2014 Elk Hunt Review

[flystrait]

All I can say is wow! I had one of the greatest times of my life this year when I comes to elk hunting, it all started off like every other year in finding a new adventure. I love to try new areas we have not hunted before, not because we can?t find the elk as we have shots every year on mature bulls where ever we go. It?s more of a new adventure for me, a challenge to repeat no matter the area. As Ceetoo mentioned in his write up it all started with an Ariel survey of the areas we were interested in. From there we were able to eliminate some and focus on others, then the boots on the ground had to be done in this process I look for terrain futures i.e. (food, water, cover, travel routes, ridges, saddles and knobs) at this point I don?t care if I see an elk don?t get me wrong I do look for sign such as tracks in the road, trail crossings, old rubs and etc. Then it?s time to find a camp spot and access points, once I achieve this the hunt begins when I return during season.


There is so much to share I will be adding to this daily with tactics used that work! A lot of successes and some failures.

 

[Deertick]

You\'ve got me interested ... post away.

 

[flystrait]

As we returned to the new area to start our hunt we held some optimism on what was to come as we do every year (Lots of bugling bulls!) We would head out and locate bugle several areas which is a form of scouting for us, and as we proceed we received many responses. This is where we start to put our plan of attack together, we start looking at the topo map of where the bugles we think came from check the wind which is always #1 for us and head for the bull of choice. This is where everything can come together or fall apart. As we worked several different bulls and had them committed and coming I think a total of 4 would suddenly shut up and not show ?Damn? what the heck a quick check of the wind huh (wind is good crap what happened) bugle some more and here are other hunters coming in to us up wind! Really crap and many other words mostly because they did not check their wind and ruined any chance for both of us, this happened all 4 times we called in hunters while working a bull all were up wind! As the time went on we were bugling bulls in daily one thing or another would happen with some wind swirling for just that moment boom the elk would shut up and we would never hear from him again crap, If my memory serves me correctly we counted roughly 8 bulls went away due to the wind. The weather was all over the place cold and snow, sunny and hot, wind and rain. I believe we saw all four seasons LOL. I also want to add most of the elk we have ever killed have been between 9am-3pm so if you put that together we are killing them in their bedroom.

Need to get back to work will be adding a lot more later.

 

[bowhunter]

Sounds like you covered rule #1. It also sounds like rule #2 should be if you expect other hunters are in the area do not bugle. I think soft cow calls might serve better in these areas.........Tell us more

 

[flystrait]

As we continue our hunt the bulls are starting to herd up and rut, this is around the 18th and we change our tactics. The bigger bulls have moved in a taken control of the herds, we do not chase them in the mornings, it has proven very difficult over the years to keep up or pull them away from the herds and we do not wait until the move in the evening. We typically will not use alot of cow sounds at this time like most people do because we are trying to go after the herd bulls. We are not interested in the younger bulls, we hunt them in their bedding area for a few different reasons (1. Is the elk become more stationary which allows us to dictate the approach 2. Once the herd has become more stationary the bull becomes more protective and 3. Most hunters are not hunting or attempt o hunt the bedding areas which allows us to go unbothered in OTC public land hunts. Being very aggressive is our mantra meaning when we locate a bull we move very quickly to their location and as close as possible before calling. Never call to an elk across an opening usually of any size large or small, if you do and that elk advances to your location most of the time they will stop right at that opening looking for the elk they through to be there. If they don?t see one they will likely get nervous and things will go south fast and you will loose the opportunity to take that animal. This can happen to anyone including us when you don?t know the area and you don?t expect to have openings as you advance forward. To help with this Birdseye imagery overlay on your GPS will help as you can see a Seattleite image of the area to your precise location, we will use this feature quite a bit. As we hunt these bedding areas we managed to call in several more bulls a neat 30? G2 5x5 another 350? class 6x7 that my son was able to release arrows on that did not find there mark! What a great learning experience for him as he was in his own words a stealthy and efficient ninja to be able to get in position LOL I love that kid.

More to come