Archery Elk question from new elk hunter

[Roughwater]

I wish i could this year. Taking my son during his fall break. It's not long enough I know.

I agree about it not being long enough but ya gotta make do with what ya got for sure. I am absolutely for sure it will be one of your most memorable hunts with having your son along and at the same time this being your first elk hunt.

Trust me on the savoring part. With two of you hunting and a relatively short time to hunt don't pass up a shot on a legal elk. You may loose a day of hunting to processing and packing it out if not more so keep that in mind as well. Do your savoring at the kitchen table! That said, a great hunt without taking any elk is still a great hunt.

 

[chindits]

Well that wasn’t too gentle a way to respond to paul. I reckon you’ll hunt as you see fit.

 

[NMframed]

Elknut1 has as much (or more) OTC public land elk hunting experience than most on this forum. He was offering you some very valuable advice. If Paul were to give me direct advice I can promise you I would be all ears

 

[Randle]

I would say its going to be based on what you see scouting.I would spend sometime in closer scouting morning and evening and see how good the closer ground looks. there may very well be some ground closer that doesn't get pressure , but that won't be apparent until season starts.
Dont pass up elk to find elk...ask me how I know.

 

[Randle]

Thanks for the input. I doubt I would pass one up if I had an opportunity on opening day to kill one 300 yds from the truck, but the idea of that bums me out. I am looking forward to the full immersion experience of solitude, no road noise, star gazing at night, and working hard. Getting one that close to the truck really would piss me off. (When I get older, my view might change). It would have to be a big one. I'm ok not harvesting one if after a week of hard hunting it doesn't happen. Ideally it would be on the 2nd to the last day after hunting my *ss off all week. Anyway, thanks for the good advice. I'm looking forward to the scouting trip. I'll update this after the hunt.

I just read this ..seems liked you answered your own question. you want the backcountry experience as much or more than you want an elk

 

[Dart368]

Perhaps I missed it, but what state and what part of the state was he going to go hunt at?

 

[Marble]

I'm not opposed to going 6 miles. But in 20 years of elk hunting, I know I have passed a lot of elk in those 6 miles. I would zig zag my way off and on the trail looking for sign and try to stay as close as possible.

Last year I was 2 miles in to a very very very busy zone in Idaho. In elk everyday. Spoke to 10 guys who hadn't beard a bugle when I was packing meat out.

Hunt your way in. Maybe move every other day a little deeper.

I can break camp and cover a mile on the trail in less than an hour.

6 mile round trip, depending on elevation changes is going to be 6 hours minimum I would guess. A bull would at minimum be two round trips each. Most likely have to go back for another...

 

[Finch]

This is why people lurk in the shadows of forums and not engage. Lots of incorrect assumptions to which I have no interest in correcting or further discussing. Thread is closed from my perspective. You have the right name.

What was wrong with his response? Seemed to me it was very useful and Paul hunts a ton with his son as well. He'd be the guy to listen to if no one else. Good luck!

 

[cnelk]

I was going to offer some advice, but I think the OP already has his mind made up and all figured out.

Boy, is he in for a surprise.

 

[fatlander]

This is shaping up to be one expensive and miserable bow hike. I’m in for the updates.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ForrestHorsehunter]

This is why people lurk in the shadows of forums and not engage. Lots of incorrect assumptions to which I have no interest in correcting or further discussing. Thread is closed from my perspective. You have the right name.

Reading Elknut's comment I was thinking the exact same thing, but didn't see the curveball of you not liking his comment. Paul (elknut) is one of the most respected elk hunters and elk educators in the country. He has ton's of amazing free content all over the internet that has helped countless people kill bulls, even on their first hunts. I usually recommend soaking up as much knowledge from him as possible to any new elk hunter. In his comment he provides great advice and meant nothing ill from it, he's a truly good guy trying to help.

Hunting six miles back can be really enjoyable if you aren't running into people. If you find the right hole you can feel like you're the only one in the woods. I'm not detouring you from this, just trying to give you perspective. If you are camping six miles back, you could easily shoot a bull a mile or even further from camp. From camp that mile (or more) could easily have serious elevation change. What if you shoot in down one of those nice timber holes they like to hide in? A lot of times its a serious job just to get them out of the hole you shoot them in. So, now you've got to pack out a bull and camping gear. To get the whole bull and camp out, even with the help of a 16 year old, can easily be three trip. So I would be prepare to take the time to hunt as well as multiple days of packing meat. I shot one right at six miles last year, took my brother and I 3 trips to get camp, meat, and head back to the truck. We are in great shape and live at elevation. On that note elevation seems to take everyone I bring out to hunt off guard, no matter how good of shape they think they are in.

After packing meat for 2 days we got back to the truck (pretty crowded trailhead, canvas tents and horse trailers everywhere) to find a guy had just shot a really nice bull about half a mile from the parking lot.

 

[Ucsdryder]

6 mile deep bivy hunt for your first elk trip. What could go wrong! Make sure you let us know how it goes. I have a spot that holds elk that 3.5 miles deep and I hate going there! And I’m 15 years younger, live at 5500 feet, and scout all summer at 10k feet.

 

[Billy Goat]

After 6 miles in how far is it to the next trail head coming in from another direction?

@Hogslayer it might be rough but you have gotten some good advice. Definitely a good thing to be go in July. Are you driving or flying? Keep in mind after travel you need a little bit of recoup time. I have a very good friend who was in the hospital for 3 days out there after pushing too hard. Don't think the altitude is a joke. It does things to your body that you can't control. I do alright with it, he had some problems amplified by dehydration that ended up shutting his kidneys down. He was in excellent shape as well, and this was probably his sixth trip out there.

To answer you question I would hunt your way back, at that point season has been in for a while, hard to tell where the elk are going to be pushed to. Don't think there are areas that people don't get to. Elk are completely different than what I had experienced in the east. In the east of you find habitat you will normally find animals. With elk hunting it's nothing but habitat, they just aren't in all of it, and they move around a lot. I have found elk in areas that they weren't in a week earlier, and I have areas that use to hold elk that I don't think they have returned to for 2-3 years.

Biggest thing is to get some experience with it. You will figure it out. Might be after a few years you will be able to advise guys like yourself when they come here.

 

[Dos Perros]

Kudos to the OP for going scouting this summer. To me that shows more than most low-post-count dudes who post topics like this every summer.

I wouldn't let these naysayers get you down. Go this summer, scout, find some elk, go short go deep, get your eyes on the county. Then be thinking about where the cows will be (best feed) while avoiding the pressure they will surely have experienced by then. Ultimately you're going to be hunting the hunters...at least that's what I'd do, go where they are less likely to be. If that's deep, then I'd call your way in there and you might strike a bugle on the way and get distracted in a good way. Not knowing the country, if its isn't glassable I'd be hiking ridgelines super early, like 4 AM, and bugling covering miles looking for answers.

Lastly, have a packer lined up. Talk to him about the country, where he can get and can't get. You still might have to move meat a mile or more to a trail. Make sure he's dependable. It will be worth the expense, IMO, to hunt where you are most likely to kill something as opposed to where you can get an elk out by yourself (with your son).

FWIW, I was you once, albeit younger. In 2017 I zipped the ribs on a chunky 5x5 8 crow flying miles / 11 man walking miles from the trailhead. The bull lived but had I killed him we would have been fine as we had a packer lined up. Would have been a little more tired/sore the next day and missed an additional day of work but it would have been worth it.

 

[conley417]

I'd like to have at least 3 people if I'm packing an elk out 6+ miles.

Nothing like someone asking for advice and then getting mad and disregarding all the advice.

 

[5MilesBack]

Nothing like asking for help then kicking your responders in the nads when they do. Wow, just wow.

 

[CJohnson]

I felt the exact same way as the OP this time last year.

Went in 7-ish miles (on horses) and hunted hard for 6 days without seeing a soul until some of the other members of the party started getting homesick and cold. Ended up shooting an elk 2 miles from the trailhead. I know for a fact that 2 different groups of hunters walked right by these elk, 300 yards from the main trail because they heard our shots and came back to check it out. I'm guessing there were between 50-60 trucks at the trailhead when we came out and I saw 10-12 more hunters on the way in. That was my lesson - elk hunting OTC/public land is about killing elk, wherever they are.

I'm also 31 years old and I exercise, hike, grapple, etc. regularly and the elevation kicked my butt for a solid 36 hours. I felt like I was out of breath even when I was taking a leak.

 

[switchback7]

if ya cant handle the advice of others, why even ask?

 

[Lefty26]

So I took my first elk trip last year. I'm a smidge younger (42) but had similar plans that you have. First day hiked in 7 miles to the "honey holes" I had e-scouted. Didn't find any elk and the trek kicked my butt. Ended up killing a 300" bull the 3rd day of the hunt a mile from the truck.

Further is not always better. That experience has adjusted how I e-scout. Packing an elk out a mile has really adjusted how I e-scout, 7 miles would have killed me. It is a disease and once you do it, it is not curable. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.

 

[ElkNut1]

Hogslayer, hunting, killing & packing out an elk is tough business & can be one the toughest challenges you'll ever experience. It's easy to have a dozen encounters & come up empty handed. Covering lots of country is easily done as long as you're in shape. Calling in & killing a bull can be much more doable if you apply as much of you & your Son's energies towards strategies you will be faced with on these encounters.

We've elk hunted for many years now & I too hunt with my Son, it can truly be a blessing in disguise. He's taken 29 archery elk & I've been there on all of them. I was just leaning on the experiences I've shared with him & offering advice in a way so you two can avoid trials & errors we've experienced. You & him as a Tag Team is a powerful tool when executed properly, take advantage of this.

I would suggest focusing more on Calling & Glassing to locate. If in super open terrain then more glassing. If in dark timber then more calling to locate! -- I will add that in all those OTC Public land hunts we've taken near all of them inside 1-1/2 miles of dirt or paved roads. Simply put, hunt where others wouldn't venture! Stay away for the most part from busy trail-heads, gated roads, etc. where most hunters congregate to start their hunts!

Learn to communicate with elk, not just make elk sounds! Why? Because if you look at Stats for OTC Public Land DIY hunts you will find that over-all the success rate is less than 10% for a Cow Call or Bull yet nearly every archery hunter (100's of thousands of them) knows how to cow & bugle, so why isn't the success rate higher? It shows knowing how to make a few elk sounds simply isn't enough.

Bottom line, focus on your calling/communicating skills, calling setups, practice these setups prior to your hunt to work out any kinks that will arise, etc. Don't get overly concerned with distance unless you are just wanting to hunt areas where bulls grow old & die! Good luck sir!

ElkNut