Best strategy for patterning elk on the west side?

[Jeremy Leaf]

So far the last two years of putting up trail cams in 530 seems like the elk stay on a 7-8 day pattern.  I only get pics of elk every 7 days and yotes and deer during the off days.  The last soak I put a cam out for five weeks and they showed up every seven days to the hour.  My question is that if you have them patterned like that up till opening day how will hunting and scouting activity generally change the pattern? The area I hunt is far from any road and hard to get to but I would assume that other areas of their range are not.  Do you guys think that even trying to pattern elk on the west side is a waste of time?

[Woodchuck]

If you are hunting elk during the general firearm season on public ground my humble opinion is that come opening morning most bets are off. When I scout elk more than being concerned where the elk hang out as compared to deep dark escape routes when they get pushed. 

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

So far the last two years of putting up trail cams in 530 seems like the elk stay on a 7-8 day pattern.  I only get pics of elk every 7 days and yotes and deer during the off days.  The last soak I put a cam out for five weeks and they showed up every seven days to the hour.  My question is that if you have them patterned like that up till opening day how will hunting and scouting activity generally change the pattern? The area I hunt is far from any road and hard to get to but I would assume that other areas of their range are not.  Do you guys think that even trying to pattern elk on the west side is a waste of time?

Strange that they would be on a weekly schedule....
I would try to figure out why where are they Satuday, Sunday ? that is where I would look to find trails and bedding areas, as they probably are on that type of schedule due to some human influence, however slight, and that is where they probably go when pressured, and where to be come season.

[338_Thumper]

When I use to Hunt above Lake Quinault (Higley Peak area) the elk were also in a 6-9 day cycle - Bio told me the reason why is that they don't eat up all the food in one area so there is always food as they move around their area - Up at Higley there is like 8 drainages and one day you will catch them in one drainage and the next day they are in the next drainage...

[Jeremy Leaf]

The thing that really has me confused is that the area I put the cam up is a really thick nasty hole I located them the end of last bow season.  I was just curious if they were there year round and low and behold they are coming through every 7 days like clockwork.  I was kinda hoping they only went there when pressured as this year I'm hunting the area during muzzy season and wanted to hang a stand.  The cam only picked up one deer and a yote in the weeks it was out.  Not much action at all other than the elk every 7 days.

[Bean Counter]

Good job so far. Id say to hedge your bets--move your trail cams elsewhere to find their other places. Since you already know their pattern in this plAce, just go there the day before and check for foot sign a nd droppings. Hopefully you'll see none. Come back the next day and brush out their fresh tracks. Let us know what you find out.

[KNOXY]

Two things that work when elk hunting they like to Feed and Breed.  There are alot of variables to think about , where your hunting (topo, watersources, timber, fields, etc.), hunting pressure, weather.  Really, Elk do what they want.  Main thing find the good feeding areas, where you have set up your trail camera if you haven't allready load up with some good blocks and salt licks, as well as dump down pears or apples it should get them coming in more constantely, which will allow you to track where they are headed easier. Put in the time to walk their trails and place multiple trail cameras in between your honey hole. Good Luck.

[338_Thumper]

Oh and we were Archery Hunting up there. We would cut trails from the road in the summer about 20 yards in so nobody else would see them. The trails would also go almost to the Bottom of the Drainage. Took alot of work but it sure paided off !!! We would be up there a week before Elk season scouting everyday and at 1-2:30 in the morning on our Honda Tail 90's we would Bugle in every Drainage to locate them - They would be in the same Drainage in the Morning. There were gated roads up there in every Drainage. Before opening day where we had the Bulls located we would put a fake camp by the gate - A tent , couple of chairs , camp fire pit and a couple of beer cans. This really tricked a lot of people from hunting there !!!

With those trails cut in every Drainage you could run up the road the first thing in the morning - Jump out of the truck go in the trail about 30 yards and look down in the Drainage and see if any elk were in the bottom !!! You could check out all the Drainages (I think there was 10) in about 30 minutes !! This kept us in Elk everyday !! Oh and the Elk would also use the trails we cut !
We always had 6-9 guys in camp and they all had extra pup tents - If we found a drainage with a really big bull or a couple of nice bulls we would put 2-3 tents at that gate !

When we started hunting Little Natches in Yakima we did the same thing - We used to laugh when we would hear other hunters bitch why someone would camp in a perfect elk location and scare all the elk away - So they would go hunt somewhere else and leave our FAKE Camp alone.. LOL