So today I got to thinking about some of the tricks that I used to use to be successful in bringing home a elk every year. I had a great run for a long time and brought home a lot of meat, so much so that I would end up giving away quite a bit of it to keep fresh elk meat in the freezer.
One of the best things that I did was to go sleep with the elk the night before the season opened. I knew where the elk would water or feed and then the path back to the dark timber where they would settle down for the rest of the day before they started the loop that they would take the next evening. The only problem was trying to figure out a way to get within range of them early on opening day.
Well one year my brother in law said "why don't we go sleep with them." I looked at him with the look that your dog gives you when he has no idea of what you want to do. Well, we loaded up our packs with a days worth of food a sleeping pad and bag and headed up into the elk woods around noon the day before the season started. We decided against a fire figuring that we might scare them away so we just hunkered down under some trees and waited for daylight. Well daylight came and shortly afterwards we had one elk on the ground with the rest of the herd scattered. We figured that we needed to improve on our methods.
The next year we just took a ground cloth and a couple of wool blankets for the night. Daylight found us surrounded by elk, I mean we were right in the middle of the herd with our rifles a very long 5' away from us leaning against a tree. We figured that we needed to improve on our methods. We did get elk that year but it took a few more days.
The third year we figured that we knew what we were doing. We packed in the day before and ate sandwiches and cold twice baked potato's for dinner. After a restless nights sleep we both dropped bulls as the sun was trying to bake the frost off of the far hillside.
Over the years we did improve on our methods and I switched from using a high power rifle to a .44 magnum and then a .357 Herrett Thompson Center Contender. There were a few years that one thing or another would happen but we were usually home come Saturday night with elk hanging in the garage. There were years when we just were not in the correct place, but most years the elk were within shooting range of a rifle as they made they way back to the timber. Some years we had to wait a couple of days before they would show up in the mornings but most of the time we were home on Monday morning with elk hanging in the garages. We got so good at it we actually quit taking time off of work except for the Friday or Tuesday before the season opened. Utah did have a Saturday opening day until they decided to change it to a Wednesday quite a while ago, at that time we did have to start taking time off again.
It is often said that to be a successful elk hunter you need to know elk, you need to live with them, learn their habits, and then adapt. We managed quite well for a long time doing this.
Anymore my bones don't take well to sleeping on the hard cold earth. If I tried to sleep with the elk again it would take me a hour before I could be up and moving around on a cold morning. But those days of my youth were fun.
So what are some tricks that you might be willing to share?
One of the best things that I did was to go sleep with the elk the night before the season opened. I knew where the elk would water or feed and then the path back to the dark timber where they would settle down for the rest of the day before they started the loop that they would take the next evening. The only problem was trying to figure out a way to get within range of them early on opening day.
Well one year my brother in law said "why don't we go sleep with them." I looked at him with the look that your dog gives you when he has no idea of what you want to do. Well, we loaded up our packs with a days worth of food a sleeping pad and bag and headed up into the elk woods around noon the day before the season started. We decided against a fire figuring that we might scare them away so we just hunkered down under some trees and waited for daylight. Well daylight came and shortly afterwards we had one elk on the ground with the rest of the herd scattered. We figured that we needed to improve on our methods.
The next year we just took a ground cloth and a couple of wool blankets for the night. Daylight found us surrounded by elk, I mean we were right in the middle of the herd with our rifles a very long 5' away from us leaning against a tree. We figured that we needed to improve on our methods. We did get elk that year but it took a few more days.
The third year we figured that we knew what we were doing. We packed in the day before and ate sandwiches and cold twice baked potato's for dinner. After a restless nights sleep we both dropped bulls as the sun was trying to bake the frost off of the far hillside.
Over the years we did improve on our methods and I switched from using a high power rifle to a .44 magnum and then a .357 Herrett Thompson Center Contender. There were a few years that one thing or another would happen but we were usually home come Saturday night with elk hanging in the garage. There were years when we just were not in the correct place, but most years the elk were within shooting range of a rifle as they made they way back to the timber. Some years we had to wait a couple of days before they would show up in the mornings but most of the time we were home on Monday morning with elk hanging in the garages. We got so good at it we actually quit taking time off of work except for the Friday or Tuesday before the season opened. Utah did have a Saturday opening day until they decided to change it to a Wednesday quite a while ago, at that time we did have to start taking time off again.
It is often said that to be a successful elk hunter you need to know elk, you need to live with them, learn their habits, and then adapt. We managed quite well for a long time doing this.
Anymore my bones don't take well to sleeping on the hard cold earth. If I tried to sleep with the elk again it would take me a hour before I could be up and moving around on a cold morning. But those days of my youth were fun.
So what are some tricks that you might be willing to share?