Guidance Not Honey Holes

[Kingpuck]

First, I don't believe in asking to sit next to someone as they hunt their spot or asking for specific information on an area. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive to people and the effort that goes into dialing in on an animals habits.

What would be interesting is to better understand what types of things draw elk into an area? Do elk feed on certain plants more often? Is a certain terrain more to their liking?

Understanding elk behavior would make it easier to figure this all out but the books out there don't seem to talk specifically about that. Being the only person in my family interested in this stuff there isn't anyone who is passing this down so kind of learning on the fly. It's more fun than I could have imagined but some of this is giving me a bald spot on my head.

Any good resources out there to start from?

[runamuk]

They eat stuff that cows eat   If you bust them they will leave or go deep into where they feel safe, but normally they are pretty routine in their travels, calving in certain areas, spending summers in certain areas, etc... If there is fresh sign good chance there is elk, pretty easy to track if the wind is right and its not hunting season  I have no advice on how to find animals in season that are legal to shoot on legal shooting ground during shooting hours  but I find animals even during season this will be my 4th season if I get out, hoping to.

[JPhelps]

Elk need three things: Water, Food, and Cover.

If you are just getting into elk hunting I would spend a lot of time scouting.  You can learn a lot from the elk the weeks leading up to season, like where they like to feed and where they like to bed.  You learn all that just to find out when they are pressured they will go into the thickest, nastiest, deepest hole around and layup for a couple days.

What season do you plan on hunting?  That will also change the tactics that will be used.

 

[JimmyHoffa]

they like alfalfa.  So if there is a farm within say 5 miles, maybe look for ambush trails.  They'll sit up in the hills during the day and come down at night and eat all the alfalfa they can.
If no farms, look for tender, green grass--like in clearcuts, road edges, thinned areas.  Near the brushy streamsides--black cottonwoods, maples and young alders. 
For the hills I think they prefer firs, but maybe a logger-type can confirm.  I've heard when the foresters plant, they mix in spruce to protect the firs and cut the spruce when the fir is big enough. Not sure about that.

[268bull]

Kingpuck, First off, I live down below you in Oregon, but have visited your state many times and I hope to be able to hunt it sometime. I moved to Oregon in '77, and began hunting Roosevelt's here on the west side in '78. Filled my first tag in 1979 and then a whole lot of elk seasons went by before I punched one again. During that dry spell though, I remained vigilant, and learned, and learned, and learned. So stick to it! Pay attention from what didn't work the year before. Be determined to crawl into some of the meanest, nastiest, NE facing canyons you can find. That's not only because that's the type of real estate elk like, but, at least speaking for Oregon's mid-Oct. Cascade bull hunt, you'll find little or no competition from other hunter's. And elk figure that out too! Learn to read track, that bracken fern is showing it's underside because it was disturbed. An elk had moved through there before you. Look at the sword ferns. Are the tops torn off. Elk take a mouthful and tear the tops off. Is the vine maple ends ripped off. when you come across rubs, don't just assume that a small diameter sapling being freshly rubbed is a small spike or rag horn. Look up the stem and see how far up the tree show's marks. I'm 6'2" and when I see a rub that has the sapling scared up a foot or two more than me, I know that I'm looking at a mature bull. Look at droppings, if all you've been seeing are dry dropping's then the elk haven't been in the area for awhile. Mature cow droppings are somewhat kidney bean shaped, a bull is more blunt, somewhat rotund, often having a slight depression on one end. Now mind, these are just some of the observations I've learned from in the past 35 years. Also I'm a devoted Roosevelt hunter, I can't speak for East side Rocky Mtn.. But stick with it, it was 10 years before i puched another tag, and I've been pretty lucky, fortunate, and consistent since. Good hunting to you! Dale

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

268bull has some good advice, I just want to say, dont pay as much attention to the shape, as most of the stuff I like to step in is large clumps, instead of the individual pellets.
I had a hunter that thought they ran cows where we were hunting, the piles were almost puddles.
That just means they are eating green stuff, if the dropping are green, step on it. It dries from the outside in, if there is no color change from the outside surface, and the inside, you are right behind them (unless its raining) you can tell how far behind by the the color difference, if it is not the same color all the way through, the greener the better.
If it is brown or dry, it is old.
I have found both specie in creek bottoms.

[D-Rock425]

268bull has some good advice, I just want to say, dont pay as much attention to the shape, as most of the stuff I like to step in is large clumps, instead of the individual pellets.
I had a hunter that thought they ran cows where we were hunting, the piles were almost puddles.
That just means they are eating green stuff, if the dropping are green, step on it. It dries from the outside in, if there is no color change from the outside surface, and the inside, you are right behind them (unless its raining) you can tell how far behind by the the color difference, if it is not the same color all the way through, the greener the better.
If it is brown or dry, it is old.
I have found both specie in creek bottoms.

you can always taste it too.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Ya, if it tastes like ... it is.
Green Olives are good, those brown italian ones are not so good..

[Kingpuck]

Sincerely appreciate the tips guys. Plan on spending summer using my backpacking trips as scouting trips. Not afraid of the backcountry, actually prefer it. Like being out there on my own and putting in the leg work. Hope to put another 80-100 miles on my boots this summer.

[D-Rock425]

Good luck this year.  Take a camera with you scouting.

[ribka]

Absolutely no substitute for scouting and spending time in the woods and mountains.

bring a camera take pics and notes. mark areas with sign on your GPS or maps. Pay attention to your nose as you will often smell the elk before seeing them.

[xXLojackXx]

Scout areas that are away from roads or behind permanately closed gates. Be willing to go farther and hike longer than 90% of other hunters to avoid pressured animals. Study your topo maps and use Google Earth to get an idea of how open the land is. Talk to wildlife biologists and the local forest service agency, as they are usually more than happy to share information. Also look at harvest reports from the previous seasons in the unti you are interested in. All the elk I come across every year either are in or arent far from dark timber that is hard to ambush them, and they like to bed down on benches and finger ridges about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the hillside (although i have seen them in an open meadow and ontop of ridges). That gives them an escape down or up from predators. If you can find a nice remote area with little hunting pressure, that offers green foliage for food, water to drink, and dark shady bedding areas, youre on the right track. You will know as soon as you hike the area if there is a good population of elk. And ALWAYS hunt into  the wind. You can fool their eyes and ears, but you will never fool their nose if they smell you. Stick with it and dont get discouraged. I once saw a statistic that the average WA archery hunter gets and elk every 12 years. some learn faster than others, but be willing to put in the work before the season and after the season (seeing what the elk do right after the hunting season can help you pattern/predict their behavior for next hunting season).oh ya, make sure youre in shape or else you might as well sit above a clear cut near a road. Hope that helps a bit.

[Kingpuck]

Ha Lojack, bottom line is fat guys have a hard time getting elk in the backcountry. Been going to the gym a lot but just need to put some miles on the boots to make it happen.

[Alan K]

Don't overlook the first mile or two behind locked gates.  Most people think they need to get to the back end, and rush right on past.  Often times before daylight.  I'd bet a lot of times there are more people 5 or more miles in than less than 5 miles in.  I use this thinking more for deer than elk, but there's no reason a bunch of elk or more likely a lone bull wouldn't feel safe in that often overlooked area.

[xXLojackXx]

Don't overlook the first mile or two behind locked gates.  Most people think they need to get to the back end, and rush right on past.  Often times before daylight.  I'd bet a lot of times there are more people 5 or more miles in than less than 5 miles in.  I use this thinking more for deer than elk, but there's no reason a bunch of elk or more likely a lone bull wouldn't feel safe in that often overlooked area.

That is true sometimes. I have found a whole HERD hunkered down in a strip of trees 200 yards wide bewteen two old clear cuts, only 500 yards off a road. But, most of the dense populations and more importantly the elk that arent "call shy" are the ones that dont see many people.