Originally Posted by
Champlain Islander
All the advice above is good advice. Get in shape and hunt hard. Sitting on stand won't get you much and if your whitetail experience is still hunting then you should do well. They are herd animals and IMO pretty easy to spot once you get into where they are. When the pressure rises in early seasons they will head higher and away from the crowds. Wind is very important and particularly frustrating to me since it is always blowing in the west and constantly changing due to the steep terrain. A good set of binocks are a must. Get to a high point and glass all the canyons and ridges you can see. Get used to looking for the brown and especially to the buff color of the mature bulls. You can often see them feeding from miles away. The most important thing is being where they are. Unlike deer they can move miles in one night. When a herd is in an area they are numerous, big and leave plenty of sign. If you are good at tracking and reading the sign it helps to locate them. If you do locate them be very wary of the cows. They are always on the lookout and one brief shift in the wind and the game is over.
Thanks! about the wind.........I use Scent Away products when deer hunting and have had good bucks directly down wind of me and not pick me up. (sometimes). Do elk have better noses than white tails? I guess by packing along some food in a back pack would make it harder to cover up your scent also.