steep ground

[archery bum]

I was once told too look around and when you see some ground and say \"man I would hate too pack an elk out of there\". Thats where you need too go to shoot a herd bull. I understand that mature bulls go in there when they are pressured, after a couple of days after they feel safe again wouldn\'t they go back to flat ground or at least semi flat ground? Or am I wrong do some of them live on steep ground until winter hits and they go too lower wintering grounds?

 

[Buglemaster]

Look for thick & nasty! They don\'t grow to maturity by lounging around in the open country. Those are the elk I kill , the dumb 2/3 year olds...

 

[cnelk]

yup.
Get down in there and spar with them.
You will be a different man when you come out with one

 

[Bullnuts]

Depends on what point in the season we\'re talking. Opening week of archery, I\'m not going in there. Most of the elk that I find are in fairly easy walking areas because they\'re just like me - they take the path of least resistance! If it\'s later in the season and they\'ve felt some pressure they will probably go into that nasty stuff.

 

[elkmtngear]

Beginning of the 4th Week in CO last Season...by 10AM, there was a nice bull screaming right about in the middle of that dark timber.

Went after him the next day...turns out he was 1/4 mile away one ridge over in an even nastier spot! :evil:

 

[Zpd307]

that looks like where we hunted in Colorado....

 

[Swede]

Jeff\'s picture reminds me that \"steep\" is a relative term. The area in the picture doesn\'t look very steep to me unless I had an 80# pack, then it is VERY STEEP. It would be steep also if I had only 10 minutes to get to my vehicle just over that knob. My idea of really steep ground is where you can sit down for a sandwich, and when you reach around to get an apple out of your lunch sack, you notice it is 50 feet up the slope. It is then that you realize you have been slowly sliding down all the time you were eating your lunch. It is places like that where you are digging your heels into the ground to minimize your sliding down slope or you sit above a tree, rock, or stump. Steep also applies when you use your arms to lift yourself or slow your descent, nearly as much as you use your legs.

 

[Zpd307]

everything is steep when you are a flatlander :lol:

 

[Buglemaster]

Swede painted a pretty good picture . It\'s all steep in the mountains, but occasionally I find the kind of steep that stops me in my tracks. The elk are there, but my aging, feeble mind reminds me that I\'m not man enough to get one out if I do score. I\'ll leave those spots for the Cam Haines type. That guy is an ANIMAL!

 

[Bullnuts]

Me and Colorado_Lew used to hunt a place we called Heart Attack Hill. You want to talk about steep? Stand straight up, reach out your hand, and touch the side of the mountain you\'re standing on. It was a beast to climb, gaining a couple thousand feet in elevation, but when you got to the top the elk hunting was AMAZING! Then one day Lew killed a medium sized muley half way up the hill and it took two days to just get that deer out. That was a sobering moment that made us look for another spot that was a bit more accessible. Some spots are nasty and have lots of elk for a reason but if you go there you\'d better bring your knife and fork and eat the animal right there cause getting one out will likely kill you.