Talk me out of bumping elk!

[FrogFire7]

Hi guys, real newbie here where elk are concerned (1st timers here). I've been planning a trip since last fall, and it's crunch time. 9 days until my dad and I go west. We are doing a public land, self guided hunt.

I have done as much e scouting as I can... the area dad wants to go (he knows little about elk hunting, so we are in the same boat) looks to be very heavy timber. I'm not sure how much glassing we are going to be able to do.

Being white tail hunters, I KNOW he is not going to be content to sit all day glassing, with all that land just begging to be walked.
I've watched just about everything Randy has on amazon, and listened to tons of Hunt Talk Podcasts, as well as elk talk, etc.
We are going second rifle season in colorado... I guess I'm just unsure how much walking to do after we pack in to our camp site. I expect a lot of walking, but I don't want to push every elk out of the area either.

Any advice on how much movement for a couple PA rooks?

 

[nrpate05]

That time of year glass is probably going to be your best friend. I like to timber stalk too but generally I wait til later seasons when there is snow on the ground. I don't know much about whitetail hunting but isn't a lot of it sitting in a treestand for hours? I imagine glassing is like that but a lot less consequential.

 

[Gila]

You will find that once you get your boots on the ground it will be radically different from your maps. The elevation is relevant as well as burn boundaries, water locations. Some of those maps are years old. You won't be doing much sitting around while you track and locate elk. I think you will be glad to stop and glass for a while. Took me about 40 hours of boots on the ground scouting to find where the elk are for this upcoming hunt and that was a small area of only 100 sq miles.

Ps. stay out of the deep timber. Find some meadows close to water

 

[Muley_Stalker]

As a still hunter, I never sit and glass. My hunting grounds are heavy timber. However, it took me many years to get good at it. Even though I started with good instruction. I don't suggest you just walk through the timber hoping to get a shot at an elk. The odds are you won't.

What state and unit (s) are you going to hunt? Bull or cow? Are you both in good shape?

 

[FrogFire7]

As a still hunter, I never sit and glass. My hunting grounds are heavy timber. However, it took me many years to get good at it. Even though I started with good instruction. I don't suggest you just walk through the timber hoping to get a shot at an elk. The odds are you won't.

What state and unit (s) are you going to hunt? Bull or cow? Are you both in good shape?

Colorado. I have a couple spots that we are interested in hunting, I'd say Steamboat "area", a bit north and south depending on where we end up going.

I'm in decent shape as far as cardio, dad isn't as much but decent shape for being 66. I guess I'm anticipating that we will glass some, and if we don't see anything will be tempted to start walking (still hunting) the timber.

 

[elkduds]

Might be some challenging still hunting in the blowdown areas:

Trail Information Graphical, Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area, Colorado

 

[MT_Chad]

You will work yourself to death wanting to walk every piece of ground up there. I understand the thought process growing up hunting eastern montana whitetail, but the mountains are a whole other ballgame. I would say 3-4 miles in eastern montana is about like 1 mile in the mountains. Get on glassing knobs to locate animals or even just sign if there is snow, and work from there. I would seriously reconsider backpacking in your first time elk hunting, especially if your dad isnt in top shape for 66. My old man is 61 and reasonable health and he doesn't like it when I take him on 8 mile death marches with just day packs in the mountains. Camp near the trail in more comfort and be able to move around based on the pressure and animals. Move advice than you were looking for and I am by no means an expert so take my advice for face value....

 

[IEATELK]

Just send it!

 

[Muley_Stalker]

Might be some challenging still hunting in the blowdown areas:

Trail Information Graphical, Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area, Colorado

Getting the meat out of a blowdown area is a chore. It never stopped when I was younger. It's sure on my mind now.

 

[Sytes]

They sure have their safe places... What amazes me is how they manage to maneuver around as it no problem... however, for myself? I was occasionally walking on one downed log to another vs up, over, down... repeat, repeat, repeat. Helped a friend pack out of one such area... I don't think either of us will be as eager to pull the trigger in the extreme setting as that pack out.

Thick timber; there is an area that is game trail galore, crisscrossing switchbacks, mazing through thick old rickety, tall/ fat, leafless type thick bushes amidst thick blacked out tall pines... mostly they're busting out before we're ready even though we are walking as ready as can be. Not my type of hunting as I don't like to quickly shoot a rifle before they're out of the short range the thick crap offers - seems I've lost a few critters due to this. Maybe an iron sight lever action would be a better firearm for that setting though still, not for me.

 

[cheeser]

well if u have watched all the videos/podcasts etc etc why do u need us to talk u outta walking? you already know its no a good idea.

 

[Cornell Cowboy]

I personally would encourage you to walk--find a good game trail, keep the wind in your face, and be ready for a quick shot. I love glassing, but some elk country is just not very conducive to it. I think you don't see much video of these timber hunts because it would be very hard to do with a camera crew and also very hard to get much footage of the animals. When I hunt elk in the NF near me, there just isn't much open country to glass--in the off chance that I draw, say, an Area 7 tag, then I would be glassing intensively the whole time. But with the exception of one cow that I killed on a windswept bald ridge, all the elk I've killed have been in the timber, were close shots (<150 yards), and required shooting within 10-15 seconds. I'm my experience, elk are fairly insensitive to noise but very sensitive to smell, so I don't worry much about keeping quiet, but I worry a lot about the wind direction. I've definitely walked right into the middle of herds in the timber and had good shots. If you're one that needs to study 30 different bulls to pick one, then this approach won't work, but I usually have only a couple days to make it happen and so I typically will shoot anything that's legal. Thus far it has worked out for me.

 

[Muley_Stalker]

You have trees in Wyoming?

 

[GrantK]

if you can't effectively glass and you still want to hunt that area you kinda have to walk it... if its OTC public in CO somebody else will be tromping through it if you aren't, sitting escape routes can be good, or maybe put your dad on the escape route and go walk? not blowing elk out is good, but the tag is just as unfilled if you hesitate too much to go in after them and never see one in range, get the wind right and go for it....

as said upthread I would be super hesitant to backpack in without knowing elk are there, I try to hunt new areas/states almost every year because figuring it out on the fly is really fun, but mobility is key if you don't know the area really well... no elk, move on, sometimes small move, like 1 basin, sometimes you need to uproot and move 50 miles, I'd trust your escouting only until you get boots on the ground confirmation that there are elk there, unless it's farther than you really want to pack you can do a day hunt with a light pack from the truck and see if it's going to be productive with only 1 day used, instead of probably 3 if you backpack in. Elk everywhere? go ahead and pack in if you need to, no elk or too many people? move on to plan B and repeat, a lot of times in OTC you don't hit the right spot until at least a couple of tries.

 

[tjones]

To be successful on elk every year you have to hunt them where they are, not where you want them to be.

Waiting for that Outdoor Life moment when a bull steps out into the frosty open meadow will produce lots of tag soup.

 

[FrogFire7]

if you can't effectively glass and you still want to hunt that area you kinda have to walk it... if its OTC public in CO somebody else will be tromping through it if you aren't, sitting escape routes can be good, or maybe put your dad on the escape route and go walk? not blowing elk out is good, but the tag is just as unfilled if you hesitate too much to go in after them and never see one in range, get the wind right and go for it....

as said upthread I would be super hesitant to backpack in without knowing elk are there, I try to hunt new areas/states almost every year because figuring it out on the fly is really fun, but mobility is key if you don't know the area really well... no elk, move on, sometimes small move, like 1 basin, sometimes you need to uproot and move 50 miles, I'd trust your escouting only until you get boots on the ground confirmation that there are elk there, unless it's farther than you really want to pack you can do a day hunt with a light pack from the truck and see if it's going to be productive with only 1 day used, instead of probably 3 if you backpack in. Elk everywhere? go ahead and pack in if you need to, no elk or too many people? move on to plan B and repeat, a lot of times in OTC you don't hit the right spot until at least a couple of tries.

Seems like sound advice. I had thought about doing some still hunt style "drives".

Sounds like we will just have to play it by ear. I've heard several times about staying mobile (don't get too committed to one "spot" just because we packed in), that also seems sound.

I don't put a ton of stock in my e scouting, as this is my first elk experience. I know what seems like good areas (to me) often must look different to the animals I hunt as well.

Appreciate all the advice, everyone. Firat time out west, first time after a new game species, I guess I just have the first time jitters!

 

[JohnDeereGreen]

IMHO some good advice there about other hunters/escape routes from GrantK. I knew some older hunters who were very successful in an area in MT with high hunter pressure. They would sit the same little spot year after year, more often than not, eventually an elk would go by trying to get away from all the orange. The area I hunt every year has some similar escape routes. I can think of a half dozen elk that have been killed over the years within a couple hundred yards of one another. You are coming out on your first elk hunt, so does not seem like a good expectation that you will stumble across the magical elk getaway trail in your first go, but just something to keep your eye out for. I put my experience pretty low compared to many of the people on this forum, but elk do seem to have preferred escape patterns they follow year to year.

I've never had the patience to be a good still-hunter in the timber, but if you do choose to hunt it, I don't think there's such a thing as "too slow". Keep your wind indicator handy and check a lot. Also, if you have a variable power scope, turn it down all the way. I learned this the hard way once. Jumped a bedded bull, and could see nothing but blurry brown hair at 12x.