Rifle tactics

[Deertick]

Rifle season ... \"any elk\" ...

Heavily-pressured areas ... elk are not in their usual habits, but instead are pressured, running ...

You think to yourself that you have to just \"get lucky\" ... \"Be in the right place at the right time\" ...

How do you go about it?

What do you think will work during that busy, elk-chasing time of year when Everybody\'s brother is out walking ridges and pushing elk around?

You\'ve got an OTC tag, and permission to hunt any Public Land that you can legally access.

 

[cnelk]

Work the edges of small clearings and/or clearcuts. Saddles are good too.
It doesnt take elk long to figure out that open meadows mean rifle shots and/or death.

Hope for colder weather so they are out feeding to put on fat for the winter. And hunt near those places they feed.

Find a good spot, park your butt and keep the rifle handy

 

[bowhunter]

Funnels, Saddles and Edges........of course you have to have an idea how the pressure will affect them, as in where the pressure is coming from. Good luck.. :mg:

 

[OldMan]

Pretty much what Brad said. Although hunting a high pressured area will be new for me this year. So, i\'m just going to adjust as I go. My knee is not going to let me hike much, so that\'s an added problem. I think this type of hunting is a lot of luck. That\'s not something i\'ve ever counted on in the past, so this is really a new experience for me.

I have made a decision to give up guns after this year. I\'m going to try bow hunting next year. That month long season during the rut is too tempting. Plus, they\'re either sex tags. I\'m already shooting at bow ranges. Why not just use a bow, and get all the perks that bow hunters get?

 

[cohunter14]

Most of what has been said is exactly what I would throw out there as well. The only other things that come to mind is escape routes. Know where elk will be and where they will go once they get pressured. This can take years to figure out in an area, but once you do it sure makes life easier Some areas, you can simply pattern the elk and know that they will come by a certain area, but again that can take some time to figure out.

Another tactic of sorts is spot and stalk. Get somewhere up high where you can glass an area. These aren\'t always easy to find, and certainly don\'t exist in every area, but if you can find them it makes the hunt a little easier.

 

[OldMan]

Yes, but it\'s hard to glass them when they\'re hiding in the timber. A lot of this depends on just how much pressure they\'re getting. In unit 55 for 2nd rifle. I\'m willing to bet you won\'t see any elk in the open unless you\'re an owl.

 

[cohunter14]

The key is to be glassing at first thing in the morning and at last light in the evening. You should be able to spot them, especially if they are in aspen trees and the leaves are off. I used to hunt one of the most populated units in the state for 1st and 2nd rifle and we would take a bunch of elk sitting on the edge of a few different open meadows. They would get pushed and run right through those meadows. So even in populated areas, the elk can still be dumb enough to be out in the open.

 

[OldMan]

My observation is once the lead starts flying they\'re nocturnal, or deep in the timber, and only coming out in small parks.

Then again, some elk are slow to catch on.

 

[cohunter14]

Yeah, I am not talking massive parks. Maybe 100 yards by 100 yards or less than that even. But if you can glass those areas as well as the aspens, you should be able to catch a glimpse of them. I think a lot of them do try to go into the thick stuff and hide out, but eventually they will be pushed out of a lot of those areas as well.