Do elk still drink water?

[micahash1]

So a week ago I set up three trail cams up. One at a natural small spring, one at a free range cattle pond and the third at a different free range cattle pond.  Mind you this is on the East slopes of the Cascades and there are not a lot of natural waters sources for several miles.  Went and checked them yesterday and nothing but cows (and I mean beef cows).  The odd thing is last year I found several bulls at these ponds even jumped a 6/6 at 2PM on one.  Also this a couple of days ago while bear hunting I ran into another 6/6 bull with 4 cows and 3 calves no more than 1/4 of a mile from one of the ponds.

Any thoughts???

[vandeman17]

Have you been seeing any sign that the elk have been using it prior to setting up your cameras? Maybe they have a different watering hole they are using this year. Not sure about the cattle but maybe once they move on a little bit then the elk will return as well... 

[micahash1]

I've seen some tracks but it is hard to say how many because the cows tear up the shoreline.  I forgot to mentioned that we had three days of 100deg.+ weather up there as well which I would think would drive everything to the watering holes.

[lewy]

They must be getting water elsewere

[micahash1]

I google earthed it and could not find anything.   I guess I will just look harder.

[vandeman17]

I wouldn't beat yourself up too much. I have also found that some elk make a loop so you might have just caught them on the part of their loop when they are away from your watering holes. We have elk in our yard for like a week straight then won't see them for a few days or even over a week. Just a thought... 

[wapiti hunter2]

I find that the elk in my area are on a 10 day to two week loop.  They will hang around for 2-3 days then disappear for 7-10 days then reappear.  Maybe you just missed them.  I now setup for a minimum of 10 days at a time with fresh batteries.

[micahash1]

I appreciate it I will check them in another week or so longer and see if I'm in luck. 

[boonerboy]

Elk can cover a TON of ground. Might have to broaden your search to water further away. The elk on our property sometimes go 5 miles to water while the creek is flowing about 1/4 mile from them. Beats the hell out of me why.  cooler ground on hot days with more cover? Better feed?

[carpsniperg2]

yeah i would not give up on it yet. i would check them again might take them awhile to get back to the area, from where they are at now.