flatlander88

I may already know the answer to my question but I want to ask anyway. We are headed to Colorado to scout our area for elk hunting, 1st season rifle. We hunted this area last year and found a spot that looks promising. The area had fresh scat, rubs and tracks during season but we didn’t see any elk. They were there, or at least they were, but we had a few things working against us. Wind kept switching direction, the ground was noisy beyond belief and we weren’t very familiar with the lay of the land. So now my question is. When scouting, what are your primary objectives for elk? I hunt deer every year but I read elk are not like deer in the sense that they travel miles together and may not frequent the same area for months. We intended to mark all signs with GPS, put it all together when we got home, and then decide a game plan from there. Is it better to mark actual sign months in advanced or mark areas that “look good”? Assuming I know what a “good looking” area is for elk. How do you approach scouting for elk? What’s your main goal? Solitude? Sign? Resources for the elk? Etc?Thanks in advanced!

Big Uncle

I stay out of the dark timber when scouting and try not to leave too much of my scent around. Glassing at first and last light from a considerable distance does not move the elk out of the hunting area, but disturbing their safety areas will make them vanish. Elk relocate with changing weather and human intrusion so finding an area with a lot of tracks, rubs, and droppings may not mean very much. They often bed in cool areas away from the sun which is often quite far from water and their feeding areas.

What general area of Colorado will you be hunting, and what is the terrain like?

hardcastonly

the above is good advice, once you put a good scare into a group they will temporarily vacate the area,
and may not be back for weeks, but other groups bounced out of other areas may relocate there.
Id also suggest you grab topo maps of the area,
Once your hunting Ive found having several friends slowly still hunt the same canyon,
entering at similar times but widely dispersed access point and concentrating on the easy exit points from that canyon typically ups our odds as a group.
and find the potentially nearest hunter access and camping locations ,
finding elk near those is going to be a fools errand
look over the map and find the least easily accessed areas of dark timber with springs , terraced meadows, rim rock cliff faces, and steep terrain blocking easy access,
if you can locate a side canyon off a larger canyon that will require a long walk or wading across a stream to gain access thats almost a sign flashing ,
WORTH CHECKING OUT THIS AREA!
elk don,t vanish from the face of the planet during hunting season, but they are generally smart enough to avoid areas with easy road access,
and look for dark timber in the more remote areas, with water and grass and cover,as far from road access as they can get, but its not distance, a very steep slope
or a deep and wide creek that forms a barrier to travel provides security, that few hunters will challenge.
,
to spend the day light hours in.

flags

It has been a dry and hot summer. I'd make sure there are water sources handy. Elk will travel quite a long way to water and if there is a good source around you can bet they will hit it at some point. Travel routes between bedding sites in heavy dark timber and water are good places to set up. I like to hunt the areas where aspens and pines come together. Elk will feed in the aspens and bed in the shade in the pines. Find an area with aspens, pines and water and go from there. Deep and steep canyons with scrub oak can be good too but can be kind of hard to hunt. I know an area that has a lot of scrub oak and closed off logging roads. I have taken several elk just quietly walking the roads and glassing the hillsides.

flatlander88

Thanks for the reply's and sorry for the late response. We will be in the Flattops area and this particular part we have been looking at is mainly a large steep slope with heavy timber. I can't tell with 100% certainty but the maybe some small meadows half way down the slope. No aspen in the immediate area.