Colorado elk and terrain
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: BullSac
06-Jun-17
All of my elk experience has taken place in Wyoming, where the max elevation of the terrain I hunt is around 10k. I'm Google Earth scouting the area in Colorado I'm going to in this year, and WOW! the terrain is different. I understand the elk be up really high early in the season, but will they (could they?) be as high as being above the vegetation line (tree line). It appears that the top thirds of these mountains that I am looking at are barren of vegetation. It makes sense that pressured elk will go anywhere they need to, but will they generally hang out above tree line, where it appears there is no vegetation? These high areas are seemingly void of good cover as well. Just curious as to some experiences with these higher areas. (12 to 14 k peaks).
Thanks and good luck!
Keven
From: Treeline
06-Jun-17
Depending on the area, elk spend a lot of time above treeline (11,500) here in CO. In July and August, they hang out in big herds above treeline all day. They really like the open, grassy (tundra) to feed in. By September, the big herds tend to break up and they will still feed above treeline, dropping into the trees during the day to bed. Really tough to sneak up on a herd of elk above the trees, but doable. You will probably have a lot better luck setting up to get in close when they move into the trees in the mornings and staying with them to call or stalk them with the tree cover. Good luck!
From: elkstabber
06-Jun-17
I sat on a ridge at 12,600' late in August of last year and was spotting mule deer in CO. I was surprised to see a herd of elk mostly single file that stretched across the opposite site of the canyon. I saw them coming but couldn't get in front of them because there was no cover and there were way too many eyes. It was a helpless feeling because 80 or so elk all left the unit that I had a tag for (both deer and elk) and crossed the divide into another unit where I couldn't hunt them. For several days I watched but never saw them again.
Follow Treeline's advice (above) and try to ambush them from the thin trees when the elk drop down.
From: Glunt@work
06-Jun-17
Totally normal. The spotty timber right at tree line one can be a great place. Enough cover to allow some positioning but open enough to see what they are doing as they move to cover in the morning or as they go up in the evening. Just watch the thermals. When the clouds roll in and you smell ozone, time to get lower. Being in a lightning storm above timber line is something else.
Ptarmigan season starts Sept 10th. They like it up at that altitude.
From: Paul@thefort
06-Jun-17
above tree line might seem void of food but the elk and deer love the "green up" period and take advantage of the great food, cooler temps, less bugs.
From: sticksender
06-Jun-17
Had hunted this herd earlier, in the early part of bow season, when they were more predictable, feeding right at treeline into the morning hours, then moving down into the thicker timber below to bed each day. However by the last week of bow season, as seen here, they'd gotten so weary of being hassled by bow & muzz hunters down in the timber, that they started spending the whole day way up above treeline, behaving more like sheep than elk. Shortly after this pic the herd bedded right there on the open tundra, 1000 feet above treeline, where they remained for the rest of the day. No chance for a stalk in terrain like that!
From: Treeline
06-Jun-17
Be careful coming up from that low country. Any health issues you have will be magnified at altitude. Being in top physical shape helps, but you can still get pounded by altitude sickness up here. Every 1,000' above 10K seems to get exponentially tougher for O2. Some of the prettiest country on God's Green Earth up here. Good Luck!
From: Jaquomo
06-Jun-17
Pressure dictates where they will go. Where I hunt now heavy hunting pressure at timberline during the first week pushes them down, as much as a couple thousand feet.
From: BullSac
06-Jun-17
Excellent responses from exactly the folks I wanted to hear from. I have several spots picked out in the GMU and a plan to stay mobile. If I can't get it done, I may come back for one of the rifle seasons to try and help a friend who is deployed and won't return to the states until October 1st. I imagine weather will dictate a lot the later the seasons go.
From: Ziek
06-Jun-17
With a longer lens. Don't miss the main group lower right.
With a longer lens. Don't miss the main group lower right.
Not unusual for elk to be high during the summer and early seasons. It's not as devoid of vegetation as it may appear.
From: GregE
07-Jun-17
Impressive pictures guys!!
G
From: SoDakSooner
07-Jun-17
One unit we hunt we see them pretty consistently above 12,500 feet and heading over the tops of ridges at over 13K. Lots of work hunting 'em up there.
From: Beendare
07-Jun-17
I've foiund the same as the above comments and don't have much to add, except; We hunt right around 10,000' every year [coming from sea level] and yes it a takes a couple days to get your legs. A couple years back we were chasing them up from 10,000 over 12,500....and DANG, I couldn't believe the difference that additional 2,500' made.....felt like I was towing a pickup.
From: Jaquomo
08-Jun-17
Bruce, I live at 8500 and feel a difference at 10K, exponentially more at 12K. So don't feel bad!
From: Barty1970
08-Jun-17
I live at 207'...the highest peak in the UK is only 4400' :-O
From: Jaquomo
08-Jun-17
Yeah, but Barty the good news is you are used to bad Brit food so a week of eating Mountain House should be like dining in a Five Star!
Sorry, I couldn't resist.. ;-)
London was the only place in the world where I searched for a Big Mac to find something with flavor.
From: elkmtngear
08-Jun-17
"London was the only place in the world where I searched for a Big Mac to find something with flavor"
We settled for a Pizza Hut. It was "palatable"...
From: thomas
08-Jun-17
I live at see level literally an hour from the beach. When u get above 11k in my opinion its exponentially diff than 10k in my opinion. Last year we started out hunting at around 11,300 up 12,000. I had to come down after the first day. We moved a lil lower and camped at around 9700 for a couple days. I was fine then. We then moved back up and camped at 11,500 and hunted up to 12 again. I was fine then and stayed up there for 5 or 6 days. I just needed getting acclimated to it I think initially. I will say everything u do at that elevation is hard. Just climbing a few 100 feet seems like forever and leaves u gasping. Now I stay in shape and workout everyday with weights and cardio aka crossfit. I've done this for years and never take a week or month off, but my point is nothing can really prepare you for the elevation other than getting there and getting used to it . I cant imagine going up some of the 14er's!
From: Jaquomo
08-Jun-17
Jeff, I forgot - Madrid was the other place where I was excited to see a McDonalds after a week of eating tapas, but they even screwed that up.
From: stealthycat
08-Jun-17
I have a muzz tag, and I plan to show up to Colorado on THU morning ..... easy day at 5-6,000 feet, then hike into my higher area maybe on Friday morning.... ease into the altitude, let my body adjust
From: Treeline
08-Jun-17
Spent a few years in Peru. Altitude was very extreme there. The city we lived in ranged from 7,000 up to around 10,000' with a couple of volcanoes behind town that were 18,000' and 20,000'+. The altiplano was really weird - had wild vicunas (kind of like an alpaca or llama) that were colored kind of like antelope running around and reminded me of some of the rolling country in Wyoming or Utah but the flats were 14,000'! I actually hunted down there up to around 17,000'. That high country was only about 100 km from the coast. You could go from sea level to 14,000' in a couple of hours. Crazy place.
