Your Best Tips

[cohunter14]

You are finishing up dinner with a good friend of yours when they break the news to you that they are about to leave for their first ever elk hunt. Being a good friend, you want to do whatever you can to help your buddy out. But you\'ve only got five minutes until he has to leave. What are the most important tips you can give this newbie in that time that you feel will help him potentially find success?

 

[cnelk]

Well... Hmmmm...
I would think a good friend would tell me long before 5 minutes he was gonna leave!

1- Go slow, stealthy
2- Hunt uphill in the mornings
3- Call sparingly
4- Find the elk, then hunt them

 

[cohunter14]

Well... Hmmmm...
I would think a good friend would tell me long before 5 minutes he was gonna leave!

I know, I know... I was trying to come up with a scenario instead of just asking. I guess I need to work on that

 

[Iron_Will_Eric]

Love the scenario! My tips would be:

1) Get a bottle of wind indicator powder and hunt into the wind (kind of like cnelk\'s #2).
2) Slow way down around ridges and whenever new terrain comes into view. Quickly crawl over exposed ridges so you don\'t silhouette yourself.
3) Use your senses to find elk- Pick up on anything that smells like cattle. When not moving, listen for the deep bass of sticks breaking on the ground as opposed to the lighter \"snap\" sound sticks make in the trees. Meticulously glass terrain so you notice if any little thing is out of place. Examine turds and tracks for freshness.
4) Be patient. Opportunities can present them in an instant, when least expected.

 

[elky McElkerson]

5 mins?!!

besides, \"why didnt you come here sooner?\"

all i would have is:
hey, easy with the bean and cheese-dip.
you\'ve had enough beer and wine, go to sleep.
and when hunting..get away from the roads. go deep.

 

[bnsafe]

1. dont quit
2. dont quit
3. dont quit

the mental side is tougher than the physical, at least to me.

 

[sn.outdoors]

I\'m 3/3 with just waking around in good areas until I shot one. Works well for most western game, especially during the rut

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[cohunter14]

Some good responses so far. I would agree with Scott that \'don\'t quit\' has to be a high priority. It is so easy to get discouraged in elk country. Along that same line, I would tell someone to make sure they have fun. After all, it\'s a vacation in some beautiful country and punching a tag doesn\'t have to be the difference in having a good time or not.

I also echo Brad\'s \'find the elk, then hunt them\' statement. Finding elk is more than half the battle, even during archery season. I try to cover ground to do this, either by hiking or by covering it with my eyes via glassing, which is much easier on the legs If you are hunting with a group of people, be smart about this. Spread out and cover some ground and report back with what you find. If you aren\'t finding the elk or any fresh sign, keep covering more ground. Don\'t make the same hike over and over expecting different results.

Other thoughts:
1) Keep your head up as much as possible when walking. You aren\'t going to see anything looking down at the ground or your feet.
2) Expanding on Cliff\'s statement, get a 1/2 mile away from a road and you will escape 90% of the other hunters
3) You don\'t have to hunt a wilderness area to escape other hunters (see #2)
4) Others have touched on it and it kind of ties in with my first note, but be patient. Every spot you don\'t find elk gets you one step closer to figuring out where they are. Many people think their best opportunity is opening day and I disagree. The last day can be far better because of the knowledge gained.

 

[BredFrey]

if he says that within five minutes before leaving, I will ask my wife to make the bed in our visitor\'s room for him and I will advise him to go and make himself comfortable sleeping - hahaha joking. But then I will advise him to be:
1. persistent
2. persistent
3. never relax while in the middle of a hunt
4. elk can be 500 meters at the time you think all hope is gone
5. always adhere to odors
6. make sure you have long range and a perfect riflescope for hunting
7. always look for those brown colored horns that look like dried wood
8. don\'t miss aiming to the heart
9. finally, make sure you bring me my share of the meat - hahaha

 

[cohunter14]

Welcome to the site BredFrey! Interesting article you shared. Good information on there for sure, but somewhat limited in the number of best scopes on the market. Then again, asking someone what scope is best is like asking someone who makes the best pickup truck