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Tips for hunting the Colorado Unit 2 Elk

Indian Summer Bulls

Success When It’s Hot!

In 1959 Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon captured America’s fancy in a classic movie entitled Some Like It Hot. While this farcical comedy is indeed hilarious, what is not funny is how hot it has been during the past several archery elk seasons. Trying to solve the elk riddle when temperatures soar and the woods are as dry as Jack Benny’s jokes can be as frustrating as trying to pound the proverbial square peg into a small, round hole.

It seems as though elk morph into a different animal when the mercury climbs. Why shouldn’t they? Even during the rut, when their hormones force them to do crazy things, they are so big and their hides so heavy they melt like ice cubes in hot weather. I sometimes think they become part vampire, emerging only after the sun goes down and retreating to their thick-cover beds before dawn.

This is indeed a dilemma. But you can also turn it to an advantage, if you understand that when it gets hot, you have to concentrate your efforts near water and cool, shady areas where the breeze can bring overheated elk some relief from the sun. You also have to understand that, when it comes to getting a shot at the “Bull of the Woods,” you have to hunt differently than if your goal is to shoot any bull elk that comes close enough.

Hunt Near Water

Harold Knight, half the famous Knight & Hale game calling team, is not only one whale of a hunter but also a very successful tournament bass and crappie fisherman. Knight approaches elk hunting the same way he attacks a bass tournament – with meticulous preparation. “You have to find elk before you can kill one,” Knight told me. “In hot weather, the best place to find them is around water and wallows. Their water source can be anything from a small spring to a wallow to irrigated private land. If you are hunting a public land area, use topographic maps to try and find water sources that might be a little bit isolated from places where other hunters can easily access them.”

Knight’s partner in crime David Hale is also a serious elk hunter. He believes it is critical to plan out your hunt well in advance of actually reaching the field.

“Elk are pocket animals, and therefore 90 percent of the country will not have an elk on it,” Hale said. “You have to know the lay of the land, where the elk pockets are and how the animals like to move over the ground. That’s 95 percent of the battle right there. In really hot weather, everything an elk needs will be close to water, including food, thick bedding cover and escape routes. Once I have found water sources, I try and find nearby north and east facing slopes, which are shady and cooler, because this is where the elk will most likely bed. Excellent places to set up an ambush, both morning and evening, are funnel-type areas between water and bedding areas.”

I have put Harold’s and David’s advice to good use on more than one occasion. The last time was on a hunt near Hayden, Colorado, when the daytime temperatures soared like a hawk. I spent three days hiking and scouting for fresh sign, all the while looking for water sources peppered with fresh tracks and droppings. When I found the right one, it was like magic. The big wallow was located between the top of the mountain, where the elk were bedding during the day, and a large irrigated alfalfa field a mile off and 1,500 feet below.

After that it was almost too easy. I waited for the wind to get right, then set up an afternoon ambush on a trail leading from the bedding area to the wallow. I knew the elk would not want to enter the exposed alfalfa until right at dark, so I wanted to catch them while there was plenty of daylight left. Sure enough, about 5:00 P.M., I heard the first squeaky bugle. Soon came the sound of cows chirping as they came to drink before heading for supper. By and by a 6x6 bull appeared, and when I softly cow-called and moaned, he just had to investigate. That, as they say, was his misfortune.

Hot-Weather Calling Tricks

One trick that has worked for me I learned from Norman Pint, an Arizonan who is one of the real legends of archery and bow hunting. (He invented the first cushion/plunger arrow rest, for example.) Norman likes to elk hunt, too, and he created a technique he calls “multiple calling.” Pint also invented the first “Hyper Hot” cow elk call, an invention he gave to a commercial call maker for mass production. Today every company that makes cow calls has some variation on the theme, including the Knight & Hale Magnum Cow Estrous, Sceery DB Sniper Cow Elk, Woods Wise Bite Me Hypercow, Carlton’s Estrus Squeeze Me Cow Call and Primos Hyper Lip Single and Hyper Lip Double.

Basically, what I try and do here is use multiple cow calls of different makes and play them like a one-man band, trying to sound like a small band of cows and calves, when the bulls are hanging up and not coming to more standard calling techniques. A hunt with my friend Steve Shuster of Pennsylvania and TV personality Wayne Pearson showed just how deadly the technique can be.

“When the bulls are hanging up and not being very aggressive like they do a lot in hot weather, I like to have two or three other people with me, and we all call,” Pearson said. “We get in the herd’s travel route, spread out and try and imitate a herd of elk, using different makes, models and types of calls. We answer each other and try and sound like a traveling herd. I like to have one person using the ‘hyper hot’ cow call with the others sounding like regular cows or calves. We put the shooter out 50 yards or so in front of us and have at it. This can be very, very effective. Everyone needs to be able to call well, and one person has to be the ‘hunt master’ and direct the effort, but this can be an incredibly effective way to call elk to you.”

It worked for Shu. As four of us squeaked and moaned and wailed about 10:00 A.M., a young 5x5 bull just about ran Steve over trying to get to us. It’s a good thing he can shoot his bow, or we just might have had 600 pounds of psycho bull elk trying to do bad things to us!

What About BIG Bulls?

Randy Ulmer of Arizona has bow-killed as many monster bull elk as anyone I know. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that Randy is one of the world’s best bow hunters, runs marathons and is also one of the nation’s top competitive 3-D shooters. In a nutshell, Randy can get there, and when he gets the shot, the party is over. Randy told me one of his secrets to hunting truly old monarch bull elk is to not call at all.

“Of course, before you can hunt an old bull elk you have to find one, and that is never easy,” Ulmer said. “It takes lots of research and scouting. But once I have found the elk, I want to hunt them in a manner that does not allow them to know I am even on the face of the Earth. If I call, they’ll know something is going on. Now, if the goal is to shoot a younger satellite bull, or if you want to have a fun and actionpacked hunt, calling is the way to go. However, if you really want to get serious about killing the oldest bull in the woods, I think calling may be a mistake.

“Even if you are the best caller in the world, what I have found is that young bulls often readily come in, but the older, 7- to 10-year-old bulls, don’t,” Ulmer said. “The big boys will come in to a point, then they stop – usually 70 to 100 yards away – but they will not commit. If they do not see another elk, they are suspicious and slow way down. They’re not stupid. They may just turn tail and sneak right on out of there. If you’re looking to hunt some Colorado elk, you may consider purchasing some Colorado Elk Landowner Tags. Click on the link for more information.

“I think the bigger bulls can tell the difference between people calling and elk calling, and they are going to sneak in and peek, try and get downwind of you, and use all their senses to figure out what is going on before coming close enough for a good shot. Sure, every year there’s the odd big bull that gets killed by bugling, but that’s rare. Now about the only time I use a call is a cow call to stop a bull that’s in position for a shot. And mostly I’ve gotten that shot by intercepting them by determining their line of march and setting up silently.”

Here’s How It Works

The morning broke crisp and clear, but you could tell it was going to be another scorcher. I climbed out of the sleeping bag fully three hours before the crack of dawn, something I often do on an early-season elk hunt. That’s because even though the elk are mostly silent by day, they are often raucous just after dark and again a few hours before daybreak. Then, simply hiking out and listening, silently moving as close to the elk as you dare before dawn, can get you into position to attack when you can barely begin to see.

I heard the bulls screaming in the low country and knew they would be moving up the slope to bed right after dawn. These elk slipped up the slope across a wide canyon and out of range, but instead of panicking I smiled and slowed down. I had them right where I wanted them. I simply shadowed the herd, and once they bedded for the day, I did the same thing, burrowing under some scrub cedars in a place where the thermals carried my scent away from the elk.

About 4:00 P.M. I finished my snack, took a big drink and started climbing until I found a good position about 150 yards downwind of the elk, where I set up and waited. About an hour later, I heard them begin to stir, the cows and calves chirping and three different bulls growling and grunting. Bingo! Now I knew right where the biggest bull was. This is the time to attack! After a day of sleep, surrounded by his harem and a couple of satellite bulls, that old boy was as lazy and unwary as he’d ever be.

Through the binocular I could see elk moving about the trees and brush. Then I saw what I was looking for – thick, polished antler tips working over a small Christmas tree. It was time to go! I began moving hard toward the raking bull, senses on red alert as I constantly looked and listened for other elk. Typically a bull will rake for 5 to 15 seconds, then stop for several minutes before raking some more. The game is simple – when he rakes I move, as fast as the terrain and other elk will allow; when he stops, I hunker down and wait for him to continue.

In 20 minutes I had covered 100 yards, coming in at the bull with his rear end quartering to me. As he slashed the little tree, I eased to the side on my knees, exposing more and more of his rib cage. I vividly remember the way his chest heaved in and out as he pounded that tree, and how bark and pine needles and snot flew in all directions. I was hunkered down behind a clump of brush when he paused that final time and looked around, his eyes glazed over. When he bugled it sounded as if he were in my shirt pocket. Wow!

Then he turned his head up the slope, giving me time for a quick hit with the laser rangefinder before I drew, settled the 50-yard sight pin low on his chest and turned the arrow loose. When it blew through his chest, the bull jumped straight up into the air, swapped ends and sprinted like a racehorse right past me. He left hoof prints 10 yards from my little blind before nosing in only 40 yards past me. As he did so, the entire slope exploded into a covey flush of elk large and small. It was wild!

I wanted to go over and check him out right away, but when I tried to get up and go, I found my legs weren’t working real well, so I sat back down and took a deep breath. I remember giggling to myself and thinking that I had lots of time, and besides, trying to quarter a bull elk with a razor-sharp knife and trembling hands was probably not a good idea.

Even though it was hotter than Hades, I felt like Cool Hand Luke. If you are looking to purchase landowner tags to anywhere, see our Landowner Tags for Sale page for our wide variety of landowner tags for sale.

By Bob Robb

This article and many more like it can be found by Successful Hunter Magazine. Visit them at www.successfulhunter.com