Doing an Idaho Elk hunt, DIY/public land style!

[Duck-Slayer]

Wolves = wild or no elk..... and also I hunted the frank for 4 years and never killed an elk or saw cows/calves, I only saw bulls, average was one bull per day seen, but no shots, that is why this year I switched units and killed my first elk.... If you need some help with the frank area PM me Ill point you in the right direction...
Matt

 

[JLS]

I agree with setting up where there is no elk is a waste of time also but hiking 3+ miles in with 2000 ft elevation change daily is a HUGE waste of time and energy IMO.

Elk are like fleas in Colorado. The rest of us have to walk further to find them

 

[MNElkNut]

I have heard some folks say hunt where the wolves are as they know where there are elk and others say the opposite. I did both and neither worked!

Regarding the waste of energy...yes it sure was. Spiking in elk-less territory is also a waste. other than Day 3, which I feel we goofed on, we hunted fairly smart. well obviously not as it didnt work, but we did the best we could with the info we had at the time.

 

[dustinf]

I feel your pain. I spent a week hunting a proven top unit for coues deer in Arizona, walked an average of 5 miles a day at 6,000- 8,000ft, and never even nocked an arrow.

Hunted 7 full days in Illinois on a friends lease that produces B&C bucks. Didn't see a deer for 4 days, finally saw 3 bucks the last 2 days none even close to bow range.

Of course in Wyoming, I tagged my antelope 40 minutes after sunrise and walked less than a 1/4 mile, into a unit I had no information on.

No rhyme or reason to any of it.

 

[Corax]

Good luck for next time. I did guided hunts off and on for 10 years without taking an elk - saw them most years, but did not connect. I started putting in for cow tags in NM and started taking elk. You certainly hit it hard.

 

[Hatchie Dawg]

Boy, I am familiar with that empty, somewhat lost feeling. It sounds like you couldn't have hunted or prepared much harder. I think the weather hurt you some. I am going to suggest CO. I bet if you prepare that hard and work that hard there you will get into animals.

 

[Big Fin]

Interesting to read this. For many reasons.

First, you gave it more effort than most hunters will, which eventually will put more tags on bulls than other hunters.

Second, it sounded like some of the OYOA hunts where we show up cold and have to spend two or three of the hunting days mostly scouting.

In reference to the second point, here are some things I would offer. Based on the tons of emails and PMs I get explaining very similar experiences to yours and all wondering what they could have done differently

It has helped that the TV show forces me to hunt many areas that I am "green" to over the last ten years, and having some pretty high expectations that we will have success. From that, you eventually find a formula, a system you apply to every hunt, that makes the process easier and delivers more results.

Traveling to hunt is sooooooo different than hunting in your local area. Local areas, you might get to be more selective in your dates, allowing you to hunt the best conditions and not be forced to "power through" the disastrous weather you had, Also, you probably have some local network that helps you with intel of changing conditions and patterns. You probably know what animals are doing in your local area at all times of the season, making it way more productive.

When traveling to hunt, I most often don't hunt the first day, even if season is open. I usually spend that day, and hopefully a second, scouting. Yeah, I will carry my weapon, but my mind is on reconnaissance; to find areas and patterns that will ensure success in the later days of the hunt. Might be part of why people say the OYOA hunts always come together at the last minute. Our crazy schedule usually does not allow pre-scouting days, so we are doing it as we go, using the first two days of recon as the basis for the last three days of serious hunting.

You are from MN, my homeland, so you will easily follow this walleye fishing analogy. I will compare it to walleye fishing a new lake. I fished a lot of walleye tournaments and did so on lakes I was often not familiar with, and at all different times of the year. I had to find a way to find fish efficiently; a system I use when I am fishing with my wife and what I use for the TV show hunts.

When I launch my boat in late June, I know the walleyes are probably transitioning from their shallow to mid-depth weed lines to the deeper structure. Problem is, the entire lake is full of those transition areas, just as the mountains are full of elk habitat. Where in all of this habitat are these fish on the days I am fishing? Not the week before or the week after, but the days I am there.

Fish - You can't catch them if you can't find them.

Elk - You can't shoot them if you don't locate them.

I never just start fishing. I drive to every likely looking spot I have marked on my maps as potential, then look it over with my sonar. All the spots I go to will hold fish at some time over the next month while the fish find their deeper summer haunts. Just that during my time, only a few of those spots will hold fish while I am there. I could spend all my time fishing where the walleyes were two weeks ago or where they will eventually be two weeks later. None of that does me any good.

If I don't see fish on the Lowrance, I don't even drop a line, knowing I only have so many days/hours to figure this out and put walleyes under Mrs. Fin's leech. Not that you can do such while scouting big game, but the idea is the same. Find them in order to get a chance to shoot them.

Do not invest all your time and effort in a spot that "looks good." Often, it looks good to us hunters/anglers, but not to elk/walleyes. Or, it is good, but because it looks good to all hunters/anglers, it gets the hell pounded out of it moving elk/fish to other places. Or, maybe it as good as it looks, but maybe it is good in September or not until November, which does you no good if you are hunting/fishing in October.

Do not set up your definitive plan until you have found elk to be in that spot. Either by seeing them, hearing them, fresh smell, new rubs, moist turds (yeah, I call them turds, not scat), or other sign that tell you elk are in this general location, at the period of time you are hunting.

Once you know that, then it becomes a lot like when I finally see walleyes on my graph; more of a strategy session of "How do I get them now that I have found them?"

Do I use cranks, jigs, rigs, bottom bounces, whatever. If I have three days to experiment on those that I find, I will eventually find what works. Once you find fish, catching them is not that difficult if you have time.

Same with elk. Once you find them, killing one is not that difficult. Might be still hunting, spot and stalk, sitting a travel route, etc. You cannot kill one if he is not there. You cannot catch a fish if he is not there. But once you know he is there, you can start experimenting with tactics that will eventually fill your tag.

I hope this is not taken to be a lecture, rather an explanation of the approach I use when we go to all these new areas and have five days to shoot one or two animals, with two cameras over my shoulder.

I admire how hard you worked, the planning you put into it, and in the long run, I think you have done what is necessary to eventually kill an elk. Sounds like you did all the necessary things, just in the wrong places for that time period.

I would not go on another out of state elk hunt without knowing of areas elk will be, during the time you will be there. That is hard to do when you live in MN and you are hunting in ID. Your buddy just moved there and probably had little time to scout seriously. He probably had no time to build a network of guys he could share information with.

Not that I have all the answers, but I spend more time researching and honing in on animal patterns and seasonal locations than I do working out, organizing gear, or many of the other parts of a hunt. When I show up, I want to know that within two days, I will have found elk, or at least found a pattern that will lead me to elk.

It doesn't always work. Hell, look at how many times guys here strike out in their back yard. But, if you make sure you are hunting where elk are, before making the huge physical commitment you did, you will kill elk.

Do not be down. I think you should be commended for taking this challenge and going after it with the vigor you did. You will kill elk. Just a matter of time.

Best of luck on your next one.

 

[MNElkNut]

Great info Randy. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment on it.

I have now had a little over a week to reflect on it. I think our elklessness can be attributed to a combination of factors.

1. Bad weather. a 6 day hunt effectively turned into a 3 day hunt. Hardly enough time to figure it out.

2. The elk had been pushed into the PC drainage which was all but unhuntable for us. If I were to do it again, I would try and get in there and hunt the fringes diligently. Hindering that whole idea however, was that the wind was completely wrong the whole time for hunting that area. The wind was from the south and we had to access it from the south. We could have nibbled on the sides however.

3. some bad luck. We hunted enough areas with fresh turds that with a little luck, we could have been successful.

4. Lack of preseason scouting. My cousin just didnt have the time and hadnt hunted elk before. We knew the general area, but we didnt know the (to use your walleye analogy) spot-on-the-spot. We started in a sub-drainage that was too far and too high and didnt find the easier spot that held elk until the last day.

5. A lot of hunters outside of the nastiness that was the PC drainage. There were virtually no elk outside of PC.

All this leaves me with more knowledge on a strategy, but clueless on what to do/where to go next year. Maybe I will take up dancing. or maybe not.