Following Elk

[JustCortisol]

Okay so elk are going up during the day to bed and I see them coming down at night to feed and drink.

The thermals are going down at night and up during the day.

I see the elk starting to come down a few hours before sunset, not sure what time they move back up because I don't wake up that early, but I'm assuming they play the wind since smell is their best advantage and they start going down right before the thermals stop coming up and start going up right before the thermals stop coming down.

So to get close to them I'm thinking I'll have to come in high one late afternoon and drop in on them from above and follow them as they're going down, does this sound about right?

But more so I'm wondering about camping spots. I don't want to camp low right by where they're active and worst case spook them or best case have to chase them back up in the morning, but I also don't want to camp higher and have the night time downward thermals bringing my scent right to them, which puts me in a pickle. Camping in elk country seems like a catch 22, do i just need to find a ridge and camp on the backside of it so the down thermals bring my scent down a different section of the mountain?

Also are thermals pretty consistent like this or can the prevailing wind totally override the thermal effect at times?

 

[Beendare]

Wind is fickle and the elk use that.

There is a benefit to watching them for a day…then ambushing if timing and wind is right. I haven’t had uch luck following, then trying to get ahead of them.

I have dogged them and snuck in and picked off herd bulls when they were tending their herd.

 

[TaperPin]

It’s good that you’re thinking about air currents and the importance of keeping down wind.

The area elk bed in has less to do with up and down and more to do with a cooler place to sleep. That can be upslope, downslope, lateral or any combination.

Mountain air flows are not all gravity winds with only upslope and downslope flow. There will be a general direction of flow that is predominant for certain times of day, maybe all day if it’s strong enough, and only a secondary wind during other times. Up and down slope winds may be quartering to the general wind so being uphill doesn’t automatically make you up or down wind from the elk.

As a general rule you’ll want to camp far enough away to be off their radar - I’ve had a cold camp only 500 yards from where elk normally travel, with little fear of being found out because day or night 95% of the time the wind blows over the saddle I was camped near. One year I literally sat next to the tent first light of morning and shot a bull.

Much more important than picking a camp site up front is to understand where the elk are and plan accordingly. If you don’t know, then you’re forced to stay farther away and put more miles on each day to get to the elk. Same goes for how loud and obnoxious your camp is - a quiet cold camp can go unnoticed, but outfitter camps are always quite a jaunt away.

 

[JustCortisol]

Wind is fickle and the elk use that.

There is a benefit to watching them for a day…then ambushing if timing and wind is right. I haven’t had uch luck following, then trying to get ahead of them.

I have dogged them and snuck in and picked off herd bulls when they were tending their herd.

I've seen the term dogging being used but not sure what that means exactly? Is that like following them from a distance without trying to get into shooting range?

 

[Beendare]

I've seen the term dogging being used but not sure what that means exactly? Is that like following them from a distance without trying to get into shooting range?

I have followed them and the goal is always to get a shot of course. They can cover a lit of ground in rough country much easier than we can…but many times they will slow and settle in one spot for awhile even if not bedding.

IME, the wind can swirl bad in the mtns, get in too close for too long and I can’t tell you how many times the swirling winds screwed me. I try to stay back either looking for a calling opportunity or to sneak in quickly for a shot. If I have my decoy, I will typically try to call Instead of sneaking in. The decoy will typically screw me up when trying to kill a herd bull as it sucks in satellites like a magnet.

 

[BBob]

drop in on them from above and follow them as they're going down, does this sound about right?

It’s a horrible strategy to try to sneak up from behind. You’ll get busted 99.99999% of the time. Better to figure where they are likely to come down and strategically sit (with wind in mind) off to the side and attempt to close for ambush as they come by. Wind isn’t always coming straight up or down the mountain.

“Get on their nose, not on their tail”

 

[JustCortisol]

It’s a horrible strategy to try to sneak up from behind. You’ll get busted 99.99999% of the time. Better to figure where they are likely to come down and strategically sit (with wind in mind) off to the side and attempt to close for ambush as they come by. Wind isn’t always coming straight up or down the mountain.

“Get on their nose, not on their tail”

Makes sense but seems tough to approach from their nose because it seems like their noses are always pointed into the wind.

Maybe the right experience and/or terrain will reveal such an opportunity, and if I see a chance to move in from the side to head one off I'll keep that in mind as a potentially superior strategy. Thanks

 

[Beendare]

I’ve killed 3 bulls following them Typically its a bull that had cows and just wouldn’t come to a call.

Yeah, I’ve been busted doing that…or they jus5 walked off and I couldn’t stay with them….but its less than 99.9%- grin

 

[BBob]

^While you’ve had success and it may not be as bad as I said IMO it’s still not a great strategy overall.

Makes sense but seems tough to approach from their nose because it seems like their noses are always pointed into the wind.

Don’t take that as an absolute that you obey 100% at all times. You strategize on how to get on their nose to kill them, you don’t have to beeline straight up their noses at all times. Example: In a run and gun scenario. When they are on the move and an ambush setup doesn’t work you can back out and loop around to head them off again for another setup. I’ve looped and dogged them for hours playing the wind (and terrain) before a setup comes together and you kill.

 

[Beendare]

^While you’ve had success and it may not be as bad as I said IMO it’s still not a great strategy overall.

Agreed,....... Ambushing is a better strategy with a stick bow.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

The ambush is what I’ve primarily relied on and I’ve been in your situation many, many times. Pretty much every time I elk hunt. There’s wise advice above to spend the first couple days watching and patterning them and deciding where to ambush. Even then, it all has to come together just right.

Every time I try to dog them, I can get downwind and pass myself off as one of them until that last 50 yards or so, then I get them in visual and go: “now what?”

 

[Novashooter]

Agreed,....... Ambushing is a better strategy with a stick bow.

For sure. If you are rifle hunting you can get to 200 yards of them without too much fuss. Even 100 yards wouldn't be out of the question in the right conditions. I don't think you are ever going to sneak up to within 25 yards of an elk. Maybe if it were only 1 or 2 of them with a howling wind in your face. No way you are getting within 50+ of them. Ambush and luck.