Hunters head into fields today for elk

Hunters head into fields today for elk

Oct 13, 2001

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

Hunters will be all over Montezuma and Dolores counties today, Oct. 13, for a special elk-only hunt. They will be hunting such areas as Haycamp Mesa, Boggy Draw, The Glade, near Dunton among other places.

Despite a record numer of elk (more than 60,000 harvest) taken a year ago, the Colorado Division of Wildlife is hoping hunters do well again. Colorado’s elk hurd numbers more than 500,000, above population objectives by the DOW.

"Elk are doing real well around here," Scott Wait, terrestrial biologist for the DOW in Durango, said recently in a telephone interview. "I think a majority of the hunters will fill their tags. But a lot of their luck will depend on the weather."

Light snow fell in the high country Thursday night, Oct. 11, as a low pressure system came through the area. It left a lot of winds in its wake on Friday at lower elevations. The National Weather Service for today and into early next week calls for mostly cloudy skies with a chance for snow over the higher terrain by Sunday. Temperatures should remain below normal for this time.

Despite the fact that big game hunters killed 60,120 elk last year, the largest elk harvest since Colorado Division of Wildlife officers have been keeping track of statistics, the DOW is predicting another big year for hunter success.

This is the first year of this special elk-only season. Wait said there will be 1,450 elk hunters for this hunt in Montezuma and Dolores counties. He said there is potential for another 500 on private lands.

"It should be a good, quality season," Wait commented about the elk-only hunt. "We didn’t have a hard winter. Elk survival should have been very good. We were dry early, late spring and early summer was very hot and dry. We started getting a lot of moisture on the Western Slope so that should spread elk distributions out. They are going to be from the high elk line down (10,000 feet above sea level) to the pinion and juniper (6,000-plus)."

The first regular combined rifle deer-elk hunt will run Oct. 20-26, the second hunt Nov. 3-9 and the third hunt Nov. 10-14. When hunting season is over with special hunts in February, hunters will have pursued deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, moose, and black bear in Colorado.

Cortez area hunters can sight in their rifle(s) for $5 each 9 a.m.-5 p.m. this Wednesday-Friday, Oct. 17-19, at the Four Corners Pistol and Rifle Club’s range, located across from the Montezuma County Fairgrounds. The range is normally closed to non-members the remainder of the year. It will again be open to the public the wednesday before the final two hunts.

The San Juan Mountain Association, in partnership with local public land managers and business community members, have placed dumpsters throughout the San Juan National Forest as part of their "Clean Forest Initiative" program. Dumpster locations will be: Upper and Lower Hermosa Creek, Missionary Ridge, Beaver Meadows, Pine River Trailhead at Vallecito in the Durango area; Piedra Store on U.S. Highway 160, Mill Creek, Blanco Basin and Kenny Flats roads near Pagosa Springs; and Dolores Food Market, Wagons West, Dolores Liquors and the Sportsman in Dolores. The dumpsters are for hunters only with no household trash to be dumped.