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its a shame but dont give up on elk hunting! hunt late seasons i hunt in nw colorado and in the late season all the elk move down to lower elavation right we are i hunt nothing but public state and blm land and last year in december saw 400 head on public although they were not there for long. But dont give up on it

I hunted 1st combined west of Gore pass.....saw 6 deer,2 cow elk and 3 moose cows. Majority of Lodge Poles were dead, Aspen were bare...no Elk bites....saw very few tracks, rubs...no ground greenies...did have heavy
unarmed ATV traffic...PETA?...talked to a friend that has acreage west of Yampa....first time in 20 years, they have seen NOTHING...
I do not understand this year.....
Dan

I hate to give up on elk hunting, but the guys I have been hunting with go on the 3rd rifle season, and it is the wrong time for me to go hunting. I have a camp in ny and I miss hunting 2 to 3 weekends of hunting in there, and also miss all that time bowhunting in the next town. I think the next trip I go on will be a moose hunt with my brother and friends in Newfoundland. It is in September. My friends brother lives in Gunnison, and he has been after me and his brother to come out, we just happened to pick the 2 worst years to go out I guess. Gotta run, good luck to all.

Elk arent exactly easy to find. If you want to be led around to where the animals are my suggestion is to use a guide or a high fence elk shoot.

I was out by Gunnison myself this last week, 3rd season. Saw one Bull Elk and was even close enough to take a shot, 60 yards, but a bummed up front sight on the 30-30 I borrowed ruined it for me. That was when we were in the Crested Butte area though. The Fossil Ridge area was where we were camped and absolutely didn't see a thing (elk that is). I did run into deer, maybe 30 or so, but that was only when walking in the timbers. There was a good 3 point buck off of the road down by the "shooting range" close to town.

If it wasn't for the fact that we only live a few hours away, I would have been pissed. But a bad day of hunting beats a good day or work any day.

We took a ride out by Cresste Butte last year, just to look at the scenery. We went way up in the mts. there. Beautiful country. We hunt the Gunnison National Forest, in the Basin. Last year we would drive 7 miles back in and see mule deer laying all over the place. this year had a hard time even seeing any sign for them. Might see one elk rub here or there, no tracks. Last year might have talked to one guy who had a mule deer tag, this year DOW gave a ton out to everyone up there. Must be they don't want to feed them this winter. Would have been nice for some guys to fill their tags last year instead of them suffering in the winter kill. We found dead elk in there, and in another area some other hunters were complaining they had found some also. I don't know if I will ever go back again. We stayed in Sun Park, in a big wall tent 20x22.

Winter feeding operations in unit 55 were on a huge scale that most easterners canteven fathom. I would have to describe it as almost like 'conducting military operations' in an effort to keep the winter losses down due to the snow depths. At one time Gunnison had 15' of snow in the streets.As I myself hunted in unit 55 this year I was not toooo surprised at the seeming lack of mulies and elk in the third rifle season. I'm local so I spent a lot less than you did, but somehow the satisfaction of spending 5 days elk hunting with friends somehow outweighed my continuing poor luck on elk(and deer). I hope you will look forward to next season as I do.

You are right. I don't think I can even picture all the snow that there must have been there. I know we found 4 or 5 elk on one runway. And other hunting group said they found that much or more I think they said, in the same area.Did find muley also. I know there was a crew picking up the dead in there also I was told. What a shame. Couldn't even get 6" of snow in the 3rd season last year to chase them it was so warm. Hard to believe all that snow came in like that. I don't know if I will ever come back out. I know what you are talking about hunting with your friends. I have a camp and brother's, nephews and friends that share this camp with me. I have hunted out west 2 years in a row, and have missed most of my season here because of it. I don't want to miss anymore season's here. I also missed 2 weeks of bowhunting, and I like my bow seasons here way to much to wait another year. Well hope your area is better hunting for you and your friends next year. I hope unit 54 gets better next year for the people I met out there too. Funny, you hunt all season to fill your tag so you can get some meat, and the rest of the year I hope the animals make it and don't suffer. I know the DOW warked hard to try and save the animals also. The volunteers did too.

rather than letting us hunt those animals during the time when the dow KNOWS whats going to happen, they just let them starve and die. Bunch of sorry.............