Some elk hunting questions

[thanatosbeckons]

So I went elk hunting for the first time this past weekend (CO Bowhunting unit 48). I have hunted whitetails in GA since I was 12 (8 years) but now I'm living in CO and am getting to hunt out here for the first time, and it's amazing! So after my first weekend chasing elk I realize that i have a very very lot to learn. I did come up with a few specific questions though.

* what is the best way to start your hunt in the morning. ie- find a high spot and scout for them then try to ambush; set up on a specific trail or feeding area that looks well used and wait. Still hunt slowly throught the woods and call every once in a while? - I know there are lots of different circumstances that call for different strategies, but what is a good way for a beginner to at least get a start on doing the right thing, not just walking around and spooking elk.

* what do you do if you jump an elk. try to call it back? try to follow it? leave the area so you don't scare anymore?

* Is it worth it to hunt the afternoon, or should i stick to mornign and evening hunts?

Any other tips or ideas are helpful, I know this is a lot I'm just looking to glean any information from folks who know what they're doing cause I don't know any hunters out here. Yesterday was by far the most exciting hunt I've ever had. I did a cow call and had a bull going crazy, it was surprising to hear him bugling like that because it's so early. But he never came to me, I'd call and he'd respond almost every time but just kept leading me further up a ridge, into extremely thick woods (couldn't see much past 30 yards or so. I got within about 40-50 yards of him and could see a few glimpses of him and boy did he look (and sound) big. He went around to the other side of the ridge but was still bugling back at me, i kept trying to get closer and ended up jumping another bull that was bedded nearby! called to the second bull and he circled around me, but never came within sight other than a little glimpse of an antler or some brown. What should I have done in this situation, I ended up giving up on them so I could go back in a day or so and try again, shoudl I have kept following them and calling? Should I have stopped and tried to get the first bull to come to me rather than trying to stalk up on him? Sorry this is so long; I'm just so excited about this elk season and want to learn how to do it right... thanks for reading.

[krueger]

im not to sure about the callin and such but make sure you hunt into the wind or have a scent blocker cause elk can smell a hunter just a good as a whitetail. Also i have had better luck hunting mule deer down hill cause alot of times the wind is going up the slope.

[ELKampMaster]

than,

Welcome to the boards and to Colorado!
It is awesome isn't it?
Bit different from whitetails, I'm sure.
Not a bowhunter myself, so not much help there.
Especially if you aren't with a mentor, the first years can be a learning curve, hang in there.
Watch for elknut1, he seems to live and breathe elk and bowhunting.... a good source of info.

Again welcome,
EKM

[rather_be_huntin]

You may get different answers but I'll throw in my 2 cents for whatever its worth.

#1 - Your morning strategy depends on time of year and the area you are hunting. We are talking during the rut so you can be much more aggresive. Also how well do you know the area you are hunting? If you don't know it real well (meaning you don't have a firm grip on where the animals are) then being in your starting position a few minutes before first light is the first thing you want. You want to be at least a mile from any road at first light. Do some calling and some glassing for 30 minutes or so. Then start moving calling once every 5 - 10 minutes. The calling you want to do is mostly cow calling and a spike squeal thrown in every once in a while. You want to sound like a group of elk. Once you get to another good looking "elky" spot hang around for another 30 minutes or so glassing and calling. Stay sharp some elk may come in silent. All the while look for sign and how fresh it is. If you do this for a few days you'll find them.

#2 - If I spook an elk it just depends on how spooked it was, the terrain, and what direction the wind is blowing to determine what I do next. If its a bull and only mildly spooked say it only trots off a few hundred yards and slows to a walk then I'd give him a few minutes then I'd change location and set up on him again and start calling. If hes moving you can also try and circle and ambush him. Just depends on the situation. But unless the wind is favorable and you can walk extremely quite I never directly follow an elk. If they know something is on thier back trail it usually blows them out of the county. If the elk heads into a nasty hole you better let it go unless you have a way to get it out. If an elk is really spooked hes gonna leave the area anyway and you won't have to worry about it.

#3 - During the rut you can hunt all day if you like. The more time in the field the greater the chance of success. Just change your tactics a little. Don't be quite as aggressive in the middle of the day. You can still call and get some responses. You can get bulls to bugle from thier beds but unless he is laying where you can see him I like to leave him in his bed and come back later. You can also be hunting for fresh sign during this time of day. They will usually be bedded in the middle of the day so its a great time to search for feeding areas and fresh sign. The only thing to remember is do not go into thier bedding areas, usually once they get spooked there they leave the area altogether. But many a bow hunter has gotten that midday bull, the key is you gotta be out there to make it happen.

I'm not an expert but I've had success using these tactics, hope it helps.

[skeeter 7MM]

I second that get a hold of Elknut @ www.elknut.com. He is a great resource and loves to share ways to make you a better elk hunter (he does instructional video's as well on techniques for calling elk - Buy one!!!).

[Dirt2]

I'll say this on a couple points.

Calling to elk after you have spooked them is a great way to educate the elk and make them call-shy.

Definitely hunt afternoons, in peak rut you should try to be out all day long.

[Wolf killer]

Welcome to the board. I live & hunt in Montana. I have to keep this short as the honey do list is a long one today.
Set yourself up in a good spot to glass from late in the afternoon. Just sit there & watch everything around you. When you spot elk that are walking out of the timber or sage brush to feed? Watch them as long as you can. Try to figure out where they are going. Then set yourself up before daylight in the same area you watched them come from the night before. If the wind is right? You can also hunt them this way in the evening. Once I know where they feed & bed in general I just play the wind & try to ambush them.
I also second, third or fourth the idea of looking up elknut1. I am sure he is bow hunting elk at this time & away from his computer. When he does come back he will help you out.

[BowElkFreak]

Just got home from Elk hunting!

All of the points above are great. There are couple of points I'd like to point out about Elk in general that new hunters may not know or overlook.

1. Elk hate the sun, plain a simple, they avoid it hitting their backs. Be sure to glass those areas where the light is gone in the mornings or evenings and pick them up feeding on the way to their beds.

2. Elk cover some serious country. The elk I'm chasing right now even are covering about 10 miles a day.

With those two simple points above, here is my 2 cents. Too many people get stuck chasing Elk around the mountains. They usually come out in the evenings to feed, feed most of the night, then as the sun is coming up, start feeding their way back to their afternoon beds.

All that movement and serious country is tiring and let's face, chasing Elk might pay off every now and then, but if you want to consistently kill Elk, learn to wait for them. Find their bedding areas and hike into those in the dark and set up. They will be feeding into you in low light to mid morning. Set up and call. The beauty here is they are already coming in your general direction and not away from you.

You can then hunt them in the a.m., then stock them in the afternoon and then almost chase them out of the hills as they move to feed.

During the peak rut, you will get more action in the afternoon and it will just be more fun with more action and activity. This general practice above works extremely well. We kill alot of Elk and alot of big bulls using this technique. I've tried them all, seen them all and I'm sure people have killed some elk many other ways. I have too, but above works very well and is a consistent way to get into Elk.

One other note, my dad isn't a bowhunter like me and still uses this technique during the rifle hunt.

Just my 2 cents and works well where we chase the awesome animals!

[Elkcrazy8]

Just got done processing one. Just because a bull is bugling doesn't mean that he will come in. I have found that elk will make different bugles for different occasions. Get elknut's videos. He can explain it way better than I can. This past monday the bulls were not going into full bugle. They were huffing as I put it. It is their way of sizing each other up. A bull will huff to get the other bull to show himself and to see if he is a threat or not. Cow calling wasn't the key that day. I started huffing back and held still. I was showing the bull that I was interested in him coming to me. I wanted to show him how big I was and that I may be able to kick his butt and take his women. This situation worked that day but may not work tomorrow. Cow calling works awesome and it is what I normally do. I use alot of silent calling tactics in this ealry season for the bigger bulls. Right now is the time for them before they get cowed up. I hunt with another guy and we will seperate ourselves a little bit apart. We will start a 5-6 minute series of esterous calls. and shut up for 20 min to a half hour. One will watch one direction, while the other watches the other direction. The big bulls are likely to come in silent so both of us are on the lookout. Each situatioin should have a tailor made tactic. The biggest thing is learning the elk language and when to apply each call. Get ready for the ride of your life. Elk hunting is worse than crack...................

[CrazyElkGuide]

Hi guys, new to the site but not new to bowhunting elk. The responses to the original post are all very good and each one I am sure has paid off for their respective authors. but one thing to remember that I think everyone will agree with me on is............THERE ARE NO RULES TO ELK BEHAVIOR AND RESPONSE, JUST GENERAL GUIDELINES. Each bull you encounter may or may not act like any other bull you have hunted. These animals are very intelligent and intuitive but have all somehow failed to read a "rule book" For example, you may be on a herd bull with a dozen cows that is bugling his head off but won't do anything but bugle back to your calling and not move an inch on one day, then the next day you may be able to convince that very same bull to get out of his bed in 80 degree heat, walk away from his dozen cows and come a mile up a 30% slope screaming untill he is 5 yards from your bow. I have had it happen that way for clients on more than one occasion. Given that, it might not ever happen again even in 20 more years of hunting these things. I have also found bulls that would not tolerate even a cow call or two once you were within a couple hundred yards from them, they would just pack up their cows and move out. Probably my best recommendation would be this: You almost have to learn to become like a kind of "elk Psychologist" each time you get on a bull. By that I mean that alot of times the success of your foray will come down to how well you can get inside that bull's head and figure out exactly what "buttons" you need to push to make him end up where you need him to be for a shot. My second recommendation is to really take to heart the tips you recieve from fellow elk hunters, no matter how crazy they might sound( of course as long as they are ethical). No matter how many elk you call in, or get in range of successfully, there will ALWAYS be something more to learn. A person can learn these lessons from their buddies gathered around the taxidermist shop or the local cafe before they hunt,...... Or they will be TAUGHT these lessons by some bull that they would have really liked to harvest.(many lessons will be unavoidably learned via the second method). You just have to take the tips that are shared with you and try them to figure out which seem to work best in your area and with your individual hunting style. Then take the rest of the tips and keep them in the back of your mind for those days when you really have to dig deep in your bag of tricks.
Last but certainly not least, ALWAYS, ALWAYS watch the wind, it can determine the outcome of your hunt no matter how many layers of scent proofing or reducing clothing and sprays you have on.