Seven Days In Late October

[Swede]

It is cold at night now and it is freezing most of the morning. There is some snow on the ground and rifle elk season begins Saturday morning. This is Thursday afternoon, and you have just arrived at the place that will be your home for the next eight plus days. You have looked the country over on G.E. and have some maps you obtained from the Forest Service. You wish you had been able to scout the area, but this is your first time to be around here. You are in a good draw unit so the competition will be somewhat limited, but you passed by a camp just a mile down the dirt road you are camping near.
The weather man is predicting an additional 6-8 inches of snow before Saturday morning and more snow here in the mountains next week. I hope you are prepared.
What is your plan A and your plan B for this hunt?

 

[cohunter14]

Plan A would be to try to cover a lot of ground with the binocs and/or spotting scope Thursday and Friday to get a location on some elk. If there is a storm rolling in at some point on Friday, the elk should be out moving around before it hits. Ideally, you locate some elk and get a good idea on where they go to bed before the storm hits. You could also take advantage of what snow there is on the ground to see if anything has been moving through certain areas.

Plan B, if no elk were located on Thursday or Friday, would be to be out first thing Saturday morning looking for any fresh tracks in the snow. I would also want to be able to get to a place where I could glass again, seeing as the elk will probably be moving around again after the storm.

 

[cnelk]

With snow on the ground and 6-8 inches more coming, Plan A is to be realistic.
The elk are going to be hunkered down, making very little tracks. And they will stick tight until the weather breaks.
Since this is my first time here, this is gonna be tough.
I\'m going to find thick stuff to try and find some bedding areas with grass very near
I will also stop by the other camp to chat and discuss elk hunting and exchange info

If Saturday and Sunday - maybe monday - do not produce good sign/info my Plan B is to move somewhere else in the unit and do it all over again.

 

[cohunter14]

The elk are going to be hunkered down, making very little tracks. And they will stick tight until the weather breaks.

Exactly. Although you might catch them moving around before the storm arrives and after the storm breaks it is always a good time to catch them moving around.

 

[Swede]

That snow coming next week concerns me. How much and when? If there is a lot, then it could push the elk out of the high country where we camp. Where will the snow line be? Often I like to hunt near that line when there is deep snow above. A few inches of snow is good too. I don\'t know a lot of general areas and States, but it has been my observation that when the snow starts to really pile up, most of the elk leave the area. They don\'t stop where the snow is still acceptable. They drop down to where it is pretty open. The snow line is good for that. Also fresh logging areas can hold elk. They like to browse on the forage that comes to the ground when trees are felled. They can hang around with about 3 feet of snow on the ground to take advantage of the fresh forage.

 

[cohunter14]

In this situation with only 6-8 inches of snow coming, I doubt that would be enough to move them very far. It is interesting what you are talking about with the snow line though. In all the areas I have hunted in Colorado, if we are getting snow in camp, snow is falling pretty much everywhere else throughout the mountains, especially if we are talking the latter part of October.

 

[Swede]

Derek, in the situation described you have some snow not, with an additional 6\" to 8\" on Friday. Next week more snow is forecast, but I don\'t know how much. How much comes could effect what the elk do. Lets assume after we get next week\'s snow, there is 24 inches or a little more. How will this impact the elk and our hunting?

 

[cohunter14]

Ahhh, forgot about the additional snow later in the week I\'ve never been accused of being the sharpest tool in the shed!

That could definitely impact things, as you mentioned. Elk could migrate down very quickly. The other thing is once there is more than 18\" or so of snow on the ground, hunting becomes very difficult. Covering ground takes a heck of a lot longer and going up or down steep hills can be brutal. I have also hunted in areas where if you had more than 15\" or so of snow, you might not get your vehicle out because of the roads. All things to keep in mind when that much snow roles in roblem:

The good news is that with the storm before the opener along with a storm rolling in later in the week, there should be no shortage of movement from the elk. Hopefully you are able to tag one, get it packed out, and get out of there before the second storm hits! If not, this hunt would probably need a \'Plan C\' that would allow for potentially moving camp to lower ground or at least providing some hunting spots at a lower elevation.