Sage brush elk, terrain analysis

[americanbwana]

Here is a series of pictures I took on a youth hunt.

We were sitting on a ridge about 800 yards away (to the west), watching a hunter sneak up a herd of elk holed up in this pocket.

The wind is coming from the South West (Right to left). The elk are bedded down on the south side of the pocket, with the wind to their back.

Oh, and there were probably 75+ head of elk that came out of that pocket when the hunter fired. This property has about 8 of these pockets where you can find elk most everyday.

The black arrow is the wind direction, the red or orange marking are where the elk where bedded down.

It is about noon. Why are they in this pocket?

 

[cnelk]

Where was the hunter that shot?

 

[americanbwana]

On the ridge to the left of the bottom dot, in the bottom picture.

Oh, and one of the sentinel elk up on the ridge watched the hunter, guide, and dad sneak up. I was yelling at them to \'Get down, they can see you\'.

 

[americanbwana]

No takers?

Ok, the elk are bedded down in the pocket with the wind to their back. This allows them to \'cover\' the terrain to the south without having to see.

They are bedded in a position where they can see downwind.

Besides bedded with the wind in their favor, they are not bedded down near the top of the hill, nor at the bottom of the draw. The bedded elk we can see are about 1/2 up the hill, facing downwind. A few other elk are up milling about above them, with all of them in the brush.

The answer to why are they bedded down here? So you can\'t sneak up from behind them without being scented, and you can\'t sneak up from the low ground without being seen (There is a road in the bottom of the valley). Our hunter used a ridge on the down wind side to shield his approach, until he was finally took the shot at or slightly above the bedded elk.

This particular pocket had about 70 elk or so. They came pouring out when the shot was taken, and headed into the wind to another pocket about 1/2 mile to the right (SW).

I\'ve since noticed this bedding behavior with Antelope. I\'m pretty sure deer to the same thing, but haven\'t actually seen it.

AB

 

[cnelk]

Good info Dana
I was on that thought process.
I would think that elk on a mountain do that same thing when they are approx 2/3 up the slope.

 

[Deertick]

Yep ... near the top of a rise is a great spot for animals to rest.

The saddle is right there for an emergency exit ... and steady winds mean they can keep their eyes downwind, and their noses cover them on the upwind side.

The only \"blind spot\" for them is the top of the hill itself, which is why antelope almost always put a \"sentry\" up there. It can be dang near fool-proof.

I don\'t have experience with sagebrush elk, but pronghorn do exactly what you describe. The key with them is often to wait them out ... they will move, and that\'s when they\'ll be vulnerable. To move, I\'ve found, they often spread out. Sentries ... it\'s the sentry that busts you.