Afternoon strategies?

[WYO_ATL]

Ok guys, seeking a little advice and opinions here.
Here is a little backstory of the area I hunt.
I have hunted the same area for 3 years now and there is absolutely no afternoon action. We have a good bugle right at first light, then it dies for a couple hours and picks up again mid morning and eventually dies off about mid day. In the 3 years we have hunted there, we haven't made a set up on an elk in the afternoon. We've killed 4 elk in three years, and they've all been before noon. We try to do full days in the field, but our afternoons are usually spent sitting up high listening for bugles that never materialize or along what we think are travel areas.

So my question is: would you continue hunting like we currently do, as it has proven to work, or would you put in half a day in the area, hike the 2-4 miles back to the truck and relocate to unknown areas for an evening hunt to try and find vocal elk?

We are hunting the last week in September this year, so we are hoping they'll be more vocal towards dark.

 

[Vids]

Interesting dilemma. What you're doing is obviously working, but I can see it making for boring afternoons and evenings. Maybe find some good glassing locations so you can try to figure out where they are coming out to feed in the evenings and then set up there in the afternoon? Either figure out how they use your area in the evenings, or spend a night or two glassing different areas that you haven't been in before.

 

[WYO_ATL]

I wish glassing were an option, but the area is mostly heavy timber. There are a few vantage points, but in three years, we've only seen a handful of elk on the open sage hillsides.


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[loggerchas]

Sounds like the elk are bedding down somewhere. In my experience, in the afternoons I venture into the edges of thick steep and nasty dark timber and quietly sit and wait. They might be bedded but they often wander a bit in the vicinity also. I am very careful not to go too deep into the dark nasty because if I blow the herd I am out of elk for a couple of days usually. I just patiently sit and quietly listen to an audio book on an earbud or scratch a note in my journal and wait for a glimpse of brown body or a broken branch nearby. Maybe a calf-call every 30/45 minutes or so. My $0.02. You can always send one guy back on an adventure while another waits near the bedding area. Some of my best areas are places I found when bored and just scouting around. Chas.

 

[Ryan2782]

It sounds like you are already successful there! I'd keep hiking through the afternoon covering as much ground as you can or are willing to cover, and bugle. I do this on my hunts, and larger bulls seem to be more willing to leave their cows after they are bedded to defend them and keep other bulls away. You just need to find the right bull. My reason is, I'd rather walk past 5 bulls that don't want to talk/play/fight/breed to find the one that is fired up. If a bull wants nothing to do with you, there is sometimes nothing you can do to get a response and reaction from him. Move on and find the one that is ready.

 

[vanish]

WYO_ATL - I have almost the same problem in one of the areas I hunt. Its a great morning spot and I've even found elk up to about just after lunch time (in fact that's been the best time, 10am to 2pm), but I haven't a clue where they go in the evening. I've only seen one cow with her calves in the evening in about 20 days hunting that area.

The advice above "just keep hiking" won't work as you'll hit private property.

I'm considering sucking it up, hiking out and driving to another spot in the evenings when I hunt there. Feels like such a waste but it really is a good spot for the first half of the day.

 

[TJ]

Any wallows or water in the area you take advantage of?

 

[FlyGuy]

Bring a fishing Rod?

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[WYO_ATL]

There are wallows and water. Bad thing is, there are wallows and water in every drainage. Water is available to them everywhere. Don't think I could bring myself to going fishing in the afternoons during elk season. I have 11 other months to go catch fish.


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[Swede]

I would set up a tree stand near a good bedding area at a location where several well used elk trails come together.

 

[Btaylor]

Since you will be hunting a later time frame I would at least give it the first couple of evenings to confirm it still sucks in the evening or that the different timeframe changes the game in a positive fashion. If you still are having no luck then I would be looking at different spots in the evening. Take that with however many grains of salt you feel are appropriate because I am new to elk hunting but the situation you describe is a general hunting scenario not exclusive to elk imo.