Elk
 

Obsessed, Older very smart bulls pull the "Watch the back trail" technique quite often. Very hard to jump them out of their bed as they are usually going north when you are still tracking south. Couple years back two very large bulls played me all day, never got within a quarter of mile of them.

Good info. I didn't think this bull was a huge old boy based on his track but it's possible it was. What is the best way to get a chance at a smart bull that watches his back track? I noticed that he back tracked every time his tracks changed from going somewhere( purposed line track) to more wandering side to side. Do they do this when they sense something is following them? Hear something on the back trail? Or just being smart and safe? I have trailed herds and singles for miles in the past but this is the first time I've seen a bull purposely watch his back track. It seemed calculated. He always swung at least 80 yds back around to watch is trail. And always stood in thick cover while watching. I was thinking that slowing way down when you notice the tracks changing and using a nervous grunt to get him to expose his location..this would be after the peak rut when there is tracking snow on the ground

One thing I have learned elk hunting, you can’t judge the size of a bull by his track or his bugle.

I have heard powerful bugled come from raghorns and I have heard wimpy half assed bugles come from mature bulls.

LC

It's true but most of the bigger bulls I have tracked/ shot all had big hooves ( like cows feet) with rounded toes and deep dew claw marks( weight of animal) also they tend to swing around low hanging dead fall and don't take tight spots in thick timber. It's never a for sure thing but a educated guess. I agree bugle has nothing to do with size of bull but rather the level of intensity that particular bull is at the particular moment

This bull had big hooves but still a bit pointy and he ducked under thick stuff a WT doe would have had to squeeze through: )

Nothing to add here personally, but great thread! Thanks for all the insight.

My Dad shot a 335” bull this year and when he was coming in I figured he was a 2.5 yr old raghorn at best :)

LC

elk success
 

Hello to all, Happy 2020. This is my first time posting on the forum. Please feel free to help me out with tips and advice. I've enjoyed reading through your elk hunting stuff. Interesting to hear different guys' take on things, especially what some guys see as "most important", thinking of what to tell new elk hunters that they should focus on. Interestingly, calling and long distance shooting come up regularly as essentials. Or scouting. Or keeping an archive of past years' sightings. That's cool. Good advice, I guess. What's surprising to me is that I have never called an elk in, I have no long-distance shooting skills or equipment, i have never kept record of past seasons' elk sightings, other than mental track.... and I have killed bull elk in non-draw zones in general seasons 30 times in 35 years. I have been very fortunate and have had a TON of fun with my dad, my brothers, and now my own children, including my daughter. This season we took three bulls, two decent 6x6's and a 4x4. If i could say what I would consider the MOST important ingredient is, I would say this: Out-think and out-work other hunters. Get out of your truck and away from the road and get out your binoculars and learn where to look. By far most of the bulls I have taken, I saw through my glasses first, often bedded, often in dark timber, often in view of where they would feed early or late. Sometimes I followed tracks that I KNEW were fresh. Old tracks, as in previous day or older, mean very little except that elk HAVE been there. I love looking for tracks right after snow stops falling. That's the absolute best time, I've found. With so much private land where I hunt, I've had to learn to simply not waste time looking for or looking AT elk that I can't hunt anyway. Focus on where you CAN hunt. It's surprising how that year after year, elk will likely be found in the same places.
On a completely different topic....this year my youngest son drew a tag for Suffield. We have never hunted elk there and I have absolutely no idea where to start. Is there anyone here who could give us some advice? His tag is for February 3-5, 2020. Thanks in advance.

I assume all if not most of your elk have been taken during rifle season? If you are hunting them during the rut with a bow calling becomes a necessary tool in the toolbox.

LC

elk success
 

Yup, you are right on. I completely agree that calling, even cow-chirping, would be essential in bow season. To clarify, i actually HAVE used a cow call to stop a moving bull so that I could get a shot. I've just never been any good at bugling.

Good thread tons of useful info for new elk hunters. Started the elk nut app learning and practicing in my truck on the way to work with the mouth reeds.

What do people think of those primos reed/tube all in one calls vs a separate reed and tube?

I'm just starting out but the diaphragms are pretty useful when you need both hands.

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Good advice. A couple of yrs ago two in our group were staked by a cougar in high grass. No use obsessing over it but be aware.

elk
 

Obsessed, slowing way down and use glass when you see elk tracks wonder as he is usually picking his bedding site. The smart bulls that back track and watch their back trail are usually gone before you can see them. They have probably smelled you well before they see or hear you. They also seem to bed in the thickest bush when they are pushed by hunters not giving you a shot.

Awesome success rate. I'm sure you have more tricks and tips you can share. What type of terrain do you hunt? In my area there's no sitting up and glassing. it's all thick timber and blow downs with trails( quad and game) for moving around. Usually 100-200 yds down cut lines or quad trails is max visibility. Calling/ tracking is really the only possible options unless you hunt private ag land. Usually the Elk get pushed hard enough that you won't find them in ag land during hunting light unless you live right there and are able to watch/ keep track daily and be home at the right times. I'd love to hear more about what you do to be successful and what areas these tactics are applied to.

I have called Elk in with both. My preference is a diaphragm reed and a bat tube( rocky brand) but i often pack a collapsible tube instead.
Making realistic Elk sounds is key and I can do quite a bit more with a mouth reed as opposed to a all in one call

Paul's app is amazing. If your into pod casts he does quite a few guest appearances on quite a few different shows that are worth listening to

Some funny observations I’ve made about elk over the years.

If you want to learn to call, right now us a great time. There are huge winter herds that are not hard to locate... find them, get close enough to them and observe and listen....

You’ll notice there are ‘lookouts’, lazy dummies, the herd cow.... and others. They communicate allot! If there’s bulls in there ... you’ll notice that bulls tens to chirp a lil different than the cows. There are different types of chirps and you can see how others react to them. Of course... this will only happen if you put the sneak on them and not get too close.... you’ll also start to realize that playing the wind in elk starts wayy farther back than you thought possible. Ingulayes got good sniffers.

Big bulls like big thick cover most of the time. They kind of ‘j-hook’ to back check themselves (I also see big old whitetails do this as well).

It’s kind of funny cause the big thick stuff for bedding is also perfect creep-ambush cover for cougars... I’ve seen tracks of both playing the game.... it’s a lil unnerving.

I wish there were large herds up here to find and learn from. 60 head is a big herd here and most groups are less than 20.

I suppose I do have more "tips & tricks" I could share:). First, the kind of land/terrain I hunt has varied from nearly open grassland & prairie all the way to rugged mountains. I guess I've taken elk in all kinds of places. But mostly it would be foothills close to mountains. I did kill my biggest bull down in 300, close to Waterton. Those old bulls are in a different class. I was 42 years old at that time, had taken tons of game, but I was humbled by how much I didn't know about big bulls. They are on another level of "smart". I learned a few things from a friend who showed me what he knew, or I likely wouldn't have taken that bull. Late season. January, I think. So calling was not part of the picture. Also, you are right about living where the elk are. For many years I lived within a few minutes' drive of land I had permission to hunt and made dozens of quick trips before or after work to just glass and look for tracks crossing roads and so on. And if I had to nail down only ONE factor that has contributed to my success, it would probably be TIME. I have been fortunate in that I have been self-employed for most of my life, and that has allowed me to plan spontaneously. If it's snowing hard and i know it's gonna quit overnight, I will change my plans for that first few hours of the next day. Or if it's 2:00 in the afternoon and it stops snowing.... if at all possible, and I still have a tag...I'm gone. I guess it's about prioritizing, and I know that for the vast majority of working men, that just isn't an option. But adjusting your life so that you CAN go when the conditions are optimal...That's huge. These days, I rarely even bother to hunt on a Saturday. Way too many guys out there, including roaming game wardens, which I respect but just don't need to mess with. I am also a big fan of the last hour of light, especially when it's cold or the snow is deep. Elk will feed. If there's no moon or it's overcast, they will almost always be visible in the last 45 minutes or so. More often than not, we end up gutting in the dark, because so often we spot a bull two miles away with less than an hour of light left, and knock him down with 15 minutes to go. make sure you carry a headlamp:).

Great info. What would you give as #1 priority for a guy coming for a 5 day hunt with the possibility of a weekend before scouting trip for you're area. What are the tools a guy needs to find Elk? Or even a local nube who is just getting into Elk hunting trying to put his first bull in the freezer?

That's a good question. About 20 years ago, I was on my first-ever Dall sheep hunt west of Whitehorse. As we were flying over the mountains, I had a great conversation with the float-plane pilot. The mountains all looked gorgeous to me. It ALL looked like awesome sheep country. But I was wrong. He told me that real sheep hunters have to learn where the sheep AREN'T, in order to start finding where they ARE. Habitat has to be more than just food. It has to be cover, and water, and escape routes, and numerous other things, to hold game. The same, to a lesser degree though, holds true for elk, in my opinion. So I know this probably isn't an answer that most guys will be happy to hear, but the #1 priority has to be knowledge. And knowledge comes from experience. I have a friend who sometimes carries a bow and a rifle at the same time because he meanders in & out of the mountain/foothills zones when rifle season isn't open yet in both zones. He kills elk every year. Bulls. That's how you gain experience. I guess I have simply learned a bit about where NOT to waste my time looking. Just like the pilot told me. So I hate the idea of a guy having a 5-day trip planned, without having the knowledge of the area. Scouting certainly helps, but I think that getting UNDERSTANDING of where elk are the most likely to be, well, I'd rather not have any time to scout but have a clear grasp of where I'm going and why...and If at ALL possible, find someone to go out with. Someone who has hunted your area and loves the idea of taking an elk. That kind of experience can leap-frog you way ahead. So... I don't know if I'm being helpful here or not, in answering your question. If you're "going blind", as in, you've booked a week off and you're heading for the hills and you're just HOPING you find elk...well, I've never done well that way. In some parts of the country that may work. Colorado, for instance... some time back, they used to kill more bull elk, on public land, than the entire Province of Alberta elk population. The chances of even out-of-state hunters without a clue about the mountains, finding elk, were fairly good. We just don't have elk numbers like that. I wish we did. So... a good knowledge/grasp/understanding of what kind of territory that elk will prefer to be in, and where they will NOT be...is that one essential ingredient. If you sit down with a map, you can start to scratch off lots of useless ground. Anything within earshot of a paved road, just forget it. Anything within earshot of operating machinery, same thing. A long time ago i read an article in the RMEF Bugle magazine that said research had shown that even one residence per quarter-section of land was enough to keep elk away. I try to hunt at least a mile from any buildings of any kind. Preferably more. I know this isn't really that "one thing" you were hoping for. Just trying to help. I guess if I were to be dropped off somewhere to go elk hunting, besides the obvious which would be my '06 and binoculars, I would want to be away from any terrain where people can drive. Elk don't stay where you can drive for very long.

Great info there.

I harvested my Elk this year 50 feet from the truck on the next field from the females.

Sometimes its just bloody luck.

I have been lucky as well but not lucky year after year. Hunting private land that holds Elk ups your odds. As a side all the Elk I have shot have been within 2 km from a road

Time to bring this thread to the top. Hope it helps some guys out this year

Bumping for the great advice. I’m hoping for my first elk this year, but I’m getting myself mentally prepared to go home without.

Thanks again!

Think positive man never prepare to go home empty it could happen but if you're already thinking that you probably will.

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Awesome thread!

While resources like elk101 and others are great , it’s nice to get advice from Alberta guys.

10 weeks till September :)

Just got the new spypoint micro link setup Works beautiful right to my phone soon as they happen

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