Are hiking ridges before daylight to get above elk a bad idea?

[MT_Wyatt]

Thanks for the info. guys - i might go high at midday to glass for evening feedings. I may be overthinking all this a bit so glad to get some perspective.

I'll offer that being able to glass is nice for spotting stuff, but generally when they are down lower and feeding in the morning, you want to already be in position to make a play on them if you can. Sometimes you can't, or when there's a lot of moonlight they are moving back into timber super early. You've got to know where they are to make that work. Glassing in the morning and evening can really help with that. Mid day I'd say you need to be able to see some wallows or secluded feeding areas to have a ton of luck picking elk up.

I wouldn't say you are overthinking it, but I would offer you've got to put yourself near elk to close the deal. Even if you can't spot them glassing, cover country and try and figure out their main travel paths to and from cover up higher on the ridges. If you're into fresh sign, and you can piece together how hey use the terrain, you can win the chess match with them.


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[tenth1]

While glassing from a mid vantage is the most productive, I do enjoy and have been successful hunting on the way to a higher glassing area. I got tired of spooking the critters on the way up the hill before daylight.

 

[5MilesBack]

Maybe a little off topic, but when do thermals switch? Is there a rule of thumb or is it too variable based on slope, wind, sun, weather, etc.?

The rule of thumb is.......right about the time I'm at 50 yards and closing.

Last year early in the season was the worst I've ever experienced for thermals and wind. I don't even know how many times they screwed me. One time in particular I spent 2 hours going out of my way to get the winds just right and they were consistently from the same direction the entire time. I work into position, wind still in my face, and throw out a bugle. I get a response about 100-150 yards up and across the slope from me and I start to move and........immediately the wind changes direction 180 degrees and then all I heard was busting timber. Two seconds later the wind in back in my face and stays that direction for longer than I care to even remember.

This happened in just about every encounter I had for about two weeks straight, and then the last week of the season they seemed to mellow out for me.

 

[elkyinzer]

If it's a ridge that runs East-West you could get there before sunup and stay just on the North side of the ridge so the thermals dump your scent down into that basin. In my experience I've most commonly seen elk use the South facing slopes at night then cross over into the darker basin early in the morning.

Either way, if you are up on a ridgetop and you are have typical pre-dawn thermals (as opposed to a prevailing wind) you really just want to guess which basin the elk are in, and keep your scent out of that one. Better than staying high on the ridge and dumping scent into both basins. Then again the size of the basin matters too. If the elk at 1000 feet or more below I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Nobody camps up high? If you haven't located them the day before what's your game plan for the morning. what's a safe distance to keep camp away from a basin elk are in?

 

[IdahoElk]

Nobody camps up high? If you haven't located them the day before what's your game plan for the morning. what's a safe distance to keep camp away from a basin elk are in?

If I'm hunting an area cold and not sure where they are I will get up high and bugle into as many drainages as I can using non aggressive locate calls before the wind starts swirling.Once a bull is located I either move in or if the wind stinks,wait until the evening when they get up from bedding and thermals are in my favor.

 

[IdahoElk]

Maybe a little off topic, but when do thermals switch? Is there a rule of thumb or is it too variable based on slope, wind, sun, weather, etc.?

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The areas that I hunt the wind typically starts swirling by 8:30 and continues until 6:30-7.It all has to do with the terrain and weather.Some spots I hunt are deep and narrow with water at the bottom which allows thermals to stay consistent longer into the morning and switches back earlier in the evening which helps a lot.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Then again the size of the basin matters too. If the elk at 1000 feet or more below I wouldn't worry about it too much.

This is what I was assuming but was also wondering since I plan to spike up on top of a ridge this year for first rifle, however my intention was to be glassing the "L" shaped basin/canyon below and will he mostly looking at the bottom and faces that are 1mi off and down 1000-1500'. Perhaps I'm naive but I didn't figure my scent would carry to the animals that far. Once spotted we'd work in on them, obviously a different ballgame of closeness needed versus archery, thus why I figured start high since I don't need to close in nearly as much.

 

[ndbwhunter]

Nobody camps up high? If you haven't located them the day before what's your game plan for the morning. what's a safe distance to keep camp away from a basin elk are in?

I'm wondering the same thing.

I camped on a ridge last season, and only had a 5 minute walk to my glassing spot. There was a ton of sign in the timber (north facing) below my camp, but I never heard or saw an elk in there. They pretty much stayed to the south facing slopes across from camp. I'm thinking my presence on that ridge may have pushed them out of the north facing timber. It was my first elk hunt, so lesson learned.

 

[westrnwild]

I'm wondering the same thing.

I camped on a ridge last season, and only had a 5 minute walk to my glassing spot. There was a ton of sign in the timber (north facing) below my camp, but I never heard or saw an elk in there. They pretty much stayed to the south facing slopes across from camp. I'm thinking my presence on that ridge may have pushed them out of the north facing timber. It was my first elk hunt, so lesson learned.

Camping up high is totally situational in my opinion. I have been in big wide canyons where camping high is fine, but ive been in tight spots where all your going to do is push them out of country.. Just depends. I dont camp to high here in colorado during archery season because of the bad lightning storms we get, not to say others dont do it, i just would rather walk an extra mile then be completely exposed above treeline. There are some spots that make for great high country camps. but every drainage and mountain is different. You really just have to know the country. Best rule of thumb i use if i know there in one drainage/gulch heavly ill try to camp in the adjacent drainage/gulch as to not bug them. Nothing worse then seeing a camp up high at the base of gulch right in the elks feeding area.

 

[les welch]

Yes, we camp high. It's easier to be above the elk and quarter or parallel them, then it is to try and chase them up the mountain. Nearly impossible to make that work. Generally we find a good pocket that is far enough away from most elk, yet close enough to make it a reasonable trek. As stated above, keeping enough distance up the "ridge" so as thermals aren't spooking the elk below at night. Nothing is 100% but this has worked very well for us.

 

[elkyinzer]

I really like these educational threads - here's an illustration because other hunters have done these over the years and they've really helped me learn.



This is a real ridge I hunted on my first trip, to Colorado several years back. A huge herd was in a pattern of feeding basically anywhere on the South facing slope at night, then around 9 each morning right as the thermals started swirling, they would pop over the top and bed in one of the North facing bowls coming off the main basin, likely on the benches, marked "B". This is brutally steep country, and the elk used the few saddles, benches and bowls there were extensively.

So here is what our strategy should have been, and what I learned, from screwing it up. We should have climbed to location "X", which is similar to what Les is saying, to start the hunt each morning. From there, assuming reasonable downward thermals, the herd is still likely "up" the main basin which is open meadows mixed with scrubby aspen type stuff. That puts the herd in reach, but out of your scent stream. As they made their morning move toward bedding, we could try to quarter up and cut them off on one of their travel routes. Right about where I marked "C" would be reasonable camp spot in my opinion, most of the elk were higher than that with still pretty easy access up to the ridge.

What we actually did and what I learned: We were spiked a mile away, so each morning we came in from the main creek to the South and climbed toward where the elk were feeding (we could hear them). We didn't use the topography to our advantage, instead we were constantly playing catch up trying to chase them straight up the mountain. We learned quickly we couldn't outclimb the elk. It was a brutal freaking climb and we had no chance, and we were too inexperienced and had gear too heavy just to move camp to make the ridgetop more accessible predawn. After a couple days of this these elk had basically broken us and we focused elsewhere during the mornings and found a couple smaller groups we got into. On the last morning, I finally decided to venture into the timber where they were bedded and called a nice bull in, but got beat by the swirling winds.

 

[westrnwild]

Great post Elkyinzer.

Ive seen elk do what you said quite a few times. I usually try to intercept them on there way to "b" and just hope i chose wisely or i can cover ground quickly within in the timber. Sometimes ill wait till noon when i know those satellites start getting antsy and the wind has chosen a direction and use that to my advantage. Either way you attack it you win some and lose some.. Great post!

 

[5MilesBack]

Nobody camps up high? If you haven't located them the day before what's your game plan for the morning. what's a safe distance to keep camp away from a basin elk are in?

It depends where I'm hunting, but in a lot of my areas the elk feed low and then go high to bed. But in some they feed high (above timberline) and go lower into the timber to bed. It doesn't matter to me where they are or where they're coming from or going to.......I go straight off of bugles (I rarely ever see them first), and if they don't want to play that game, I continue on until I find one that will play. So it doesn't matter where I camp, and I know where the elk are in areas I hunt, so I just move into the position I want to be in by first light and then make things happen. I actually prefer evening hunts.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Very informative comments fellas!

 

[Mike7]

Interesting posts. When hiking in from the road along a ridgetop to hunt (not bivy out hunting), on many occasions I have bumped elk (where I was seen, smelled, and heard) in the dark or at first light that were crossing the ridgetop to go from feeding to bedding areas. On several of these occasions, I have kept on hiking up the ridge, only to later find that those elk ended up in a couple of hours in the same exact bedding areas, as if I hadn't bumped them at all.

 

[Cowbell]

These experiences are really good to hear. Thanks guys.

 

[AdamW]

I really like these educational threads - here's an illustration because other hunters have done these over the years and they've really helped me learn.

GREAT post!

 

[Gmoney3935]

This is some great content for a very inexperienced elk hunter like myself. Like live2hunt I had pictured my new strategy to camp close to a glassing point so I could glass at first light in order to locate elk. One of my biggest frustrations last year was feeling like I was just hiking around hoping to see or hear an elk. I had done my map research and identified spots I felt likely held elk but when it was time for boots on the ground it felt a bit aimless. Since I live out east I can't locate elk before season so I have been feeling like my only hope to find elk is to glass up high then make my move. From the sounds of it I may be causing more harm than good. Is this a terrible idea?


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[jmez]

If I camp high then I do it where the elk are not using the area if at all possible. I prefer to hunt up in the mornings, I don't want to be above them unless I know where they are and where they are going. If I don't know where the elk are located and want to glass specific locations from high up, I will glass them from the opposite side of the drainage, not the side I think the elk are on.

If I see them then depending on time, terrain, etc will either go after them or just sit and watch them all morning until they bed down. If I don't screw them up then very likely they will be in the same area the next morning and I can make a plan to hunt them accordingly.