S
SoleSearcher36
Guest
Since it has been aweful quiet on the board regarding activity I thought I would post this for all of those who would be headed to the hills here in the next few days and might appreciate some "from the ground" observations over the last few days. Granted activity will vary throughout the state but some of you might find it helpful. I was in central colorado over the weekend trying to assist a good friend on his first archery elk hunting season. Bugling activity has been really sparse at best since the opener and has been limited to right after first light and just before dark. Saturday morning we heard no bugles at all until about 9am when we had a lone response to a last ditch locating bugle. Also talked with the only other hunter in our area and he had also only heard one bugle(by location couldn't have been the same bull). Saturday afternoon was a whole different ballgame as on our first attempt to locate with a bugle we got an instant response followed by multiple bulls bugling.....both responding vocally to our bugles and just talking to eachother. We first tried locating with a cow call but they weren't interested. Much to our dismay we discovered basically all the elk in this spot were still in a single large herd of over 100 animals.....bulls,cows,calves & spikes. The better bulls were bugling the most aggressively but still hanging with the herd and in close proximity to the smaller bulls. Sunday morning and evening were both a repeat of the same scenario with the elk continuing to respond vocally to bugles but not interested in leaving the herd to come to the call. There was basically no interest from the bulls in cow calls but the cows were talking up a storm. The bugling would gradually die off in mid-morning with individual bulls still bugling back to our bugles. Stalking any of the better bulls was basically impossible with so many cows around and even bugles from within 70-80 yards would only elicit a vocal response. Lots of opportunity to take cows an a couple small raghorns vying for the best bedding shade but held out for a more mature bull. I don't often bugle to locate but the circumstance called for it and it was working well....just too many eyes to get thru. Did find the first "real rubs" started....as opposed to the earlier rubs that seem like they were more for removing velvet. Definitely seems like the real "pre-rut" is about to begin any day. In my observations over the years one of the first things I notice is the spikes getting "kicked out" of the cow/calf groups and all the bulls starting to establish rank on the mountain. No sign at all of cows starting to come into season yet. Again, I know it isn't an absolute indicator of what they are doing across the state and varying elevations just my observations from around 9,000ft in central colorado. Hope some of you find use or encouragement from this. Good luck out there.
