RE: Elk Hunting out East. Advise wanted.
Well not being from back east I feel that answering this is taking a educated guess, but I have taken my friend from Virgina elk hunting (bowhunting) here in Idaho with me. When I asked him how big the mountains were back home in Virginia he just laughed at me between breaths, he was a huffing and a puffing because we were climbing at a good rate. Then he said MOUNTAINS, what mountains, those are just hills back home. At the time we were quite high at about 9,800 to 10,000 feet. Now I don't know what the highest peak or mountain range in Virginia is, and it doesn't really matter. My point is unless their is a big diference in elevation like 5 or so thousand feet, I can't imagine that the elk would want to be high or low meaning that elevation doesn't matter because there is not a big enough difference. Now I could be wrong about that becaue I have never been back to Virginia or back east for that matter. But I do know that they will want good feed and water, open meadows/farmers fields with thick cover close by and any mud holes that they can wallow in when they are hot. If the weather is warm enough they will wallow at almost any time of year. If I were you I would try to locate some elk starting right now, on into the spring. After I found them I would try to watch them pattern them through the summer until fall. I don't imagine that there are a lot of them roaming around, so the pickens will be slim and you will have to do your homework and ask a lot of diffferent people. Like the Fish and Game, Forest Service and try to get the names of the farmers who complained about the elk and contact them and all the farmers that live in the general area. Elk can cover a lot of ground, so they might travel through several farms during their daily routine. Hope this helps