Now What Should I Do?

[Swede]

It is 9:45AM and warming up in the mid morning on September 5th.  I am sitting on a large rock, in an opening on a North facing slope.  My bow is beside me as my binoculars are trained on the South facing slope across the canyon.  All of a sudden I see six elk quartering upslope, toward a patch of dense timber.  They have come up out of a draw that is over a side ridge, and just out of view from where I sit.  The herd is 1/3 to 1/2 mile away.  The wind is gently coming out of the Northwest, upslope to me.  Rats!  I wish I was over there in front of that bunch.  It looks like the bull trailing the cows is a rather nice one.  His head would look good on my wall.
The timber stand where the elk are headed is about 80 acres.  It has several good benches in there and a small flat ridge.  There are several trails in and out of it.  To the North and to the East it is very rocky, but there are paths through.  Farther down hill it is wide open and a creek is at the bottom of the canyon separating us.  About 1/4-1/3 mile to the East in a draw I have a tree stand, and there is a water hole slightly downhill and a little behind the elk that I could ground blind.
Hum?  Which way is the wind blowing where the elk are?  What should I do?  Help!

 

[cnelk]

A bit late in the morning to go after them.
The elk will be moving into the wind, probably a crosswind at that time of day.
Watch them, maybe make a plan for the afternoon.
Just because you saw those elk, doesn\'t mean there isn\'t more nearby.

It may be a spot to hunt for mornings only.
If you go over there, check the wind a lot, go slow and listen and watch ahead

Where is this spot?

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

I\'d probably do what Brad suggested maybe even hunt them the next morning. Just depending on the time of year, contact bugle when you come back in?

Something to pounder is how much hunting pressure is in the area. Is that ridge likely to be run by another hunter? It\'s not worth making a dumb mistake and blowing the elk out. But one should consider how long to wait. If it\'s likely to be run, I\'d spend the time to swing way around and then wait for good thermals.

 

[Swede]

My little hunting area here is in the Mindseye drainage near Slumberland, Oregon. I often hunt there in the off season just for the sheer pleasure of thinking about elk. This place is so perfect, I never enter the area until the last day of my hunt.
How would it work out if I followed the elk into this stand a ways, and started calling? What are they doing in there? What are the risks?
Should I go and set up by the waterhole in a ground blind? What do you think about going to my tree stand and waiting there.

Note: The wind on this side of the canyon is going upslope the same as it was on the other side. Those late morning breezes are diurnal winds.

 

[elkmtngear]

Swede, if you were in a high treestand (30 ft or more), you might be OK, but that is the worst \"swirly wind\" time to be anywhere else, especially with the temps coming up (early Season).

Anything you try at this point could go South in a hurry. I\'m with the others (Brad, et al)...I\'d back outta there, and come back after them when you have a positive wind advantage.

 

[Swede]

You folk\'s posts above are right on. This is the kind of information I wanted to go along with the bedding area thread. The elk, in the imaginary account above, are going to a bedding place. As a point of discussion, I would go up and sit in my tree stand which is normally about 25 feet high. I am totally agreeing with Jeff here, even though there is a slight difference in the height we are discussing. Different areas and terrain could account for that slight difference. Like Jeff, I would avoid the ground blind until the thermals were moving consistently downhill. If they are going consistently uphill, they will carry the hunter\'s scent to the elk which will be coming in from above.
I agree that it would be a bad idea to follow the elk into their bedding area now. A hunter could circle around the bedding ground and find a good place to setup, if the wind was or became consistent. I would try to sound like a small whiney bull. Give off a couple short two note calls, then rake a tree or large bush or even a log. Then slip off 15 or so yards, and wait to see if anything comes around. Since you saw only one bull and his cows, I doubt he will leave his cows to check you out. He is more likely to call to you. That might give you some idea on how good the tree stand could be. If the elk are bedded right over the spring, where you could set a ground blind, you might wait and go there just after sundown, or sooner if the terrain is right. If that spring is in a draw, you could likely set up on the other side and wait there.

 

[Swede]

Swede, if you were in a high treestand (30 ft or more), you might be OK, but that is the worst \"swirly wind\" time to be anywhere else, especially with the temps coming up (early Season).

Watch them, maybe make a plan for the afternoon.Just because you saw those elk, doesn\'t mean there isn\'t more nearby.

I would be pleased to hunt with any of you guys that posted plans and ideas. Where I hunt the wind is starting to swirl around by 9:45, so I agree it is too late to go after them. They will likely bed down in the timber. It is far from anything certain, but I would probably go to my stand to the east and wait there until evening. The elk are going in that general direction and the trails through the rocks could bring them to me. My chances for success there are much better than sitting in camp.

Note this thread will be locked and archived soon. Hopefully it will be of some value in the future for persons interested.