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Elk Country...These are the good old days
ElkCamp.com is America’s #1 online resource for elk hunters.
If your passion is similar to my passion...elk hunting, then you have come to the right place.
Our Focus: Since 1996 ElkCamp.com has had a single focus, to educate and serve elk hunters. Beginning in March 2007 we decided to redirect our efforts back to our roots. As such we have rebranded ElkCamp.com to ElkCamp.com - Answers For Elk Hunters focusing on providing our readers with real “meat & potato” answers to their elk hunting questions. We make every effort to thoroughly research the answers and information that we share here at ElkCamp.com. It is not just the opinion or experience of one or a select few. We are the online leaders in the “how to” business of elk hunting. We have come a long way in this effort from a very humble beginning. Today ElkCamp.com is one of the premier elk hunting websites on the Internet. In 2006 ElkCamp.com hosted more than 9 Million visits. If you are looking for a one-stop shop for elk hunting information, this is it.
Our Business: We are committed to making your next elk hunting adventure a success. At ElkCamp.com, our highest priorities are informed readers, satisfied clients, and successful elk hunters. You are important to us and you can expect us to go the extra mile. If you would like to speak with us about planning a future elk hunt in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, or Canada, or if you would like more information about one of our outfitters or one of our private ranches for elk hunting, please E-mail us.
Our Desire: As always ElkCamp.com remains a place to hang out, build friendships, and share your own knowledge with others about this great adventure known as elk hunting. ElkCamp.com is about giving back some of the knowledge with which we have been blessed. Thanks for the opportunity.
Feel free to browse our Web site for more information about elk hunting and elk country. If you have any questions or would like to contact us, please e-mail us at elkmaster@elkcamp.com.
See you around the campfire,
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ANSWERS FOR ELK HUNTERS
Q. (NEW) I will be hunting Colorado during the 2007 season. How can I find out about Fire Restrictions on public lands?
A. Your best bet is to contact the County Sheriff’s office in the area you plan to hunt. You can also check out the Colorado Division of emergency Management website by (clicking here).
Q. How do I tell the differences between bull and cow elk droppings when I’m hunting or scouting? How fresh do droppings need to be to indicate that elk are in an area?
A. Usually cow droppings are tapered on both ends, whereas bull droppings usually have a dimpled-in look to one end. Also, and this is a general rule, if you are seeing droppings scattered rather than clumped, that can be an indicator of elk under stress. Fresh droppings are usually soft and green if the elk are grazing. If they have switched to browse, they may be soft and brown. If the droppings are black, the elk are very likely gone.
Q. When do Colorado left over licenses go on sale?
A. Leftover licenses for deer, elk, pronghorn and turkey go on sale August 7 at 9:00 a.m. They will be available for purchase at license agents, through the 1(800) 244-5613 phone line, mail-order (PDF) and DOW offices on the 7th. Starting August 8th, sales will also be available online through the Total Licensing System. Source: CDOW
Q. What expenses are covered by the Colorado Search and Rescue Fund?
A. As one who has experienced the value of the Colorado Search and Rescue teams first hand, I know that there are a lot of misconceptions about what this fund covers and what it does not. The following is provided courtesy of The Colorado Department of Local Affairs. Steve Denny, Program Manager is working on a document specific to hunters on this subject, but in the interim please review the following. Colorado residents and visitors are well served by dedicated volunteer search and rescue teams, but mission costs are often in the thousands of dollars. By purchasing a CORSAR card you are contributing to the Search and Rescue Fund, which will reimburse these teams for costs incurred in your search and rescue. Funds remaining at the end of the year are used to help pay for training and equipment for these teams. Anyone with a current hunting/fishing license, or boat, snowmobile, ATV registration is already covered by the fund. The card is not insurance and does not reimburse individuals nor does it pay for medical transport. Medical transport includes helicopter flights or ground ambulance. If aircraft are used as a search vehicle, those costs are reimbursed by the fund. If the aircraft becomes a medical transport due to a medical emergency, the medical portion of the transport is not covered. For more information see: http://dola.colorado.gov/dlg/fa/sar/index.html. Also see: http://www.elkcamp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8670#8670.
Q. Why do bull elk rub their face on trees during the rut?
A. Bull advertise themselves in a number of ways. When they bugle, it opens their pre-orbial gland, that is the long crease just below and forward of the bulls eye, and releases scent. When they rub their face on trees is is a method of advertising or marking by transferring the scent to the tree. Unlike some animals such as wolves, this is not a statement of territoriality, but more of an attention-getting exercise like wallowing, urine spraying and horning vegetation.
Q. Do bull elk bugle as a challenge to other bulls?
A. Actually bugling is a form of male advertisement. When a bull elk bugles he is communicating to all the cow elk within hearing range that he is available and he is “the guy” that they are looking for. He is also verbally staking his claim to his harem and the territory. In the elk mating ritual, it is the cow who chooses with which bull she will mate, thus the bull is continually reinforcing his importance and dominance within the herd.
Q. How important is it to keep track of the wind while elk hunting? I am a rifle hunter and my shots are usually beyond 200 yards.
A. An elk’s sense of smell is it’s #1 line of defense. I have observed elk that winded me nearly a mile away spook. If there is any single rule in elk hunting that deserves to be at the top of a hunter’s list of priorities, it is that you have to continually monitor the wind and make your stalk or set your stand to have the wind in you favor.
Q. What is the best elk cartridge?
A. This answer is a bit more involved that most think. To assure a clean and ethical kill on the average bull elk, which can weigh from 600 to over 1000 pounds, your rifle/cartrige combo needs to be able to deliver a minimum of 1500 foot pounds of kinetic energy at the point of impact. Additionally the hunter needs to be able to place his shot consistently in the bull’s kill zone. Many hunters have read that a bull elk’s kill zone is roughly an 18” diameter circle centered on the heart-lung area. This is true, but this does not mean that any hit within that 18” circle will be a fatal hit. I encourage hunters to visualize a target area roughly 4 inches in diameter. The center of this area while focusing on a heart-lung hit or a double-lung hit will be dynamic depending up the angle of the shot.
Additionally a hunter should select a weapon that he or she can shoot well, consistently over time. In this case, while size does matter, it is not always the determining factor about how large a caliber rifle one should use for elk hunting.
Q. Is there a rule of thumb about when elk will begin to move down the mountain due to adverse weather?
A. Elk are opportunistic in their feeding and they live by what has been termed, The Law of Least Effort. By this I mean they will not work any harder to acquire good nutrition than they have to. They they will go just about anywhere in their search for highly nutritional forage sometimes moving as much as ten miles in a single day. Once the winter snows at higher elevations, where elk have lived during the summer, begin to make getting to the feed more trouble than the elk believe it is worth, the elk will begin to move down the mountain in search of easier to obtain high quality nutrition. I have found that a good rule of thumb is that when the snows begin to come up to an elk’s belly, they will begin looking for forage in areas with less snow. For an average cow elk, this may be around 18 inches. For a bull, 24-30 inches of snow will usually push them to lower elevations.
Q. Jay, what is your best tip for success for elk hunters?
A. Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Short and simple, the more homework one does ahead of the hunt, the greater the likely hood of his or her success. Get in shape, do your map study, understand the land and the elk. Just having been a successful deer hunter will not cut it.
For more information on elk, elk hunting, and elk country check out the rest of our website. You can also find a tremendous wealth of information in our books, Elk Hunting 101, Elk Hunting 201, and Elk Hunting 301 and many of the other books on this great outdoor adventure featured here on our site. If you cannot find the answer to your question here on our site or in one of these resources, ask our loyal Hunter’s Forum members or E-mail me at: elkmaster@elkcamp.com.
PRESEASON SCOUTING
It happens every year about this time. A whole lot of people head into the woods, look for tracks, find some elk, play with their calls, and then come back in a couple of weeks, ready for the start of the season, to find out that all the elk they thought they had pegged have turned tail and headed for parts unknown. It’s the annual scouting ritual, and while it can be helpful for some aspects of the hunt, doing the wrong things while scouting can do much more harm than good for your hunt.
Over Scouting
How many days in the woods do you actually need to have in the woods, prior to the hunt, before you’re comfortable with an area? Some hunters may answer that question with a double digit number, but most savvy hunters know that quality beats quantity in most scouting situations. For example, hunters who do their homework prior to the scouting trip will already have a good idea about where the water sources, food sources, and sheltered dark timber areas lie before they ever step foot on the ground in their areas. They will get this information through topographical maps and aerial and satellite images that are available through bookstores and on-line resources. (MORE)
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