I am wondering everyone's thoughts on how deep you need to go in a heavily hunted area to get far enough away from the crowds for a successful elk hunt. Obviously, you could luck out right off the road but at what point do your odds go up dramatically? I am hunting in Wyoming this fall and as a non-resident it looks like most the non-wilderness areas are hit pretty hard. In steep terain is it 1 mile, 2, ..4?
How deep do you need to go?
- Thread starter carte1be
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JimP
Administrator
mntnguide
Very Active Member
One of the biggest bulls i scouted last summer and saw him in the same spot year before, lives less than a mile from a heavily used road with trailheads on it and is loaded with hunters all fall in a general tag area here in WY. The idea of having to go super deep is not necessarily always the right plan. Much more important is scouting prior to season and having an idea where the animals are before pressure, and where they might go once pushed.
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Hilltop
Veteran member
I agree with mntnguide 100%. I do think your probability of seeing elk goes up when you go where others are unwilling to go generally. If it is super steep, and a nasty pack out, fewer hunters will go there.
Catahoula12
Very Active Member
Slugz
Veteran member
They are where they are unpressured.....have forage, water and a cool bed. As others have said could be 500 yards from an ATV trail......could be 5 miles in National Forest. That right there is why scouting is so important in saving time/eliminating where they are not.
RICMIC
Veteran member
All of the guided hunts that I have done have been 5-7 miles in to camp on horseback. Then we hunted a 3-5 mile range from there. So, be careful that you don't just bust your butt to go in deep, only to run into outfitters or locals on horseback. If there is a trailhead, and a good trail going in, I would suggest that you get away from that trail and hunt an area that isn't easily accessible by horses. I have done this successfully for deer, but am reluctant to do it for elk due to the pack out. But, if you have enough help, then that is less of an issue.
mustang8
Active Member
I totally understand and get what some of you are saying but for those of us non res hunters who maybe cant take off another week to scout from 4 states away, he's asking at what point would be a good starting spot. I would have to agree with Go Deep from my personal experiences, after 1 mile you will be pretty lonely out there.
JimP
Administrator
If it is a first trip into a area you need to get there 3-4 days early and do some scouting and be prepared to move camp if your fist spot doesn't pan out.
Back in 2005 I saw the now famous Spider Bull in Utah as he crossed a road 2 years before he was shot. He was killed within 1/2 mile of that same spot.
Back in 2005 I saw the now famous Spider Bull in Utah as he crossed a road 2 years before he was shot. He was killed within 1/2 mile of that same spot.
Slugz
Veteran member
It really all depends....I have a spot in an ATV infested GMU......tons of summer traffic.....tons of hunting traffic......animals just stay put and only move if the ATV stops......and they do all that just by sound.....I shot two bulls in that spot 100 yards apart
Timberstalker
Veteran member
All the elk I’ve killed are within 2 miles of the truck. I don’t have pack animals and I’m not packing an elk on my back any farther than that. I’ve had some packs that take two days and are less than two miles. No way would I go 5 without pack animals and more help.
I hunted Wyoming a few years ago, all the elk I found we’re within two miles of a road, I had no problem finding elk, Killing them was the hard part. They were well educated.
I hunted Wyoming a few years ago, all the elk I found we’re within two miles of a road, I had no problem finding elk, Killing them was the hard part. They were well educated.
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CrimsonArrow
Very Active Member
LCH
Very Active Member
Deep creeks, steep climbs, and mazes of deadfall seem to weed people out as quickly as distance also.
It is a myth that you have to get away from the road to find good elk hunting. Can you out-hunt the average hunter? That is most important. I've killed elk near the road to 8 miles from the truck and have seen some giants right off heavily used gravel roads. They are where you find them!
dirtclod Az.
Veteran member
JimP
Administrator
If you really look at the area that you are hunting on a map and then take a compass, you know the kind that has a pointy end and a pencil on the other. And draw a 1 mile radius circle you will find that there is quite likely a road within that circle. You can do that in the vast majority of places here in the lower 48 states.
Granted there are areas where there won't be a road even if you drew a 5 mile radius circle but they are fairly few.
Granted there are areas where there won't be a road even if you drew a 5 mile radius circle but they are fairly few.
Timberstalker
Veteran member
If I were to stay on the trail I could cross the wilderness I hunt in a day easy. Like mentioned above, I’ve ran into camps and other hunters that accessed from a different trailhead many times. It nearly impossible to get away from people.
As an out of state guy without a lot of time to scout sometimes I check areas that aren't far from roads, but that you can't glass from the road. If there is a difficult terrain feature between the road and somewhere I can glass from that's even better. I can check more of those areas during a hunt than I can areas far from the road. Sometimes they end up holding animals that are getting pressured from easier to access country further in or on the sides. Its not foolproof, but it beats going really deep into an area blind that will take 2-3 days of my hunt to check out and get back from.
That said I try to make a 3-4 day scouting trip before season and start hunting in areas I found scouting. I hate showing up to a new unit blind and trying to make the best of it. With 4 days of scouting in a unit I'm still just scratching the surface of having it scouted. More than anything I've just eliminated some areas and located some glassing points and access routes. If I've actually located a good animal that's a bonus.
That said I try to make a 3-4 day scouting trip before season and start hunting in areas I found scouting. I hate showing up to a new unit blind and trying to make the best of it. With 4 days of scouting in a unit I'm still just scratching the surface of having it scouted. More than anything I've just eliminated some areas and located some glassing points and access routes. If I've actually located a good animal that's a bonus.