Any suggestions on how to hunt just cow elk?

[timber02]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to archery hunt cow elk. I have chased bulls around but never really called in just cows. This may be a dumb question but....??? Should I call or not? Should I do a stand hunt? Or should I attempt spot and stalk(if reasonable to do so)? I guess what should produce the best results. Thanks for any help.

 

[OldMan]

Think back on your hunts for bulls. You should have had plenty of shots on cows, but ignored them, because you were hunting for a bull. When you\'ve called in a bull. Didn\'t cows come too sometimes? When setup for ambush for a bull. Didn\'t cows walk by too? From tree stand. How many cows were in view compared to bulls? When you found a bull with cows in the open.............Oops! There\'s those cows again.

What i\'m saying is you don\'t need to do anything different for cows. Just move your sights from the bull to a cow.

 

[Deertick]

Cow calling works ... Cnelk will chime in when he\'s back, I\'m sure. I\'d say finding a likely area and setting up 30-45 minute sessions of calling between 2-3 hunters is what he\'ll suggest. One person calls several chirps, then the other \"answers\" in about 30-60 seconds ... and so on ... if an elk is spotted, then the hunter who sees it stops calling, alerting the other hunter to keep calling, bringing it past the silent one.

I think this tactic would work well in the area you are going. It\'s just a matter of getting in the 300 yard zone of an elk and then doing \"it\".

Ambush hunting works when you know where they\'re going, but I never really am that good at guessing where an elk will walk. Spot and stalk works, too, I suppose, but elk rarely bed in the open where I can say \"She\'s over by that lone spruce tree\" and sneak up on them.

If you spot elk in an area one evening, be back there the next evening, softly trying the first calling method above. Softly.

 

[timber02]

Awesome and once again thanks for the help!! How far apart should the callers be roughly?

 

[Deertick]

25-40 yards as a \"base\". That\'s the way Cnelk does it. Again ... let\'s wait for him to chime in when he\'s back later. He is the expert, and I\'m only reciting what I\'ve learned.

You could \"cast a bigger net\" by adjusting those numbers, and I think that might work ok, too ... Even as far as 100 yards ... but that\'s speculation, not experience talking.

Set-ups ought to be 300-400 yards apart ... or more, depending on how the terrain and cover allow sound to travel.

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

I\'m not a fan of calling for just cows. I think the best bet would be still/ambush hunting. I have called them in, but far and few between. Most were alone and young. But it is possible.

If you want to call just cows, ask yourself what instinct forces a cow to stop what they are doing to come to your calls? Why would they? Most wont, unless you give them a reason too. Simple cow calling isn\'t going to get the job done because most herd cows aren\'t going to say.....\"oh, there\'s a cow over there I\'m going to run over to check it out.\"

Number 2 of my Golden 7 is that elk are herd animals and thus have herd instincts. A herd animal will always try to help out another elk if they are in trouble. I found that the lost calf or cow in distress sequences work very well and will entice all elk.

Just my 2-cents!

jf