Someone should take 35 up on this. If your new to Elk hunting this would be the offer of a lifetime and a fantastic opportunity

Just mind ya this is not prime time for Elk but we always see them in November

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Sounds like to 270 person is going to come up Sunday night have room for one more I'll be up Thursday night

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agh!
 

You're killin me you guys....

For anyone looking to try their hand at Elk....doesn't get much better than this.

Not really tactics, but for those wondering when the rut ends and all that... I have been out today and they are going hard. Even got a few chuckles out of the guy before the herd took off. Heard six bulls in total for the day.

The latest I personally called in a bull was on October 19 a few years ago.

Edit: Tactics wise, I should add, I now definitely use a cow call a lot more than bugle, which is the complete opposite from 2+ weeks ago.

I agree-I'm working NW of GP, tonight I saw a field with over 30 elk, the bull was still running around sorting out his cows. He was a 5 pt, he had a couple of spikes in with them.

About time to re-up this post for new guys to read through..

What have you worked on this year to improve your elk hunting skills?

Scouting. Just started putting out some cameras and scouting the area. We moved early in the year, and it’s all new country. It’s going to be a very different season, but excited to check out the new area.

My hunting partner, who is already a farily decent elk caller, has upped his game considerably by expanding his elk talk vocabulary.

I've been putting together the bits and pieces to do a short backpack hunt with him. Lots of planning, calls to F&W, etc. And I've been putting in a lot more range/3D time with my new-to-me bow (also gets me some more father/son/daughter time too!)

Reflection on last seasons challenges/ mistakes.
In my area the elk started really really late. All bow season it was extremely warm. Bulls were silent which is not typical. First bugle I actually heard was after rifle opened up. As soon as the bulls got vocal we ( the guys I hunted with) managed to call three different bulls in three consecutive evenings. We managed to harvest and all was great. However i live right here in the middle of all the fun so waiting for the perfect time was easy. For me personally
i was having health issues that didn't really allow me to use a bow ( or rifle) for all of the early season so not having the elk in full rut during at that time was no issue.
What if I had planned a trip and timing just didn't work out..how do you roll with the punches and turn bad timing into success?
How about going into this season? This area is severely dry how will that impact your plans?
How do you find elk when they arnt making noise?
How do you figure out where the elk want to be during those " stressful" dry times?
How do you successfully hunt them when nothing goes as planned?
Start planning backup strategies and what to do's now.
Make sure you have a plan for if things don't go well.
Invest in yourself and build skills that will get the job done, not gadgets or tools that really in truth will not make you a better elk hunter

I may be able to squeeze in a couple days in that time frame.

late season cow was almost ... got close but every one had antlers . needed more snow or cold . next time , :)

Hey there !
Curious about hunting bulls on farm land with not as much bush? I hunt a lot mainly for deer and moose , but have been getting pictures of Elk from July periodically through October. The last couple seasons but have never heard a bugle.

Should I be going out in dark to hear the bugles before sunrise ? are smaller heards less vocal ? Or maybe they bed on a different section of land and just travel through or around our lake without spending large amounts of time?

Thanks for any advice

When you were out with a hot girlfriend did you holler and let your buddies know, or did you just park way back in the woods, kept your mouth shut and got the job done. A smart bull elk does the same thing!

1. Find the alfalfa/peas

2. Find the trail between it and their bedding/watering spot. It'll be in deeper bush somewhere in the area and that could be 1-5 k or infinity from the fields.

3. Get in bush early to ambush them returning from feeding.

I see them in oats later but if there's alfalfa around they'll be hitting it almost 100% of the time.

Does anyone have tips for December/January cow elk hunting?
I haven’t seen it discussed much.

Find the food usually fields somewhere

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Tracks in snow
Pellet poop


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Look back at some of the tracking info I have on earlier pages.
Finding food sources is also good advice. Not certain your hunting area but if you can find food sources they are using and cut fresh tracks stick with them...they will lead you to elk. Often talking with farmers in the area will tell you where the elk are feeding.

As I have said before Elk on private land with tough permission are fairly easy to hunt I have done it and found it about the same degree of difficulty as getting a deer on the same land.

Elk on public land weather on a draw, or general is a whole different hunt. It comes down to scouting,knowing your hunt area well, putting in the time, and effort and being prepared for just about anything. When you get one its a wonderful achievement. Be aware that getting skunked is par for the course, no matter how hard you try. Enjoy the time spent hunting for our most magnificent big game animal and good luck.

Find them, approach from downwind, and move fast.

Okay, I wasn’t sure if there was a tactic or method of hunting that is different from earlier in the season.
Thanks for the help!

Some great tips on here hope to put some of them to use next weekend. I usually don’t get a chance to hunt the rut it’s usually later season elk for me. So looking forward to getting into the herd and trying to call a bull or even a cow away from the herd. I’ve got a cow tag and buddy has a general tag.