Basic Elk Hunting Knowledge

[jvidrine]

I'm from South Louisiana, born and raised. I have hunted all my life, ducks and geese mostly. I deer hunt in Central Texas now. I have been west a couple of times, though I never got to hunt during those trips. My sister lives in Loveland, Co.

The older I get(28), the more consumed I become with hunting out west, Elk hunting in particular. My last trip up to Estes Park, Co sealed it for me. I've been on Eastman's website for a while now, just reading and trying to learn as much as I can. I have hit a bit of a road block with a lot of the terms/words used to describe terrain, hunting tactics, etc..

Would anyone be of help by giving me a description/definition of these words? I have a good idea of what these words mean but I could us some clarity. Maybe turning me to one of Mike Eastman's books that really break things down for beginners would also be helpful.

Thank you for the help.

Saddle
Drainage
Ridgeline
Ridge

I know there are a lot of terms I'm forgetting. All help is appreciated.

 

[tdub24]

Welcome the forum, you have picked a good place to learn. There are tons of knowledgeable folks on here that you will learn from as I continue to learn. As far as answers to your word question, I will try my best.

Saddle is the low spot between two peaks, from a distance kind of looks like a horses saddle. Big game animals choose to use these for crossings quite a bit.

Drainage is refering to the draw between two fingers, basically where all the water runs down during spring time.

Ridge would be the fingers I am refering to.

Ridgeline would be the top of the ridge, normally used when walking to and from the Peak of a mountain.

Hopefully this helps or somebody with better definition skills chimes in.

 

[JEandAsGuide]

Welcome! I am am also from south Louisiana and will be making my first trip west to hunt in October.

 

[jvidrine]

Welcome the forum, you have picked a good place to learn. There are tons of knowledgeable folks on here that you will learn from as I continue to learn. As far as answers to your word question, I will try my best.

Thanks for the speedy answers! Much appreciated. This board/forum is an absolute pleasure to come too. Most everyone is easy to talk to.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Goog answers for lesson 1.

Welcome to the forum and the Wild West. Come and hunt and have fun.

 

[NDHunter]

Welcome! Yea I would recommend Mike's elk book. And every other book of his for that matter if you hunt mule deer or antelope.

Highlight all the good stuff that you think is useful. Also, when somebody on here posts something really useful and is new to me, I write it down in a word document I have so that I can go back and reference what other people have said. If you are like me, you will forget a lot of it otherwise.

 

[jvidrine]

Highlight all the good stuff that you think is useful. Also, when somebody on here posts something really useful and is new to me, I write it down in a word document I have so that I can go back and reference what other people have said. If you are like me, you will forget a lot of it otherwise.

Great Advice! thank you

 

[Musket Man]

Reading Mike Eastmans book Elk Hunting The West would be a great place to start and would answer alot of your questions. Good luck!

 

[jvidrine]

Musket Man QUOTE]


Thanks for the advice. It's good to know that I'm on the right track.

 

[jvidrine]

Musket Man

Thanks for the advice. It's good to know that I'm on the right track.

 

[Eric Bailey]

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a great (and free) online guide to elk hunting. You can find it here: http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/ElkHuntingUniversity/Pages/ElkHuntingUniversity.aspx

I also liked the new "university of elk hunting" dvd available on the elk101 site: http://www.elk101store.com/servlet/the-University-of-Elk-Hunting-DVD/Categories

I think this article on rokslide is a great summary for early season hunts: http://www.rokslide.com/2012-01-09-05-12-00/elk/177-early-season-elk-tactics The rokslide site has a great blog and forum as well.

Best of luck!

 

[tttoadman]

Welcome! Yea I would recommend Mike's elk book. And every other book of his for that matter if you hunt mule deer or antelope.

Highlight all the good stuff that you think is useful. Also, when somebody on here posts something really useful and is new to me, I write it down in a word document I have so that I can go back and reference what other people have said. If you are like me, you will forget a lot of it otherwise.

I pull the text or links off of a post and email it to myself with a tag word in the title to help me get back to it later

 

[jvidrine]

Thanks for all the advice fellas. Those links above were great Bailey