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Northeastern California archery elk hunt
- Thread starter elkgrunt
- Start date
Matt Brimmer
Member
- Dec 28, 2012
- 52
elkgrunt said:Does anybody have any experience hunting elk in this area??
I have never hunted them there before as I am a NR, but have been on a few hunts. PM me and I will get back with you in a few weeks. I am currently away from home and will not return until next week.
Did you or someone you know.draw the tag!
Thank you, what area did you hunt?hank4elk said:Congrates on drawing a CA elk tag! Very hard to do!
I've only hunted Cen.Coast Cali cow Tules, but have seen good Rockies up there when deer hunting with abuddy in the old days.
I live just across the border on the oregon side. My folks are ranchers and we have run cattle out there for years. East of clear lake right near the stateline. Not sure where you're hunting but the elk in that area are very mobile and very spread out. I've seen some serious monsters taken out of there every year (doublehead unit) in the late rifle season after the elk start to herd up. I'm an archery elk hunter too and if I were hunting that area I would spend some serious time scouting a month prior. When we turned cattle out last month many stock reservoirs were almost dry so water is a premium - dry year. There are a few swampy areas out there to check out and you can do some glassing where the pines turn to junipers and sagebrush. Access is tough in that region as there are roads on maps but it was turned to a "roadless" area in the clinton years and they haven't been improved since. A quad/horse is a necessity if you're looking to cover ground. Last summer there was a big fire out there about 15 miles east of clear lake. Check online for a google earth map of the perimeter. I haven't seen it first hand as it is east of where we graze our cattle but I'm sure its changed things drastically. Not sure if anything is growing back yet. Might make access into that area better and could make the elk in that area easier to locate. Not sure where you're planning to hunt - the warner mtns out of alturas are popular - but there are definitely big bulls right near the border if you're willing to put inthe effort to find them - and it will take plenty of effort. I see their tracks when I'm workin cows and occassionally we'll stumble onto a few but you won't step out of your truck and hear bulls bugling and fighting. The rancher east of us claims the elk are pretty rough on his fences. I wouldn't expect much success in that area if you aren't able to scout it out because there is a lot of space out there and those animals can flat out travel. Another plus to that region is you probably won't run into another elk hunter the whole time during bow season. No local tribes hunt that area so the elk are relatively unpressured - mostly because its so remote and tough to get around out there.
Happy to help elkgrunt. If that area interests you at all it would be a good idea to see it first hand as soon as possible and do enough prelim scouting to see if its the spot for you or not. Drawing a tag in california is like trying to split the atom and I wouldn't want to make it out to be something its not. Terrain isn't really steep at all but it will be tough hunting for a variety of reasons and locating potential elk spots with fresh sign is the number one challenge. There's a few really big bulls out there but they are really big for a reason. I hope you stick one.
