Elk wallow cam placement advice

[Looney]

I stumbled upon an area last year that held a pile of elk in it and they were hitting this string of wallows particularly hard. I plan on sitting these wallows early season before there is much vocal activity happening.
My question is this, how would you go about putting out cameras on this area? Is it worthwhile to place a cam on each of the 4 wallows and not have any cams to place elsewhere in the unit? Or should I just place one or on the two largest ones and move on? I've only got 4 solid cameras at the moment. The red line is 120 yards for reference. Thanks!

 

[Speck1]

I had a very similar situation last year first week of archery in Colorado. I put out two cameras and had quite a few pics. Wind swirled so bad in there I couldn’t hunt it without getting busted. I would put a camera on the two most promising wallows and then Hope the wind let’s you hunt it.

 

[Jbehredt]

Personally, I wouldn’t. If they’re getting hit hard hunt them. Don’t need pictures to confirm that.

 

[Andrewlonghi]

I had a very similar situation last year first week of archery in Colorado. I put out two cameras and had quite a few pics. Wind swirled so bad in there I couldn’t hunt it without getting busted. I would put a camera on the two most promising wallows and then Hope the wind let’s you hunt it.View attachment 536211

That picture is cool as hell.

 

[Jaquomo]

FWIW, I know of about 50 wallows, and only one is huntable because of swirling wind when they come in on early to mid afternoon. I have only shot one bull at a wallow and that was sorta by accident.. But I get a lot of cool pics on cams.

 

[Ross]

Is this your number one target area? Do you have other areas you will hit for sure ? If all four wallows are within 120 yds pick the best two for setup as you should cover most of the elk hitting them if that close together. Good luck half the fun with cams and hunting is the planning and preparation stage

 

[Szwampdonkey]

I would suggest you place zero cams at either wallow. Just hunt them.

The cams there will most often hurt your chances of killing an animal not help them.

 

[Looney]

Is this your number one target area? Do you have other areas you will hit for sure ? If all four wallows are within 120 yds pick the best two for setup as you should cover most of the elk hitting them if that close together. Good luck half the fun with cams and hunting is the planning and preparation stage

It certainly is for the season opener. I hunted in about a 6 mile radius from there last year. Haven't ever put cams out for elk before, so I really don't have any other ideas for where to put them besides wallows to be honest.

 

[Ross]

Outside of wallows I have very good success on saddles and ridge line trails.

 

[ElkNut1]

Some states allow you to put a salt block out to attract elk or deer. If your state allows this pick the wallow that gives you the best wind direction for a good morning/evening setup. This will make that wallow the best one! Some states allow this prior to hunting season but any unused salt must be removed prior to the opener. Of course elk already show to that spot because of the residue of salt that filters into the ground. Elk can still show weeks after all removal.

2nd, most wallows are within Bugling earshot of bedding areas, some closer than others. We've taken quite a few bulls by setting up 100 yards to 400 yards from active wallows or water sources & Advertised/Displayed in their domain. (this means we can pick solid setup sites with wind advantage) Mature Bulls do not appreciate trespassers, Satellites can also show out of curiosity. Most come in silent but enough come in aggressive to keep things pretty exciting! We do this on OTC units.

ElkNut

 

[spike camp]

I’ve gotten literally thousands of pics of elk…be it wallow pics or otherwise.

Bottom line, once you KNOW they’re using an area, pics are not an advantage unless you’re trying to find a really big bull.

Preseason scout your way in there, check the sign and if it’s fresh, skip the cams (and salt) and just go hunt.

 

[Marble]

I would not be opposed to putting cameras in there. But I would be really careful to not disturb the area, leave scent that would smell even after you left or, bust them while they are in there.

The benefit would be knowing the frequency at which they hit the wallow. I probably wouldn't place a camera in there until a few weeks before the season and I wouldn't check it until I hunted it.

Lastly, they will almost always come in down wind of the wallow, so it makes it tricky to get a good sitting spot. A tree stand can sometimes be the ticket, but I prefer to be on the ground and mobile.

It may only take disturbing the elk one time for them to stop using the wallow. So be careful.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Beendare]

As others mentioned, Thermals and swirling wind has always screwed me up on wallows… come to think of it. I have never killed one off of a wallow..

 

[Raghornkiller]

I would probably set them up on wallows that don't have 3 other options within 120 yards.Unless your spot is a hotspot in which case put one on every wallow and see which one is best.

 

[ElkNut1]

I will add that I've put cameras on Wet Wallows & Dry wallows for years as well as water holes, seriously it's more for the entertainment than anything! (grin) I too have thousands of elk photos from these areas over a lot of years.

One thing interesting is it's not unusual to have more bulls in an area that are not on any of the cameras photos? This is why I setup & suck them in by Advertising my presence as another or new bull in their domain. They flat cannot take the intrusion without checking you out!

Bruce, give it a shot & it will soon be one of your favorite tactics! Again, no need to be at the destination, 100's of yards away is just fine! Elk will travel some distance to see who's in their claimed piece of real estate! I don't use this in real open terrain as in sage country, it's more suited for mountain/timbered terrain as in the OP's photos.

ElkNut

 

[cnelk]

Wallow locations are always advantageous to the elk, not the hunter. For obvious reasons

Proceed with caution

 

[11boo]

I have spent way too much time sitting on wallows, that and the fact my unit has so many wallows I try and do the elknut thing. I set up between them often and call.
I was in between 3-4 active wallows calling, called in a small 4x and I was at full draw just about to drop the hammer, and he lit out like he busted me. Seconds later a 6x ran right up and took up his spot screaming his head off.
I muffed the shot, but stuff like that keeps me going after elk.

I gave up on placing cams there too. One got broken by a bull raking it, one got eaten by a bear.

 

[Dos Perros]

If you don't think placing cams hurts your chances, then buy more cams, because they're cheap.

 

[11boo]

If you don't think placing cams hurts your chances, then buy more cams, because they're cheap.

I got 3 off our classifieds for 80 bucks. They were pretty entertaining, just didn’t help like I thought they would.

 

[Coveyleader]

Good luck