Elk Terrain and Hunting Technique's

[wapitiwilly]

I am new to Elk hunting but have been hunting deer for a long time. I have been practicing calling and have done some scouting, but plan on doing a lot more scouting this summer to narrow down units and specific areas to hunt.

I will be hunting the early archery season.

What type of terrain do folks focus on and why? Thinking of hiking ridges and creek bottoms and doing some calling. Depending on the area I choose to buy my tag, the terrain can vary from being pretty thick, to open areas that can be easily glassed.

What techniques do folks suggest for thick county? What about areas I can glass?

Any books folks recommend?

Any information on technique or terrain to focus on that will help me increase my odds is greatly appreciated.

 

[Gerbdog]

Pretty broad question and everyone's got their own techniques for this. I think you basically already hit all the techniques though:

If its thick without glassing opportunity its good to be calling or ambushing .... brings those binos anyway, you'd be surprised how helpful they still are in the thick stuff

If you have opportunity to glass big areas ... do it.... glass can cover a lot of area very quickly and save you a lot of time hiking over.

Ultimately i dont think ive hunted a place yet that didnt offer the opportunity to do a bit of both.... being a well rounded elk hunter is going to make you successful.

For instance my day will usually start hunting the real thick stuff and calling, hoping to catch the elk moving, and eventually im going to be up top... or im going to end up with some windows through the thick stuff ... and ill have a view of an adjacent hillside, mountain, etc. and ill stop and glass a bit. I like to sit back and glass openings in the thick stuff before i get up on them too... and if you come across aspen groves in the middle of the pine forests.... glass those from a distance.... glass them very well.....

which is to say... i really like hunting those areas where aspen give way to pine and pine give way to aspen...

You say your not worried about finding where elk are but i'd say most of elk hunting is finding where elk are... and ultimately your other questions all come to that same point.... how can i locate elk before they locate me.

If your asking for specific call techniques... cant go wrong with Elknut App.

 

[JohnWesely]

Whenever I walk around in the thick stuff, I end up bumping a lot of elk. I am sure someone quieter than me with better situational awareness could turn that into a valid hunting strategy, but I have found it works better to get high and wait for them to come to you.

 

[wapitiwilly]

Pretty broad question and everyone's got their own techniques for this. I think you basically already hit all the techniques though:

If its thick without glassing opportunity its good to be calling or ambushing .... brings those binos anyway, you'd be surprised how helpful they still are in the thick stuff

If you have opportunity to glass big areas ... do it.... glass can cover a lot of area very quickly and save you a lot of time hiking over.

Ultimately i dont think ive hunted a place yet that didnt offer the opportunity to do a bit of both.... being a well rounded elk hunter is going to make you successful.

For instance my day will usually start hunting the real thick stuff and calling, hoping to catch the elk moving, and eventually im going to be up top... or im going to end up with some windows through the thick stuff ... and ill have a view of an adjacent hillside, mountain, etc. and ill stop and glass a bit. I like to sit back and glass openings in the thick stuff before i get up on them too... and if you come across aspen groves in the middle of the pine forests.... glass those from a distance.... glass them very well.....

which is to say... i really like hunting those areas where aspen give way to pine and pine give way to aspen...

You say your not worried about finding where elk are but i'd say most of elk hunting is finding where elk are... and ultimately your other questions all come to that same point.... how can i locate elk before they locate me.

If your asking for specific call techniques... cant go wrong with Elknut App.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have phrased it a bit differently, but yes essentially how can I locate elk before they locate me. I have found areas with a lot of elk sign but doesn't mean the elk are there or will be there when I want to hunt them.

 

[Gerbdog]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should have phrased it a bit differently, but yes essentially how can I locate elk before they locate me. I have found areas with a lot of elk sign but doesn't mean the elk are there or will be there when I want to hunt them.

Hey Wapiti,
yup... thats the crux of it.... you could scout out fresh elk sign with bulls humping every tree in the area 2 days before season starts...

and then on the opener the area will be a ghost town... thats just elk hunting.

I did mention some terrain i like to focus on... and then i end up just finding elk everywhere else but those areas (only half true, i concentrate on those aspen groves because theyre a better bet then some areas).

I wish i could tell you there was a 100% way to always get on elk... but there just aint.... especially during hunting season... they end up pushed around a lot.

Some guys sit in tree stands an kill elk... some guys end up hiking 10+ miles a day and kill elk... some guys sprint around the woods calling every 100 yards some guys go completely silent.... all of them find success... all of them fail miserably.

Personally i like to hike and call... just makes me happy... mid day ill take my nap and meal at a game trail crossroads or a wallow ....

Last year i learned i really prefer much thicker terrain... calling in elk that need to get on top of you to see where the calls are coming from are much easier then calling in elk that can sit and look at your location from 100 yards away in thinner woods / open areas. Thats just me.... and i use archery gear... i think i'd have it the other way around if i had a rifle in my hand.


i guess a very long way of saying... your' going to go into the opener with a great plan and ready to execute... be ready to adjust and adapt and move... the variables are numerous and always changing day to day... elk wont pattern like a whitetail and i guess the best advice i'd give to a new elk hunter... after its been a week of hunting.... go to the places you dont wanna go and other hunters are avoiding.... but mostly keep your spirits up, the whole game changes quickly and ive had bugles come out of the strangest places followed by elk in the strangest places.

Sounds like your already doing well, if you got fresh elk sign keep track of it going into hunting season as best you can with scouting, and then go hunt them: you'll end up developing your own elk hunting techniques and it'll all be one big learning experience.

 

[Indian Summer]

Don’t overthink it. You can call elk anywhere. You cannot glass anywhere. If you have an area that gives you the ability to locate elk both by calling in glassing, then go hunt there. On the quiet days you’ll be glad you did.

 

[ndbuck09]

To get on them before they are on to you, you really have to figure out what they're doing at a given time in the warp zone of September. The reality is that you really hone in on that after you've hunted a given area for at least a full season. Outside of acquiring this knowledge, you can sure move through the thick stuff but you'll be on a hope and a prayer of actually getting a shot that way. Too many people new to an area think that's how to hunt elk when in reality, all you do is make your goal harder by making the elk move out of their current pattern so you have to go covering ground to find em again. Glass and listen up high early morning and at dark to figure out where they're at. That'll tell you where they're coming from and going to feeding. The cows really dictate the pattern so be mindful of bumping them. Find cows in the summer. Don't buy into the whole "I'm just going to move through this thick stuff blindly hoping I'll spot them first" or trying to call and move. That just sets you up for burning yourself out in 3 days in my opinion and too many traveling elk hunters do it because there's a lot of videos out there with guys shuffling through the elk woods. But what they don't tell you is that they know general patterns of an area so they're not doing that blindly and they have targeted areas they're honing in on and not blowing out.

If you know where elk are generally, it's better to stay away some distance to protect your scent, call occasionally and also just wait/listen for when the elk would tell you they're ready to truly play the game during the day. But again, that takes some prior data point that you know elk are generally somewhere.

It's kind of like, you're not trying to go straight from the truck directly to 40 yds on an elk. You're trying to get to within earshot or a half mile, then figure out how to get to 200, then figure out how to get to that 50 yard gap. Sort of a honing in process without bumping them at any step that can be spread over a couple days in the effort to not bump them.

 

[wapitiwilly]

Hey Wapiti,
yup... thats the crux of it.... you could scout out fresh elk sign with bulls humping every tree in the area 2 days before season starts...

and then on the opener the area will be a ghost town... thats just elk hunting.

I did mention some terrain i like to focus on... and then i end up just finding elk everywhere else but those areas (only half true, i concentrate on those aspen groves because theyre a better bet then some areas).

I wish i could tell you there was a 100% way to always get on elk... but there just aint.... especially during hunting season... they end up pushed around a lot.

Some guys sit in tree stands an kill elk... some guys end up hiking 10+ miles a day and kill elk... some guys sprint around the woods calling every 100 yards some guys go completely silent.... all of them find success... all of them fail miserably.

Personally i like to hike and call... just makes me happy... mid day ill take my nap and meal at a game trail crossroads or a wallow ....

Last year i learned i really prefer much thicker terrain... calling in elk that need to get on top of you to see where the calls are coming from are much easier then calling in elk that can sit and look at your location from 100 yards away in thinner woods / open areas. Thats just me.... and i use archery gear... i think i'd have it the other way around if i had a rifle in my hand.


i guess a very long way of saying... your' going to go into the opener with a great plan and ready to execute... be ready to adjust and adapt and move... the variables are numerous and always changing day to day... elk wont pattern like a whitetail and i guess the best advice i'd give to a new elk hunter... after its been a week of hunting.... go to the places you dont wanna go and other hunters are avoiding.... but mostly keep your spirits up, the whole game changes quickly and ive had bugles come out of the strangest places followed by elk in the strangest places.

Sounds like your already doing well, if you got fresh elk sign keep track of it going into hunting season as best you can with scouting, and then go hunt them: you'll end up developing your own elk hunting techniques and it'll all be one big learning experience.

Great advice! I like your style. It is hard for me to sit for a long time so I will probably focus on hiking and calling and change up my technique if needed.

I have taken deer many different ways, so having multiple tools in my belt should improve my odds for elk. I will definitely bring my binos into the thick country, I grew up hunting blacktails in the timber, so I really enjoy hunting the thick stuff. Lots of pine trees around here but I know some areas that have a ton of aspen, I will make sure to scout those out this summer.

 

[wapitiwilly]

To get on them before they are on to you, you really have to figure out what they're doing at a given time in the warp zone of September. The reality is that you really hone in on that after you've hunted a given area for at least a full season. Outside of acquiring this knowledge, you can sure move through the thick stuff but you'll be on a hope and a prayer of actually getting a shot that way. Too many people new to an area think that's how to hunt elk when in reality, all you do is make your goal harder by making the elk move out of their current pattern so you have to go covering ground to find em again. Glass and listen up high early morning and at dark to figure out where they're at. That'll tell you where they're coming from and going to feeding. The cows really dictate the pattern so be mindful of bumping them. Find cows in the summer. Don't buy into the whole "I'm just going to move through this thick stuff blindly hoping I'll spot them first" or trying to call and move. That just sets you up for burning yourself out in 3 days in my opinion and too many traveling elk hunters do it because there's a lot of videos out there with guys shuffling through the elk woods. But what they don't tell you is that they know general patterns of an area so they're not doing that blindly and they have targeted areas they're honing in on and not blowing out.

If you know where elk are generally, it's better to stay away some distance to protect your scent, call occasionally and also just wait/listen for when the elk would tell you they're ready to truly play the game during the day. But again, that takes some prior data point that you know elk are generally somewhere.

It's kind of like, you're not trying to go straight from the truck directly to 40 yds on an elk. You're trying to get to within earshot or a half mile, then figure out how to get to 200, then figure out how to get to that 50 yard gap. Sort of a honing in process without bumping them at any step that can be spread over a couple days in the effort to not bump them.

You make some good points. When you are up high in the morning are you doing any calling or just listening and glassing? I don't have high hopes for getting an elk my first season but am hoping to learn a lot during the process. I really enjoy glassing too, and sometimes it's better to let your eyes do the walking instead of burning yourself out by hiking too much. With mule deer, I usually get to a high point at first light and glass for a while, then when I get antsy or cold I start to move slowly, and then sit and glass for a while, then repeat the process.

 

[ndbuck09]

Definitely do call in the morning, but sparingly. I don't think elk calling is like turkey calling very much but it is in the aspect of overcalling. You can really ice a bull from responding if you call with too much frequency, at least in general idaho. I grew up in Indiana turkey calling the small woodlots and there was good pressure on those turks. Overcalling shut them up and they wouldn't come in then. Elk in general units are very similar..they get suspicious. I like to do 3 bugles an hour or something. Sure you can try to imitate a really worked up bull, but when looking at odds, an elk that's hearing you is more apt to take it as a reason not to bugle or come your way.

Overall, I spend a lot more time glassing in the spring summer than during elk season at least here in idaho. All my spots have been found by glassing long range in the summer finding cows. Then go put camera up, etc....honing in on how to hunt that specific spot.

 

[Deadfall]

Early season
Going to be warm. Bulls gonna be in cool covered areas preparing.
Only time glass is gonna work is early morning or last light. Most of day they be quiet and lazy.

Best advice for early archery elk. Follow water and woods

 

[MountainFeral]

See those less steep spots I circled in the ridges? Elk like those.

 

[Beendare]

WW,
I think its important to realize…that elk are sensitive to hunter pressure. Obvious, yeah but then why do guys pound the same easy access areas?

So you aren’t looking for perfect elk habitat as much as where they go when pressured.

if you cannot glass because its thick…then you simply have to laceup your boots and find them by reading the sign. Simple, eh? Grin

 

[11boo]

WW,
I think its important to realize…that elk are sensitive to hunter pressure. Obvious, yeah but then why do guys pound the same easy access areas?

So you aren’t looking for perfect elk habitat as much as where they go when pressured.

if you cannot glass because its thick…then you simply have to laceup your boots and find them by reading the sign. Simple, eh? Grin

Yep. They are everywhere, and nowhere. If you are camping in a drainage, you’ll hear them at night. If they aren’t bugling at night you better be on your game to hump all over And find em.

 

[Bigborealaska]

Elk are everywhere and nowhere as some have said. I've seen them in areas where there is so much deadfall and thick cover it's seriously a pain to move through as a human crawling over logs every other step. I have also seen elk in the middle of a scree field on the side of a mountain you'd swear only a ram would traverse. I never discredit any area because you never know. Look for scrapes, tracks, wallows, beds and crap and find out where the water is and then glass and never leave elk to find elk. Probably one of the most important things is learn to read the wind it will give you up quickly if you don't understand how to move.

 

[Balderdash]

In early seasons try driving/ hiking the hunt area at night during the rut. I've been in areas, especially during early seasons where daylight movement can be minimal, I swore were near elkless based on litle sign and no sightings, only to find that there's bulls sounding off all over at night.

Similarly, like some have said, get up way early and stay out till after dark to hear/see where the elk are. I used to blindly still hunt timber more during midday, but I only do it now if I have a high index of suspicion that elk are going to be in a certain bit of cover, as in I saw them head into it while glassing and/or if there's snow and I'm tracking, and or I can hear bulls calling, which is probably my favorite way to hunt. Accidentally bumped a lot of animals out of areas in which I likely could've otherwise hunted them more successfully for a few days.

I don't call very frequently, other than to locate. Maybe some call calls to cover my noise or see if they can make a bulk reposition. Other guys seem to have better luck calling them in, but it's been better for me to locate, then sneak in.

Lately, I've been having good luck during rifle seasons hunting travel coridors. Track enough elk and or watch them move through areas long enough, and you'll find some spots where they really prefer to walk through when they're moving around. A lot of times it can coincide with a saddle or large natural obstacle they have to move around; other times its just an area that looks like everything around it, but something in the mind of the animals has them preferring it. These are also good areas to hunt during the rut when bull can be putting on a lot of miles, searching.

 

[High Climber]

Lots of good info here! I will add, if you are planning on trying to locate elk by calling, steer clear of noisy areas ( creek bottoms) as it makes hearing responses near impossible if they aren’t close. Windy days and rain suck for locating also.
Skip the books and start inundating yourself with content from Elk101, ElkNut, Phelps, Angry Spike, Born and Raised, even old Primos videos. These guys are all consistent elk killers and very knowledgeable on elk habits and calling techniques. Good luck out there IMO nothing compares to elk hunting in September!

 

[Beendare]

My experience is different from a poster above.

FWIW, I haven’t missed an archery elk season in 4 decades. I have helped a buddy guide rifle guys in those seasons. More importantly, I am a student of this ever evolving game.

Elk move more in archery seasons. They hunker down more in the late rifle season. I watched one 350” bull never move out of a 50y radius in one of the late rifle seasons. it was an impossible spot to stalk him ( and he knew it) a dip in a PJ flat where the wind swirled every 15 minutes. In that particular PJ, you would have to be 20y to get a clean shot at him.

From what I’ve seen, many new-to archery elk spend a lot of time in unproductive areas.

 

[mmenart]

If you're for sure focusing on pre-rut, the bulls will not have cows with them yet and you may be able to get more solo encounters with them, especially larger bulls that will have more eyes and ears around them as the rut gets going.

If your schedule is still flexible to you, I did my first archery elk hunt two seasons ago and can recommend picking a unit you can get to more regularly than planning the hunt as one long trip. It makes preseason scouting more accessible and gives you more time to recover, regear, research, and learn how the elk use an area over the course of the season. I would say it was crucial to my success to have that time between outings, as archery elk was a massive, massive learning curve to start into, not to mention physically depleting. It was my eighth day and the last day of the season in the rain that I finally got my bull, and I wouldn't have known how to find him that day if I hadn't been studying their patterns and learning the local landscape for the few weeks prior. There was a big change in elk activity from week to week between hunting pressure, weather, and herd dynamics. The most active windows were not always when I expected. Weekdays were generally better from the reduced hunter and recreator pressure.

Hiking and glassing in the late summer and early fall to locate big herds was helpful for getting a general place to start. I hiked to find small areas with a high density of rubs as a clue to where they might be then rutting around in September. Often, but not always, this was not too far above some water source or wetter area. The rubs are more about staging for the rut so it's not always the same place you want to hunt, but it's close. It was also helpful to estimate hunter pressure from camp and trail developments, then pick my own camp and walk in points based on what I found in the woods.

Both hunter pressure and elk moved around during the hunt, so I ended up using a few of my planned access points to stay near the elk over the season. There were some bigger trailheads and outfitter camps that I tried to stay away from. Cliff Gray recommends getting to places that can't be easily glassed. This doesn't always mean far away. Cliff shares a ton of knowledge, especially on Colorado hunting, and just started a new podcast now that he's out of the outfitter game.

Transition zones from dark timber to aspen were a good place to find elk at first light. The elk moved down overnight to feed, even going out to the roaded areas, and were just getting back into timber at or even before shooting light. This was the best time to spot elk moving back to cover, catch regathering calls and bugles as they adjusted their groups, and get a lead on where they might be headed to bed down and feed during the day so I could track and still hunt my way after them. I encountered a number of lone and curious bulls in the thicker stuff more in between where the herds seemed to be going, but this was after pre rut when the herds were more developed. It might be the same early season with bulls moving around in the mix.

ElkNut has a great app for learning all kinds of calling tactics. The simple stuff works well. I'd locate bugle my way into a talkative bull, then try to go slow and use soft cow calls when I was within a few hundred yards, working my way to the same elevation line as the bull while being mindful of prevailing wind and thermals. Cory Jacobsen has lots of info on approach and call tactics. Being the same elevation seems to make them more likely to approach your call rather than them standing and waiting to spot you. I've cow called my way directly up to shot distance on a young bugling bachelor bull on a muzzleloader hunt. He stood and waited for me. I don't know if I'd have taken the shot with a bow. If it's early season you may be able to find some more aggressive sounding bulls that want to shake down who's who and aggressive bugling may bring them in. Cow calls seems to be the more reliable approach, as you could scare a bull off the same way if he's not looking to fight.

Elk love thick stuff, and steep stuff. Extreme blow down can filter their movements somewhat, but they use a lot nastier stuff than you'd expect for cover, shade, and barriers to hunters. If you're moving along a benchy ridge or hill side and come upon some dark timber that's suddenly so thick you have to squeeze yourself through the branches, be ready to find some bedded elk. Move very slowly and use binoculars to look through the layers of openings.

Exploring on foot and evaluating recency of sign has taught me more about elk habits and preferences than glassing or reading topos, but glassing during archery can help to understand the landscape, and occasionally, spot some far off elk to go after.

On topos, elk tend to bed on benchy areas about 2/3s up the ridge, often on the cooler, wetter north faces. I've also found them on extremely steep, grassy but thickly wooded hillsides on the south face, but I think this was spring fed so it wasn't as dry as the south faces tend to be. You wouldn't know this unless you walked or followed tracks in to where they were. Following game trails can teach you a lot.. The cows are always going to be eating, so topo areas with lots of creek lines and undulating pockets to catch water and grow plants with an adjacent benchy hillside are good. Canopy disruptions like fire or beetle kill can have good food. Randy Newberg has some good stuff about E-scouting with topos and trail maps.

If you have a buddy to hunt with then check out Remi Warren's podcasts on the two man roll, it's a great system for getting better shot opportunities when calling in a bull. Plus, giving hand signs to your buddy in the woods as you stalk in on a bull is just a good time.

If you haven't bow hunted before, aim low when you do get a shot. Arrows don't hit or kill animals like bullets do and the further above mid body cavity you go the slower the kill and the harder the tracking will be. You want it lower in the lungs or in the heart. Practice it on some 3D and even sign up for a TAC if you can. It is a very humbling experience to let an arrow go in more realistic terrain.

Have fun, and be ready for the lowest of lows and highest of highs that is archery elk hunting.