The strategic advantages you see helping

[Reynolds02]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to see what's the tactics guys are using to consistently kill bulls, now it's understood knowing the area's year after year you get to know where they are/travel/head when pressure starts. I am interested to see what guys feel really help when moving to new country...we will be heading into steeper terrain where each drainage is about 4 miles long and 800-1400 yards wide. If you know what gives you the advantage in these circumstances I would love to hear what's your perspective.

We live too far away to do any scouting, vacation time is just not there. We're planning to be mobile with horse's and mule's, start in a drainage first morning, hunt it all day and the next morning. If we don't see good sign or elk after the second morning move to the next drainage during the midday and start the process over again, each drain gets further away from foot travel access. All the Forest service and biologists are saying it's almost impossible to pack out on foot in anyone's right mind because of elevation is rugged and distance needed travelled...

Very interested and thankful to what you guys feel gives you the advantage and if you would have a different plan of attack given these situations.

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[Reynolds02]

The Forest service and biologists say it is an area they feel is great and hold elk, it's just a place where pack animals give the advantage...they wouldn't go there on foot. So it's a good feeling but I am always looking for advantages or strategic plans we're not thinking of.

 

[Timber338]

Sounds like you guys have everything well under control, so not sure how much I'll be able to help, but here it is anyways.

I backpack hunt in what sounds to be very similar rugged terrain that you are describing, and I see a lot of other hunters making the same mistakes year after year. Please understand I'm not saying you guys do this, these are just observations that I have made... Most of the time I see guys riding in, and out, on horseback and missing the very best hunting times... particularly first and last light. I'm packed in and already at a hunting position that I found the night before, possibly skinning out a bull, and in comes a group of guys asking where the elk went. Nothing wrong with horses, but most guys I see just don't get where they need to be early enough, and rarely stay late enough. I make sure I'm in good hunting areas before first light, and I stay in those areas until it's too dark to shoot.

The other thing I see is guys walking through awesome elk country and not setting up ins areas where there is extremely fresh elk sign. If you find very fresh elk crap, green and slimy, and you know you're the only group of hunters in that area, find a good spot and be very, very patient.

On the flip side, I've seen guys sit all day in an area where the elk are not. I think you've already got this figured out by your first post. But one of the biggest things I've stuck to that gets me in position to shoot elk year after year, is to put in the miles in an effort to locate a herd, and then be patient in stalking them once you've found them.

Big picture you're already doing it right by finding a place that is rugged and will keep the average hunters away, and verifying with the Forest Service that it's a good area to hold elk.

Since you are not super familiar with the area that eliminates hunting known escape routes, so just put in the effort to find areas of huge elk sign. I like to find groves of Aspens that are literally torn up with rubs. Rubs that are a decade old, 5 years old, 1 year old, and fresh. Most of my honey holes are like that, and if I'm patient I know the elk will be back to those spots at some point within the week... but I like to go after them and locate a dozen or so piles of green slimy, and slide right into the middle of them. In the middle of the day, there's also a good chance a satellite bull will circle the herd that's bedded down somewhere that's too thick to move into, and they'll walk right into you.

 

[Reynolds02]

Thanks Timber!! It's taken us a couple trips to see what real elk sign looks like in the snow...we are planning to hunt first season in Colorado, but that's just because we're planning on hunt whichever season fits best after we hunt this area. Very happy to hear you think we are on the right track... it's ruff at times but we have had best luck finding bulls mid day bedded taking them right there, but I think we maybe are missing out on the bigger bulls since we're not waiting til they are all moving to view everyone. Another worry is we will spend the first day and a half in a drainage, then the pressure of everyone will send them into the drainage we were at the day before...i really appreciate you speaking up and giving advice because we're looking for a lot more of it to check our game plan...

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[kraigwy]

In my younger years, I'd trump through the woods, saw a few critters.

Now I'm old, (68) and have COPD, the combo is fun at 9000 ft.

So now I set and glass, Guess what, I see a heck of a lot more elk, my success rate is much higher.

I don't care how quiet you are sneaking through the woods, elk can still here you. You can see a few elk butts moving away from you.

Now I got a spot I just set and glass. Every year, (maybe not every day) I see elk coming out of the timber to a creek and alders. Granted the closest shot I got here was a hair over 300 yards, but I can shoot better then I can hump mountains. Plus I'm a ridge over so they don't know I'm there.

I can set, smoke, make coffee, and glass without spooking critters. I love exploring the mountains via horse back or 4-wheeler and I do, but I'm always back to my glassing area in the late afternoon.

 

[Reynolds02]

Thanks Kraig,
Kudos to you for still getting after it! We hunt very similar glassing from the opposite ridge, we are totally against going into the dark Timber/bedding area... would like to know everyone else is attacking new hunting areas if they had no previous time scouting. If they would do it the same let me know... surprised to only have two replies so far... Thanks

 

[Timber338]

we are totally against going into the dark Timber/bedding area...

I have heard guys say this before and I just don't get it. When I was younger I always listened to guys talking about how the elk are impossible to hunt in the dark timber, and I have also heard guys say they don't like to bump elk of their bedding areas because they think it will disrupt the herd while shooting them crossing between food and shelter will not. Not sure your reasoning here, but it's all hunting one in the same.

The timber is where I shoot the majority of my elk. It's just about the only way I am successful at hunting them with a bow, and when the elk are not moving because of high pressure, warm weather, or whatever, the timber is just about the only way to get it done.

Sliding into the middle of a herd in the dark timber, watching snot drip from a bulls nose, a cow scratch her ear from 10 yards, having a bull scream at you from the other side of an evergreen, to me that's as intense, exciting and rewarding as a hunt can get.

 

[Timber338]

I don't care how quiet you are sneaking through the woods, elk can still here you. You can see a few elk butts moving away from you.

Completely agree with this, and goes to my first post of always seeing guys just walk right through some of the best elk country out there. Gotta learn when and how to set up on a spot and wait for the elk to walk in to you. Very similar to setting up on a vantage point and glassing for elk. The only difference is you're doing it from close up rather than far away. I certainly see less country, and less total numbers of elk... but I only have 1 bull tag to fill and when they walk out it's a 15 - 50 yard shot rather than a 300 -1000 yard shot. Elk don't know you're there either way.

 

[TOM H]

Thanks Kraig,
Kudos to you for still getting after it! We hunt very similar glassing from the opposite ridge, we are totally against going into the dark Timber/bedding area... would like to know everyone else is attacking new hunting areas if they had no previous time scouting. If they would do it the same let me know... surprised to only have two replies so far... Thanks

First bull I killed Co after moving here 1977 was in the open and I've been hunting same unit ever since. Units I'm still hunting has so much beetle kill and down timber don't see very many hunters in timber anymore.

 

[ShtrRdy]

In my younger years, I'd trump through the woods, saw a few critters.

Now I'm old, (68) and have COPD, the combo is fun at 9000 ft.

So now I set and glass, Guess what, I see a heck of a lot more elk, my success rate is much higher.

I don't care how quiet you are sneaking through the woods, elk can still here you. You can see a few elk butts moving away from you.

Now I got a spot I just set and glass. Every year, (maybe not every day) I see elk coming out of the timber to a creek and alders. Granted the closest shot I got here was a hair over 300 yards, but I can shoot better then I can hump mountains. Plus I'm a ridge over so they don't know I'm there.

I can set, smoke, make coffee, and glass without spooking critters. I love exploring the mountains via horse back or 4-wheeler and I do, but I'm always back to my glassing area in the late afternoon.

I'm at the point I need to adopt this approach. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Rifleman513]

I will second the be patient and glass method. I am still young and train but sitting and just glassing is my preferred method. The more time I spend hunting and watching game the more I appreciate good glass.

Just this year I took a 6x7 30 min after legal light on day one and not 5 min after I shot here came another hunter walking out to the rim of the canyon right where the bull had come from. In some cases all it takes is to just be more patient than the other hunters around you. Find a good vantage point and stick to it.

If you hunt an area that holds elk, like the others said just stick with it.

 

[FULLFAN]

Reynolds. Being only 20 minutes south of you I have the same problem. Idaho is to far for any scouting. We arrive there always at least 2 days prior to the opener. Then it is from daylight till dark in the timber looking for sign. Not much open ground for glassing where we hunt. Prior to the wolves elk would live in the same areas from year to year. but that has all changed.


The only way to find them is to spend time in the timber, but if you have some open ground to glass, then get up high prior to daylight and do your thing

 

[Reynolds02]

How much scouting/ how invasive are you guys doing the the day or two before season in areas with big drainages, are you going to the bottom to look for fresh trails maybe dip into the dark timber just a little or are you just on the ridge looking for tracks and scat glassing into the dark timber to look for bedded animals in between sunrise and sunset??

 

[Timber338]

How much scouting/ how invasive are you guys doing the the day or two before season in areas with big drainages, are you going to the bottom to look for fresh trails maybe dip into the dark timber just a little or are you just on the ridge looking for tracks and scat glassing into the dark timber to look for bedded animals in between sunrise and sunset??

Lots of glassing a day or two before the season opens, but I don't do any hiking through thick stuff. My goal right before the season opens is to locate where the herds are and possibly make a last minute change with where I set up my camp to be closer on saturday morning when the season opens. Ideally from a vantage point that let's me catch the entire herd out in the open within shooting range.

And of course I spend plenty of time behind glass looking for elk, and shooting them if they are within range. I picture that as the best-case scenario that we all dream of in the off season of knocking over a nice bull on opening morning. Just about every article you read in Field and Stream about elk strategy is going to talk about glassing for elk, and I don't think is anything new to any of us. Glassing is fun, doesn't take much energy, locates elk and gives beautiful views of the country... all good things... But I don't think that is a new strategic advantage that's going to help me shoot elk consistently year after year after year.

I only get an open country shot maybe half of the time, and it's usually within the first two days of the season when the elk are still in their regular patterns... just like Rifleman513 did on opening day last year. Once the herds get shot at a few times they stop moving and Monday and Tuesday are typically the most quiet days of the season. Knowing where they are in the timber, and how to hunt them there, is a huge strategic advantage for the times when the elk are simply not out in the open.