New to Elk Hunting need help
 

Hey i have recently joined the forums in search of hunting advice.
i am from British columbia Canada and i am a begginer when it comes to elk hunting. I was wondering if you guys could help me out with some tips on elk hunting the seasons i will be hunting will be september and october. I dont really know the best places to find elk or how to get to them any tips would be greatly appreciated thanks.

seriously? noone well thanks anyway.....

I don't know anything about British Columbia. Maybe others don't either. Here are a few pieces of advice for the first time elk hunter.

Elk locate at different elevations at different times of the year. You need to figure out at what elevation they are likely to be at during your hunt and hunt at that elevation. In Colorado, elk are up high -- around 11000' to 12000' or even higher -- until some heavy snows (18" or more) push them down lower on the mountain. Of course, I don't know the elevations and locations of elk in British Columbia, but I imagine the same issue applies to your elk. You might ask experienced BC hunters about this elevation versus hunting season question.

Elk tend to stay away from the roads. When you go hunting, get in away from the roads -- maybe 2-4 miles away from the roads. Of course, be mindful that if you kill an elk, you need to get the elk meat back out. That is a logistics problem you should definitely have thought about and developed an plausible solution for. Maybe you can hire a packer. Don't assume this, talk to some packers in advance, ask prices, can you afford the prices, be ready to pay a higher price than quoted when the elk is dead on the ground.

Elk in undisturbed patterns tend to be active, moving and eating, at first and last light. During daylight hours they tend to hide out in bedding areas. You want to first find where the elk are generally located. Unlike deer, elk are not uniformly distributed. You may find 20 elk in a 10 acre area, but then there may be no other elk in the surrounding 15 square miles. When you have located the elk, then you need to figure out how and when to approach them without being detected. If you know where the bed, where the eat, and what route they follow in between, you can possibly arrange to ambush them during early and late hours in this transition area.

Look for elk on long ridges, maybe especially at places where the ridge levels off and/or flattens out a bit.

Try to find some locals who are experienced elk hunters and ask advice.

What weapon are you hunting with? Are you hunting alone? What boots do you have to wear? What clothes do you plan to wear? What kind of knife do you carry?

"seriously? noone well thanks anyway....." Patience! You posted in the morning and then come back the same day in late afternoon. Some aren't on during the day, some of us only periodically.

Do a search of this an other hunting forums and read all you can about elk hunting. Go to the library and search out books and hunting magazines and read them. Go to your local sporting goods stores and talk to them. If there is a archery or gun club in the area, pay them a visit. Many here can give good general advice about hunting elk, but the locals up there will no specifics about the seasons and elk populations in your area. BC is a big area!

Great responses by the previous two posters. I agree, find as much info as you can online and in books. There is an amazing amount of info out there on elk behavior and how to hunt elk, but much of the info depends on the area/location you will be hunting. I have hunted elk several times with success in Colorado, but other than general behavior much of it would not apply to BC.

thank you guys very much i appreciate the tips. ive been having some great luck i iwll post pictures when i shoot a bull
also if you have any website links for elk hunting advice it would be much appreciated if you post it

The best thing to do is go to the area you will be hunting in talk to the locals and or the local game warden...Elk have NO set pattern that they follow all over, elk in colorada will act differently than elk in Idaho or Washinigton, elk that hang in the foothills will not act the same as elk in the high country.......elk in the high desert will be different from the elk in the low desert.....elk where I hunt prefer to hang in the rolling sage hills at 2500ft to maybe 5000ft rather than go into the steep timber......one of the biggest elk in Washington came from a elevation of about 400ft in the low desert!!!! Elk in BC will not pattern like elk in CO.

Elk don't even act the same in Colorado. Pretty boring if I always knew what the elk were going to do.

There ya go LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!elk around here would get lost in CO. Here they hang out all over, in town, just outside town, out in the wheat fields sometimes right next to the freeway in the windfarm!!! down by the river!!!!;) they are all over!!!

We get that in the winter when we can't hunt them.

During hunting seasons they disappear. :confused0024: