Let me tell you about my Elk Season

[jtapp83]

Two days ago I had a moment of shear hunting rage.  If you have not experienced this before I will tell you how it feels.  You should know a few things about me first.  This is my first posting to this forum.  So, I've decided to introduce myself on this sight in this manner.  3 seasons ago, I dusted off my bow, pulled the bolt out of my 30-06 and oiled it.  Before this moment I had not hunted in about 5 years.  I took an inventory of my hunting equipment.  I still had most things (that I remembered) having.  I finally had the fall open due to a job change and was ready to get back after it.  The thought of drawing my bow while the aspens were yellow, and "quaked" while a huge bull came bugling in had me fired up.  I told my then girlfriend (now wife) that I would pursue hunting again.  The first two seasons as  I expected would be my learning curve.  I did not expect to shoot a bull but rather, learn about hunting the rut.  If I got close, hey, good deal.  I worked on calling, shooting, and scouting...although scouting is still a bit of an enigma to me.  My fitness level has never been a concern.  My wife is a semi professional triathlete, and while I don't necessarily compete I do race with her.  I did a 15 mile day in the mountains yesterday, I'm not beating my chest, just giving you an idea of how much ground I can cover on any given day.  Back to it.  This summer I purchased the Elk 101 DVD and found it incredibly helpful yet very situation specific.  An Example here would be if the Elk aren't talking back just go to another range.  This is easier said that done by the way.  Montana is an incredibly vast state, one cant just pull camp, and hike out 8 miles and say "well that gigantic mountain range to the north looks good lets just go there!" This was my third bow season.  I went into well prepared and fired up.  I had put a game cam into a drainage into a range North of the town I live in, in Montana.  It met the requirements.  Water, thick timber, and North facing.  I did manage to capture a couple of bulls and cows on it.  I went in and out of the drainage 4 or 5 times just looking atthe terrain....it looked good?  I spent 8 days on a mountain crushing bonanza and.....I saw one bull in the distance.  Frustrated that bugling or cow calling was not working it appeared to me that the indian summer that we would ultimately have made temps to hot for elk to be rutting?  I would also like to add that we saw no one for that entire week.  Whole range to ourselves.  Got out of there and spent 4 days in another range that appeared to be under the same influence of the heat.  Tired and defeated I finished the bow season on some day hunts mainly to stay in the mountains.  I would like to add that I did not hear one elk bugle during the entire bow season this year.  Unless you count the parking lot of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone.  In cometh rifle season.  Ah, the junkshow that transpires this time of year could only read as an Onion article.  What does everyone say?  Walk further you'll find elk.  Not so.  As this is written I have just came out of the mountains after a 6 day trip in sub arctic temps.  It was cold but when you are out there in it.  You just accept it, and soldier on.  So about the rage, I had been working my butt off all season and have nothing to show for it.  I yelled about how much I hated the snow, hated  elk hunting, and vowed to sale off every piece of gear that I owned.  I almost just left the rifle at around 6000 feet for some lucky guy or gal to find in the spring.  After I had some food, my jets cooled.  I told my buddy "I'm sorry about the things I said when I was hungry."  I'm home and now venting a frustration to people I don't even know.  The rage now having subsided, it would appear that I am going about this all wrong.  Lets start with the reality of hunting public land in a place like Montana.
Thick timber.  I know that great success can be had hunting this stuff, but I feel like i spend more time making noise going down through all the blowdowns than anything else. Not to mention I'll get the wind gauge out and there you go wind switched and is blowing directly down the drainage.  Most of the articles I have read about thick timber don't quite grasp the reality of being in it.  Furthermore, how am I supposed to see elk if you literally cant see anything? 
Which drainage?  In the mountains of Montana, one could spend a lifetime, maybe two, looking at tight heavily timbered drainages.  How do you guys even pick one to scout?
Scouting.  I'm not sure if I am even remotely doing this correctly.  I did put up a game cam and caught some images, all that really told me was that there were elk there.  How do I actually interpret the images? 
Bow seasons a bust.  What are the tactics that make rifle successful for you on public land? 
At this point you are talking to a guy who is likely over thinking this and I am definitely working harder and not smarter.  If seem to have successful elk season every year, what are some of your tactics that give you the one up?  what else about me?  Did I mention I'm tired.

 

[ribo451]

I had similar results during archery in North Idaho. 21 days of hunting and I only heard 3 bulls bugling. I saw more game than any other year. Roughly 60 elk and 14 of them were bulls. That's probably a good day in other places but where I hunt the brush is so thick you can often be in elk and never see one.

As for scouting I would look at clearcuts at first and last light. They bed in the thick timber but there isn't much to eat in there and they need a lot of food. I also don't put a lot of stock in game camera pictures when it comes to places to hunt bulls. It seems to me that the bulls will be in one place in the summer and when our archery season opens in early September the bulls will have moved out looking for cows. Most of my scouting involves looking for rutting sign like wallows and multiple generations of rubs rather than elk themselves. I also like to scout in the couple weeks leading up to the season looking for groups of cows. Cows will bring in bulls.

 

[AWHunt CDAID]

I am with you. this was my second year archery hunting, although I was able to find elk this year. That seems to be half the battle. I get frustrated as well, as I am sure we all do, but that is called hunting.


I was lucky enough to find a hidden drainage just out  side of CDA and was in el almost every time I went out, but I couldn't get it done. I will be out for late season in the snow.

 

[cowboystl1]

"this sport aint for sissys" a quote from my grand father who put his bow down at eighty. It makes me laugh every season he was referring to bow hunting white tail in the mid west he had know idea how true it really is for chasing elk in general no mater what the weapon. I understand your brush issues fully and everything in your story brings me to simple tactics. find the heavy open timber next to the thick crap and work the edges of the dense brush plowing through it will do more harm than good. if you have to cross it to get to the next spot so be it but we used rock slides and open areas when they could be found to hunt the thick brush on the edges they will come out just keep the faith and keep working hard brother it will happen. worst case find a new area with more open ground

 

[Montana_BackCountry]

I feel your pain.  I went 5 years without a close encounter after getting back into elk hunting. 


I have however been successful the previous two, and have no one but myself to blame for missing the year before that. 


I had to log MANY hours out hiking in the woods in order to discover my honey hole in which i now subscribe the bulk of my efforts now.  Get into backpacking during the thawed months of the year and keep an eye out for good environments for elk.  Find a place where there are rubs from years past, as elk will use the same areas for rutting that they have historically, unless severe pressure drives them out. 


I also hunt the thick timber and this can be a detriment for sure.  I grew up hunting out in central/eastern mt where spot and stalk is an option, however I now live in Missoula and the terrain is much different and comes with different obstacles.  My advice is to move slow in the thick stuff. I was hunting with a friend from New York state the previous few years andspent may hikes teaching him to not "move faster than you can hear."  If you can't hear your surrounding clearly while you are  moving, you are moving to fast and should slow down and make deliberate movements.  Cow call to cover loud noises.  Remember elk are large creatures and do make noise going through brush as well.  Make the other critters believe you are an elk.  I also use cover scents to disguise my scent if the wind goes wrong.  keep a bottle of esterous urine in your pocket and spray it on the brush or your boots if the wind goes wrong when you are close to elk. 


Don't have the expectation to kill something every year.  Although that is certainly the intention, realize that these animals are clever and well suited for survival.  Wolf pressure has also changed the rut and calling scenarios drastically as well.  Bulls bugle less now to conceal their location from the hounds and will respond less aggressively in most mountain ranges due to the dangers of wolf predation.  Enjoy your time in the woods and commune with them.

 

[Jeremiah Johnson]

I love the line by Cowboy, it is spot on. If it was easy everyone would do it and we would all shoot 6pts the first day. I have been doing this a long time and after last season you would think I can getrdun every year on OTC elk tags I have 32 days in this year, with crazy rutting action in Idaho but could never get a shot on 13 bulls inside of 25 yds. Then on to rifle Idaho and now Montana. Can't find a mature bull anywhere and this old hatchet jack body is sore and not happy but that is elk hunting and looking at 3 out is state tag soups  Learn where the elk are in the various seasons, learn your area, never see camp in daylight and keep pounding the boot leather and stay positive because when you least expect it, it may happen. Now getting ready for day 33 to be hiking with my headlamp tomorrow, good luck!

 

[montanaelk31]

I think that you have the idea. Having moved to montana in 2006 from the cornfields of Illinois I think I can offer you a unique perspective.  First and foremost- the most important part of elk hunting is hunting where there's elk. Seriously. Go to the fwp website and click on elk hunting. Then click on the helpful links tab. In that tab, you will find an elk population PDF chart for the last 10 years.  Make sure you are not hunting a district with elk population below an objective. If you are, forget it. Stay out of those districts, not worth your time. Select districts you wish to hunt, walk all over them in areas inaccessible to motor vehicles (July and Aug). Find food water and cover, not just cover. GPS points of interest. Hang trail cams over wallows and look for Cows. Should not see a bull til late August. I hang 3-6 trail cams yearly.  Now u got the needle in a hay bale, not haystack. Just a matter of calling strategy, technique, and will power now.
Being physically fit is vitally important but it sounds like you might be walkin too fast. I start my days off with a hump in the dark, but once I'm in their domain I am in no hurry whatsoever. If you did your scouting homework and u are where the elk are, just kind of be there. I always found the more I press, the less elk I see! Fast forward 5 years and you'll be giving us advice! Good luck!

 

[turbo1967]

Every year is different , weather, time of rut and location of the elk.Sometimes your on them and some times your not,I have been rifle hunting in Montana 36 years and bow hunting 34 years  and It never gets easeir and never gets harder but some times you get lucky, Consistent success  is all about not giving up and getting out there and pushing your self to the limit.  I get my elk almost every year but most years its not easy I hunt one of the most over hunted districts in Montana. like last year I passed over 20 brow tine bulls with in 50 yards and never did take one, just wanted a bigger one for the wall,. Now this year for 3 weeks of bow season I couldn't hardly find a bull then within 3 hours had filmed 7 different bulls before taking the one I did. some times Its just being in the right place at the right time no matter how much experience you have . Stay on it ,stay out there and keep pushing your self and It will happen ,then it will all be worth it. and mostly keep dreaming of the big one.

 

[Simplebiology]

Elk can be anywhere in their range, some years high, some years low. The most important part of elk hunting is being mobile, as in willing to pack up and move to the other side of your unit if you have to. We have 8-10 areas picked out, this year we used 6 of them before we scored. We covered 5-6 miles a day, everday. Once you learn to call well and know when and where to call the game becomes easy, it becomes all about mobility. Over thinking is easy to do when failure seems constant but the elk hunting game can change in a split second.