Share any Elk Hunting Tip 2015

[lamrith]

WOW, over 1100 views and only 29 replies, all take and no give?!?
Cmon folks, share stuff and help each other be more successful or safe out hunting these stinky beasts!

I am new, spent a total of 8 days hunting elk in my life, so not much specific to share..

But I can highly recommend folks get out and do full gear outing well before your hunting trip.  Full pack, hike in like you will on a hunt.  Camp overnight if you plan to on your hunt.  Stay into the late evening even if you don't plan to camp so you can simulate getting that last light elk down and quartered and getting yourself safely out of the woods in the dark.  Pull all your tools, game-bags etc out as well, verify it is all there etc.  100% dry run to make sure all is ready.

[pianoman9701]

Hunt Archery
PMan's law of convergence. The more time you spend in the woods away from roads, the more likely you are to converge with elk sooner or later.
Don't stink.
Use a walking stick or two. They really make a big difference, especially on blowdown hillsides.
You can buy cheap raingear, pants, and shirts, but get the best, most comfortable and supportive boots you can afford.
If you don't practice out to 50 you shouldn't shoot at an animal at 40. Practice all year long. Practice in different positions with your gear on. Use broadheads to practice. Do 3-D shoots.
Get in shape. Scouting helps. Do it early, like now.
Wash the god darned dishes after I cook, Bruce! (he does)
Get good binos or a spotting scope, or both.
Know how to use your GPS, compass, and maps before you go into the woods.
Elk make lots of noise, Predators don't. Make lots of noise, especially when the woods are dry.
Wait an hour before following a vitally hit elk unless you see him die. Wait 8 if it's gutshot.

[Goldy79]

Take your time when you are out in the field and use your nose & ears. I've bombed all over units, hiking up to 15 miles a day with no success. Last year I spent a weekend scouting and showed up to Elk camp 3 days before the opener. I had 4 areas that looked promising and on opening day we split up and I sat on top of a ridge glassing until I heard some rustling across the ridge and started smelling estrus in the air. I walked about 100 yards until I came across a perfect ambush point and let out a few calls with an arrow nocked... an hour later we had my elk hanging in camp. I learned a lot over my short hunting career, 3 years, but that is the most useful information I have. My brother-in-law and buddy both got shots on Spikes just a few days later by keeping their movements short and listening...

Can't wait until September. 

[pianoman9701]

I want to hunt with you!

[Goldy79]

I want to hunt with you!

This guy? The way my hunting partners are ditching scouting trips I might be looking for new ones!

[Stein]

Unless you are really alone (and there is a 99% chance you aren't if it's public land), ignore all of the books that tell you where the elk will be.  Instead, figure out where they will go at first light on opening morning.  I found this to be amazingly consistent from year to year and it certainly isn't onto land that anyone I know would classify as "elky."

[kentrek]

I would find out where phantom  took this photo and maybe go hunt it something like this....two nights of food...plan for one night...I'd start off dropping down at the yellow arrow....play thermals and make a move on that mystery  bugle...slow play it not to bust him further off into the red...that seems like a no go unless there's a road down there...camp in the bottom...we're ever you leave the elk...then youl have the thermals in your favor  for the next day and fallow the yellow dots and hunt the blue dots....especially  the one with the black arrow...that seems like a bedroom....work the thermals....stay out of the red zone (know YOUR red zones)....don't get despite...

[WapitiTalk1]

Ya Kentrek, the red you put on your copy is a bad deal for sure (there is a reason there are elk in here, nobody wants to try and get them out going downhill; too far, too thick, deceptively steep). I like your thinking on your blue and yellow spots though (just not the yellow dot's to get over there, lol) been there; the elk are pretty safe way over there.  The blue star I placed is where you have the majority of your blue dots (to the right). Way too far to dump down into that steep draw from where you're standing above, and, down and across the alder hell that is the bottom of the main draw. We'll just take my little RZR on a three mile run N, then SE to where that big ridge takes off and then down the ridge on an old beater quad trail to the spot with the red arrow on this map (hope the old wolf trapper that runs that ridge has cut the winter blowdown off the trail).  From there, you can drop down into and sweep across the majority of the blue dot areas and back through the yellows you put on your map  .  The quad trail pretty much ends around the peak from where the red arrow is so the pack will be uphill but not so bad unless..... bullwinkle drops down into the abyss 

[WapitiTalk1]

Learn to understand and make elk sounds.  Which to learn as a newer caller?  Cow/calf mews, location bugle, challenge bugle, nervous/popping grunt.  These four basic sounds are not that tough to master on a diaphram with practice and perhaps a bit of coaching. Learn and understand how to employ sound cold calling techniques (proper setup considering terrain/prevailing wind, exercise patience, understand what to do in a partner cold calling setup when the situation changes (caller becomes shooter/original shooter becomes caller).  Know when to sound "farther" away than you are (calling back over your shoulder or into a big tuft of bear grass).

Oh, trim your toenails the day before you head out hunting     

[toyman2]

Carry and extra pair of quality socks in your pack.
People can talk all they want on how well they know the elk or where their at, Take care of yourself first.
Hunt slow, look around, look around again and keep looking, learn the area so you can see something out of place, walk smooth and quietly.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Bring as much mountain money you can carry. Spray it with scent eliminating spray and wipe your bum clean several times. Stinky bum is big no no in the elk woods....

[huntingbaldguy]

This isn't experience from archery season, but from my MF days, go where you know others won't.  The steepest, ugliest terrain you can find on the map, if other guys are all around you is where the elk are.  That conditioning doesn't start the first day of hunting.

A lot of you guys are giving great info.  A newb like me appreciates it.  :tips hat:

[SpicyTacos]

 Whatever gear you use it is wise to not only physically know your weapon but to mentally prepare to use it. Muscle memory. I went over my process of setting up a shot 1000 times in my mind.
When you see that big trophy finally in front of you. Its oblivious and giving the perfect shot. Its totally exciting and in this situation you can stay calm and focused if you have mentally prepared for the shot. Execute.
This past year it became more evident and clear in my mind that we are hunting as soon leave the house. (For that matter all year long)
Opening day of 2014 MF. I headed out in SE Washington with no intentions of seeing any animals. We did a day of scouting before and set up camp. This was my first time in the area. My buddy had hunted here for 11years. I had a map and decided to head into an area that looked like it dead ended. Thinking I would not see any other hunters.I saw one guy and silently gestured and went on my way.
For the next 4hrs I was in the mix of blow down conifers and old growth stands of spruce and ceder. It was a love and hate march through the hills that were littered with mushrooms and sword ferns.
I found an area that I could see the 180 degrees. I perched up on the hillside and had a snack. The moss and loamy smells enchanted me. I was content just to be outside in Gods creation. I envisioned herd meandering by. Life was good. I ate and carried on.
I moved through the woods that soon became a spider web of blown down hell hole. I pushed forward thinking will this ever end? This must be where the elk are...I kept telling myself.
I kept seeing sign everywhere. I was hooked for about an hour or so. I was not moving very far. About 200 yards or less in hr? I was fatiguing and thinking to my self after hopping up and down logs and walking down fallen timber. I better turn around. How in the heck would I pack an elk out of here. It would be treacherous. What if I fell on a branch from the blowdown. I would be a meat Kabob for my friends to find, skewered.
Feeling defeated. I was on my way back to camp. I was walking fast. Not really hunting anymore. I was done. I crossed the paths I remembered before. The streams I crossed and the lush meadows that I could visualize a heard of elk hanging in.
I headed up the steep road back to my truck. I was just going from point A to B by then.
When all of a sudden. I heard the mysterious call of a Raven. I was intrigued and I decided to follow initial call of the Raven.. I had not heard a raven call all day. My instincts to me to go to the side of the drainage and have a look, ravens are smart and something must be going on. Is this bird calling me out? Or is it telling me something?
I walk 30 yards to the edge of a ridge that is cover with 500 year old spruce and cedar trees. I look down the steep hillside. To my amazement. A lone bull. Eating serenely next to the creek bed. I mentally had been preparing for this. Through the scope I could see he was legal. I braced my rifle on my knee. He looked up and I thought I'm busted. I took the shot. Later I realized I did not even hear the power of my grandfathers Win. Model 70 30-06 that had just fired.
Everything fell silent. My grandfather had taken California blacktail and whitetail. My dad had used it before me in Wa. It was the first shot ever taken on a big Roosevelt elk ever. There was no sound. Not even ringing of the ears.
The bull was facing down slope and bolted as soon as I fired. I thought I missed. I made it down to the spot where he was. No sign of anything. Well I thought darn that's weird. I paced around at the amazement of even seeing the bull.
Then I heard 4 deep moans. What was that? I walked side slope in the direction he went, because I had read that animals will go side hill as an escape route. I walked another 50yds passing through wet loamy organic material, lush ferns, and old growth.
There he was 5X4 with contrasted coat of coffee dark and caramel light. This is the elusive guy that archers have been bugling for the last few years. He did not want to play that game or maybe he was a silent Bob. He made a mistake today. He was out mid day, in recovery from the rut, being chased around and refueling for the winter. The work started. I field dressed it and went and found my buddy,
 It was pure joy,the kind that makes you cry. Disbelief. I was rewarded with this animal.
So I say be hunting as soon as you leave the house. Don't be in a hurry, even if you are frustrated. Animals can be anywhere. Pay attention to abnormalities. The Raven is the only reason that I went and looked over the drainage. It payed off.  I am forever changed by the experience.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Take your time when you are out in the field and use your nose & ears. I've bombed all over units, hiking up to 15 miles a day with no success. Last year I spent a weekend scouting and showed up to Elk camp 3 days before the opener. I had 4 areas that looked promising and on opening day we split up and I sat on top of a ridge glassing until I heard some rustling across the ridge and started smelling estrus in the air. I walked about 100 yards until I came across a perfect ambush point and let out a few calls with an arrow nocked... an hour later we had my elk hanging in camp. I learned a lot over my short hunting career, 3 years, but that is the most useful information I have. My brother-in-law and buddy both got shots on Spikes just a few days later by keeping their movements short and listening...

Can't wait until September.

X2
One thing I have learned, burn the boot leather scouting.
During hunting season you want to have a good idea where to be.
It is O.K. to cover ground in search of game, but when you locate good sign, s-l-o-w-d-o-w-n.
These animals do not have clocks, or a concept of time.
There is no reason for them to hurry, they do not have to be anywhere.
That extra hour you wait in a good spot can make all the difference.

[BGLEMIN]

As a recent transplant to WA, I have only hunted rosies for 2 seasons and have yet to hunt any Eastside elk. The 2013 season I hunted archery and harvested a young bull on day 2 of my hunt. During the 2014 season I focused on getting my wife her first elk with a bow. We hunted for 3 days, with camp on our backs. The area we chose was surrounded by other archers, but they were not willing to venture into the steep and nasty like we did. We found ourselves in an elk hole, all being pushed into the rugged timber by the presence of all the other hunters. We had a close call with a 6x6 and later with a mature cow that my wife would've stuck at 16yds had it not been for a Christmas tree obscuring the vitals. I went muzzy for 2 days and was within range several cows, a true spike, and finally a mere 11yds from a 3x4 that caught me eating my lunch after letting out some soft cow mews. I still can't believe an animal that size can sneak in without a sound, but then again the ground was blanketed with moss.

My consistency of getting in tight on elk here in WA is largely due to how I learned to hunt them in SW CO. I have hunted some of the most pressured elk this world has to offer. So here are my tips: 1) Hunt north and east facing slopes 2) Hunt heavily timbered STEEP slopes 3) Hunt within two miles of a water source and within 2 miles of recent clear cuts or meadow...elk need water and grass and will travel to these areas in the dark but be back in the steep, dark timber by daylight 3) If you plan on using elk calls, I recommend purchasing audio of true herd talk...not the instructional types for bugling or estrus whines. True herd talk will teach you how cows and calves interact, and that is money for luring in a bull or any elk for that matter 4) Contrary to my last tip...learn how to bugle and grunt well (AND, learn how to glunk too, very few hunters use this vocalization of a bull which is why I use it...bull elk typically only hear this sound from other bulls, sometimes it is the only method to entice an otherwise hung up bull) 5) Lean to use multiple types of cow calls, i.e., diaphragm (have several different ones of differing tones), open single and double reed calls, "bite and blow" calls, and possibly even a Hoochie Mama push call 6) When calling be prepared to switch between your calls to sound as though you are a herd chatting with each other 7) Solo hunt: your setup will determine if the bull comes within range, they know where the sound came from, so choose a setup that has dense timber behind or setup just below the crest of a ridge...when he tops the ridge, he's within range or he'll come within range to peak over the ridge Buddy hunt: caller should be at least 50+yds behind shooter and completely out of sight in order to stomp & rake 9) Lastly don't pass the shot just because you think it will be hard to get the elk out...you gotta shoot'em where they are!!