked 4 miles up and down steep hills, through water, and over countless logs. I did find a really nice 5-point at the end of my day. He’s a beauty. It’s early June and he’s already grown 5 points. I can’t wait to see the end result in September. I hope I cross his path again.

Here’s another angle of this bull. He was grazing heavily, like he was afraid he’s run of out of food to eat. Elk will spend as much energy growing a large set of antlers as a cow will while she is pregnant.