Late Season Colorado

[JMalin]

How late into the season are mountain birds still doing their thing in the southern part of the state?

[Dtrkyman]

I killed one May 11th, came in gobbling all the way.  Last year I hunted the last week of the season and heard virtually no gobbling, killed one near water.

I think it was more due to hunting pressure than them being done though.  Was shocked by the pressure on opening weekend this year, first year I hunted the opener.

[Kyle_Ott]

I was in CO last week for 2 days; I did not hear a turkey gobble and I didn't kill one, either.

[JMalin]

I'll be heading out from Texas in the morning.  Will start somewhere in San Isabel and may end up moving west to San Juan national forest if I find myself not liking the looks of the country.  Will attempt to roost birds from forest service roads and if that's a bust, find a hiking trail that hopefully puts me on a ridge top where I can listen to a lot of country.

[GobbleNut]

Will look forward to your report on your hunt.  From my admittedly limited experience hunting there, southern CO, and especially that southwest quadrant, is a tough place to hunt,...limited access, relatively few birds scattered over a big area, lots of private land, and concentrated hunting pressure due to all of those factors.  Good luck!

[Dtrkyman]

Good luck, be ready to cover some ground and keep us posted.

[JMalin]

How important is it to actually be in ponderosa?  Some of the country I'm looking at is above 10k feet and looks to be more spruce/fir country.  Lots of piñon/juniper country as well, which I know can have birds as long as there's some roost trees in the canyon bottoms.

[GobbleNut]

How important is it to actually be in ponderosa?  Some of the country I'm looking at is above 10k feet and looks to be more spruce/fir country.  Lots of piñon/juniper country as well, which I know can have birds as long as there's some roost trees in the canyon bottoms.

Again, limited experience in CO here, but all of the birds I found in my trips there in the early to mid-May timeframe were in the 8,000 ft. elevation range plus/minus.   I saw some of the best-looking Merriam's habitat that I have ever seen both above and below that elevation, but could not find turkeys in either. 

[Dtrkyman]

You need trees large enough for roost, they love Ponderosa but it is not the only tree they will roost in.

I have heard they will hang at high elevation but I agree with gobble nut, find them mostly 7k-8500k.

Looks like it may be raining up there right now, otherwise I would have told you to focus on water as it had been extremely dry!

[JMalin]

Six inches of snow on the ground above 8000' where I ended up scouting.  Any forest service road that doesn't have a residence or run through private is going to be impassable from all the moisture.  Cut a couple sets of tracks yesterday that were fresh, but appeared to be a small hen and Jake.  Saw a group of male birds in the foothills on private yesterday afternoon a few miles from where I ended up.  No gobbles this morning, though I was a bit late getting started.  Gunna look at rain/snowfall totals and head to the driest ground.

[JMalin]

Punting on San Isabel and heading to San Juan.  Too much snow and moisture for my liking on front range

[Dtrkyman]

Should be no issue with snow in The San Juan's.

[JMalin]

No snow and plenty of ground is accessible but finding turkeys is another story.  Some not fresh droppings is all I've found and my attempt at roosting this evening turned up nothing.  Was in some very pretty country too.  The 8400-8600 range is where I found elk and the ground is more lush than the 8000' country I walked earlier in the day.  This feels like it's going to be quite the challenge.

[Dtrkyman]

It is a tough hunt, most of it looks like incredible habitat and very little of it holds birds. Big problem is the isolated birds are pressured like I would have never believed!

I hunt a lot of public, mostly in the Midwest, and rarely on the opener.  Was in Colorado for the opener and it was a circus!  I think residents get a turkey tag with their license?  That would explain some things. Worst pressure I have dealt with anywhere.

Elk and turkey are often in the same terrain, keep poking around and check any water you can find.

[JMalin]

I cut several sets of gobbler tracks that were fresher than any boot or tire tracks, but still haven't heard a gobble.  I'm kinda thinking maybe they're done and/or combination of being pressured, but even pressured birds I've dealt with in the past will still gobble on the limb.