Busting in on elk....the not quiet approach...

[Trailblazer]

Last season I had the chance to try out a technique to get into some elk.  I spotted a group with 3-4 cows and one 4 point bull on an adjacent ridge.  It was dry as can be most all season and this made a sneak impossible.  I had been cow calling as I walked and luckily heard them before they saw me....the cows would call back but moving away as they did.  Well I figured I would just go straight at them thru a very brushy ridge...they must of thought I was 2-3 cows coming with the amount of noise I made...sticks breaking....not even looking where I was stepping.  I made it about 300 yards up the ridge and finally could smell them strong....broke into a little clearing they had just left and made my one mistake....I paused....the bull was only 30 yards in front of me but when I paused he busted!!  Had a bout a 5 yard window he bust through but just too fast and too soon......uggggg....but what a blast walking right into their living room!!

Anyone else have any luck with this??

 

[ghost]

Next time you bust them try a regathering sound. Pretty easy to learn from the Elknuts sounds. I had the chance to try it last season, when we busted a herd that was bedded down and we never saw before that moment. We hunkers down and I started a sequence. After a few minutes we heard cow calls and the herd started coming back together all around us. The bull stood 40 yards away just watching his cows calling back and forth. He was not the bull we were looking for, but that day I put something else in my bag of tricks.

 

[Kglacken]

I have used that tactic a few times. Not so much with my bow, but rifle hunting the thick timber that can work well. They will stop just long enough for you to get a shot off

 

[Montana_BackCountry]

I've had this work on several occasions.  My dad has always told me that Elk make noise too."  I find if a person moves without causing alarming sounds you can get really lucky and walk right up into them.  I like to use this near the end of my hunt though, when calling and getting ahead of the herd have been tried already.  As with most risks, the payoff is equivalent to the consequences.