Putting the Puzzle Together

[Sweetmeat]

Hi Everyone!
So a long time lurker on here, but I follow the forum close and love learning from the more experienced hunters.  Lately, I started working on planning my third archery elk hunt in as many years.  The first year was a total learning experience, but I loved every minute of it.  Last year, I had prepared harder, spent more time e-scouting, practiced calling every day, went through the elk university twice (some parts more), was in good shape, and even drove out for a summer scouting/get to know the area trip.  Unfortunately, the whole season I felt like we were one step behind the elk.  We found sign, but it all seemed to be at least a few days old.  We had one morning where we had a bull working, but he went silent at sun up and disappeared into the wilderness.


I recently read a Go Hunt article talking about ?you got to hunt where the elk are?, and it?s had me thinking that I?m missing the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to actually finding elk.  I know there?s not a secret easy button you guys can give me, but I was hoping to maybe get some pointers on some less talked about stuff that might help give me an edge / make better educated guesses on picking areas.  Thanks in advance for any advice! 


(I live in the Midwest and have hunted units 78 & then 55 in Colorado) 

 

[ILbowhntr]

Why did you change units. It?s been my experience that jumping around every years cuts your odds.
I?d suggest you pick a unit and stick with it for a couple years. If you?re one step behind the elk, you know where the elk are hanging out, you just need to figure out how to get the jump on them.
Most guys have trouble finding elk. You?ve found them, now figure out how to kill one.

 

[DTP]

Why did you change units. It?s been my experience that jumping around every years cuts your odds.
I?d suggest you pick a unit and stick with it for a couple years. If you?re one step behind the elk, you know where the elk are hanging out, you just need to figure out how to get the jump on them.
Most guys have trouble finding elk. You?ve found them, now figure out how to kill one.

Some great advice right here.  :upthumb:

 

[Rdub]

I learned a long time ago to go where others are not willing to and your chances go up. 90% of all hunters hunt within one mile of the road and 10% of all hunters account for 90% of all elk taken. :dk:

 

[Wyo67]

Good advice from all.  I don't know a thing about Colorado, but a couple thoughts:
- How hard are those areas hit with hunting pressure?  Muzzeloader units?  Our WY general areas get hit hard and as soon as they get pressure, the bulls will also go quite not long after sunrise.
- Consider getting out several hours before sunrise to see if they are bugling.  It's way difficult to hunt non-vocal elk during archery.
- You're finding recent sign, so the elk are probably there.  Keep in mind you need to find the things the cows will need: food/water/security

 

[Sweetmeat]

Thanks for the ideas guys!  We switched units because the first year we were constantly running into people and found little to no sign.  It very well could have been due to inexperience and not as much because of the unit. 


Is  there a certain type of vegetation that you look for more than others?  During my scouting trip, one of the locals in town told me to look for willows because those areas would be holding water.  We used that as our base strategy last season, and that's where we found most of the sign.  We focused most of our energy at 10,000 plus, but without much experience to go off of, i didn't know if we should have tried going lower on the mountain or not. 

 

[BuckyHunter13]

We focused most of our energy at 10,000 plus, but without much experience to go off of, i didn't know if we should have tried going lower on the mountain or not.

First off, I'm not an expert. I've got three early archery trips under my belt and each came with its own set of variables. With only three trips I can't say with any certainty that these are lessons or coincidences that fit one explanation. We had to learn a new unit on trip 2 due to our original unit being closed due to fire. On trip 2, we found bugling bulls (and elk in general) early in the trip (Sept 2nd-ish) but after a day or two they disappeared. So we went from 9800ish up to 10200ish. We went up to the top, adjacent to where we had been. We ended up finding more people pressure than we had realized was on the mountain, and all the elk sign was old, summer at the earliest. That seemed to pretty much only leave down or deeper (as in, away from roads or access) from our original location.


Fast forward to this past season, hunting the same general area early (August 31st?) and the elk sign was weak, though we did kick up two bulls from that spot. It was also very dry this year. No bugling that early in the season meant several days of probing spots where we had encountered elk on Trip 2. Eventually we located (what I'm now pretty sure was) the same bulls we had bumped earlier in the trip. We found them a few draws over, down about 400' in elevation. There was more water in this area, in part because it was lower. So those pressured bulls went deeper, and the dryness made them go lower. One of the times we caught up to them right as it was getting dark. We spent a few days in the area but eventually let it rest and came back a few days later from a different direction.The third time we found them was a really fun encounter but we got outsmarted by one of those genius OTC bulls. At least as far as I'm concerned he was a genius. He sure played me like a fiddle.

Sorry, got off track. My original point was that there are a lot of variables that change not only from year to year but literally day to day over the course of a trip. The variable I wasn't quite grasping this year was the dryness. If you're hunting early season, consider how the elk's needs and behavior are changing... The early season covers a big transition where the bulls are going from bachelor groups to building their herd to the full on rut. Those bachelor groups seem to stay up high but come down in elevation to look for cows. The early season is later this year in CO so the elk should be further along that transition, which I'm really looking forward to. Quiet elk are tough.

Anyone with more experience please feel free to correct any assumptions or point out where I made too big of leaps. Hope this helps!

 

[ribo451]

Moist ground will have more potential to produce food so it's not a bad place to start. Where I hunt one of the main food sources around archery elk hunting has been elderberry bushes. If there are elk in the same area as elderberries then the bushes usually look like sticks with no foliage on them. It does seem to need to have a frost before they will really eat it but that doesn't seem to be a problem that time of year.

They also eat vine maple and thimble berry and I have seen evidence of them eating devils club and I have watched them eat ocean spray flowers on a number of occasions.

The areas I hunt are around 3500' to 6500' at most so your bushes might be drastically different up where you are hunting.