Interesting Video Why 5% Get 95% of the Elk

[seeth07]

I think knowing one unit or area really well is a sure way to struggle long term, even the best honey hole changes, if all you know is how to hunt that spot then when it is no longer good you are screwed, if you want to get good at elk hunting, not hoping your good spot is still good, then go hunt different units/states every year, and hunt lousy units, nothing will make you appreciate a decently good area like hunting a few really tough areas... you will learn how to find elk in new terrain, how to break an area down and cover it efficiently, how to eliminate elk that aren't worth chasing even though you can glass them, and many other things that translate to better success every time, even in your well-known unit if the elk there change up their pattern for whatever reason...

I don't think the point the video makes is about hunting the exact same spot every single year over and over. I think the point he was trying to make is that it isn't very efficient to keep bouncing around to different units looking for greener pastures. The knowledge and experience you gain hunting a particular unit - and even more specifically he points out about hunting particular areas of a unit - creates a greater advantage than switching to a different unit even though the "success rate" and "hunting" might be a little bit better in an adjacent unit.

So if you start OTC archery elk hunting in CO unit 421 one year, don't decided to go and hunt 42, 43, 521, etc. on the next trips. Stay in 421 and use what you learned about that unit to increase your probability of being successful. Since 421 is such a large unit with a lot of different elk terrain, the guy in the video would I'm sure also argue that if you are learning how to hunt the high elevation, dark timber elk in that unit, keep at it rather than trying to figure out and understand the transition elevation, thick oakbrush elk.

 

[seeth07]

If you want to know if you are a good elk hunter or not, I have the perfect test.

Go to Kentucky in the Stoney Fork area and find where the elk are in late November on the large mining properties or the DB NF. If you can successfully locate a cow elk, you will be in that 5% or just flat out lucky!

 

[Mallardsx2]

^^ I'll just fly a drone around and find them. Thats legal up there right? lol

 

[Gila]

If you want to know if you are a good elk hunter or not, I have the perfect test.

Go to your freezer....Did you find some elk meat? Road kill doesn’t count!

 

[WyoDoug]

I think hunting the same spot is actually a net negative.

You learn where elk tend to be in a given unit simply through trial and error..."I hunted that unit for 10 years, I always find them on that one hillside", if you hunt new units you have to learn why elk are in certain areas so that you can try and find those conditions in new country.

I tend to do better once I am familiar with terrain so I do have my preferred hunting locations. However, if you are getting your elk in the same spot every year, odds are a lot of orange hats are going to figure that out so it does work to change spots now and then. I did good with my methods in Colorado but I kind of changed spots each year depending on what the counts were and what I saw the previous year. I like to base camp in one area and then travel to point B, C, and D and sit and watch what happens then decide what I want to do from there. I did good with Colorado elk and hope to get my first Wyoming elk sometime soon. My family has alway been deer and antelope hunters and did not do a whole lot of elk so I never started hunting elk or bear until in my late 40s. I have yet to get a Wyoming bear and hope to hit that first soon. But elk is my priority this year.

 

[seeth07]

Go to your freezer....Did you find some elk meat? Road kill doesn’t count!

View attachment 230688

That is a good test too

What does it say if your freezer has two elk in it - one from your bull and one from your wife's bull?

 

[QuazyQuinton]

That is a good test too

What does it say if your freezer has two elk in it - one from your bull and one from your wife's bull?

What if there's only one bull and it belongs to your wife? Been there, done that.

QQ

 

[longbow51]

We did hunt the same area year after year, but that was possible only because 2 guys had seasonal work and could hunt any time and help with moving gear. What he is suggesting would be impossible for most folks with a real job.

 

[seeth07]

What if there's only one bull and it belongs to your wife? Been there, done that.

QQ

Then you are in for a long year of being known as the lesser hunter in the household. Often teased with how you can't provide for you family while your wife can. Often embarrassed as friends enter your household and gawk and stare at all her mounts.

Yup been there, done that too lol

 

[mtmuley]

That is a good test too

What does it say if your freezer has two elk in it - one from your bull and one from your wife's bull?

My wife doesn't hunt. Success rate is all mine. mtmuley

 

[Gila]

That is a good test too

What does it say if your freezer has two elk in it - one from your bull and one from your wife's bull?

I’d say that’s a lot of bull!

 

[Irrelevant]

I think hunting the same spot is actually a net negative.

You learn where elk tend to be in a given unit simply through trial and error..."I hunted that unit for 10 years, I always find them on that one hillside", if you hunt new units you have to learn why elk are in certain areas so that you can try and find those conditions in new country.

I have found pretty damn good success finding and killing elk in every state I've hunted except WA. The only guys I know that have really good success in WA, hunt the same area over and over and over. Take 'em to WY and they'd be lost. But there's more than one way to kill an elk.

 

[88man]

I think its basically refusing to not not fill the tag and that is if your not a rookie. Successful experience is very valuable. Then again maybe you just need to watch youtube and run 10K races every week?

 

[EYJONAS!]

I'm not in the 5%, and I'm ok with that.

 

[Mudranger1]

I think its basically refusing to not not fill the tag and that is if your not a rookie. Successful experience is very valuable. Then again maybe you just need to watch youtube and run 10K races every morning before 5 am?

There you go......

 

[mtmuley]

I'm not in the 5%, and I'm ok with that.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. mtmuley

 

[TheTone]

Many times the guys who are considered killers just try a lot harder than anyone else.
20 years ago we killed bulls at near 100% success on Colorado otc archery. Now in my 40's It doesn't even sound fun to work that hard.

I think there is a lot to that.

Couple conversations I’ve had in the last few years came to mind; one with a mid 50’s guy that had spent his entire life living and hunting decent elk country, in that time he said he had killed one elk and killing them was just too hard. I suspect it was just a matter of him not being much for effort as when I talked to him he was scouting for blowdowns for firewood because he thought falling trees was just too much work

Second conversation was with some people that told me about a bull they had bugling multiple days in a row across a drainage from a road. They said the bull bugled back constantly but wouldn’t come to them and it was just too far to go after him. I asked them if they cared if I tried, they said go for it as the elk wasn’t killable. I hunted the spot a couple days later and shot a bull basically exactly where they told me he was. Total distance from the road was a half mile

 

[EYJONAS!]

Not that there is anything wrong with that. mtmuley

Means i can continue to learn from experiences and guys like yourself... maybe?

 

[mtmuley]

Means i can continue to learn from experiences and guys like yourself... maybe?

I don't know anything. I hunt the same spot everytime. mtmuley

 

[EYJONAS!]

I don't know anything. I hunt the same spot everytime. mtmuley

Just looking for advice in new areas I've never seen besides on Google earth and ONX and GOHUNT told me it's a good unit. Please no honey holes thanks.