I barely know more than you do, but since no one else is jumping in, I'll tell you what I've learned so far. I hunted about six or seven days of modern rifle season last year and so far all three of modern rifle this year. I live in elk country so I see them around sometimes in the normal course of my day. And I read a lot. I intend to hunt at least part of every day of this year's elk season, until I get one or it's over.
Elk are more into grazing grass than browsing on brush like deer, so you see them in the open in grassy areas near dawn and dusk.
They like to hide in dark, deep, thick timber and brush in the day.
They can move really far in the course of a day. They tend to have "circuits" so that they hit the same areas and trails over and over again. Then tend to be on the move a lot, as they feed they're walking.
This time of year anyway, when I see big herds, they're usually made up of cows and calves, and a few spikes or younger bulls. I never see big bulls with the herds.
Once the season starts, they seem to vanish. I don't know where they go. People say they go into the back country, but there are few areas around here that are not heavily roaded, so I'm not sure how they get away from the people. I got into some nice, thick timber today that looked like an elk paradise, and there were tracks and droppings everywhere, but nothing fresh. It looked like they hadn't been there in at least a week. Ran into a kid on the way out who said yes, they were there a week before, but gone now. It was close to a road, but a steep, nasty hike up to get into the good stuff, so I was hoping...
I tried following a hot trail last year. I found out later that I was about two hours behind them, and I had actually read a few things right about the group, but I had no hope of catching them, and finally lost the trail in the chest high ferns.
It seems like most of the hunting I do in the middle of the day is sort of a waste of time, except for being enjoyable and sometimes exploring new territories. So far this year, I try to be in the woods or a field near some kind of trail before daybreak. I'll still hunt for a few hours up until about noon or so. Then I might pop home for lunch and a hot drink if I didn't bring any, and then I hit the truck for the afternoon, using this time to look at new areas and cover some ground. I try to sit still somewhere that looks promising at dusk. I've hunted my own pasture or a neighbor's place at dusk mostly, since then if I do get one, I'm not facing some all night ordeal to find it and pack it out.
Hope that helps. It shouldn't take long for someone with far more experience to chime in and tell me I'm wrong on all counts....
