Transferable skills... whitetail to elk

[nastynate]

It'll be a few years (2-4) until I will chase elk with a bow again. My first trip, I drew back twice but did not let an arrow fly. Learned a lot.
I have good archery whitetail hunting opportunities locally (midwest), and can get a couple tags. I'm thinking I can use the next couple years to try to hone some huntings skills on whitetails that will transfer well to the elk mountains. I've already started by getting my archery setup identical to what I will use to hunt elk (not that it is really any different). Another major thing that comes to mind is hunting from the ground instead of a treestand. I'll do ground stands as well as stalk when the weather is right (though whitetail are really hard to stalk around here). What else comes to mind? For other people who have hunted both, what sort of skills were not yet honed from whitetail hunting that you needed for elk hunting, that could be practiced while hunting whitetail? Other useful tidbits come to mind?

 

[Northwoods]

It should be fun to read the responses on this thread. This question could be discussed for hours around a campfire. I have hunted both but I’m certainty not any sort of authority on either. There’s definitely a lot of skills, experiences, and lessons learned that are applicable to many hunting situations. If a deer or elk smell you or see you, you’re busted. Mature whitetails don’t tolerate any hunting pressure. When elk hunting, I make my move when I see them or hear them. Unless it’s late in the day. I’m not saying you should throw all caution to the wind, but you don’t have a week to make your move. When hunting whitetails, advancing any further once you see fresh sign can be a mistake.

 

[WIbiggame]

I would consider renaming this thread "Transferable skills... Turkeys to Elk.

A lot more in common from the moving, positioning for a shot, calling, reading vocalization, calling, when to be patient when to move.Use a bow instead of a shotgun.

Turkey can't smell you but their eye site makes up for it. If you want play the wind for turkey too

Don't "waste" a whitetail season trying to hone skills that can be done all spring long on turkey.

Good luck on your endeavors.

 

[perma]

There’s really not much to transfer, but there are a few.

- Walking through trees quietly.
- Learning to work with the wind.

I always made the mistake of hunting whitetails the same way I hunted for rifle elk. Just plain dumb. But because of that, I knew how to navigate through vegetation quietly and play the wind well. Both are still relevant for both hunts.

I’ve heard of some folks on here who did tree stand hunts over wallows for elk and had some success. Different strokes for different folks, but if you’re the typical WT hunter and are over cautious about scent and wind, you’re already a leg up on me.

 

[Northwoods]

I would consider renaming this thread "Transferable skills... Turkeys to Elk.

A lot more in common from the moving, positioning for a shot, calling, reading vocalization, calling, when to be patient when to move.Use a bow instead of a shotgun.

Turkey can't smell you but their eye site makes up for it. If you want play the wind for turkey too

Don't "waste" a whitetail season trying to hone skills that can be done all spring long on turkey.

Good luck on your endeavors.

As turkey hunting is to elk hunting; find a good spot to set up and call once you hear one. Duck hunting is to whitetail hunting; set up before the butt crack of dawn and hope that you are in the right spot with the right wind.

 

[Gellar]

Same - Which trails are the animals using, are they fresh? Why do they use that trail?
The wind - you have to keep the wind in your favor.
Behavior- what are the critters doing when and where are they doing it. Prerut, rut, postrut.
Technique- a lot of elk can be killed from a tree stand over a wallow or food source if that’s how you want to hunt

Different- reading sign. Where I’ve hunted because of the climate Elk sign stays around a lot longer. It’s harder to tell if tracks are fresh, if rubs are new or old.
The wind-the whitetail woods have a predominant wind, usually the weatherman says what it will be for that day is close. In The mountains you might have a down thermal and go 50 yards and have a wind going around the side and go another 20 and have an up thermal.
Behavior- elk are traveling a lot further than deer, they might cover miles to get to feed but cows are still looking for the best food. Bulls are trying to get territory to breed, breed or recover from breeding. The timing is obviously different for them too.
Technique-if you are sitting over a wallow or food source you may go several days without seeing an elk. Where in the whitetail stand you might see 5-25 deer per sit depending on your area.

 

[Caseknife]

Process your WT buck at the kill site and put it all in a game bag and strap it to your pack frame and haul it out on your back. Don't chinz out and drag it out

 

[kwyeewyk]

Process your WT buck at the kill site and put it all in a game bag and strap it to your pack frame and haul it out on your back. Don't chinz out and drag it out

Good one, carry out 4 times for the most similarity!

 

[Pucky Freak]

There is so little in common you are better off trying to forget everything you ever learned about hunting whitetail and start with a clean slate.

 

[elkfanatic]

Learn how to read the wind and thermals, in the mountains it seems to be constantly changing. Try your hand at stalking in close to whitetails even if the weather isn't perfect. If it's dry and leaves are crunchy you can't be quiet,neither can critters, so crazy as it sounds , be noisy like the critters that are active. I've pulled it off numerous times trying to sound like a squirrel looking for acorns.You'll probably fail plenty before you succeed. Analyze each failed stalk and try again till you get it dialed in. Once you can put the sneak on whitetails, elk should be relatively easy.

 

[Scott85]

I think the most transferable skill is playing the wind and understanding thermals.

 

[ccc23454]

How you wipe your butt, pretty much everything else is different. I dare say in most circumstances you would be better off to do opposite of what your whitetail instinct tells you to do!

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Wind, thermals, and how to read the terrain and how the animals use it. Granted the last one is different for each species but learning how a deer uses the terrain to its advantages will help you understand how an elk will use it when you are staring at endless ridgelines. Outside of that not many similarities.

 

[FREAK]

Whitetail is more of a game of chess, you're finding does, bedding area's, setting trail cameras to know what's in the area. You're practicing patience as it might take 15 sits just to see one of your 3-4 target bucks. It's a combination of timing the rut, keeping your scent/distruption down and going to damn near comotose to force yourself to not loose your mind after day 6 of sitting a stand for 6 hrs.

If you’re hunting resident elk or wallows early it’s arguably a very similar experience.

When it comes to archery hunting during the rut...in the mountains it's more of a game of finding heavy rut activity with reasonable densities and being out there as much as possible those first 25 days to catch as many days as you can when a cows come into heat and you get heavy rut activity. Lots of miles/day but very tactical and intentional when you’re in close on a bull. Get the wind right, act like elk but conceal for the shot. That last 30 seconds of the animal walking in is the only part that feels the same. In general if you try and hunt elk like whitetail, you won’t be into very many elk. You have to be way more mobile, vocal, and aggressive in my humble opinion. I’m not the guy to ask about rifle hunting. That’s another ball game.

 

[vanish]

Taming buck fever / making your shot count. Too many take this for granted and in the heat of the moment, many screw it up.

 

[dgc1963]

I live in Pa and have done well with whitetails get 2 or 3 most yrs some 140s all with my bow
And I dont see much in common with elk hunting at all, except using the wind 100% of the time

 

[shannerdrake]

Being a good outdoorsman is transferable to all hunting. I’ve hunted whitetails for 30 years and elk for 7. They are widely different. However, understanding animals and how they use the landscape is helpful. Same with being good at executing a shot. The dozens of deer I’ve cut up absolutely helped me cut up elk on the mountain. They are essentially the same except for size.

The one thing that took me awhile to appreciate is how elk can be everywhere and nowhere. Whitetails seem to always be around. I can watch a whitetail on my 600 acre property from year to year and I’ve had a few that seem to have never left the property in their lives.

The last elk I shot was 8 miles from where my buddy got a photo of him a couple weeks earlier.

I tend to wait for whitetails to come to me. I’ve only been successful killing elk by going to them.

Good luck!

 

[HuntTalk Freak]

Process your WT buck at the kill site and put it all in a game bag and strap it to your pack frame and haul it out on your back. Don't chinz out and drag it out

I try to do this every so often just to stay familiar with the process. It’s actually more convenient sometimes anyway.

 

[longtail55]

Talk about skills............

 

[TOGIE]

i'm not an authority on archery hunting either species, at all. finding elk, calling elk, and being in good shape are the number one things to focus on though.

i feel like too many bro's put insane amounts of effort into shooting their bow well and hardly any effort into figuring out how to hunt hard and find animals. should be the other way around IMO