elk migration?

[82ndreddevil]

Looking for some info on elk migration. Many books or articles talk about how elk will migrate from higher elevations to lower elevations. So my first question is do they migrate based on temperature drop, or snow cover over food sources? Or do they migrate instinctively at certain times of year regardless of weather? I have also looked for elk migration routes or maps and cannot seem to strike any luck in that area. I found a site that makes them for WY,CO, and MT, but not NM. Any info would be much appreciated.

 

[permaculture]

I called the Colorado DOW and they stated migration was based on snow. I am sure that is more of general statement and give given the snow this weekend the week before rifle 1, who knows what will happen

If you go here
Colorado Hunting Atlas
you can display a map showing migration routes for colorado

 

[WyoElk2Hunt]

Looking for some info on elk migration. Many books or articles talk about how elk will migrate from higher elevations to lower elevations. So my first question is do they migrate based on temperature drop, or snow cover over food sources? Or do they migrate instinctively at certain times of year regardless of weather? I have also looked for elk migration routes or maps and cannot seem to strike any luck in that area. I found a site that makes them for WY,CO, and MT, but not NM. Any info would be much appreciated.

Temperature has nothing to do with it as Elk stay in Yellowstore all winter and even in lower elevation they are ok at minus 40 and 60 below zero. Snow debeth is a very moving factor as they can't get to food in most areas as in Yellowstone they stay around areas that have hot pools where they can get food. Time of year has very little to do with it as they actually have to make the elk leave the feed grounds in spring with four wheelers as they still have food. Food sourses are the main basis of migration to the best of my knowledge. The routes they take are ususally based on where no one bothers them and food supply.

 

[whit]

I just returned from a hunt in Chama, NM. Early snowfall had pushed the elk lower on the mountain but as soon as the snow melted they moved back up the mountain.

 

[82ndreddevil]

Good job on your hunt, i know that area well. I was just south of that area last weekend to scout my hunt and yea that snow was pretty cool. What I am looking for is not so much the they come down, then they go back up.
For example, the unit I am going to shares its herd with another unit. That herd does not move into my unit until the migration process begins. This is information I got from consulting a game biologist for that area so its not some theory i dreamed up. I have hunted this area twice, and you can see a huge difference from the amount of animals you will see on a early October rifle bull hunt and a late season cow hunt.
So what I am curious about is what corridors are used for the seasonal migration and if these early winter storms is going to have any effect on a herd such as starting the migration process early. Thats the thing about these public draw hunts. You apply in April for an area not knowing what the weather is going to bring. Congrats on your hunt.

 

[MHO]

Snow is what will trigger them, as stated before temps has no bearing on their migration.

 

[kcebcj]

I'm just guessing here but it's almost like elk and deer can sense the change in barometric pressure. Everyone that has spent time in the mountains during the fall has seen how the elk and deer will feed all day just prior to a large storm rolling in. How do they know that?

What I have noticed is the movement start, really depends on how far the animal needs to go to get to the winter feeding ground. Was having a conversation with a Wyoming Fish and Wildlife fella in Afton Wyoming years ago about the migrations in the Salt River Range and because of the distance one of the herds moved just the slightest skiff of snow started the movement . That particular herd he said wintered near Kemmer Wyoming and the distance they moved was about 150+ miles. I noticed the same kind of thing here in Idaho's unit 39 as some move from the Sawtooth Wilderness to the Boise front 60-100 miles.

Here where I live all the animals just move down towards the Snake or Salmon rivers which is only a few miles so there is no noticeable movement. One day you just notice everything is gone. So my conclusion is that it's the distance the animal has to move and the availability of food along the way that determines when they start to move once the pressure drops and the weather starts to move in.

One other thing the major migration routes remain the same year after year. They will use the same ridges and trails. I have witnessed this and know it to be true. So I guess that knowledge is passed from one generation to the next. Pretty cool!

 

[newmexkid]

Snow was always a positive factor in the years I lived and hunted in Wyoming.

 

[bigngreen]

Two things move them in my area, snow moves them to winter grounds and the arrival of half of California and Utah a week before general season opens. The weather is fine and no snow but the elk bunch up and move down to private ground the last week of bow season just in time to have guys running all over creation "scouting" elk.

 

[ElkHero]

Snow is just a partial factor. It has been said snow, snow, snow and that is not the deciding factor. It is the "Super" cold and the kind that freezes their water solid. . If temps warm up for longer periods and unthaws their water holes, they will go back to their last stage of their migration. Local herds do different things then migrating herds, so don't look at town elk or Yellowstone elk to give you the answers you want to know. I get an elk every year, including last week!

 

[Daves762]

I can glass the edge of 900,000 acres of national forest/mountains. I glass for critters several times per week, year round. It gives me an idea of what elevation elk and deer are holding at. That way when I head into public land with tags, I know what elevation to start at.
Based on what I see, it's two fold.
#1 Elk in natural undisturbed state. Temperature, Snow, wind, and water determine what time of day, and where they go.
#2 People, Wolves, and other disturbances.
Wolves have changed the patterning of hunting. I've glassed big herds for weeks waiting for the big bulls to come around so I can get a shot at one. Then one morning hundreds of elk were simply GONE. And I saw six wolves, having a wrestling contest where the elk were bedded the day before.
How elk behave in a protected environment, like private or a national park will not match public land elk.
Migration is not based on the calendar or clock. It's based on need.
My determination is, there are too many factors to consider to know what a wild animal will do. Only details to increase your chances of finding them.
I watch elk year round. And It still seems random.

 

[ElkHero]

I get a cow elk every year and sometimes 2. I do not pay to be guided and most are all public land hunts, with a few RFW hunts.
At 18 years old, my uncles best friend lives in Eagle, Co. He is a mountain man. He invited me and my cousin for 9 years to come hunt the mountain that is less than 10 miles away from his house. He put up wall tents and had a very nice elk camp. We had a weeks worth of fun and we hunted most of the time hard, but after 9 years there was only 1 problem. No elk in camp. 2 -3 times, we had a slim chance of shooting at elk over +500 yards a way. We hunted always 3rd season. Sometimes a little snow, sometimes no snow and sometimes a blizzard that dumped 3 feet over night. Still, no elk. On the 10th year, I decided to take up an offer to go get an elk for $400 on private land, so I took up the offer and learned a lot on this one experience. The rancher who was just the worker, went with us and educated us a lot. He said, get this one book and read it. Then get any material you can on elk and research. He said, in the end, do not listen to no one who says they are an elk expert. The next year, I chose a new public area to hunt and got my 1st public land elk. Fast forward to now (20 years later) and with at least 25 elk under my belt, all of them but 1, was because of me and what I learned.
Now, for migration. What I learned is, no one but elk can predict when they will migrate. It does not have to be of the here and now, but for what is coming. Elk know the weather, way before we ever know it. For example, elk will run down to the 1st major highway, which is C-470 and will come into the residential neighborhoods, but in past 8 years, we very seldom seen them do it, when before that, they did every year. This year in Aug and Sept when temps were upper 80's and mid 90's and the elk were coming down like crazy, bulls and cows. Since then, we started off a really hard, snowy, cold winter in Oct. See how the elk could tell it was going to be a really bad winter this year.
It became my time to do my 1st elk hunt of the year and when we get to where we hunt, some locals said the elk came in early and left by the 1000's, in which they normally do in late Nov. and Dec. They said, there are some stragglers and small groups still around, so hunt hard, lol! In the 1st day I had 3 sets of groups ask me, why are you hunting where I was hunting. 1 person said aloud, well this guy surely will not get an elk, lol! Day 2, me and my boy got our 1st elk and 2 of those groups came a running. Day 3, we stayed for our friend to get an elk and sure enough all 3 groups were mimicking what we did to get ours, again lol! Only problem was, they only did about an hour and then they would move. Day 4, I re-evaluated the competition on the mountain and sent friend to other side of same mountain in which he got his. Day 5 (last day of hunt) we went home. We came back 2 days after Thanksgiving for my 2nd tag, next season. Hunters told us, it didn't look good, because DOW told them only 2 elk came off the mountain last week, lol, it was us. On that last trip my son could not go and I had 3 other friends going on that hunt, it was the very last day of our hunt, when I got my 2nd one and the other 3 in our party got theirs. Yes, we accidentally all set ourselves in the same revine, in which the last morning, a small herd decided to travel up it and it was all over with in 5 min. In the end, I do not listen to others and will only listen to what I learned, which has surely worked.... In the end it is true. when you are not getting elk, it's because you are where the elk are not. When and if you move to where they were, they will not be there, as they will be in your original spot, pooping in your boot prints (seen this several time in the past 20 years, lol). It helps to become an elk whisperer, lol!

 

[ElkHero]

I get a cow elk every year and sometimes 2. I do not pay to be guided and most are all public land hunts, with a few RFW hunts.
At 18 years old, my uncles best friend lives in Eagle, Co. He is a mountain man. He invited me and my cousin for 9 years to come hunt the mountain that is less than 10 miles away from his house. He put up wall tents and had a very nice elk camp. We had a weeks worth of fun and we hunted most of the time hard, but after 9 years there was only 1 problem. No elk in camp. 2 -3 times, we had a slim chance of shooting at elk over +500 yards a way. We hunted always 3rd season. Sometimes a little snow, sometimes no snow and sometimes a blizzard that dumped 3 feet over night. Still, no elk. On the 10th year, I decided to take up an offer to go get an elk for $400 on private land, so I took up the offer and learned a lot on this one experience. The rancher who was just the worker, went with us and educated us a lot. He said, get this one book and read it. Then get any material you can on elk and research. He said, in the end, do not listen to no one who says they are an elk expert. The next year, I chose a new public area to hunt and got my 1st public land elk. Fast forward to now (20 years later) and with at least 25 elk under my belt, all of them but 1, was because of me and what I learned.
Now, for migration. What I learned is, no one but elk can predict when they will migrate. It does not have to be of the here and now, but for what is coming. Elk know the weather, way before we ever know it. For example, elk will run down to the 1st major highway, which is C-470 and will come into the residential neighborhoods, but in past 8 years, we very seldom seen them do it, when before that, they did every year. This year in Aug and Sept when temps were upper 80's and mid 90's and the elk were coming down like crazy, bulls and cows. Since then, we started off a really hard, snowy, cold winter in Oct. See how the elk could tell it was going to be a really bad winter this year.
It became my time to do my 1st elk hunt of the year and when we get to where we hunt, some locals said the elk came in early and left by the 1000's, in which they normally do in late Nov. and Dec. They said, there are some stragglers and small groups still around, so hunt hard, lol! In the 1st day I had 3 sets of groups ask me, why are you hunting where I was hunting. 1 person said aloud, well this guy surely will not get an elk, lol! Day 2, me and my boy got our 1st elk and 2 of those groups came a running. Day 3, we stayed for our friend to get an elk and sure enough all 3 groups were mimicking what we did to get ours, again lol! Only problem was, they only did about an hour and then they would move. Day 4, I re-evaluated the competition on the mountain and sent friend to other side of same mountain in which he got his. Day 5 (last day of hunt) we went home. We came back 2 days after Thanksgiving for my 2nd tag, next season. Hunters told us, it didn't look good, because DOW told them only 2 elk came off the mountain last week, lol, it was us. On that last trip my son could not go and I had 3 other friends going on that hunt, it was the very last day of our hunt, when I got my 2nd one and the other 3 in our party got theirs. Yes, we accidentally all set ourselves in the same revine, in which the last morning, a small herd decided to travel up it and it was all over with in 5 min. In the end, I do not listen to others and will only listen to what I learned, which has surely worked.... In the end it is true. when you are not getting elk, it's because you are where the elk are not. When and if you move to where they were, they will not be there, as they will be in your original spot, pooping in your boot prints (seen this several time in the past 20 years, lol). It helps to become an elk whisperer, lol!

I would like to tell you what happened on day 3, but I am trying to forget it and it also was what brought us to day 4 kill.

 

[ElkHero]

Temperature has nothing to do with it as Elk stay in Yellowstore all winter and even in lower elevation they are ok at minus 40 and 60 below zero. Snow debeth is a very moving factor as they can't get to food in most areas as in Yellowstone they stay around areas that have hot pools where they can get food. Time of year has very little to do with it as they actually have to make the elk leave the feed grounds in spring with four wheelers as they still have food. Food sourses are the main basis of migration to the best of my knowledge. The routes they take are ususally based on where no one bothers them and food supply.

Wrong, freezing their water is key #1 to us, but most area's/units have what you would call a resident herd. Elk will dig, eat bark and travel 10 miles in less than hour to their food and back up to their bedding area, in less than 2 minutes flat. Right here in Evergreen, we name the local elk, lol!