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Colorado Elk Stats, past and present
Elk
Contributors to this thread:
Paul@thefort 09-Jul-15
MATHEWSSHOOTER 10-Jul-15
spookinelk 10-Jul-15
Well-Strung 10-Jul-15
ohiohunter 10-Jul-15
Cazador 10-Jul-15
arctichill 10-Jul-15
LUNG$HOT 10-Jul-15
LUNG$HOT 10-Jul-15
LUNG$HOT 10-Jul-15
LUNG$HOT 10-Jul-15
oldgoat 10-Jul-15
SoDakSooner 10-Jul-15
midwest 10-Jul-15
Ghostinthemachine 10-Jul-15
midwest 10-Jul-15
Paul@thefort 10-Jul-15
Paul@thefort 10-Jul-15
elkhunter2 10-Jul-15
Paul@thefort 10-Jul-15
Cottonwood88 10-Jul-15
Paul@thefort 10-Jul-15
From: Paul@thefort
09-Jul-15

Paul@thefort's embedded Photo
Paul@thefort's embedded Photo
I was reading through a few old publications concerning Colorado's elk herd and bow hunting data from 1988, the first year I hunted elk in Colorado. I then thought I would compare the same data for 2014. Here is what I found.

1988: Season" Aug 13-Sept 20 a 39 day season, bulls only through 8/31 then bulls and cows. Muzzleloader rifle elk season was Sept 7-20 a 14 day season

Number of bow hunters= 14,914 Hunter success= 14%

Bulls= 1442 Cows= 683 Total harvest= 2125 Statewide elk population= 165,000

2014: Season August 29-Sept 27 a 30 day season. Bulls and cows legal. Muzzleloader elk season was, Sept 12-20 a 9 day season.

Number of bow hunter= 44,536 Hunter success= 14%

Bulls= 4547 Cows/calf=1887 Total harvest=6434 Statewide elk population= 264,000

Overview,

1. Bow hunting season is currently 30 days compared with 39 days in 1988

2. Bow hunter numbers have increased three times from 14,000 to 44,000. 19,000 nonresidents and 25,000 residents.

3. success percentage is the same at 14%

3. Colorado's elk population grew to over 320,000 in the late 1990 but now now managed at 165,000

4. ML season declined from a 14 day to a 9 day season.

5. ML season was the last 14 days of the Early Season but now is located mid Sept with archery season the last 7 days.

6. Less elk, more hunters, more crowding, same success percentage, more elk killed by bow hunters.

My best, Paul

From: MATHEWSSHOOTER
10-Jul-15
wish the season started on the same day every yr .I liked the early season and week day openers and bulls only first 9 days

From: spookinelk
10-Jul-15
CDPW has it just the way they want it. High numbers of out of staters + just enough success to keep em' coming back = big money for CDPW. Seriously though, there is value in providing opportunity for anyone with the desire to hunt Elk to have a place to go, too bad it's right in my backyard. It's kinda a pain for locals but it does ensure that game management $ is abundant in our state. The 14% success rate is not bad considering the number of hunters that never get more than a mile from the road, heck I figure the average out of state hunter is paying so I can play( not all, Just average). I'm not justifying the way they are doing things but in reality their strategy is not hurting me that much, if I was a trophy hunter I might have a different view though.

From: Well-Strung
10-Jul-15
Now how many of us actually believe the numbers the CDPW/DOW provide on success rates? So they chose a number of people to survey and call them a time or two and survey them. Does the Dow also call non-residents to survey them and are they required to respond?

I take it as an estimate at best as the number pools are too small to get an actual success rate. They do not call everyone. Bears in Colorado have to be checked in so those success rates I put more faith into.

With that said I find the numbers to be very informative and enjoy studying the stats past and present. I was hunting elk before 1988 but became a CO elk bowhunter in 97. So I'm one of those numbers as a "new" guys.

From: ohiohunter
10-Jul-15
14% has to be on draw units. Isn't the OTC success rate half that?

From: Cazador
10-Jul-15
Depends who's hunting.

From: arctichill
10-Jul-15
Otc units might be half that and draw units might be twice that? If that's the case then that's that.

From: LUNG$HOT
10-Jul-15
"3. Colorado's elk population grew to over 320,000 in the late 1990 but now now managed at 165,000"

Paul are you saying that the objective for statewide population is 165,000. Or is that a typo??

I know the current statewide population is estimated at around 270,000.

From: LUNG$HOT
10-Jul-15

From: LUNG$HOT
10-Jul-15

LUNG$HOT's embedded Photo
LUNG$HOT's embedded Photo
Here's the stats. Again just estimates.

From: LUNG$HOT
10-Jul-15
Dam double post, oops

From: oldgoat
10-Jul-15
Think it's a typo, because in 2009 the objective was 244,000. That was on an older DAU report but I don't imagine it's much different now!

From: SoDakSooner
10-Jul-15
Fyi...i am non-resident and i got a survey.

From: midwest
10-Jul-15

midwest's embedded Photo
midwest's embedded Photo
Paul, 1988 was the first year I hunted CO as well and again in '89 and '90. I had forgotten that "bull only until Sept. 1" law. Interesting stats.

In those 3 years, our group of four killed 3 bulls, 1 cow, and 1 muley doe. I didn't hunt out west again until 2008 on a CO LE tag and finally killed my first bull in 2012 after drawing the same tag again.

Great memories!

From: Ghostinthemachine
10-Jul-15
Look at all the tree bark camo...:)

Man that brings back some fond memories.

From: midwest
10-Jul-15
All cotton, too! I don't know how we survived! lol

From: Paul@thefort
10-Jul-15
my mistake, LTO 265,000 elk in Colorado.

From: Paul@thefort
10-Jul-15

Paul@thefort's embedded Photo
Paul@thefort's embedded Photo
Yep, 1989, Treebark camo ruled

From: elkhunter2
10-Jul-15
I have always questioned the survey reports. I have hunted Colorado as a nonresidents every year for the the past 21 years. Only been contacted by F&G 4 times. There numbers can't be very accurate with the random survey.

From: Paul@thefort
10-Jul-15
And another mistake, ML elk is now 9 days.

I should know better that type a thread at bedtime.

Paul

From: Cottonwood88
10-Jul-15
Great information here! Another interesting statistic would be to look at the increase in nonresident hunters. Folks are just much more able to travel these days. Muzzleloader season have certainly been scaled back due to popularity and and equipment I assume. You can see the same thing with the archery season. It looks like modern equipment has increased popularity well allowing for fairly maintained success rates due to efficiency.

One thing is for sure, the Western states are feeling the pinch from nonresident hunters and certainly raking in the cash. I can see how this is kind of a mixed blessing/pain for the locals. I'm just glad for the opportunity!

From: Paul@thefort
10-Jul-15
While the ML season was shortened from 14 days to 9 days, the number of ML elk hunters/limited tags has increased a lot, much like bow hunter numbers to around 15,000 plus today, and the success is nearly 30%.

During the 1991 elk season, there were 5,558 ML elk hunters to received a limited draw license. They killed 1001 bulls and 413 cows.

As one can see the popularity of ML and bow hunting has increase at the same rate. 3x.

One can now realize the pressure that is put on the elk herds in the early season compared to the past. And then take in the realization of Colorado's human population growth, ie, less than 3 million in 1993 to now, nearly 5 million today, and many of those like to enjoy the high country, on bikes, atv, hiking, etc.

There is no doubt that bow hunting success is higher in limited draw units that OTC units. A OTC unit I have been hunting successfully (55%), since 1992 and had a overall success of 14% has now dropped to 3% for bow hunters, the lowest in the state. A combination of half as many elk and three times the number of bow hunters is the major cause.

My best, Paul

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