General/OTC elk areas

[Hammer]

Hi guys, hopefully you all can help me out and keep me from losing my mind any further.


For the last 10-12 years I?ve hunted the Snowy Range in southeastern Wyoming for elk primarily but to also learn it for the day I draw a moose tag.  It?s a general license area (hence the title of this topic) and here?s my problem: I?ll hike for endless miles and not see an elk, not hear an elk, and not find any recent sign. I?ll hunt high and low, I?ll try my best to get away from the roads and other people and after 5-6 days I?m both physically and mentally shot.  I?ll pack up and head home.


So my questions for those that hunt areas that everyone and their brother that can buy a license can hunt is/are: how do I keep my mental focus and drive continuing when I?m not finding elk and most importantly what can I do to improve my odds on finding the elk?  I?m almost exclusively a bow hunter so the time frame I?m hunting is during mid to late September when I should be at least hearing some faint bugles in the early morning hours.


It?s getting very old eating my tag year after year and my motivation is in the toilet. I seriously think I?ll see Bigfoot before I see an elk in this area. I?d love to hunt the west side of the state, but I hunt alone and really don?t want to end up grizzly poop.


Any help, tips, and advice anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[cohunter14]

Welcome to the site Hammer! I guess a lot would depend on what kind of sign you are seeing hunting the area. Are you finding fresh skat, tracks, rubs, etc? Anything to tell you that the elk are in the area? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...at a minimum, it sounds like you need to expand on the area you are currently hunting to include some new areas.


Have you ever filled your tag in this area?

 

[nclonghunter]

Welcome aboard Hammer....You win for the perseverance award. We hunt Colorado and if we dont see or hear an elk in a day or two it's time to move miles to another area. All we hunt is public land. If your hunting late September and not hearing any bugles or seeing elk then my guess is they are not there or in numbers so low it is a crap shoot. Are any hunters packing elk out? Are there other hunters camping and hunting the area? Ask your Wildlife Officers that work that area on the elk numbers. I cant tell you where to go to but I would not be hunting there from what you have shared.  I hope you find a great area and start having encounters with elk!!!

 

[jvanhoy]

They both hit the nail on the head. If your not finding elk pretty quick load up and move. Elk are big animals that leave a lot of sign and are very vocal during the rut. Keep moving till you find them. Then it?s time to hunt. Good luck and stay with it. WY is a great state to elk hunt I can?t wait to draw the general tag again in a few years. Pm me and I?ll share a area we got on some elk 2017.

 

[cnelk]

Plenty of elk in the Snowies. Go find them.
And not just during hunting season.


Get in there when the snow leaves and scout as much as you can during the summer.

 

[Wyo67]

We also hunt the Snowies virtually every year and have had pretty good success.  As cnelk said, there are plenty of elk there.  We went to the Sierra Madres this year until we were forced to evacuate for the fire and went back to the Snowies.  I will say this year it was a little more difficult to find vocal elk during the day due to what I thought was more hunting pressure. 

 

[Hammer]

Thanks for the replies, got stuck doing the work thing and haven?t been on here since my initial post.


As for sign, I did find a lot of sign but all of it was weeks, if not months old. I found a few areas that seemed like they?d be excellent in early September but by the time I got there the elk had vacated the area. I was there late September this year and seemed to find where the elk had been, but not where they currently were. I did do a lot of driving to reach certain areas then hiked in to hunt, but again it was either old sign or no sign. The no bugling I?ve just attributed to being call shy after being called to all of September, but it?s probably that and no elk in the area.


As for filling my tag in all the years hunting the Snowies I?ve gotten 1 spike and that?s it. So to say I?m frustrated would be a huge understatement. I do understand it?s hunting and a tag won?t be filled every year, but what I?ve dealt with is a bit much.


I try to keep a good attitude and know my next trip out to hunt might be the time I find an elk, but after 5-6 days I?m physically shot, shins are beat up, and I?m exhausted. Since I hunt alone any pointers for keeping me motivated to keep going?


Thanks again everyone!

 

[cohunter14]

Hammer, keep good notes and continue to keep trying new areas. The good news is you?ve found a lot of areas to cross off the list. Keep doing that and eventually the pieces of the puzzle will come together. Again, make sure you aren?t doing the same thing and going to the same areas every year expecting different results.

 

[Wyo67]

If you're a local, consider going out earlier.  Maybe just a weekend trip to try and locate vocal elk.  I think you do have a point with the elk in the Snowies going call shy as the month goes on.  My partner called in a nice bull opening day of 2017 and we struggled when we were out later in the month.  This year we were in the Sierra Madres and got kicked out by the mandatory fire evacuations.  Went back to the Snowies and the elk were considerably quieter where we went. 

You have my absolute respect to be hunting solo.  I to would struggle with motivation within a couple of days.  Sometimes it's good to take a 1/2 day and go to Saratoga, relax in the hot springs and get cleaned up in the shower after spending a few days in the woods.  Helps us reset.

If you haven't done so, consider enrolling in the UEH course and go over the locating and finding elk chapters.  For the areas where you have seen promising sign, think about investing in a couple of trail cameras and set them out in the summer and check them before the season.