Hunting pressure

[StartMyHunt]

In my opinion, there are too many hunters worried about getting 3+ miles back into an area to \"escape\" from other hunters. As has been discussed by a few of the brainiacs on this site, you do not need to submit yourself to this type of physical punishment. I have talked to a lot of hunters who think they need to try a different OTC unit because the unit they last hunted had too many hunters. By following this logic, you will be lucky to get into elk on a regular basis. Instead, use hunting pressure to your advantage.

In the area that we predominantly hunt, there tend to be a lot of other hunters. Whenever I run across somebody else, I will try to figure out what their plan is and then act accordingly. My advantage is that I know the area very well and if someone says they will be walking into a certain area, I know where the elk will be exiting based on past experiences.

My best advice to others is to not always feel the need to try someplace new, but instead get to know a few areas really well. Once you learn how the elk will act and where they go when pressured, you will increase your odds dramatically. The majority of elk that have ended up in my freezer have been about 1/2 to 1 mile from the nearest motorized access point. That makes for a pretty easy pack out.

Your thoughts,
Mike

 

[Zpd307]

mike, with your experience in your area, you are correct. but, take me who doesn\'t know the area and its a completely different ballgame. especially for someone who is 15, 20, 25 hours away, who cant scout the area..... its a different ball game. that person cant predict where the elk will be pushed to. other than first hand knowledge of the area, during hunting season, us flatlanders don\'t have a clue.... I am going through this with a spot that I only have a years hunting experience with right now... but with 3 years experience and info from here I can make reasonable inferences. you do make a very valid point about knowing your area!

 

[iccyman001]

See I have been lucky enough where I have not had to deal with full up hunting pressure yet.
If and when I do, I would absolutely want to know the full layout of the area, that way I could do what you said and use the other hunters as an advantage.

 

[Deertick]

I really think understanding \"pressure\" is key to most kinds of hunting. It\'s part of the \"chess game\" we play with the other hunters.

One \"move\" in this game is to travel downhill off a road rather than uphill. For instance, if a USFS road parallels a slope so that there is an \"uphill\" side and a \"downhill\" side of the road, most hunters who I\'ve observed will travel uphill. They look into the downhill portion and think or say \"I ain\'t going down there.\"

I\'m convinced that elk and other game can read minds, and they know what \"most hunters\" are thinking.

I think the key to the original post is to not write off an area just because there\'s pressure. Pressure, after all, increases elk density in some areas by pushing elk out of other areas. Find where they\'re pushed. Don\'t get discouraged that you didn\'t pick a perfect Colorado vista for your hunt.

One of the most common ways to be depressed and discouraged is to set yourself up with unrealistic expectations, and when your hunt is only 1 of 52 weeks in a year, we all have a way of building up expectations. Then when the time comes and we find that there\'s a bunch of pressure where we had chosen to hunt, we get discouraged, and that\'s the fastest way to become one of the 90% who come home empty.

But ... I still hunt a ways back. Why? Because if given a choice, I\'d rather play chess with elk than with other hunters. Absence of other hunters improves the quality of my hunt independent of any other factor.

But I\'m not in Colorado, either. Hell, you can\'t take your dog for a walk without company down there.

 

[mtnmutt]

One \"move\" in this game is to travel downhill off a road rather than uphill. For instance, if a USFS road parallels a slope so that there is an \"uphill\" side and a \"downhill\" side of the road, most hunters who I\'ve observed will travel uphill. They look into the downhill portion and think or say \"I ain\'t going down there.\"

X2. It took me 3 seasons before I figured out more elk were found below the road, especially after opening day. Hunters go where there is fresh sign in July and August. They go there in masses and the elk respond by leaving those areas.

I tend to make too many generalized statements without clarifying that it applies to my CURRENT area. I currently hunt in Central CO with very little private land. I once hunted a southern unit with lots of ranch land. As Swede mentioned in another thread, his old area max distance from any road was 3/4 mile and there was a ranch which provided sanctuary for the elk. For my current area, the low percentage of private land makes it easy to find elk 1/2 to 1 1/2 miles from any road.

For 3 seasons, I bounced around different units for the last 2 weeks in September (post ML) instead of staying in the unit I hunted for the first part of September. That was a mistake. Another hunter convinced me to hunt the same unit for all of September. It took me 2 seasons before I found the elk\'s sanctuaries after Muzzleloader started. I would have had 3 more years of late September information if I had just stayed put in that one unit from the beginning.

Each area in CO or any other state has its unique challenges. The hunting pressure challenges are more difficult to overcome when an area has a higher percentage of private land which provides sanctuary for the elk.

Elk travel great distances. My SUV can help me find elk better than just using my feet, plus I can see where others parked their trucks (hunting pressure). I only do a spike camp if I know there is a 90% chance the elk are going to be there. Last season, I doubled my number of good \"spots\" in my unit by going to more \"trailheads\" to search for elk.

When driving your area, note where others park their trucks or ATVs and mark it on your maps. Analyze the map when back at camp. This may help you figure out where those hunters hunted that day. Taking notes year over year has been a great help to me. I note elk sightings (date/time & weather conditions) and hunter locations. Making notes for one area may even help a person analyze a new area.

One way to get assistance with your area, is to post a topo map or GE shot of your area with the names crossed off using MS Paint. People here will try to help with tips. They can\'t tell you hunting pressure, however, it can help get you started. Lots of people on here love those \"map exercises\". It helps to teach everyone.

 

[Jaquomo]

I\'ve posted this before, but many don\'t know that GE has a \"time slider\" tab in the top toolbar. If you\'re lucky you may find a shot from a previous September. Then you can zoom down and \"fly\" the roads, pinning all the camps, even where vehicles are parked. I did this for one of my areas and it helped me pinpoint some likely (and productive) spots when the season started, based largely on where I saw others parked and camped relative to the roads and ATV trails on the map.

 

[Deertick]

Lou ... a spot I\'m looking at for a backup or early-season weekend spot was shot by GE in September 2014. I think it\'s real interesting to see the size and location of the camps.

Can you elaborate a bit on how you use these images?

My thoughts were that they are likely camping in drainages or where drainages come together and then hunting up and down that/those areas. Camps with ATVs are likely starting their hunts from accessible trails. Hunting the OTHER side of the drainage would be my thought, which is likely where the elk have taken refuge.

The other thing I like to look for is spots with little in terms of roadside parking ... sometime long stretches of USFS roads have deep sides making parking more than an ATV-sized vehicle tough.

 

[Jaquomo]

Lucky you, Dr Deertick! What I do is zoom in along the roads and around obvious campsites and pin the camps and parked vehicles. Then I can take a look when zoomed out, compare it to the maps, and get an idea where it seems like the elk get herded, or pockets where others have hopefullly overlooked. You can\'t see everything, but you can see a LOT if you use your imagination.

I found most of the camps and parking launch points were the same last year when I hunted it, as from the satellite view the year before.

 

[Stringunner]

Lou- you wrote an article about something very similar to this topic recently. Any chance you would be willing to share? I haven\'t been able to find a copy of the mag out here in Oregon with the article in it.

 

[Jaquomo]

Strungunner, shoot me a pm with your email addy and Ill send it your way.