rookelkhunter

Here' s my dilemma. A fella put me onto a PRIMO spot elk spot where he has taken some mongo' s in the past. His main reasoning for shelling out this info was that he has an old treestand just off of this meadow, and he knows I grew up in treestands. This meadow is down in a hole, and probably 4 miles from the gate (road closed), so to say there shouldn' t be any competition is an understatement.

Facts: meadow is about 300 yards long x 150, a burn (understand I am just learning the mountain lingo) area several years ago, so there is very little foliage on the trees. It' s flat and timbered for 50 yards around this bowl before it starts the climb in elevation. Two wallows 20 yards apart in one corner of the meadow, and a rock embankment just off that corner leading to the top of this hole. Several very small streams (not sure what you call them out here..more like a trickle). A TON of bedding down at the bottom, just off the wallows, all in the timber. Tracks everywhere.

I went over there this past weekend to get a feel for the area, and for the life of me could not find this old stand. How do I handle this?

Do I hunt my way in opening morning and then hope to find his stand that afternoon, sitting on it that evening?

Do I not chance it and bring an extra stand to set-up if I can' t find it?

Should I make another trip over to find the stand before the season, or at this point would I be doing more harm than good so close to the season? I can' t do it a day or two prior to opening.

Being this seems like a bedding area, should I not hunt this in the morning for fear of bumping them?

How about ground blinds? The only problem from what I can tell is that they are coming in here from all directions with the obvious exception of the NE/E corner of rocks, and setting up there daily (I assume) would mean bad wind on occasion?

Thanks in advance.

justhrowit

I' m a Deer hunter, and I' ve never hunted ELK. HA!!!!!!! I read your post anyway.

Macdaddy

WOW sounds awsome! Where is it? I will go out there and let you know how to hunt it!

You are screwed on the placement of the stand. If it were me I would sneak with the wind up to the spot in the afternoon the day before, glass until night. If they come in at dusk you could have a chance to call one in. If no chance to work an elk just mark where they come in from or if they are bedding where they go to. Then pick your spot for the next day.

davidmil

Me too.... BUT...

You don' t know enough about the area to make an intelligent decision yet. One, pick his brain a little more.... TWO, make another trip or two and observe from a safe place. THREE... scout a little more.

From MY elk readings and things... I doubt they' re bedding right beside the field except for periods of rest and chewing the cud during the night and early AM. The beds you' re seeing may be just that. I think they' ll head into the higher elevations and timber at first light. Find an alternate approach and get up above this place in the AM if you have to hunt. If you choose to not hunt the AM and chance busting them, set up on the place for the afternoon. Can you park your butt in the rock outcropping and shoot the wallows?

Any pressure can have an adverse effect... but I think you could chance some low profile snooping. Set up in the dark from afar and again late in the afternoon to see what' s happening. If it' s as private as you say you should beable to find THE SPOT. It doesn' t have to be a tree(and that' s from a tree hunter) Hunting from the ground would give you a chance to move on animals. You need to do some homework. The best answer is probably not going to come from us who haven' t seen it unless maybe you had a map.

P.S. In that country there are thousands of spots just like it. You have to be flexible.

selway

take another stand in there opening day pick a spot that looks good from what you have already seen no sents of bumping them now being so close to the opener.at least you can still hunt and observe with weopon in hand and if you have to move you will have a stand with you who knows if the other stand is still there.1 and 2 oclock seam to be the best times for hanging around a wallow you got a good spot don' t blow it with needless trips good luck

bigbulls

If I were hunting this particular spot I wouldn' t worry about the tree stand too much in the morning and during the day. The bulls could be coming to the wallows in the evening to get all stunk up for the night time romp with the cows and may or may not come to the wallows during the day. Set up a ground blind in the evening near the wallows if you can' t find the stand. Preferably about 20 yards on the up hill side of the meadow in the timber. Usually they wait until real close to dark to actually enter the meadows. Assuming you are bow hunting this land then the elk probably won' t be too regular during the rut. The bulls are constantly harrassing the cows and the cows are constantly keeping the bulls on the move. The elk are going to be on the move and so should you be able to move at a moments notice. Get above this meadow in the morning early. You will probably be able to catch them moving from the meadow to the higher elevations to keep cool. The earlier the better. The bulls will usually head up before the cows will until they have built up their harem and even then they will be hearding the cows up the mountain before light.

Wind is hard to deal with in the mountains. In the mornings there is a period of time that it is always going to swirl around whild it begins to warm up and the same goes for the evenings when is begins to cool down. It also has a tendancy to swirl around during the mid day when it kind of stabilizes and there are no strong thermals moving the air.

I would also go over there again and check out the land around this meadow. Especially above the meadow. Get there a week or more in advance of the actual hunt to do a little more scouting and make a ground blind then if you need to.