What is your favorite sign to find?

I

iccyman001

New member
Apr 30, 2014
5,489
You\'re scouting around for an area to hunt.

What is your favorite sign to find?
Rubs? Scraps? Beds? Poop?


What do you seasoned elk hunters look for?
 
For me that is easy to answer. Muddy water along with strong elk scent. Sure I like fresh rubs, poop and fresh tracks, but muddy water with the scent of elk in the air excites me. Once I find the muddy water with scent, I just check to make sure there is recurring use going on.
 
First - Tracks/Trails [ indicate recent activity]
Second - Rubs [indicate activity during the time I will be hunting and they last a long time]
 
Man...you guys pick the more PC answers.....my mind goes straight to the potty...
My fav is FRESH pee stains (preferably from a bull) and green steamin poop! I\'m right behind you! :mg:
 
\"Olympushunt\" said:
Man...you guys pick the more PC answers.....my mind goes straight to the potty...
My fav is FRESH pee stains (preferably from a bull) and green steamin poop! I\'m right behind you! :mg:
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Yep, this along with fresh tracks if there is snow or mud.
 
A torn up trail and a lot of BIG rubs or better yet, big uprooted or broken trees.
 
\"Swede\" said:
For me that is easy to answer. Muddy water along with strong elk scent. Sure I like fresh rubs, poop and fresh tracks, but muddy water with the scent of elk in the air excites me. Once I find the muddy water with scent, I just check to make sure there is recurring use going on.
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\"Still Hunter\" said:
The best sign for me is to see an elk.
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When I was elk huntin\' I was kinda like Swede and Still Hunter... Muddy water with the smell of elk oughta mean (in my case anyhow) set ya behind dowu downwind and watch and wait awhile... Ya might just see a elk if you set and wait long enough and I used to be real patient...

Ya can\'t eat tracks, rubs or poop...

I guess ya could eat poop but it wouldn\'t taste too good I wouldn\'t think... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
The best sign I found last fall was a fresh wallow. That made for the most exciting hunt I had and the closest I actually got to a bull.
 
\"razorback\" said:
The best sign I found last fall was a fresh wallow. That made for the most exciting hunt I had and the closest I actually got to a bull.
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Too bad it wasn\'t hotter and he really wanted to come cool off in that wallow. I would have liked to watch you stick him. I think when we heard him he had his mind set on going east down the other side.
 
Sure was fun hearing him bugle and those little chuckes. I thought I was going to stick him! I think about that almost every day!
 
while hunting a new spot in idaho, i started by finding tracks. tracks give you a clue as to where they want to be. but, i wasnt finding fresh poop, what the....? once i found tracks with fresh poop, everything clicked. then i found rubs, even fresh ones. then i knew that i was in them....
 
Why did you guy think finding a fresh wallow was so great? Just wondering, as they don\'t do much for me.
 
I\'m a \"tracks and poop\" guy. It seems to me that where I\'ve been unable to find elk, there has been a paucity of these indicators.

I understand Swede\'s thoughts regarding wallows ... they are poor indicators of elk coming back to that particular spot.

But they are indicators that there are elk in the area. They are, in essence, a big \"track\", aren\'t they?

(Disclaimer: My first elk was shot over a wallow I had found a week before. I sat it one time, for 45 minutes, and killed a bull. It probably biased me a little! But -- I have come to understand that while that experience is unlikely to be repeated, it does speak to elk in the area.)

Now ... this bit about a \"fresh\" wallow. I personally think that all of the usual indicators about what is \"fresh\" and what is \"old\" have pretty poor sensitivity. It\'s still quite a bit of a guess, hunch, and hope.
 
I like Johns thought about a wallow being a big track. To me a fresh wallow is the same as finding fresh tracks or poop. All any of them mean is a elk has been in the area resent. Finding tracks on a trail does not mean they will be back any time soon either. To me finding a fresh wallow seems to bring up the excitement level up a notch for me. I know he may not be back but I know he is in the area somewhere, now I have to find him.
 
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