Paul from Colorado
Member
To all of you hunters in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho I have a question about elk behavior and the presence of wolves.
I’ve been elk hunting in Colorado all my life, we have an amazing resource of elf habitat and a large elk population. The Yellowstone wolves have made their way here. There have been a few north of the Yampa river for 10 to 11 years and yes, we have heard them howl and no coyote can ever match that distinctive howl. They moved south of the White river several years ago and we have seen a pack of three multiple times each summer since 2016 while hiking the Flat Tops.
This past fall and hunting season there was a change in the elk behavior that we noticed. Every small herd group we saw was noticeably alert, heads up noses in the wind and ridged body stature. My kids commented that something must be bothering or harassing them. I was glad my kids were starting to notice behavior finally. Then in early August, after setting up camp we glassed a west facing slope and watched small elk from the river all the way up to the cliff bases graze out in the evening sun. Elk were everywhere from the willows to the oak to the aspens to the sage flats just happily grazing away and enjoying the evening. All three of use were sitting back against a huge Spruce log enjoying the show. It’s so fun to see the elk calves chasing and butting each other.
My daughter noticed it first as she had the spotting scope and was glassing the sage flats up near the cliffs. All the elk in a slow ripple from uphill to downhill, oriented their noses to the southeast, looking up slope. The breeze must have carried the scent to them as the wave of head turning went right down the slope. My daughter said, dad, look at the aspen tree wall across the sage from the elk, a group of ‘something’ just walked out and they are too big to be coyotes.
We all rotated and watched 11 wolves wander out of the trees into the sage. Holy crap are those things big! It was liked all the elk were on the same communication plan as they all turned and ran, as each group got to the next, they kept turning picking up more and more all heading down hill. By the time they all made it to the bottom there were about 90 to 100 cows and calves spilling out across the county road and into the hay fields. And that is where they stopped. Unfortunately, the setting sun prevented us from seeing what followed but I’m sure a few calves got culled that night.
Now, fast forward to the second day of first rifle season (elk only). My friend got a nice bull opening day, so we spent the rest of that day humping it back to camp. The second morning we crossed the valley from camp to get to the ridge top for glassing at first light. The other side of the valley from the glassing point is private but the valley and far slope is public. At first light we saw a large herd deep into the private. A few small bulls and one nice 7x6 (he had a broken brow tine). The rest of us had cow tags so horns didn’t matter but they are nice to glass up. These elk were just slowly feeding among the aspens, oak and sage, scattered out and relaxed. Again, the shock wave went through the herd as they went on alert, noses all pointed the same direction and ridged stature. We thought the rancher, or a vehicle of some sort might be coming up. Then the herd turned away and bolted into a large clearing. And here came the wolves, we only counted 8 this time but the brush was thick so there may have been others we didn’t see. Now the strange part, the elk milled around in the large meadow then rocketed through the oak and aspens into another meadow and turned and milled to watch their back trail. I’ve never seen elk act like this, they usually just run to the next county when I bust them.
We hustled down the hill and got halfway up the slope when the herd crossed out of private came crashing through the oak on top of us. We managed to get 3 cows as they stopped to look back at the wolves.
Sorry this was very long winded but I’m trying to figure out if this agitated alert elk behavior will become normal or if the elk are still trying to figure out what is happening to them. So, if you have experience with this wolf/elk interaction please relate you’re experience. And is a wolf pack 11 strong reason enough we might want to consider switching hunting areas. The draw is not open yet, so we still have time to make changes.
I’ve been elk hunting in Colorado all my life, we have an amazing resource of elf habitat and a large elk population. The Yellowstone wolves have made their way here. There have been a few north of the Yampa river for 10 to 11 years and yes, we have heard them howl and no coyote can ever match that distinctive howl. They moved south of the White river several years ago and we have seen a pack of three multiple times each summer since 2016 while hiking the Flat Tops.
This past fall and hunting season there was a change in the elk behavior that we noticed. Every small herd group we saw was noticeably alert, heads up noses in the wind and ridged body stature. My kids commented that something must be bothering or harassing them. I was glad my kids were starting to notice behavior finally. Then in early August, after setting up camp we glassed a west facing slope and watched small elk from the river all the way up to the cliff bases graze out in the evening sun. Elk were everywhere from the willows to the oak to the aspens to the sage flats just happily grazing away and enjoying the evening. All three of use were sitting back against a huge Spruce log enjoying the show. It’s so fun to see the elk calves chasing and butting each other.
My daughter noticed it first as she had the spotting scope and was glassing the sage flats up near the cliffs. All the elk in a slow ripple from uphill to downhill, oriented their noses to the southeast, looking up slope. The breeze must have carried the scent to them as the wave of head turning went right down the slope. My daughter said, dad, look at the aspen tree wall across the sage from the elk, a group of ‘something’ just walked out and they are too big to be coyotes.
We all rotated and watched 11 wolves wander out of the trees into the sage. Holy crap are those things big! It was liked all the elk were on the same communication plan as they all turned and ran, as each group got to the next, they kept turning picking up more and more all heading down hill. By the time they all made it to the bottom there were about 90 to 100 cows and calves spilling out across the county road and into the hay fields. And that is where they stopped. Unfortunately, the setting sun prevented us from seeing what followed but I’m sure a few calves got culled that night.
Now, fast forward to the second day of first rifle season (elk only). My friend got a nice bull opening day, so we spent the rest of that day humping it back to camp. The second morning we crossed the valley from camp to get to the ridge top for glassing at first light. The other side of the valley from the glassing point is private but the valley and far slope is public. At first light we saw a large herd deep into the private. A few small bulls and one nice 7x6 (he had a broken brow tine). The rest of us had cow tags so horns didn’t matter but they are nice to glass up. These elk were just slowly feeding among the aspens, oak and sage, scattered out and relaxed. Again, the shock wave went through the herd as they went on alert, noses all pointed the same direction and ridged stature. We thought the rancher, or a vehicle of some sort might be coming up. Then the herd turned away and bolted into a large clearing. And here came the wolves, we only counted 8 this time but the brush was thick so there may have been others we didn’t see. Now the strange part, the elk milled around in the large meadow then rocketed through the oak and aspens into another meadow and turned and milled to watch their back trail. I’ve never seen elk act like this, they usually just run to the next county when I bust them.
We hustled down the hill and got halfway up the slope when the herd crossed out of private came crashing through the oak on top of us. We managed to get 3 cows as they stopped to look back at the wolves.
Sorry this was very long winded but I’m trying to figure out if this agitated alert elk behavior will become normal or if the elk are still trying to figure out what is happening to them. So, if you have experience with this wolf/elk interaction please relate you’re experience. And is a wolf pack 11 strong reason enough we might want to consider switching hunting areas. The draw is not open yet, so we still have time to make changes.
