Opinions Wanted

[cohunter14]

I posted a few of these pictures already in the update thread, but wanted some opinions on these pictures I recently got (see below). This camera is at the top of a saddle that separates two drainages. The hill itself is only about 200\' from bottom to top, but it can get steep in some areas versus this spot. As you can see from these pictures, I got this herd at 8:45am which tells me they should be feeding their way to bed. The area they were coming from would have more food as well as water at the bottom of the drainage.

I have a good idea where they came from and where they went because I have more cameras in the bottoms of those two drainages and didn\'t get any pictures on those. But where I get confused a little bit is that I have not seen any elk at all on any other day on this camera, including in the last week (checked camera today, 9/12). The area itself shouldn\'t have much pressure, if any, from other hunters. It\'s a hidden gem of sorts, at least potentially But the elk don\'t appear to be moving fast like they were pushed by a hunter anyway. So would you assume this herd is just moving through the area? Do you think they are typically using another route? I know elk can be tough, if not impossible, to pattern but with this being a new area I\'m trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together the best I can. Any opinions are appreciated!!

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[Lark Bunting]

I\'d be curious to what the altitude is at this post... more so I can learn a thing or two. :crazy:

 

[iccyman001]

How low down the drainages are your cameras?

 

[Ol' Arky]

If Icould have the proper wind, remember that I\'m a stand hunter, I set on them for a while just to see if they are using that area on a regular basis...

 

[cohunter14]

I\'d be curious to what the altitude is at this post... more so I can learn a thing or two. :crazy:

This is not very high...8k-9k.

How low down the drainages are your cameras?

They are down in the flats just above the creek bottoms for the most part. The \"creek bottoms\" are dry in some spots and have water in others. But basically I have the flatter area covered. Keep in mind, it\'s not a huge hill we are talking about. Roughly 200\' of vertical change.

 

[iccyman001]

They are down in the flats just above the creek bottoms for the most part. The \"creek bottoms\" are dry in some spots and have water in others. But basically I have the flatter area covered. Keep in mind, it\'s not a huge hill we are talking about. Roughly 200\' of vertical change.

I just found in areas like that they bed about 1/3 of the way down and when they wake up they may just go right back up.
So I wasn\'t sure if you were covering like the complete bottom or if you were up a little ways.

 

[cohunter14]

Yeah, it\'s mainly the bottom, but not directly below the saddle. Both cameras are down the drainage a little ways from where the saddle is. But where my confusion is comes from the fact that they were only on the camera one day (9/5). So they obviously aren\'t making this same exact route on a daily or even weekly basis at this point.

 

[BuckyHunter13]

Could they just be relocating from one area to another? If you expand the area beyond that hill, could they be headed up another draw and a new area to call home for 7-10 days?

We were on elk early, at least 2-3 days of being right in the mix. Then one morning, they bugled from the park but were gone before daylight, never to be heard from again. That\'s not entirely true, but it took us 4-5 days to relocate what I\'m guessing is the same bull, one draw over and about 800 feet lower in elevation. The sign in the whole original area had dried up by this point. It wasn\'t exactly the same situation though. I\'m pretty sure we were hunting something like a bachelor group of bulls that at some point between september 3rd and 5th decided to move down closer to the cows. It\'s also entirely possible (likely, even) that we had bumped them into this relocation.

 

[cohunter14]

Ryan, that\'s what I was wondering, but moving along at 8:45am would seem to be an interesting time to do that. I would think if they were doing that, they would certainly be close to where they wanted to end up and bed for the day. I wouldn\'t think they would be continuing on for much longer.