Your favorite method - Archery Elk?

[bz_711]

What is your favorite method for archery elk?

I have only been twice - both during last week of archery in CO (3rd week of Sept) and typically very heavy pine timbers with restricted long range viewing. Two years ago there were just enough bugles to chase and stay after them...last year, no bugles and very few sightings?

When the going gets tough - do you prefer to cover as much ground as possible with higher chance of bumping something, or slow it down and creep knowing that your once sighting might be your only chance?

I'm all ears!

 

[Timberstalker]

I like to cover ground when bow hunting elk. Where I hunt they move around quite a bit so its what I have to do to find them. I slow down if I get into really freash sign, but if I'm not seeing any sign or getting any response I'm on the move. I mostly hunt thick timber so seeing a long distance isn't an option.

 

[dhershberger]

The best method is to get on top of a high vantage point and glass with your binos and a spotting scope for hours. This is a much more effective method than just blindly walking through the forest bumping elk. It also helps you cover more ground quickly. Plus, when you see where the elk are, you know where they are but they don't know where you are which gives you a great advantage for the stalk. Walking and trying to bump elk is a very uneffective way to hunt elk, especially with a bow! Glassing on top of a vantage point is the way to go!!

 

[THelms]

Dhershberger, I couldn't agree more with you BUT, I have similar issues where I hunt as bz_711 does. Those being lots of quiet elk and cover so thick you couldn't pick it apart with napalm. I like to cover ground too and begin very early in the day. Often before light to listen for any possible elk in the area. I do still hunt with my bow and yes, I bump elk. However, I also have slipped up very close to them almost as often as I've spooked them. I grew up still hunting whitetails in the North Woods where deer populations are minimal and the wolves were never "reintroduced" so the deer were always super wary. I must say that sneeking up on an elk vs. sneeking up on a mature whitetail is, hate to say it... easy! That is not saying that still hunting for elk is a super effective method, it is not, but the chances afforded to me doing it have been a thousand fold more than those afforded napping the midday away back in camp! JUST HUNT! An old-timer once told me, hunt low (profile), hunt slow... good rules to live by pilgrim.

 

[Vanish]

dhershberger, what would you do, if when you got to your vantage point, it looked like this?

 

[BKC]

dhershberger, what would you do, if when you got to your vantage point, it looked like this?

View attachment 3052

I would take a nap untill 2:00, then eat a good late lunch and still hunt my way back to camp!

Hopefully you know better than to glass thick timber and save yourself the hike.

 

[Timberstalker]

I don't just go running though the timber hoping to run into elk. Its a little more complex than that. Hunting in close with the elk "IS" an effective method, and my favorite.

 

[RUTTIN]

Where I hunt your not going to see farther than a 100 yds. In Utah the hunt is so early, a lot of times the bulls are not even talking, so it is hard to cover a lot of ground looking(or listening) for a bull. If they are talking then yes I am running and gunning, if the elk are not, I prefer to sit on a wallow as far up the mountain as I can find. The bulls are more apt to come in during the day to wallow up by there beds. This is also where scouting or knowing your area well comes into play. I much prefer to chase them when they are bugling. And sometimes when I am still hunting and bump a herd, I have been able to run as fast as I can parallel to the herd for a couple hundred yards, let things settle down for a few minutes and then give a lost cow call. Sometimes the bull will come back to round up what he thinks is a lost cow. It doesn't always work, but if you have bumped them chances are not all the elk saw you, and if the bull didn't he may come back, what have you got to loose. If you haven't picked up Elk Nuts Playlist book, I suggest you get a copy and you might learn some good tactics in it. It makes for good reading while I sit at those wallows, good luck.

 

[brooks]

My favorite and most succesful way is on horseback. I know not everyone has them or wants them but they sure can take some of the pain out of chasing elk. We ride in then get off and try to get close. Ride, glass, call some....I love it !!

 

[8750]

Brooks that looks like some awesome elk country! I love hunting terrain that consists of nice open parks, thick timber patches , High elevation, and aspen stands interspersed. Perfect!!

 

[brooks]

Brooks that looks like some awesome elk country! I love hunting terrain that consists of nice open parks, thick timber patches , High elevation, and aspen stands interspersed. Perfect!!

Yea that was a perfect spot for sure. There was a true herd bull in that timber we were glassing in the pic he was a 7x7 and stuck to a cow like glue. He was bugeling every 5 or 10 seconds and right on her butt. He had 3 nice satelite bulls following his every step but keeping back about 30 - 40 yards from him and the cow. We got close to him but the cow took him over that ridge and they were gone. I had about a 25 yard shot on one of the satalite bulls but didn't take it because I thought we might get on the herd bull again. What a show!

 

[Jon Boy]

I don't just go running though the timber hoping to run into elk. Its a little more complex than that. Hunting in close with the elk "IS" an effective method, and my favorite.

I believe it was old hunter that mentioned it in another thread, the art of still hunting has been lost. Guys have no idea how to go about it effectively. Its a whole different thing tracking down a heard of elk in such thick timber that you can smell them before you see them. I was lucky enough to grow up hunting in the jungles of western washington where this is one of the only methods. It is my favorite as well, glassing can be effective, but not nearly as exciting.

 

[cnalder]

I exclusively bowhunt but have taken several elk with a rifle. Its just not the same. I'm for getting intimate with where you hunt by learning the ins and outs of an area. This probably most resembles still hunting. Find out where they like to feed, water, bed, and their main travel routes and you don't have to rely on spotting or hearing them. Way to many people bugle and move on if they don't hear an answer. In my experience elk are very active at night and with any moon will do most their calling then except during the peak.

 

[rsess32]

I personally do a ton of hiking in the off season to get to know the area i will be hunting, (scouting). Get to know where the elk are hanging out, and then during the actual season i do a lot of glassing from those vantage points that i found during the summer to locate those big bulls. But i do also from time to time venture into the deep pines and do the spot and stalk style of hunting. but in my experiences i have been more successful with sitting at a vantage point and glassing.

 

[rsess32]

2011 utah archery season

I personally do a ton of glassing during the season but it all starts way before the season opens with getting in there and learning the area, locating the elk and finding where they hang out, learn a bit about their movements, (scouting). Then during the season i do a lot of glassing from those vantage points i located during the summer. I do get into the deep timber on occasion to try and get in on them which is always fun and exciting but i have personally been more successful with the glassing method. But without a doubt you have to do some pre season scouting if you want to be successful. Here are a few pics from my last elk hunt from this past archery season in Utah. These are all the product of lots and lots of scouting trips during the summer before the hunt started.