I was wondering if any of the Elk hunters out there had found pockets of Elk in the Medium distances off the roads in public land. What i mean is I know people are always talking about the pressure in the first 3 miles of the road. Then the hard core guys hike in, or pack 10 mile of the road. I was wondering about pockets of Elk that may hide in between and let people go by. I do a lot turkey hunting on public land and deer hunting on wildlife management areas and have found lots of animals that like this in between area they just grow silent or find hollows or little valleys to stay in and let the average hunter go by.
How far of the road do you try to hunt
- Thread starter hondo62
- Start date
Old Hunter
Banned
Umpqua Hunter
Veteran member
It largely has to do with the type of tag you have and where you are hunting. On an OTC tag it is a different story due to the number of hunters. On a limited entry tag, some of those you can literally vehicle hunt it. Where I live in Western Oregon it is so brushy and steep that most of the elk hunting is done within a mile of the road.
Timberstalker
Veteran member
In Oregon it is hard to go more than 5 miles without hitting a road or trail of some sort in most areas. The farthest from a road I have ever killed an elk was less than a mile. I killed my best bull, 320 class, so close to a road we drug it to the truck whole.
Great question. In Nv you can hunt literally as far as you can see through your spotter. That could be miles from a road or from the road. It depends on what your looking for. Nv has closed a lot of roads in the last few years so to get to some of the best areas to start glassing takes a hike just to get there.
Good luck on your hunt
Good luck on your hunt
It seems to me that elk will run the side hills close to and parallel to a roads. The young stragglers can occasionally be caught pinched into a corner, but the good old bulls and lead cows travel routes that they know have timber strips and escape routes. When we are struggling to find the animals, whether driving open roads or walking open roads, I target the sections of road climbing in and out of the canyons to find the side hills that the elk are using. One direction always seems to go to bedding areas. The other direction is going to water or feeding. Might have to put a couple days in to find a pattern. The bow hunters are fantastic at finding these little chutes and putting little tree stands up.
Timberstalker,
I think where you got your 320 bull is pretty close to where we have been doing well (about 6 miles east of @#$%^^). great minds think alike!!
Timberstalker,
I think where you got your 320 bull is pretty close to where we have been doing well (about 6 miles east of @#$%^^). great minds think alike!!
Catahoula12
Very Active Member
I feel the further off the roads you can get the better. The further away from other hunters the better, especially if the hunt you drew for has given many tags. If you beat everyone else out of camp early enough those other hunters may just push elk towards you and put you into a prime position. The more work put in the higher the success I think...
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
It really depends on the unit you hunt, especially here in Colorado. There are a couple of units near where I live that it is pretty difficult to get very far from a road. I usually don't hunt those.
ssliger
Very Active Member
It depends on where you hunt (sound familiar). I grew up hunting south of Rock Springs WY. It was, and still is a road hunters paradise. I now live on the eastern part of the state and have had to adjust to hunting the timber, a lot of people say they hike in over 5 miles, but sometimes with so many roads, 5 miles from one road is only 1/2 away from another. I usually start seeing a lot more sign once I am over 1/2 mile from a road. But like everything that has been said, it all depends on where you are at.
Old Hunter
Banned
CoHiCntry
Veteran member
Agreed... it's already been said but sometimes you have to hunt smart which means hunting by roads if that's where the animals are at. Going 5, 10 or even 20 miles into the backcountry doesn't guarantee you an animal. Does it help in a lot of units/ situations? Absolutely! Every hunter out there is reading the same propaganda that tells you to "hunt as far away from the roads as you can". Take it with a grain of salt...
