BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[RibEye]

I am hunting the Henderson Ridge (Unit 32) area above Grand Junction the first week in Nov. I have been told this is a good area and time to hunt because the an elk heard will have migrated down from Utah by then. Does anyone know about this? I am new to the elk hunting world. Thanks in advance..

[bitmasher]

Henderson ridge might be a good place to hunt (I have not hunted 32), but if it is, I highly doubt it is because of elk migrating in from Utah.

Just eyeballing the map here, it looks like henderson ridge is 60 miles (as the crow files from the utah border), plus that goes across two other units (30 and 31) and would probably have to go up in elevation to get there, not down (relative to the Utah side).

If I have my longitude and latitude right, henderson ridge is just north of the town of Parachute.

Again I have not hunted 32, but you may want to try the area west of highway 13 going just north of Rifle and south of Rio Blanco. This would put you on the other (eastern) end of unit 32. I have no idea what public/private land access there is in this area.

[RibEye]

Thanks for the reply, I am hunting private land and am locked in. I want to look around for other spots in the area for next year and will go to the places you have mentioned..

[bitmasher]

Hope you have a good trip. If you don't mind, post back after the trip, I'd like to know how Henderson Ridge turns out for you.

[RibEye]

Will do Thanks. You wouldn't know what the average temp is in that area in early Nov?

[donmillion]

I don't know that "average" means anything in that area. You're in the mountains. One day it could be in the 60s and the next day it could be 20-below. You really need to be prepared for almost anything.

[BowhunterXXX]

Im from Va where 2 years ago a man shot a bull elk in the southern part of the state this was a big shock to a lot of people beacuse Elk have not been found in Va for over 70 years, now the vast majority of hunters in my area are concerned of the spread of CWD through the deer population and effect the majority of the game. I hope that the elk quit moving into my area and the the dept. of game and fisheries does something about it, so that way my kids can hunt without the worry of killing and infected animal.

[bitmasher]

I can understand concern over CWD, BowhunterXXX, but I think you are overstating the risk.

CO has CWD, no suprise, known about it since the 60's and where it was identified first and has been a part of hunting here ever since. Testing is available here if a hunter is concerned that there deer/elk might be infected.

In CO units that have CWD (which are the minority) less than 1% of all elk have it, elk are far less likely to be carries than deer. That means you could walk into a known CWD unit in CO shoot 100 elk and only 1 on average would turn up with CWD. The majority of CO units have never had CWD found, so your chance of shooting an infected elk in those units is virtually zero.

Consider too that the elk wandering in to your neck of the woods were probably direct decendants from elk reintroduced into the surrounding states. From what I've heard these reintroduced elk go through a battery of tests before they are moved. So they are more than likely disease free when they were moved.

I can't possibly say that the elk wandering into your area are disease 100% free (that would be foolish on my part), just that it highly unlikely that they are carries.

If there was little/no chance they had CWD, wouldn't you want your kids to have the chance to chase elk?

[RibEye]

Elk in Va. Where did the Va elk stock come from?

[cowgal]

My guess is the elk migrated from Kentucky. Several states are actively working on re-establishing elk populations, including Kentucky. Even states like Michigan & Pennsylvania are working on building up their elk herds, but Kentucky was my guess since its the closest to Virginia.