LoneWati

Experience! Stay the course! Always stay confident. Find a place and make it your home. When I quit walking to see what was on the other side and started to glass all day long, I found the animals and where they would go and what they would do in certain situations! It only took 3 seasons!!!! They will be in my same spot every year. Sometimes it doesn't work out because there will be a guy wandering around, looking at his GPS in the open where they were feeding. Poor guy did not even know how many elk were running all around him!!! Could not believe my eyes! But, I don't own the forrest ground. I am still not sure how he got around me so early. I think he came up from the other side! I was ready to find a new area, but not now! Nothing big , but it fills the freezer. Also check areas that you see that everyone else passes by on their way to their spots. You would be surprised what is there!

Colorado Luckydog

Lots of good stuff.

Hunt the wind. Keep it in your face. The wind will usually come down the mountain early in the morning and switch as it warms up.

Big Uncle

Pay particular attention to any small timbered bench you spot that is about 1/3 of the way down from the top of a ridge. Elk seem to like these as bedding spots.

Lots of boot prints and horse tracks on the top of main ridges and on the bottoms. Not many hunters put in the effort to walk the side ridges. A few of my favorite spots normally do not hold elk, but sometimes look like an elk parade when the elk are pushed out of better country by all of the guys that glassed the feeding herds before season and walked/drove/rode in on opening morning.

Climb high early. It is much easier to move into position for a shot if you are going downslope.

All of my elk hunting is on public land during rifle seasons, usually with a backpack. I have no idea how early season bow hunters or private ranch hunters go about their business.

buffybr

This morning I watched 75-100 elk in one of the hayfields 1/2 mile or so below my house. I watched them for about an hour from my living room. I've seen them there for a number of years, and in just about every month of the year, including during hunting season. The field that they were in this morning is about a mile from a State forest.

They freely move around in about a 6 section area that is mostly ranches, but is slowly being subdivided with several new houses being built every year. Some of the landowners allow hunting, others don't.

I have filled my freezer several times when I was in the right spot as the elk moved from the private hay fields back up to the forest.

Wildman21

Wow! That's a lot of elk!

Jbergy

That's because you we're on private land. Elk on private ground act totally diferent as compared to elk on public land. I didn't say they are always on the mountain they do have to travel to water once in awhile. I can say I saw the same amount of elk too on public land on the side of a mountain. I'm just in general most elk country you will find them on the side of a mountain on public land. I hunt on public land only and pack in for miles away from the crowds.

Blackelk

Your better off hunting a spot for the week vs hunting an area. If you know there's elk there don't be the guy pushing elk to someone else. Sit down and let them push them to you. Pick your advantage spot well. Pick a opposing canyon wall where the elk will be moving in and out of feeding grounds into bedding areas. If your watching an area that is over 1/2 mile of distance or more that's fine but pick your position where you have a covered stalk into shooting distance where the elk will enter the wooded area's after first light. And you can cover that distance in a short time if the elk are on the move. I prefer not to be over 700-800 yards from my vantage point to where I'm going to make a move to get in range of the elk for a shot. Down hill is a lot quicker than trying to out distance elk up hill. They win every time unless your a marathon runner. Basically if you can bottle neck the elk into a 300-400 yard shooting scenario your way ahead of the game if you are comfortable shooting that range. I like watching huge area's myself provided you got time to stalk the elk, but on most public land during rifle season the elk are not going to hang out very long in one spot before they are on the move again. Be set up at first light find the herd make your best guess at stalking them and don't look back.

salukipv1

Put in the time/effort.

Don't beat yourself up.

Take a day off if you need to/can vs. packing up and going home.

You'll probably see the biggest bull of your lifetime about 100yds from where you park the truck when you're not expecting to see anything, and you'll probably not be ready etc... etc...

Good luck.

I read or heard somewhere a guy say hunting is, 1/3 preparation, 1/3 effort int he field, and 1/3 luck, which I thought summed it up quite well.

First thing to do after elk kill, "take some ibuprofen"

martwd1183

If I have the time like this year, I love wallows. I will stalk during the early morning and work my way to a wallow. I also always keep out my trail cameras on my wallow, heavy game trail or deep draw. I will plug in my cuddeview and see what I've missed. Wallows are hot spots in September and most of mine get used at noon and after dark. Now I hunt further in than most simply because elk aren't dumb. I go in the deep nasty draws and literally walk up ridges to the peak area where lazy people would never go. If someone is at my spot/spots than I'm forced to bust out the topo map, find a spot that's nasty usually down hill and I walk creeks. I can't tell you how many times I've jumped herds doing this. Also I'm not afraid to use my hootchie in moderation.

Colorado Luckydog

That sounds good but it's not realistic.

It's about 10 percent preparation, 10 precent effort and 80 percent location.

If the elk aren't there, it doesn't matter how much you prepared or how hard you try, you aren't killing chit!