Road/Bow Hunting?

[Bullkllr]

Yeah I know the whole topic of "road hunting" has been beaten to death, but hopefully I can open some discussion on a slightly different twist.

After hunting this late season in an area of western Wa open to vehicle access (first time in a loooong time), I have to ask this question:

Is driving around in a vehicle (where there are a lot of people driving around in vehicles) ever a productive method for archery hunting elk? and if so, how? Rifle hunting I get why there might be a chance, maybe even black powder. But archery?

I can imagine a slim chance of meeting a herd on a road, hopping out quickly, nocking an arrow, and getting a shot at a straggler. Or spotting a herd at a distance and racing to where they are before someone else does, but with a crowd chances seem really poor there too. And this seems to be the most common method when roads are open. I saw a lot of hunters using tactics you hear about on the modern deer opener in Vail.

So what gives? I don't think I'm missing out on a secret tactic, but I gotta know: Does anyone ever kill an elk this way? Or are the people doing it happy with little return for next to no effort? Serious question.

[snowpack]

Can be.  Lots of guys are looking more for fresh sign, then hop off the road into the adjacent deep dark hole.

[buckfvr]

I see it two ways......either they are just doing what they can and enjoying it without high expectations, or they are doing it because they dont know any better.   I dont care what anyone says different,  those are the only two logical explanations.   

[billythekidrock]

Some "road hunters" are actually scouting, learning roads, killing time or traveling from one location to the next.

Some are actually "hunting".

[75johndeere]

Sometimes physical limitations play into it I took a whitetail a couple weeks from the road with archery equipment only because I was on crutches at the time.

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[Kain]

Depending on the area, driving roads is very effective at locating animals.  Either by directly seeing them or seeing fresh tracks.  They can have large ranges without a definite pattern.  They can be there one day and be miles away the next or they can camp out in one spot for days.  You can burn a lot of boot time and never cross paths with an animal.


Calling works so well because they come to you or answer back.  You can call and hear them from a long ways away then head towards them.  If it is not the rut though you are stuck guessing, hiking, glassing or driving.  Where I hunt there is not a lot of visibility from one canyon to the next.  Heavy timber or reprod reduces it even more.

I seriously doubt guys are jumping out and shooting elk while it just stands there and watches them.  If you see them you keep driving but once they are located you can come up with a game plan to put a stalk on them or head them off.  At least you know where they are and have an idea of which way they are headed. 

[GEARHEAD]

the majority of elk bow hunters i have ever run into where road hunting...kinda odd, but i prefer they keep doing it.

[buckfvr]

Depending on the area, driving roads is very effective at locating animals.  Either by directly seeing them or seeing fresh tracks.  They can have large ranges without a definite pattern.  They can be there one day and be miles away the next or they can camp out in one spot for days.  You can burn a lot of boot time and never cross paths with an animal.


Calling works so well because they come to you or answer back.  You can call and hear them from a long ways away then head towards them.  If it is not the rut though you are stuck guessing, hiking, glassing or driving.  Where I hunt there is not a lot of visibility from one canyon to the next.  Heavy timber or reprod reduces it even more.

I seriously doubt guys are jumping out and shooting elk while it just stands there and watches them.  If you see them you keep driving but once they are located you can come up with a game plan to put a stalk on them or head them off.  At least you know where they are and have an idea of which way they are headed.

Yep...all that, or if you took the time to scout and be serious about your hunt, you could just walk in to your stand and spend the day waiting for them to arrive..........you can either make it happen and risk spooking the animals to hell and gone, or let it happen, I prefer calm animals.

[snowpack]

Depending on the area, driving roads is very effective at locating animals.  Either by directly seeing them or seeing fresh tracks.  They can have large ranges without a definite pattern.  They can be there one day and be miles away the next or they can camp out in one spot for days.  You can burn a lot of boot time and never cross paths with an animal.


Calling works so well because they come to you or answer back.  You can call and hear them from a long ways away then head towards them.  If it is not the rut though you are stuck guessing, hiking, glassing or driving.  Where I hunt there is not a lot of visibility from one canyon to the next.  Heavy timber or reprod reduces it even more.

I seriously doubt guys are jumping out and shooting elk while it just stands there and watches them.  If you see them you keep driving but once they are located you can come up with a game plan to put a stalk on them or head them off.  At least you know where they are and have an idea of which way they are headed.

Yep...all that, or if you took the time to scout and be serious about your hunt, you could just walk in to your stand and spend the day waiting for them to arrive..........you can either make it happen and risk spooking the animals to hell and gone, or let it happen, I prefer calm animals.

In some of the heavily roaded tree farms/DNR land, scouting ahead of time seems mostly effective in learning the lay of the land, not necessarily the location of the herds.  They move around a lot, and other people are scouting or grouse/bear hunting or the timber starts getting logged with chainsaws and logging trucks making a ton of noise.  You can either spend hours walking around looking for last sign on the roads or drive it in 15 minutes.
For the overgrown, less roaded areas like USFS it is much more reliable to do the scout/stand method.

[buckfvr]

You just described our hunt over here this past season.........if you know where the elk will go to when pressured.......be there, be patient.

[supagoose]

I've done this in Montana in the Lolo range before the wolves decimated the elk population. We would drive around calling from the truck or walk small distance and call then take off after it to see if it was a shooters. It was productive we would run into quite a few elk during the day and cover a lot of miles. But here in Washington, the area I hunt and from my experience they are call shy from the road. I've only had one bugle back at me but it was from across a canyon. I took off after it but never saw it. I have found that they can be just above a open road or below it and will answer you if you get off the road and get a ways from the road. I shot a 5x5 one year just off a well used road and it ran on to the road and collapsed in the middle of the road. But the majority of the archery elk hunter I encounter in Washington just drive around and bugle from their trucks. I don't know if they have any success. I came back to the truck one year for extra gear and while I was at the truck I had a guy  drive up to me in a brand new F150 and in brand new Sitka camo ask me where all the elk were cause he hadn't been able to find any. This was the guy I could hear driving up the road and bugling as I was coming down. I don't remember exactly what I said think it was something like don't look like your trying to hard. Which pissed him off. He got back into his truck drove off.

[buglebuster]

Ive killed 2 cows driving around the winston unit late season with my bow.

[ouchfoss]

Ive got a few elk over the years because I saw them while driving to or from an area. Not the most "sporting" way to get an elk but if the opportunity arises for me fill a tag, I'm not going to just keep driving and go somewhere else.
I actually do a lot of road hunting/scouting in the middle of the day during elk season to just find fresh sign. I made several changes to my hunts this year because I saw a found a fresh track or two crossing a road that wasnt there the day before. 

[bobcat]

I'd like to know how you can tell someone is road hunting just because they're driving on a road during hunting season? I mean that's the purpose of trucks and the roads that we drive them on. Just seeing a truck driving the roads doesn't mean that's all they're going to do all day. And even if they do, maybe there's a reason for it. Like a disabled person in the vehicle? Or maybe not even to that extreme, maybe it's a couple of young, healthy guys that hiked 15 miles the day before and their feet are all blistered up.

[Bullkllr]

I'd like to know how you can tell someone is road hunting just because they're driving on a road during hunting season? I mean that's the purpose of trucks and the roads that we drive them on. Just seeing a truck driving the roads doesn't mean that's all they're going to do all day. And even if they do, maybe there's a reason for it. Like a disabled person in the vehicle? Or maybe not even to that extreme, maybe it's a couple of young, healthy guys that hiked 15 miles the day before and their feet are all blistered up.

I guess I made somewhat of an assumption there; based on seeing/hearing vehicle after vehicle drive every road I was near pretty much all day long. I'm sure some were traveling from spot to spot as I did at different points during the day. But when you see a landing, and vehicles pull down the spur every 15 minutes or so and do the quick-glass-turn-around-leave thing, it starts to look like a chosen hunting method.

I'm sure there are multiple reason for driving, even as a hunting tactic. I find nothing wrong with it. It just doesn't seem that it would be very effective. I'm just used to being in the back of gated areas or off the road and don't like even the appearance of a vehicle in the area.

Hey, if it works I may have a new tactic....