Why Do You Want To Hunt Elk?

[Swede]

Notice I said why do you \"want\" to hunt elk, not why do you hunt elk. This thread is for anyone that ever even just wanted to hunt them, even if you have never gone.
For me it is the challenge of getting one with my bow. I enjoy trying to figure out where they will be, and proving myself right or wrong. It is personal, and I don\'t get as much joy from the bragging rights, as from the self satisfaction of accomplishing what I set out to do. Don\'t get me wrong, I enjoy posting a picture of an elk on the ground, but most of the fun is over when the elk is shot. Most of what is left is hard work, until I hear a steak sizzling in the frying pan.
Ok, so enough about me. what turns you on to elk hunting, even if you are looking forward to your first hunt?

 

[Zpd307]

elk represent the mtns.......

 

[iccyman001]

I\'ll piggy back onto Gary\'s and say the terrain really appeals to me.


You have to prepare for elk hunting differently from anything else that I have ever hunted.
I can be very physically demanding and I like that as an extra challenge.

 

[Deertick]

I \"grew up\" hunting whitetails.

Whitetails can be hunted after work, and you can still sleep in your own bed.

Elk aren\'t like that.

It\'s all on their terms. You have to immerse yourself in their environment.

Oh, you don\'t have to. I\'ve shot \'em off of hay fields before, or with long shots off a bipod. But that\'s not elk hunting, is it? No. No, it\'s not.

Elk hunting involves actually putting all the CRAP of your life on hold, and slowly walking to the alter. And if you\'re doing it right, you feel like you don\'t deserve it. I\'m pretty good at carrying the CRAP of my life around through almost everything I do. But I can\'t hunt elk with it.

That\'s what I like.

 

[Zpd307]

I \"grew up\" hunting whitetails.

Whitetails can be hunted after work, and you can still sleep in your own bed.

Elk aren\'t like that.

It\'s all on their terms. You have to immerse yourself in their environment.

Oh, you don\'t have to. I\'ve shot \'em off of hay fields before, or with long shots off a bipod. But that\'s not elk hunting, is it? No. No, it\'s not.

Elk hunting involves actually putting all the CRAP of your life on hold, and slowly walking to the alter. And if you\'re doing it right, you feel like you don\'t deserve it. I\'m pretty good at carrying the CRAP of my life around through almost everything I do. But I can\'t hunt elk with it.

That\'s what I like.

I will expand my answer and say that ticks answer is why I LOVE elk hunting.... what has pushed me to run marathons and do triathlons. has me looking at google earth the next day after I get back from the hunt and start planning for the next year.

 

[cnelk]

I used to play chess.
Wasnt much good but win my share of games

To me, elk hunting is like a chess game. There are lots of factors and moves to be successful.
Even if the elk say \'Check Mate\', you sure had a good game and want to play again.

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

Man vs. Mother Natures application of evolutionary instinct........game.

 

[Hackbow]

A qualifier before I give my answer : I don\'t care how anyone else decides to kill, harvest or pursue elk - or any other game for that matter - as long as they do it within legal bounds and respect my right to do likewise.

That being said, there is no other annually accessible game animal that requires as much preparation and effort at which to even have a chance than elk. A stickbow, backpack and survival equipment in a backcountry area are what makes me feel like I\'m hunting. Anything else FOR ME is ambush and kill. The feeling of having truly hunted vs ambushing is what made me want to hunt elk the first time and continues to draw me back. Lord willing, it will for many more years.

 

[Zpd307]

x2 on the last 2 posts. i am not very eloquent....

 

[Lark Bunting]

My son makes me do it. :think:

:thewave:

 

[elky McElkerson]

difficulty and the challenge it respresents.

at every level, there is something that makes is easier NOT to hunt elk. elk hunting isnt cheap, elk hunting isnt easy, elk are not dumb, elk are not light. the terrain sucks to climb. everything is hard. (at the level i hunt them..on the cheap)..hell, pulling a decent tag is a damn near impossibility.

having said that, IF and when i get one with my bow, i will dance a jig on the mountain tops. it would be a great accomplishment for me.

 

[Baby Huey]

Elk have a certain mountain majesty that fuels me to hunt them. It seems like September is their time, when the woods, valleys and mountain tops are bathed in their great vocalizations. The sound of an elk bugle is like nothing else in the Colorado mountains that I hunt. It sends shivers down the spine, causing skin to turn into goose bumps and an immediate adrenaline and heart rate increase. Being in the mountains in September taking in the brilliant foliage changes - it just seems like nothing can top that beauty. Until that piercing bugle does just that.

The hunt that hooked me was when we had backpacked into the Flat Tops Wilderness about 15 years ago. One morning my two brothers and I were at the top of a mountain and heard a throaty bugle 1000yds below us. Excitement rushed through us and I had them go ahead of me down the mountain to intercept the bull. We would set up about every 250yds and I would bugle, each time both hunters and bull plotting an intercept course to each other. Finally after 3 set ups, we know we were close. We were set up at the edge of a meadow anticipating the bull to come up through the timber and work the edges of the meadow as he approached. The crispness in the air was sliced by the bull bugling at the edge of the meadow 100yds to our left, not directly in front of us as we anticipated. I let out one last small bugle and the bull charged forward ? pinpointing my position and making a B-Line for me. My brothers were in perfect position as the 320 class bull was focused on me and not them. I?ll never forget the small spruce tree in front of me blocking most of the bull, but his antlers were slowly swaying back and forth on each side of that tree as he approached me with his breath steaming above the small tree. My brother?s muzzleloader broke the silence and I saw my other brother?s arrow in flight. Both lead and shaft missed their marks. The bull retreated back to where he came, I called one last time and he gave me a 70 yd broadside shot, but I was not proficient at that range. We just stared at each other and seconds later the monarch retreated back into the forest.

That hunt will always be fresh in my mind and the experience was quite outstanding ? where it is one of the foundations of my hunt memories that drives me to hunt elk each year.