Colorado Elk and Deer Herd Updates

With Colorado’s application season over, now it’s time to wait for the results for many hunters.  After a few discussions with some of our District Wildlife Managers regarding license allocation and herd demographics, I thought it would be worthwhile to share some relevant data on the status of the mule deer and particularly the elk herds around where we operate for Dark Timber Outfitters and Timber to Table Guide Service.  In a nutshell, 2020 looks like it’ll be another good year with adequate snow pack, a mild spring and herd numbers pretty much where our wildlife managers want them.  But let’s take a closer look.

Colorado’s New Hunting Season Structure

The fall of 2020 will mark the first year in Colorado’s new 5-year big game hunting season structure. Every 5 years, the hunting season structure comes up for review. This time around (2020-2024), some changes This fall marks the first in Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) current 5-year big game hunting season block.  Some changes were made for the elk archery season, which now has a set start date of September 2nd and set end date of September 30th.  This is a welcome change as historically the start and end dates have floated around.  Up until now, the season started at a time in August when temperatures were still very warm, the elk weren’t very active and it made for some tough hunting conditions.  A later start date will hopefully help alleviate that without too much disruption to the main rut, which is right around the end of September and first week of October.  

Additionally, the rifle seasons will take place later over these next 5 years.  The general public expressed a majority interest to see more days off between the rifle hunts with the hope being elk will be able to redistribute with the longer breaks, thus improving the hunting experience.  We’ll have to see how this plays out.  

With these rifle seasons starting a bit later, a couple concerns come up.  The first is weather.  For example, 1st Rifle starts on October 16 in 2021, which is almost a week later than normal.  With the new off days being incorporated, this puts the opening day of 3rd Rifle on November 13.  That’s pretty late and the risk of snow could prevent many hunters from being able to access their hunt area.  The 3rd Rifle season has also been shortened by 2 days (from 9 days to 7 days). 

A second concern is with respect to mule deer.  The 4th Rifle hunt will fall right around Thanksgiving in the upcoming years and this is prime rut time for those bucks.  Typically, the deer season is over by about the 3rd week of November and the big, mature bucks are safe to come down and start chasing does.  These later hunt dates could expose a lot of those mature breeding bucks to being harvested at a higher success rate.  Again, it’s hard to make any predictions without seeing how the data shakes out.  But those are a couple concerns we’ll be keeping an eye on.

Elk And Deer Herds in Our Hunt Areas

The elk we hunt live in game units 521, 61 and 62.  Since the early season hunts take place in 61 and 62, let’s start there and look at the population dynamics.

In units 61 and 62, according to our local wildlife managers, elk numbers are actually a little above objective.  In these units, they’d like to see numbers hovering around 8,500-9,500 animals.  Winter flights indicated there were about 10,500 elk.  The good news here is obviously there are lots of elk are out there!  Hunting opportunity is still great with archery, 2nd and 3rd Rifle all allowing over-the-counter licenses.  Some of the bad news is that calf numbers are below objective.  Typically a ratio of about 30 calves to 100 cows is considered a sustainable number.  That ratio has dropped into the mid to low 20s in recent years and, while it’s not cause for alarm yet, the state is trying to determine what’s causing it and how to address it from a management standpoint.  They’ve radio collared both cows and some calves in an effort to determine calf mortality.  Predators like black bears and mountain lions are certainly playing a role but population biology is a complex web and it’s likely that habitat quality or poor winter range or even hunting pressure could all play a role as well.  It’ll be interesting to see what the study results indicate.

            As for unit 521, this unit holds the elk herds for our late season Timber to Table hunts.  The CPW District Wildlife Manager for this area has implemented a reduction in cow licenses for this unit as numbers are right at or even slightly below objective.  This may sound bad at first, which is where my head goes, but in actuality, it’s an indicator of good balance.  The herd is at a level the biologists want it to be based on carrying capacity, hunters are still getting excellent opportunity with ample over-the-counter licenses and the habitat seems to be maintaining its quality from summer range to winter range.  One of the bigger complaints voiced is there are too many archery hunters.  CPW is very aware of this and is having regular discussions to determine if archery needs to become a limited hunt or remain over-the-counter.  There are valid arguments coming from both sides of this issue.  For now, archery license allocation will remain as it has been.  We may see some changes for unit 521 in the future however.  Again, having the scientific data to justify any changes is important and social concerns (i.e. perceived “quality of the hunt”) alone should never drive the decision-making process.

This stuff is fascinating to me and I could drone on about it all day but I’ll stop there for now.  All in all, it looks like the 2020 season is going to be a good one. We had a decent winter and the snowpack is right around normal.  The spring has been pleasant making life a little easier for those energy-depleted elk and deer herds. 

Contact Us with Questions

We’re excited for the fall to get here when we can spend as much time as possible pursuing those wily wapiti on our public lands! If you have questions about your current hunt or would like to inquire about a hunt with Dark Timber Outfitters or Timber to Table Guide Service in the future, please get in touch with us via email, or you can call or text at 208-691-3014.

Thank you!