Scenario Help...

[WIbiggame]

Hey everyone. I have a scenario I encountered elk hunting and was hoping for some other hunters opinion on what I could've/should've done different.. Back story quick I am from WI and only whitetail hunted before heading out west to chase elk.

It was mid september and my brother and I had hiked back in from the trail head roughly 5 miles and we heard a handful of bulls bugling in a canyon working away from us to some dark timber. We had the wind right and were able to get ahead of the herd before they made it to the timber. However, they went into the timber 100yds away (at roughly 0900). SO being whitetail hunters we figured we would sit and wait the herd out until they got up to move at night. There was one bull that sounded much deeper and raspier than the other 5-6 that were bugling. They all bugled from 0900-1500 fairly routinely. Roughly every 10-20minutes. We just sat and waited. We never called or tried to move in on the herd. At 1500 the herd got up and worked through the dark timber straight away from us to a huge meadow. We never got within 100 yards of the herd.

What could/should we have done?? Thanks in advance.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Not much you can done under those circumstances other than try to get back on them before daylight in that meadow the next morning.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Tough to fool a herd of cows and not get busted. You could've tried to sneak a little closer but it's a risk/reward for sure.
If it was the last day of the hunt or close to the end I may have ratcheted up the aggression level a little and tried to sneak a little closer and call. Still tough to pull a herd bull off his cows but you may have gotten one of the satellites to come check you out and collect an arrow for his efforts.

If you had several days left you probably did the right thing. I always worry that in heavily hunted areas that if I don't go after them, someone else will. If pressure is light then not bumping them out of the country is a good call.

If you're like me, you'll be questioning yourself for the next 11 months until it's time to get after them again.

 

[opyff]

In my experience if you bump elk out of their bedding area than most likely you've bumped them clean out of the area, which is fine if you are short on time. Same scenario with multiple days is just try to get in front of them before daylight and hope they follow the same path. At least in my area, elk are pretty tough to pattern unless there is 0 pressure. It's a matter of being prepared in the right spot at the right time

 

[Bambistew]

Where you 100 yards from the elk? If so, I would have been calling. That sounded like a perfect scenario...

What has worked well for me in the past, is to slip in as close as possible, let them give their position away. Don't call unless you can't figure out where they are, so so sparingly. Once in close use a hyper cow call, and two guys bugle for different locations. Set up so you're 30-40 yards apart or so, diagonal to the direction the bull will come from. Most elk will hang up at 60-80 yards if they can't see what's calling... the guy in back will call the bull right into the front guys lap.

Yep you could blow them out, but you might not ever see them again either. That's elk hunting, elk do what they want when they want. Very little to compare to whitetail hunting... I've done a lot of both, and neither really overlap IMO. My experience with patterning an elk is that during the rut anything goes.

Good luck next time, hope you can seal the deal!

 

[WIbiggame]

Thanks for all the help guys!!! The learning curve is so big on these animals I am taking all the info I can gain!

Bambi yes we were within 100yds of them for roughly 6hrs just sitting there listening to them bugle in the dark timber. They all were bedded for sure as the bugles didnt move location. We were out in the open about 60yds off the timber in a burn area and they were probably 40-50yds into the timber. It was day 3 of 5 days and we didnt want to blow them out of the country.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Thanks for all the help guys!!! The learning curve is so big on these animals I am taking all the info I can gain!

Bambi yes we were within 100yds of them for roughly 6hrs just sitting there listening to them bugle in the dark timber. They all were bedded for sure as the bugles didnt move location. We were out in the open about 60yds off the timber in a burn area and they were probably 40-50yds into the timber. It was day 3 of 5 days and we didnt want to blow them out of the country.

In that case you obviously had the wind in your favor or they wouldn't have stayed there like that. I would have probably had at least one person belly crawl if they had to in order to get right to the edge of the timber and then done a little calling, as was mentioned. It's doubtful you would have blown them out if you had done that, but I certainly wouldn't have tried getting any closer if they were bedded for reasons stated earlier. Bust an elk, especially out of it's bedding area, and it may go a mile or 40 before it stops!

 

[ElkNut1]

There's a couple of possibilities you could have considered? You caught the group in a "rutting mode" there were most likely one or more cows in estrus or nearing estrus, this is why the satellites were attracted there & hanging around. They have the same urges as the herd bull so wanted some of the action! These satellites knew they couldn't whip the herd bull so they stay back out of harms way & give it their best effort & try to call a cow or several their way. This is how Elk/Bulls will Advertise themselves to the cows, these bulls are doing their best to represent themselves as possible breeders as they attempt to out bugle one another during this rut phase. Cows choose the bull that will breed them not the other way around. You probably noticed that for the most part once these elk got to their destination or bedding area that the bugling came from the same spots from these multiple bulls, these bulls were pretty much staying put & not running towards one another in a challenging mode!

There was no need for them to as they knew where the real action was & there wasn't much they could do about it. When within that 150yd range of the herd bull & his cows (closer can be better) go into a method we call the Breeding Sequence" -- You need the wind in your favor & good cover so that when oncoming elk come your way to the calling they must be in your effective range before they can see where the sounds are coming from! If you have a bad setup where you give elk the luxury to see the calling source from 60-70-80 yds out this is where they will stop & "hang-up" don't give them that advantage.

By using this Sequence you are imitating 2-3 cow/calf sounds & one cow that stands out as she emits more excited tones in various pitches. As this one cow shows her un-easiness now inject her bull responding to her. Your bull sounds now need to be creative such as what you were hearing from the herd bull in your encounter. You are talking to your cows here not answering these other bulls for the most part. You are doing your best as the herd bull in your group to manage & court your cows, your bulls sounds will dominate this sequence over your cow sounds. This sequence can draw those satellites your way in a hurry wanting to check out this new group which also has a cow in or nearing estrus, rarely will you ever draw away the herd bull as he does not like leaving his cows to check you out. There are ways to kill him as well in this situation but as newer elk hunters the Breeding Sequence will net you the easier satellites at this time.

We use this Sequence every year when the timing is right with great success! Your timing would have been perfect! Good Luck!

ElkNut1

 

[WIbiggame]

Elknut and everyone else again thank you so much for all the help! Heading back to the mountains in 2015 can't wait!! I hope we are able to get into the animals like we did last fall!

 

[JLS]

By all means if you have the wind right, make a play on them!

You can spook elk and as long as they don't get a big nose full of you they won't go far. I've gotten into the same elk herd a couple of different times when they saw me and scooted out. I found them a few hundred yards up the ridge feeding along.

I don't try to fight swirling winds, but if I have good steady thermal action you can bet I'm going to try and kill that elk.

 

[npaden]

By all means if you have the wind right, make a play on them!

You can spook elk and as long as they don't get a big nose full of you they won't go far. I've gotten into the same elk herd a couple of different times when they saw me and scooted out. I found them a few hundred yards up the ridge feeding along.

I don't try to fight swirling winds, but if I have good steady thermal action you can bet I'm going to try and kill that elk.

Yep. A lot of the time they will stick around and try to figure out what you are as long as they can't smell you.

I would try to go in silent and zero in on the bulls that are talking first, but if you get busted a little, start cow calling and usually that will settle them down enough where they will stick around while you can work in and attempt a shot.

Thinking back on most of my failed scenarios, being too cautious usually ends up costing me more often than being too aggressive. I can only think of a few times where I was just too aggressive going after a bull and pushed him out, but I can think of a lot of times were I sat around thinking eventually I was going to get a chance that never materialized.