best advice to give a newbie

[Pilgrim]

Keep moving till you find them, if you bust em, at least you found em.

Don't overlook the obvious, sometimes small herds will hang out near roads and such.

Be aggressive with calls, don't tell yourself "you're not good enough yet." Sometimes elk don't even sound like elk.

Hunting elk doesn't require thousands of dollars in clothing, gear, optics etc. Do with what you have and borrow what you can.

I could keep going. PM me if you want.

 

[cnelk]

Dont pass on an elk the first day that you would shoot the last day

 

[TEmbry]

Dont pass on an elk the first day that you would shoot the last day

Great advice I plan to stick with on all my hunts this fall.

Keep em coming guys...

 

[Backstrap]

I see from your signature block you're from the midwest (as am I). If you've only hunted whitetail deer, you'll be amazed at how much more noise and movement elk tolerate (they seem to tolerate less scent). Even when they do see or wind you, its not the fight or flight, get the heck out of Dodge reaction deer have. They just kind of trot away and occasionally look back at you. They also tend to group up in larger herds than deer (think cattle feedlot size herds rather than whitetail deer sized herds), which lends to more eyes, ears, etc. to bust you. Unlike deer, they may not stop trotting until they are three counties away but they are slower in their departure. Physical conditioning and good boots are also key as others have said. You cannot imagine the physiological changes going from midwest elevations to elk country. Drink lots of water as you dehydrate just from respiration at altitude. Ease into the elevation change if schedule, work, etc. allows. Mountain sickness will ruin the hunt if you come up too quick. Just my $0.02.

 

[bz_711]

(they seem to tolerate less scent).

You can say that again. Everything on TV is selling product to beat a whitetails nose...IMO, it's not even close compared to elk - the slightest wind swirl and that hunt is done. And - no possible way to even worry about scent control IMO when mountain hunting, especially if camping for a week. My wind-indicator powder gets heavy use in the elk woods!