I am a new member of this forum and I have a few questions about Elk and how they react to certain types of disturbances to the areas in which they move through.
The area in which we hunt is adjacent to a National (Canadian) Park, and we are not allowed to go into the park to hunt. Therefore we basically have to either call the Elk out to us, or catch them on the way out or in from feeding. Believe me this can be a very frustrating way to do things, especially if the weather (and especially the wind) in not co-operating with us.
Prior to our hunting this year the person whom we stay with had some other hunters on his property prior to our visit. These guys shot at two cows and ended up retrieving the second one. In doing so they found and cleaned their kill leaving the body and head of the animal behind on a well used Elk trail. My question is this; will Elk simply continue to use that trail or will they change their habits altogether (cause nothing moved through this area at all when we were there a week later).
The next question revolves around someone shooting and missing an Elk. We returned two weeks later to be placed in a different spot (one that looked quite promising). However we found out that someone else had been in that spot and fired on a bull and missed from our stands (again just prior to our arrival). Do Elk adjust their habits based on being disturbed by someone shooting and missing and then revealing themselves to the animals?
One last thing. Our "guide" always searches the elk trails with us upon arrival to see what is moving where. He has a habit of walking on all of the trails in the area to check them out. Is it my imagination, or is this not tipping off our presence to the creatures we are hunting.
elk are funny, if theyre used to peoplethe activity wont hurt or if its not local elk and just passers through it wont matter. If you shoot at public land general hunt elk and miss you dont have to worry about revealing yourself to the elk, because theyre already in the next time zone.
Elk Hunting Questions
