trophyhill
WKR
When I first started, I was like you. Didn’t know anything about elk. And I still have a lot to learn 13 years later. Looking back, I did a lot right, and screwed up a bunch. The otc units I hunted then, are not the same as they are now. Lots more pressure!
If I were starting today, I’d spend a lot more time scouting whether I had time to or not, which is what I will start doing as soon as the snow starts to melt, and I will be looking for the most difficult places to get to where humans do not want to go. The only way to do this is boots on the ground. The Google maps only show you so much. Which I believe 99% of all these hunting apps use some form of GE.
GE is a great place to start to familiarize yourself with the layout, but don’t rely solely on the maps. You have to make time to scout. If that means telling your wife you are going scouting instead of visiting your mother in law for a week? Do it! She will forgive you when you come home with the meat
I would also opt for truck camp. I can have truck camp broke down quickly and be hunting 100 miles away in another otc unit if I want. Or I can be hunting the same unit 40 miles away pretty quick. The trick is having the ability to be mobile if you aren’t getting into animals. Or the area you scouted is suddenly overrun with hunters that you hadn’t anticipated. Very real possibility. Being mobile is huge!
next, I wouldn’t get hung up on the need to kill a bull. If it’s truly meat you are after, nothing tastes better than those 3 cows I killed leading up to killing my first bull on year 5.
the key is having the encounters and learning how the elk act to different scenarios. You have to have the encounters to see this. Same thing for different sounds you will hear. Having those encounters allow you to paint a picture of what elk are saying and or doing.
next kill the first cow or any elk you have a legitimate opportunity to kill. You have to learn the process. I once killed a small fork whitetail out of a tree stand in southern Ohio. My nephews aunt brought the 4 wheeler around. She looked at that little forky and said “with all the big bucks we have here you killed that”? Then she threw the deer over her shoulder like it was a sack of potato’s and loaded it on the 4 wheeler.
that is not gonna happen in the elk woods unless you kill one near a road. Even then, unless your truck is set up with a winch or a come along with gin poles, you will be breaking that animal down. Point being, killing is a process. Get used to the process. Learn the gutless method. Learn what it is to load a pack and pack meat. Get it on ice or to a processor and back out there to help your buddy get one. Know what sleep depredation and food and water depredation is so you learn how to mitigate that. It is a process. Learn the process. Most of all. Go out there with a can do attitude, have fun, and never give up! Ever!
If I were starting today, I’d spend a lot more time scouting whether I had time to or not, which is what I will start doing as soon as the snow starts to melt, and I will be looking for the most difficult places to get to where humans do not want to go. The only way to do this is boots on the ground. The Google maps only show you so much. Which I believe 99% of all these hunting apps use some form of GE.
GE is a great place to start to familiarize yourself with the layout, but don’t rely solely on the maps. You have to make time to scout. If that means telling your wife you are going scouting instead of visiting your mother in law for a week? Do it! She will forgive you when you come home with the meat
I would also opt for truck camp. I can have truck camp broke down quickly and be hunting 100 miles away in another otc unit if I want. Or I can be hunting the same unit 40 miles away pretty quick. The trick is having the ability to be mobile if you aren’t getting into animals. Or the area you scouted is suddenly overrun with hunters that you hadn’t anticipated. Very real possibility. Being mobile is huge!
next, I wouldn’t get hung up on the need to kill a bull. If it’s truly meat you are after, nothing tastes better than those 3 cows I killed leading up to killing my first bull on year 5.
the key is having the encounters and learning how the elk act to different scenarios. You have to have the encounters to see this. Same thing for different sounds you will hear. Having those encounters allow you to paint a picture of what elk are saying and or doing.
next kill the first cow or any elk you have a legitimate opportunity to kill. You have to learn the process. I once killed a small fork whitetail out of a tree stand in southern Ohio. My nephews aunt brought the 4 wheeler around. She looked at that little forky and said “with all the big bucks we have here you killed that”? Then she threw the deer over her shoulder like it was a sack of potato’s and loaded it on the 4 wheeler.
that is not gonna happen in the elk woods unless you kill one near a road. Even then, unless your truck is set up with a winch or a come along with gin poles, you will be breaking that animal down. Point being, killing is a process. Get used to the process. Learn the gutless method. Learn what it is to load a pack and pack meat. Get it on ice or to a processor and back out there to help your buddy get one. Know what sleep depredation and food and water depredation is so you learn how to mitigate that. It is a process. Learn the process. Most of all. Go out there with a can do attitude, have fun, and never give up! Ever!
