The 3 keys to elk hunting-REVEALED!!!!!!!

[AndyJ]

Here they are folks. Its what you\'ve all been waiting for...These are the three keys to unlocking your potential as an elk KILLER every year.

#1-Persistence- You need to be out there hunting for as long as it takes. You\'ll never kill an elk sitting on the sofa at home. A sofa in a blind on the other hand...that might be kind of nice.

#2-Luck- Until this year, I thought only bad hunters said killing one was lucky. After this year I get it. The saying ,\"I would rather be lucky than good\" has never sounded so true. Luck plays a huge role in success especially when hunting heavily pressured public land.

#3-Shooting ability- Nothing else matters if you don\'t make the shot. You may be out there the entire year and the stars have lined up and here stands a monster bull. You let the arrow fly and WHIFF...THUDDDDD!!!! Right over his back and into a tree. You might find elk, but you still have to kill it to be successful.

It helps to be good, but great calling calls in hunters, being a great stalker still doesn\'t help much in super dry, chest high deadfall or swirling winds.

In the end, you need to be out there long enough to get lucky and then you need to make a good shot to capitalize on your luck. There you go-How to hunt elk wrapped into one neat little sentence.

 

[Swede]

Andy, I think you have it figured out alright. I normally do not think much of the shooting aspect. It is assumed we can all shoot. Some are better than others, but most bow hunters are good to at least 30 yards. Well, that was a bad assumption on my part. As I posted before, a good and decent hunter, I spent a little time with, was embarrassed this season. He was in a stand, right where I killed my elk about ten days earlier. He got so nervous he could not draw his bow.
Nervousness is not like persistence, but I think it can be managed. At the critical moment, talk to yourself a lot, and don\'t focus on the animal. Talk yourself through each part of standing, drawing and shooting. Tell yourself when to wait and when to draw. Focus on things like snapping your release on the nocking loop. Finally when you are ready, draw and pick a small spot to shoot. Follow through and watch your arrow in flight.

 

[AndyJ]

I normally do not think much of the shooting aspect.

Swede-Niether did I until this year. I shoot every day and I have a pony that weighs about 750lbs and serves as good range estimation practice. I have never missed an elk and neither has my partner. This year I missed a really good bull and my partner missed a rag horn and an absolute monster bull. Until this year I always thought, once the shot presents itself-game over.

By the way Swede, congrats on your success.