ELk Tactic - What Would You Do?

[Uintah]

Hey guys, so last season I started archery hunting a new public land OTC area that I'm trying to figure out. Let me set it up for you. From my truck to the exact spot where I hung my stand is just over 2 miles. Across a river, up a steep mountainside and into a basin with very thick pines and deadfall with small occasional clearings. I ultimately ended up setting my stand up on the edge of a small meadow with a meandering stream around the edge of one side (good feed and good water!) The whole basin would be considered North sloping running downhill from south to North and is about 3 miles long with my stand almost in the middle. Lower down the mountain are a bunch of really nice grassy spots in the pines with some water. I always saw beds and some wallows there so figured I would avoid the bedroom spots and never hunted them specifically. I also never saw another person or even signs of other people up in there. Throughout the summer and later into the year I had tons and tons of pictures from a trailcam of elk in the meadow. Bulls, cows, calves, everything. They were consistently there all summer even into November when I finally pulled the camera. Fast forward to the hunt, opening morning I'm in my stand. I sat and hunted from the stand for 4 straight days and never saw or heard a single elk. Early the morning of the 4th day hiking into the stand in the dark I spooked something in the meadow that ran off like a heard of elephants (assuming elk) and I always saw fresh sign in and out of there. Anyway my question is, knowing there are elk in there yet not ever seeing them during my hunts, how would you hunt this spot? Stand? Blind? Spot and stalk? The area is super thick so shots and visibility are somewhat limited in the trees, but the whole area feels like a bedroom area and they always know you're there. So preparing for this year I'm curious how you would approach hunting an area like this successfully?

 

[Gerbdog]

I have never stand hunted elk so.... hopefully someone with more experience can chip in and give you better advice then this but.... if your set on stand hunting i'd look for a well used wallow and set up above that and pray that bull comes in during shooting hours. Since your sitting on a feeding area, and since you spooked them in the dark, my guess is they are feeding there in the dark and moving to bed before light... and thats pretty common elk behavior right there. Especially in the OTC units. I would see if you can figure out where theyre moving from feed to bed and set up a stand along that path?

Lastly, elk move a LOT. 4 days in a stand may not even be enough to figure out if that feeding area is part of their larger circuit and they dont follow as much of a pattern as whitetail. Personally i just keep moving, even if its REALLY slow, and call a bit as im moving to try and find elk. All that said, lots of people kill them from stands, im just not one of them and hopefully someone more experienced will chime in.

 

[ElkNut1]

You're being winded. Avoid that at all cost & your efforts can be rewarded! You may have to move your stand. your scent must be controlled. You do not have to be at their destination spot, just go up or down the trail they're using to that area so you have more predictable wind, it can be just as effective!

p.s. I'd be using a great setup & calling them in personally if the stand thing wasn't working out.

ElkNut

 

[hobbes]

What you describe sounds like hunting whitetails from a treestand.

If you are hunting them like whitetails, you need to approach the stand just like you would for whitetails. You can't walk through them in the dark and the expect to see them in daylight hours. You have to approach the stand down wind. You have to figure out if you can do both of those and get into the stand.

What is the wind doing while you hunt? If the elk are hanging relatively close and you hunt past the time the thermals change, you'll have a period where your scent is blowing all over the place.

You need a stable wind to hunt from a treestand in an area that the elk spend a lot of time. If you think they are in that basin all day, you'll have a hard time spending all day in the basin in one spot and them not wind you.

 

[coldchow]

The wind, the wind, always the wind.

 

[Fullfan]

All I can offer is, ditch the stand. Play the thermals and chase the bugles.

 

[Still Hunter]

All the comments are similar above. I would suggest locating the heaviest used trails coming into the area. Try to hunt the one with the best wind situation. Always try to approach from the downwind side and pay close attention to the Thermals. They seem to be transitioning through the area so I really suggest using calls to try to locate them and try to work the herd where you find them, rather than sitting in a stand location hoping that they might happen to come by when you are there. In the mountains the wind is constantly changing and you have to be able to adapt and most often, for me at least, it is the wind that defeats me, not the elk. Good luck!

 

[Uintah]

Thank you all for the responses. So what you're telling me is it's the wind! LoL... I figured with as thick as it is in there that planting a stand or a blind and letting them come to me would be the most effective method. But it definitely doesn't seem to be working. Playing the wind (scent control) and moving around it sounds like might be more effective. Regarding calls, I did use both cow calls and a few bugles last year without any responses, which was unusual I thought. I figured they were either call shy or very educated... Anyway, again I appreciate the feedback and suggestions and look forward to trying things out again this year.

 

[Gerbdog]

Thank you all for the responses. So what you're telling me is it's the wind! LoL... I figured with as thick as it is in there that planting a stand or a blind and letting them come to me would be the most effective method. But it definitely doesn't seem to be working. Playing the wind (scent control) and moving around it sounds like might be more effective. Regarding calls, I did use both cow calls and a few bugles last year without any responses, which was unusual I thought. I figured they were either call shy or very educated... Anyway, again I appreciate the feedback and suggestions and look forward to trying things out again this year.

Not uncommon to have quiet elk in OTC units, what week of the hunting season were you there also? If it was early season you may not have many responses also. Did you try any location bugles an hour or two before daylight? I'm not an expert caller like Elknut, but i can usually get OTC bulls to respond before hunting hours just so i have an idea of where they are and where they are going.

 

[prm]

Elk do not follow daily patterns quite like Whitetails. There is no chance I’d use a stand. Go to where the elk are and use the wind and terrain to get close.

 

[mtnlomo]

Stands can work for elk, but it takes a lot. Personally I don’t like too, I have more encounters chasing bugles and making stalks. One of my buddy’s dad would hunt from a stand when he started to get a bad back and knees and was unable to hike around and chase bugles. He would kill a cow every other year or so. One year when I wasn’t there he connected with a spike. A couple of things went into this though. 1. He had a notebook and would record where the wind was blowing from at all times. 2. Using that log in his notebook he would determine when he would be in the stand and when he wouldn’t, he certainly wasn’t in a stand all day because the wind changes. 3. He had multiple stands depending on which one had activity and what the wind was doing. All of this made sure he wasn’t pushing his scent all over the place in one concentrated area which is a sure way to never see elk. The thing was that he would kill every other year on average, but generally he was killing the first elk he saw all season. He didn’t see as many elk as the other people in camp were.


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[ElkArcher918]

Looks like you found a nice little isolated area that's holding elk. I would ditch stand hunting. Switch it up and do some spot & stalk, use cow and bugle calls (don't overcall), pay attention to wind direction and maneuver accordingly. Early on your hunt and if terrain allows get up high on a glassing spot and observe the meadow/drainage early and late in the day for elk movement/patterns. If you can see where they are entering and exiting the meadow/drainage, you can set up on them (with good wind) and make a play.

 

[Coveyleader]

Ive found with stands (deadly) that you have to be on something the elk use. Could be a wallow, water sources, a main travel trail etc. Setting up waiting for them to come by would be a low odds endeavor.

 

[kcm2]

Elk do have a home range, just like whitetails. It's just a lot bigger. One area I hunted, they'd be in one of three meadows to feed. The three meadows were the corners of a triangle with 5 mile long sides. In your case, though, they've hit on it. The wind is your enemy. Figure out where food and beds are, and stage between them. That you heard them running way suggests that you can figure out where the beds are.