Why did you get an elk this year? What worked?

[Lark Bunting]

I believe we\'ve hashed out the equipment that did or didn\'t work. We\'ve read a few stories of our \"unsuccessful\" hunts this year. For those of you that got an elk on the ground, what worked? Why were you successful?

Scouting?
Trail Cameras?
Hunted the area for years and know the area like the back of your hand?
Lucky? (I\'m curious to see if anyone admits this)

I know there could be a combination of any and all, plus points I didn\'t list but what do you mainly attribute to your success this year?

Think of this in terms as if a complete newbie to elk hunting is reading...or for those of us with a couple years under our belts without an animal on the ground. :?

 

[cnelk]

I would have to say the number reason I shot my elk this year was...

Practicing shooting.

Both of my elk required small windows of opportunity - less than a 6 inch target to make the shot.
Granted the distance wasnt far, both less than 25yds - thru trees and limbs

On my bull, I held at full draw for 2 full mins, even rested my bow elbow on my knee instead of letting down.

On both elk, the target window was small and the time to shoot was very short - less than 3-4 seconds.

 

[Lark Bunting]

I would have to say the number reason I shot my elk this year was...

Practicing shooting.

Both of my elk required small windows of opportunity - less than a 6 inch target to make the shot.
Granted the distance wasnt far, both less than 25yds - thru trees and limbs

On my bull, I held at full draw for 2 full mins, even rested my bow elbow on my knee instead of letting down.

On both elk, the target window was small and the time to shoot was very short - less than 3-4 seconds.

Great answer! I was recently invited to shoot an indoor 3D league this winter. I\'ve never considered it but I might have to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

[cnelk]

And of course the horseshoe in my pocket is always helpful....

 

[cohunter14]

I would say mine had to do with a lot of factors. Scouting and trail cameras definitely helped this year. They at least showed me that there were bulls in this area. Perseverance also helped. Our group was ready to hunt a different spot the day I got my bull, but that changed when I decided to stay committed and glassed a bull in that area at last light the night before. Knowing the area is starting to kick in for me as well. This is the second season I have hunted this area, but the more time spent in the woods hunting it and the more time spent scouting it, the better I feel that I can do in the area.

And finally, luck always plays a part. But I find that the more work I put in, the more I prepare for the hunt, and the smarter I hunt, the luckier I get. There is a big difference between wandering around aimlessly in the woods or driving down a road and seeing an elk versus finding elk in a spot that you have targeted for a reason and spent time in understanding the area.

 

[Swede]

A little of the success is knowing the spot and monitoring it during the season. Mostly it was perseverance.

 

[Deertick]

Private land and a good rifle helped.

But with archery, I struck out, and that\'s what I cared about, in the end.

What kept me from scoring there? Brad just couldn\'t coax that bull another few steps!

(Just kidding, Brad. :clap: ) Actually, what kept me from plugging an elk with an arrow this year was ... over-confidence, and some other things. But let\'s not dis-rail the thread with what didn\'t work!

 

[Swede]

Tick, I appreciate your comment about \"over confidence\". I believe over confidence and its polar opposite negativism are both the enemy of success. Too often it sounds easy when we read of successful hunts. Then, when we have a few days in the elk woods, realism sets in and we get bummed out.
Most new hunters want to call in a screaming bull. They have read some great stories of successful hunts, and want to experience it for themselves. It sounds so easy, but it rarely ever is. These hunters go from over confidence to frustrated in about three days.
I talked to an old friend the other day. He is typical. He tried bow hunting, but gave up on it as a lost cause. He could not make it work. My advise to anyone in that situation would be to keep their calling simple, but have a strategy. Find a good tree stand location and plan to spend some significant time there. Be patient and very persistent.
The last time I read anything on the subject, it was noted that it takes about seven years, on average, to get an elk. The first one is the hardest. After a while you know within yourself what it takes, so the rest is luck.

 

[Buglemaster]

3 decoys placed in the right spots & some great calling from all 3 of us. We are also extremely familiar with this area & that is a huge plus . We were just a step away from getting a second 5 point bull just 2 days later. We did some calculating this year & have butchered 7 bulls within 100 yds of where mine fell this year & another that made it a couple hundred yards before going down. Everyone has heard of these killer spots, but just wondered if anyone here has been lucky enough to have one. Those 8 bulls were all arrowed in a 50 yard radius of each other. The \"spot on the spot\" . And as WW pointed out, hunting those chronically wasted elk does take a lot of the pressure off.. :wave:

 

[iccyman001]

I believe we\'ve hashed out the equipment that did or didn\'t work. We\'ve read a few stories of our \"unsuccessful\" hunts this year. For those of you that got an elk on the ground, what worked? Why were you successful?

Scouting?
Trail Cameras?
Hunted the area for years and know the area like the back of your hand?
Lucky? (I\'m curious to see if anyone admits this)

I know there could be a combination of any and all, plus points I didn\'t list but what do you mainly attribute to your success this year?

Think of this in terms as if a complete newbie to elk hunting is reading...or for those of us with a couple years under our belts without an animal on the ground. :?

Scouting played a huge part in my success this year. To me scouting isn\'t just about finding elk, it\'s more about learning the terrain.
I found elk this summer and just like everyone guess, come opening day, they had disappeared. Because I scouted and understand the area, I was able to be flexible and move to new spots that I knew would be good. This tied into knowing areas like the back of my hand. On day 9 I put my bull to sleep in his bedding area. Well, I knew there was water down below him and the weather had been warm. Because I knew the area, I made an educated guess that he would hit that certain waterhole that night. The rest is history.

Trail cameras are nice and show you that elk are around, but like I said, all of my cameras were dry starting 5 days before my hunt.
So I will not say they are why I got an elk, but they did tell me what was in the area.
They also told me story about the herd. Large number of bull verse cow ratio. So if I wanted to do some calling, I knew it meant cow calling would be effective.

My physical condition played a huge part in this trip. I mentioned it a lot, but I chased bugles and I chased them hard. There were times I was sprinting 400 yards or so to catch up. Or scaling ridges as quick as I could to close gaps. Because I was physically ready, I was able to regain composure much quicker to make certain game plans or next move calls. If I would have been out of shape or out of breath, things would have gone different.


Determination played a huge part in my hunt too. I hunted day 1 until day 9 as hard as I could. I never had lazy days and never gave up.


These are just a few examples.