Curious, First Timers and Encounters..

[molliesmaster]

So I live in the Southeast. Closest I have been to Elk hunting is in front of a tv/computer screen. It's easy to become an armchair quarterback watching the BRO crew etc. get close in on elk, whether successful or not, at least they are seeing the animal.

I am wondering what its really like out there, especially for new guys/first timers. Are you seeing elk? Walking around the woods aimlessly wondering if they even exist? Seeing them but blowing the stalk?

Let's hear it. Paint me the real life story.

 

[OFFHNTN]

Honestly, ALL of the above.
My first OTC elk experience was one of the best and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Had a buddy go on his first archery elk hunt, OTC and DIY, and he stumbled onto and killed a 330'" megabull. I've went on a guided elk hunt and the guide didn't have a clue what he was doing and actually asked me for advice, I only saw one elk. The only way to know for sure is to go do it! Reality is, it's gonna be a lot of hard work and suck a fair amount, but the rewards are well worth it.

 

[Btaylor]

The mountains are WAAAAYYYYY freaking bigger than you think they are. Your lungs will burn way more than you think they can. Your legs will feel like they have lead cores at times. When you think you have covered 4-5 miles, you will just barely be getting close to 1. You may very well not find an elk. You may find an elk and if you do there is a good chance you wont get a shot because the wind is magnetized to always blow directly to the elk. Your feet will hurt, your legs will hurt, your pride will hurt, it will be the most awesome hunt you have ever been on period.

 

[Jebuwh]

The mountains are WAAAAYYYYY freaking bigger than you think they are. Your lungs will burn way more than you think they can. Your legs will feel like they have lead cores at times. When you think you have covered 4-5 miles, you will just barely be getting close to 1. You may very well not find an elk. You may find an elk and if you do there is a good chance you wont get a shot because the wind is magnetized to always blow directly to the elk. Your feet will hurt, your legs will hurt, your pride will hurt, it will be the most awesome hunt you have ever been on period.

All of this yes.

There are a few things you can do to make your first trip less wandering in the darkness, but no matter how much you prepare, study, escout, and learn, nothing will prepare you for what it is really like once you are on the ground. I highly recommend it though. I am on year two in a row of elk tag soup, and i can't get enough of it. It's unbelievably fun.

 

[ChrisAU]

Hell I didn't see an elk my first time (this past year, so only time) and I had an absolute blast. Camping in the rockies and walking around looking for an animal I've never seen was just the bees knees. A couple guys in our party saw some cows, and we ran into a couple guys that killed an absolute stud. Helped them pack it out.

I too an from the southeast, Alabama. I had never been to Colorado, and oh boy. Google Earth doesn't give you the slightest clue to how steep everything is. We packed in 4 miles, took us 7 hours! Which we stopped and stared for 10-30 minutes with our jaws on the ground probably 15-20 times haha. But its no joke, buy the best and lightest gear you can. Physically, we were wore out but not defeated. We hiked into a canyon, set up camp, hunted for 3 days, 4th day helped those guys pack out an elk out of the canyon, then we packed our camp out on the 6th day. We figure we put somewhere between 40-45 miles on our boots, 16 with full packs.

 

[SWOHTR]

First actual time out in the woods, I found 4 cows. This was an August day scouting trip, middle of the day, northern ID. Had my (now wife) in tow and 1.5 year old Springer. The apparent ease with which we happened upon them made me think, "This can't be this easy." Opening day of archery season 2015, middle of the day, stumbled upon 5 cows at 67 yards. Again, "This can't be this easy."

First year, didn't see any other elk.
Second year, got to draw on a spike at 20 yards. Saw a few cows.
Third year, saw one branch bull with a small harem.
Fourth year, saw one 280ish bull.

And it was not, and is not. I've hunted four seasons (OTC ID, archery). Have yet to tag a bull. Have seen two branch-antlered bulls total and maybe a dozen cows. I was also learning archery hunting as I was (am) learning elk hunting. Basically, I made the learning curve as steep and hard as the western mountains. Eventually, I'll overcome it. If you have a background in archery, you'll probably be better off than me. Some suggestions/pointers:

-Rifle hunt first. The mountains are big and will fatigue you, and you may be disappointed to have hiked all day finally find an elk only to realize "now I have to get another 200 yards closer to arrow it..."
-Go to an area that offers either an either sex tag or cow tag.
-Set your first goal be to "shoot an elk." Don't do what I did and set it as "shoot a bull with a bow."
-The next deer you shoot, quarter it like you would an elk in the field. Get the practice on a not-so-large animal first.

 

[quackaddict]

I think it really depends on where you are. I’ve only hunted NM, and I’ve never had a problem finding elk. I imagine hunting elk in OTC and dark timber, steep country is way different.

One thing I’ve noticed, people tend to think you have to go steep and deep for elk, and don’t ever think to give elk in the flats/grasslands a thought.

Forget what you know about scent control hunting white tails. If you don’t have the wind right, you’re going to get busted, period. And there’s zero you can do about it.

It takes a lot longer to walk a mile in the mountains than it does back in that part of the world.

Elk need food and water every day. And they’ll travel a long ways to get it.

It’s an awful lot of fun. And it can be an awful lot of work.


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[molliesmaster]

Thanks for all the replies. To clarify, I wasn't looking for advice. Just wanted to hear what the average guy experiences on his outing.

 

[johnsd16]

Last year I hunted SW MT and N ID. The mountains are WAY bigger than they look on GE and some places in N Idaho were so thick you can’t wven get though it. I found elk in both places but didn’t draw back or raise the rifle. They key is to look for FRESH sign. Old sign is neat and should be noted but you have to be where the fresh sign is. Know your physical abilities. I am not in good shape but was able to average 7mi/day in the slightly more open country of MT.

 

[WoolyBugger]

Saw two cows about a mile away on the 6th and last day of my first elk hunt in CO. Went spring bear hunting in ID and saw a bunch of them the first evening. Not that this is even close to the same but it was kind of funny. Getting ready to go back out next September.

 

[Skerhunter]

First archery elk hunting didn't know really what to expect. Bumped into a handful of elk randomly, didn't get a chance to hunt them. Didn't hear a single bugle and hiked (won't call it hunting) hard. Overall planned well (found elk where we thought there would be elk), executed poorly. Took us too long to access the areas where the elk were (late every day, so they were bedded already) and took us too long to get out (hiking in at 4am and getting back to camp at 10pm after hiking for miles wears you down fast).
Second archery elk hunt, completely different story. Made better, more realistic plans (shorter hikes in or packed in). Took multiple blown call ins and stalks before any tags were filled. Saw elk every day, had close encounters most, avg 4 days hunting per kill.
It's extremely mentally challenging. Hoping never to repeat my first experience. There were still some low points during the second hunt, but hearing bugles and have some encounters definitely helped the motivation.

 

[Clarkdale17]

My experience hunting a Colorado OTC unit. First year elk hunting and archery hunting for me. I'm fortunate enough to live close enough that I could scout pretty much every weekend which gave me a decent idea of where the elk would be. That being said I put on a ton of miles trying to find elk, but if you spend enough time on google earth there's a reasonable chance you'll be able to find them if you can't scout for them.

I got into elk every day from the first day of the season until I was lucky enough to tag out. I passed up a shot on a cow at 60 yards that I personally didn't feel comfortable taking the first evening. 2nd day blew a stalk on a small herd of cows due to bad judgement. Whenever i didn't know exactly where the elk were I was cold calling in the timber where I thought they would be. Blew what might have been an opportunity on a smaller bull because I was impatient and didn't wait around long enough to pack up my shit and move on. Managed to put a successful stalk on a cow and arrow her at 30 yards on the 4th day. Best advice I got was to shoot the first legal elk that presents a good shot.

 

[TravisIN]

First trip this past sept. I saw zero but had one bugling and was closing the distance and a hail storm rolled through and I lost him. I couldn’t hear bc the wind and hail. He was below me and when the storm passed (maybe lasted 5 min) it had dropped 10 degrees and the wind/thermals switched and were going straight downhill. I did find two sheds one was huge. I had an absolute great time and can’t wait to go back this September. I wasn’t in an area with a huge population which is fine bc I mainly wanted to get a way from people more than anything. Mission accomplished on that part because I saw no one the whole 7 days.


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[timekiller13]

You will screw up more times than you will be successful on your first couple outings. I was clueless when I first went out. Blew multiple shot opportunities my first two years. Now, I am semi-clueless, with probably just enough knowledge and experience to make me dangerous...to myself, not the elk.

 

[tttoadman]

When I was young, i was fortunate to be able to hunt with some old timers in an area that had a lot of elk. In those days, you may see up to 50 elk every day or more. It was all heavy timber, and you blew them out most of the time. I was able to get a cow both of my first years.

later rifle hunting I see less elk, less often. I average about 50% success rate now consistently.

knowing elk habits better now makes all the difference from when I was young just wandering the hills blowing them out.

The one thing that always comes to my mind about elk is how fast they move and how fast an encounter will take shape. They are so big, that they will effortlessly walk down a ridge back 1000yds in what seems like 1 or 2 minutes at the most. When they decide to go down for water, they don't screw around.

The other observation on elk is they are noisy and stinky. They can hear and even see you and sometimes not blow out. The wind is the instant bust.

Slowing down and hunting smarter not harder has made hunting so much more enjoyable for me over the years.

 

[bozeman]

My first time out last year was a tremendous experience. The vastness of the mountains is very difficult to explain without seeing it first hand. Wish you the best!

 

[squirrel]

I rented llamas to a guy from Ohio on his first hunt. He trained in the dark by headlights and headed off in the dark to a trailhead he had never been to before with animals he had never used before... Looked at my wife and said "what could go wrong?"

Couple days later he was back witha 6x6 and a nuttin to it attitude. Told me (tongue in cheek) elk are easy along with the story, claimed his book was already half written in his head. Funny but true, it can be that easy. He has not gotten one since tho...

My first archery season was for a month and I saw several hundred elk, couple dozen bulls, drew a couple times one shot taken 1 cow taken maybe 300 miles hiked on two mountains and the valley between them. Amazing introduction to the Rockies.

 

[Jacob.smithjas]

I tagged out on my first archery tag this year. Listening to podcasts like the rich outdoors and having time to scout the areas I wanted to hunt was a major reason for my success this year. As many said before they are in some tough country and I put some miles in on a non motorized trail but had found a meadow they would feed in the mornings at and I had a cow/spike tag here in Utah that allowed me to take a cow. It was a tough pack out but well worth it!


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[DenverCountryBoy]

First time out I bumped a cow opening morning. Got a shot on the last day, hit a branch. Had another cow tag that year for first rifle. Called in and shot a calf.

Second year, I was in to bulls everyday during muzzleloader season. Had a cow tag.

 

[1arrowshort]

The real life story is.....that it's what you put into it. Sounds cliche, but its true. you just can't go out there, buy a otc tag and decide on unit x, y, or z and expect to kill an elk.(well, I'm sure its happened) If you do a little research before you go and put together a plan for your area of interest, you should be able to find sign, put the pieces together and at least see elk, if your already an avid hunter you have an advantage, how's your endurance? Do you know how to call? What I'm getting at is theres alot of factors in your question. Be honest with yourself and goals for the hunt and it will be successful.

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