Does muzzleloader season mean the end of elk calling?

SupressYourself

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I'm trying to schedule my Colorado archery elk hunt.

I'd rather not be out there over labor day -- too many granola-eating hippies lurking about.
Ideally it would be about 10 days over mid-Sept.
However, muzzleloader season is 9/10 - 9/18.
Last time I was out there (2 years ago), I heard someone mention that once muzzleloader season starts and elk start hearing gunshots, the calling is over, which would ruin an archery hunt.
I never found out because we left the day muzzy season started. The elk were still very vocal at that point.

So what is your experience? Do gun shots shut up the bulls?
 


wby257

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I hunted Colorado 6 or 7 yrs in a row with Muzzleloader and can count the number of bugles I heard on both hands after season starts. Its not the gun shots as much as traffic. Up and down the roads every back trail has a 4 wheeler or motorcycle going down them all day everyday. And only about half are hunters. Unless you get back in the wilderness area that the only places where its quiet.
 

dean nelson

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Having lived out there some and hunted it quite a bit much of the most aggressive calling bulls I've been around were a couple weeks into muzzle season. These were not back country bulls by any stretch. ...hell tangled with a herd bull for a couple hours one morning then walked back to the truck and was at KFC within ten mins! This was always on public ground as well. The only advantage i had was a summer of scouting but that mattered little by then due to three feet of snow up at tree line so the elk were hanging around 10,000 feet. I would generally drive somewhat slowly down one of the roads a couple hours before sunrise and stop every half mile to mile. I would kill the truck and wait a few minutes then rip off a couple weak bugles and listen for a response. Just have to be careful with the bugle so you don't push them. Once you find them if at all possible go quite or just cow calls. A heard bull will try an avoid a fight if he can so if your bugling your head off your likely going to run them off.

Where are you headed for? You should be smack dab in the hart of the rut so they should be going but they can get shy especially of calls. Try to learn calls that they are less likely to hear a ton of. What i mean by this is listen to what a hoochie mama sounds like and try and make your call sound a little different because everyone has one them. the same goes with the bugle but those are all a bit different person to person anyway. I also would recommend a decoy as well if you don't already have one because they have saved my ass a couple times.
 


2400

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I'm trying to schedule my Colorado archery elk hunt.

I'd rather not be out there over labor day -- too many granola-eating hippies lurking about.
Ideally it would be about 10 days over mid-Sept.
However, muzzleloader season is 9/10 - 9/18.
Last time I was out there (2 years ago), I heard someone mention that once muzzleloader season starts and elk start hearing gunshots, the calling is over, which would ruin an archery hunt.
I never found out because we left the day muzzy season started. The elk were still very vocal at that point.

So what is your experience? Do gun shots shut up the bulls?

Nope in my experience you can call them as long as the rut is going on +/- a couple of weeks. You might have to work a little harder as fall goes on but you can call them in. I live in the middle of Elk country and had a small 4 point bull and 5 cows in the yard this morning.
 

PrairieGhost

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I have hunted Colorado with muzzle loader. I didn't hear more than two shots in seven days. I did see a guy calling from his Jeep, with his door open and radio on. He had driven 1/2 mile beyond the sign that said no vehicles. Didn't shock me as much as the guy with an English longbow, green leotards, green shoes with long pointy tips with a little ball on the end. He has matching green jacket and Robin hood hat with a long plumb. I thought he was a funny farm escapee
 

dean nelson

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I have hunted Colorado with muzzle loader. I didn't hear more than two shots in seven days. I did see a guy calling from his Jeep, with his door open and radio on. He had driven 1/2 mile beyond the sign that said no vehicles. Didn't shock me as much as the guy with an English longbow, green leotards, green shoes with long pointy tips with a little ball on the end. He has matching green jacket and Robin hood hat with a long plumb. I thought he was a funny farm escapee

That's what happens when you get invaded by the fruits and nuts from California!
 

SupressYourself

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Thanks guys. We're going to the White River National Forest area. I forget which units offhand. Never been there before.
We're doing the DIY backcountry thing, so hoping to get into the wilderness and avoid most of the ass-hat-ery.
That strategy worked pretty well last time in the Rawah Wilderness area.
 

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