Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: pods8 on October 11, 2010, 05:34:26 PM

Title: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: pods8 on October 11, 2010, 05:34:26 PM: Can anyone school me on sage brush elk a bit? I know mullies will bed into the sage pretty well and can go longer w/o water. How do the elk behave in this stuff, are they actually able to cool off enough by bedding under sage or do they get the heck out of dodge during the day? Wouldn't some rather thick/large sage be required to stash a bedded Elk body?

Here's my naive thoughts when checking sage areas that are pretty open, the Elk seem like they'd most likely be in the water pockets (but even those don't seem like they'd offer much sun/heat relief). When checking those pockets & finding sign but no Elk I've kinda assumed they likely weren't in the area at that specific time verse being stashed farther from the water pocket in the more open land & smaller sage. Also it seems like any Elk jumped would attract attention in the open land, too naive of a thought, can they still slip their large bodies away even when the cover isn't that tall?

A lot of sporadic questions there which were running through my head, anyone able to provide some useful insights?

Thanks.
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: pods8 on October 13, 2010, 07:23:06 AM: Too scatter brained in my question or just not a lot of experience with the sage elk?
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: Woodchuck on October 13, 2010, 07:36:02 AM: dont sweat it man, some folks just arent gonna spit out too much info this time of year. my advice is stick with the water holes, if there is sign they will be back, if you can find a ravine that offers some cover to travel between the water and a bedding area that will be cool. sage doesnt hide elk well so they will stay in the low areas :dunno:
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: bobcat on October 13, 2010, 07:38:43 AM: Not many areas to hunt elk in the sagebrush in Washington. You've got Hanford, Yakima Training Center, and then what, maybe some in the Umtanum, Manastash, and Quilomene? Where are you planning on hunting?
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: WSU on October 13, 2010, 10:37:27 AM: I assume you are talking YTC. The elk definitely do bed in the sage. Some of it is much bigger than it looks, and could easily hide a herd of elk. I've also seen them bed right in creek bottoms. Also, water can be very important when its hot out, but I've not hunted there much when it gets later in the year and cools down.
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: pods8 on October 13, 2010, 12:53:54 PM: Quote from: JIMKD8 on October 13, 2010, 07:36:02 AM
dont sweat it man, some folks just arent gonna spit out too much info this time of year.

No sweat, just wanted to check if my scattered thoughts didn't come through very clear or not.

Quote from: WSU on October 13, 2010, 10:37:27 AM
I assume you are talking YTC. The elk definitely do bed in the sage. Some of it is much bigger than it looks, and could easily hide a herd of elk. I've also seen them bed right in creek bottoms. Also, water can be very important when its hot out, but I've not hunted there much when it gets later in the year and cools down.

That was mainly one of the places I was referring to along with some other fringe areas. Considering the elk come/go from there, when I've been on the YTC I've sorta moved quick to the various drainage that are actually wet currently and would check them out. They've held sign but no animals at that specific time. When that happened I've just moved on after scouting around because I didn't see anything busting out on my way in (or any really fresh sign) and I didn't really expect them to be hunkered in the other stuff farther out (or assumed it'd likely be easier to spot them). Just trying to make sure I'm not passing up places or tactics when looking in these kinds of places. Last time I was in there I found a nice spot but no active animals, however looking at the harvest record I saw 2 were taken out of the same general area a couple days prior so it reinforced the thought in my mind that they just had left the area for the time being.
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: WSU on October 13, 2010, 01:34:35 PM: They are there. One time in particular I hunted an area for the entire morning and moved on. I came driving back through closer to dark and the elk were there. I could have sworn there was no way there were elk around that area. See any monster bucks while poking around out there? That alone is a good reason to hunt out there.
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: pods8 on October 13, 2010, 02:40:29 PM: Quote from: WSU on October 13, 2010, 01:34:35 PM
They are there. One time in particular I hunted an area for the entire morning and moved on. I came driving back through closer to dark and the elk were there. I could have sworn there was no way there were elk around that area. See any monster bucks while poking around out there? That alone is a good reason to hunt out there.

Good to know (and frustrating too, haha).

Actually no I've definitely seen mullies, but haven't ran across any huge ones, I've only been in twice though.
Title: Re: Sage brush elk, habbits & bedding?
Post by: Dslayer on October 13, 2010, 04:38:49 PM: Big sagebrush, tall, can hide a lot of elk. I saw a herd walking up Cottonwood Canyon from Durr Road. I drove up the road ahead of them, then walked across the desert to wait for them, figuring they were walking up to me, but didn't see them. Then I spotted a head sticking out of clump of sagebrush. They had beat me up the canyon and had bedded down. Started glassing and slowly but surely found 30 head bedded and lounging in the sagebrush. A couple were standing and still were hard to see. Look for the biggest gnarliest clumps of sagebrush and glass them-certain areas are well frequented.