All the elk sign but no elk???

[Bjcoyne]

First time elk hunter, first time poster, sorry inadvance if I sound like an idiot...

I've been hunting this area in the little belt mountains in MT I scouted out over the summer with my bow the last few weekends. Fresh droppings everywhere, rubs on small saplings and larger trees, fresh tracks in the mud, bedding areas... but no elk. I don't see them. I don't hear them. I don't know where they are.

My question is this: do I change up my location? Or just my tactics? Obviously there are elk around I'm just not hearing or seeing them.

Hope y'all have some insight for me. I'll happily provide more info if someone thinks they can help.

 

[marksjeep]

Sounds like you are into them, so the location is right. My experience has been when I'm into the elk sign thick and heavy, they are there and will stay there until I (or someone) blows them out.

Welcome to the site.

 

[screamin6x6]

Have you been in the area to listen during the night? If not, they may help paint the picture of where they're going.

 

[Rocky176]

I was told to hunt an area for 5 years, learn the ground and animal behavior. That advise has proved right for me over the years. It took us 3 years to start harvesting bulls and cows on the property we hunted. Good luck and stay with it.

 

[sbhooper]

If the temps are still moderate, they are probably going to the thick stuff and chilling out. If the fresh sign is there, then the elk are there-somewhere. Look on high, thick ridges on the top, to about 1/3 of the way down the north side-if that is the type of terrain that is there. They will not be in the open much past first light, especially if the temps are moderate to warm.

 

[Gunner46]

This is going to strain your brain, I know. Go in....sit down...shut up...don't even twitch an eye lid.....and listen for at least 5-6 hrs.

You're right, they are there, and watching you. Turn that around.

 

[TRS_Montana]

What time do you get to the spot to hunt? If you can tell that elk have been there recently but you're not seeing them, it means that you are (obviously) there at different times. Get into the spot well before the sun comes up (~1 hour) and listen, but also pay attention to the smells. Get downwind of your spot and just pay close attention to what you are smelling. When you smell elk (musky, kind of like cattle smell), note the wind direction. If they're still quiet by the time you can shoot, start working your way SLOWLY into the wind. Like, 2-5 steps a minute slow. Keep those elk in your nose, and you'll find em.

 

[Binner86]

I've been hunting NW Montana for about 2 weeks now. First Time. I'm seeing tons a sign. No animals during day. I did camp out 4 nights and I hear them at night when all the other hunters are done Bugling. Just from that, All the elk were up higher during the day I think because I could hear them come down at night. That must be when they're putting all the skat down I see while hiking the woods all day. Morning was quite. Evening and night was crazy. Since there was less bugles Thurs and Friday and then Sat and Sun the number of bulls Bugling seemed to increase exponentially I got suspicious. I hiked up high because I thought that's where they were and then Friday night and Saturday they were bugling low. So I hiked down and 3 miles later I see 3 trucks on the road. So I'm heading back out during the week when all the road hunters aren't out there and muddying up the woods with bugles down low. Lesson learned the hard way.

Night bugling definitely seemed to show their location better. I could hear them moving across and down the mountains. Nothing was lower except hunters bugling form their truck. I'll be hiking to those elevations this week to see if my suspicions are right. Just my 2 cents. I'm new and from FL so take my experience and thoughts for what its worth. Its discouraging hearing them and not seeing them but I'm seeing and hearing more with every lesson I'm learning.

 

[sbhooper]

I've been hunting NW Montana for about 2 weeks now. First Time. I'm seeing tons a sign. No animals during day. I did camp out 4 nights and I hear them at night when all the other hunters are done Bugling. Just from that, All the elk were up higher during the day I think because I could hear them come down at night. That must be when they're putting all the skat down I see while hiking the woods all day. Morning was quite. Evening and night was crazy. Since there was less bugles Thurs and Friday and then Sat and Sun the number of bulls Bugling seemed to increase exponentially I got suspicious. I hiked up high because I thought that's where they were and then Friday night and Saturday they were bugling low. So I hiked down and 3 miles later I see 3 trucks on the road. So I'm heading back out during the week when all the road hunters aren't out there and muddying up the woods with bugles down low. Lesson learned the hard way.

Night bugling definitely seemed to show their location better. I could hear them moving across and down the mountains. Nothing was lower except hunters bugling form their truck. I'll be hiking to those elevations this week to see if my suspicions are right. Just my 2 cents. I'm new and from FL so take my experience and thoughts for what its worth. Its discouraging hearing them and not seeing them but I'm seeing and hearing more with every lesson I'm learning.

They may be low, if there is super heavy cover, but realize that elk travel great distances to move to the feed when the sun goes down. I chased elk up the side of the mountains in Colorado one year, that I could never get close to. They bugled all the way and I never saw a one of them. They were low, feeding at night and then faded to the high, thick stuff when the light came. I followed them into stuff that was so thick that you could not even hope for an approach. It was right below tree line.

After doing that for two days, I finally found a remote ridge and killed a decent bull when he got out of his bed.

If you were an elk, just think where you would go, if someone was hounding you non-stop. I would go to a place that people would not want to go to.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

If I were an elk I'd run to those bugling trucks for a tasty powdered donut

 

[Binner86]

If I were an elk I'd run to those bugling trucks for a tasty powdered donut

If I get a chance to talk to one, I'll share the idea and see if it works. I did talk to some locals and they're telling me stories about driving up roads and killing bulls 40-60 yards off the side. And they tell me that after I just hiked 6 miles and climbed 2500 feet and camped in the woods for 4 days. Makes you feel like youre doing it all wrong.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Here is my limited experience on elk, but while having similar experiences in the last few weeks. I spent september 11-16 hunting backcountry elk in heavily pressured Colorado, the moon was full and there hadn't been snow up high yet. I found a lot of sign in the valley (11k meadows) at the high parts of a drainage and eventually started working up the timbered hills finding good and increasing sign. Eventually I bumped into an entire herd at tree line 11,700 after waiting for the thermals to shift downhill before moving up on the elk. I didn't get a shot, but got in pretty close in the process. The last night I was in there I woke up to a ton of elk calling in the meadows at 1 am. The elk were moving 2 miles and 700 feet down to feed at night and were basically impossible to spot during daylight in the open after trying many mornings and evenings.

The locals driving the roads have very selective memories about they elk they are killing close to the road because the days they didn't see or kill elk they weren't cold or bored in a truck cab with the radio on.

 

[windymtnman]

If you're stepping on fresh sign, meaning less than 24 hours old, the Elk are there, you're just not finding them. Of course they could have been blown out of the drainage if spooked, but otherwise I'd not give up on the area too quickly if the scat says "we're here".

 

[Zim]

Just got back from my Montana general unit elk hunt (because Don Peay/UTDOW & AZG&F stole my limited entry tags) and your's sounds a lot like our hunt. Hunters blew out all the elk. Some may wander in and out at night, but zero bugling, zero daylight sightings. We observed both locals and NR's backpacking in and camping right on top of them. Cow calling 200 times at 2 PM? Yikes. This was the all time worst hunt in my 21 years of elk hunting. Moved around with similar results. Packed up 2,000' from the trailhead. Didn't matter. All the elk were on the private land quite quickly. I am very bitter by state's ripping off my bonus/preference points value, and subsidizing 42 years of Montana resident wildlife support in one single year as a NR, to stick me with this Plan B hunt. I'll not be returning there. Horrible hunt for exorbitant price.

 

[pondweed]

"You're right, they are there, and watching you. Turn that around."

This would be my first bet too. Do you use binoculars in the timber?

It is truly shocking how quickly and quietly elk can slip away if they are aware of you first. The older I get, the slower I go, the more I see.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

In your first post you said you were in the bedding areas. It takes a lot of years of experience to go into bedding ares without blowing out the elk. This could have been your problem.

 

[Zim]

In your first post you said you were in the bedding areas. It takes a lot of years of experience to go into bedding ares without blowing out the elk. This could have been your problem.

Yes and even experience doesn't help as air currents typically swirl all over on steep north facing slopes 24/7. I carefully hunt the fringes if an area is not polluted like my Crazy Mtn hunt.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

Yes and even experience doesn't help as air currents typically swirl all over on steep north facing slopes 24/7. I carefully hunt the fringes if an area is not polluted like my Crazy Mtn hunt.

Experience will tell you to back out if the wind is swirling. Actually, it shouldn't even attempt to sneak in if the wind is swirling. I back out way more times than I go all the way in. I don't even like a side wind. I want it right in my face to pick up the scent of elk before they see me.

 

[Bjcoyne]

I've definitely smelled them. I wasn't 100% sure the first time I did but I
figured that animal-like smell could only be one thing. When I smelled it
it was still dark out and I wasn't quite to the spot I wanted to sit.
There's a real good chance I just busted them out by moving too quick
through the woods. Good advice nonetheless, sounds like I need to slow
things down when I'm walking.

The spot I've been hunting is about 3 miles from the truck and about 7600'
ft (truck is at 6500'). I'm normally on top of the ridge 30-40 mins before
sunrise. I think with the wind up there makes it hard to really hear
anything. Maybe I'll try going to the same area at a different time of
day--afternoon into the evening? I suppose it couldn't hurt.

Thanks for the responses everyone... all great advice this nooooob needs to
hear.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

When you smelled them you should have froze and waited until you could see. Still hunting isn't walking no matter how slow you think you're going. It's taking one step and stopping to look everywhere. Once you've looked everywhere you take one more step. It will give you a slightly different angle that might help you to spot an animal. However, once you smell the elk you need to stop and find out exactly where it's coming from. The wind has to be in your favor or it's a lost cause. You can make noise and fool elk. You can even let them see you if you don't move. If they smell you it's all lost and they'll leave.

Try to learn from your mistakes and you'll become a good elk hunter. If you don't learn you'll just keep repeating your mistakes and never get better.