Share a Tip - Episode #1

[tonymiller7]

Preseason training!!!  Physical and shooting.

[WapitiTalk1]

Some outstanding tips offered here folks.. I'm never too old or stubborn to learn something new.

1. Practice your calling well before season.  Practice, practice, practice.. it makes a difference for when you need to make the right sound during a particular situation effortlessly. Practice your calling in your truck on the way to work during the off season if need be.  At a minimum, one should be be proficient in cow sounds/calf chirps, locator bugle, challenge bugle, and most importantly a nervous/popping grunt to stop bullwinkle in his tracks for a shot.   

2. Take maps for adjoining areas to where you're hunting.  You never know when you may venture a bit farther than you planned. They're cheap, light, and can pay dividends.  On this same note, one should carry and know how to use a map/compass vs just using a GPS. 

3. Can't remember if somebody mentioned it, but always have a B, C, etc. plan in case hunting pressure, or, lack of wapiti in your A area forces you to move locations. Been there a few times.

4. If you can swing it, do a "dry run" with all your hunting gear, even if it's in the back yard. Make sure everything you're taking to base or a backcountry hunt works like it's supposed to.   

5. Use finger and main ridges as travel routes for ingress/regress in and out of hunting areas.  They generally have some type of game trail on them. Remember, elk are seldom on the tops or on the bottoms, they're on the sidehills in between ..

Good stuff.. Keep em coming.

Oops.. didn't follow my own thread rules.  Was only supposed to be "one tip" .. OK, free for all. Post up a few tips 

[bowhunterty]

Scouting. Be persistent.

[Bullkllr]

If you can see elk, you can get to them, get to hiking.

Never leave elk to go find other or easier elk, play the hand you are dealt and get after it, you have the entire off season to rest. 

Pain is temporary, elk meat is always delicious.

I think this is really important if you want to be consistently successful- and those are rules I sometimes over-looked when I had only a few years of experience and hunted a good elk area. See elk, go after elk if conditions are favorable. That, and it only takes one elk to make your whole season!

[raydog]

If you think you SHOULD have enough T.P................................you don't

[WapitiTalk1]

If you think you SHOULD have enough T.P................................you don't

Yes sir!

[Rainier10]

If you can see elk, you can get to them, get to hiking.

Never leave elk to go find other or easier elk, play the hand you are dealt and get after it, you have the entire off season to rest. 

Pain is temporary, elk meat is always delicious.

I think this is really important if you want to be consistently successful- and those are rules I sometimes over-looked when I had only a few years of experience and hunted a good elk area. See elk, go after elk if conditions are favorable. That, and it only takes one elk to make your whole season!

Ya, we learned this the hard way, saw some elk on a hillside quite a ways away and let my buddy talk me into going to look for some "easier" elk.  Couldn't find any so he said let's go back to the others. They were gone.
Since then we have always gone after them and his estimate of how long it will take to get there is always off.  He says 1 1/2-2 hours and it really only takes 30-40minutes to be in the hunt.

If you can see them they are not that far away.

[pianoman9701]

If you get busted start aggressively and insistently cow and calf calling. Even an elk that's barked can come back.

[JPhelps]

Don't OVERTHINK elk calling.
Practice and be proficient with a locator bugle, cow call and challenge bugle.
Hear/see an elk, get close to the elk, call the bull into bow range.

[MIKEXRAY]

Be aggressive .   My elk hunting partner is way more aggressive then me and gets way more opportunities for a bow shot. I have always sat back and waited to see what was going to happen while he goes straight at it. I know every encounter needs to be handled differently but my being passive in to many situations has cost me chances at a lot of elk.

Be as ready as possible for the pack out & butchering.  Don't get an elk a mile form any road and stand there with a small pocket knife only. Get a good video on meat prep, have the tools, game bags, meat pack etc .

[rtspring]

Get on them! I hear alot of hunters being afraid to BLOW them out! You will fail, tgats part of elk hunting. But if you play the waiting being soft mode you will never know what would of happened! Its a challenge, get in on them and try your very best to close the deal..  Elk are creatures of habit.  They make mistakes just like those of us that hunt them.

Scout, scout and scout more! Find feeding areas, escape routes, bedding areas.  Learn their daily routines. And learn where they go when pressured. Elk find places they dont get bothered! Find that spot and kill one!

Rtspring

[rsarkks]

Get a good pair of boots and cover ground. If I am seeing more boot tracks than elk tracks I need to get further off the road.

[xXLojackXx]

Don't OVERTHINK elk calling.
Practice and be proficient with a locator bugle, cow call and challenge bugle.
Hear/see an elk, get close to the elk, call the bull into bow range.

This. 

And keep your knives sharp and your Broadheads sharper.

[buglebrush]

Get a good pair of boots and cover ground. If I am seeing more boot tracks than elk tracks I need to get further off the road.

I agree with this, but my tip is that further off the road isn't always farther from hunting pressure.  Key in on those areas that access is just plain not fun.  Sometimes it isn't that far from the road, but there is not gated roads, trails, etc.. and it is bloody steep and brushy. 

[NOCK NOCK]

Get a good pair of boots and cover ground. If I am seeing more boot tracks than elk tracks I need to get further off the road.

I agree with this, but my tip is that further off the road isn't always farther from hunting pressure.  Key in on those areas that access is just plain not fun.  Sometimes it isn't that far from the road, but there is not gated roads, trails, etc.. and it is bloody steep and brushy.

X2
 I have killed multiple elk within 100 yards of a major highway. Sometimes hunting were you least expect them to be is were they are.