Have you found you Public Land Shangri La? Are you looking for it?

[svivian]

I have one left that is 400 yards off of a busy hwy. There are three wallows and everyone just drives on by to the "good areas"

 

[Poser]

I have a elk hunting spot. There are usually elk in there, but there's no guarantees as I've had years where we haven't seen any elk at all during the season. There is often a big bull or even a couple of big bulls, but not always. Its cyclical as we tend to see the same bulls from year to year. Sometimes, they grow big, sometimes none have survived to maturity. But, when there are elk in there, they behave like elk.

The downsides?

1. The area requires a very thoughtful and cautious approach to hunting. Its a toilet bowl of a swirling wind trap and if the elk smell you, they are gone and they aren't coming back for days. I tired a couple of years of going back in there with 3-4 people and we would instantly blow the area. I've since pulled back to just 2 people being extremely careful and deliberate and have been pretty consistent success wise.

2. The area requires an insane amount of logistics to hunt. Its akin to siege style mountaineering. The approach is treacherous and can be outright dangerous depending on conditions. No fall zones, extremely sketchy side hilling, mandatory 4th class rock climbing moves, rock hopping up a raging creek, some years the boulders are iced up and super sketchy, and blow down that will frustrate you to no ends. We've been fortunate to only experience a few relatively minor puncture wounds en route, though I have fallen in the creek multiple times with a 70+ lbs pack on.

3. As a result, the packouts are just stupid. STUPID. -can't pack full skulls out of there as its just not possible. We used to split the skull cap, but I've taken to just sawing the antlers off at the base.

Anyway, its a stupid area to hunt, but its my area, I know it well, we've refined the logistics to near perfection, so I hunt it most every year.

 

[S.Clancy]

I've had a bunch over the years. Over time someone sees me packing an animal or just happens in there by random chance and it gets blown up for a couple years or however long. Then I scout a bunch and find another spot and so on....That's the fun part.

 

[wildwilderness]

Had a mule deer one, then I moved away for a bit, road construction and park development made access easy and visible. Also had a slam dunk Blacktail spot, then it got rented out. Found a super productive bear bait, but then each year more people saw where I parked and put baits up all around. All good things come to an end…

Always looking for the next best spot

 

[MNGrouser]

I found one once. Years ago before OnX I used a good old-fashioned plat book to find a chunk of public land in Wisconsin that was completely landlocked by private. The only access was a miles long river access. I had great sign scouting it and had my stand ready on opening morning. Hours before daylight I started paddling my little canoe upstream. Half hour before legal shooting light I was only a few hundred yards from the takeout point where I planned to climb the bluff-like ridge up to my stand. That is when I hear the PARADE of outboard motors running upriver to my "secret" spot. Seems others had found it well before me.

 

[strousek]

I had an absolute killer turkey and elk shed spot. Two adjoining canyons that in 15 years I believe I only saw two boot tracks in there. Killed a dozen turkeys and found several elk sheds from bulls 330"+ through the years. Along came a nasty fire and all gone. The grass and ground forage has come back but the elk never returned to winter there. All the roost trees burned up and blew down since and its basically a ghost town in there. Sad to see for sure.

 

[tater]

Nature is not static.
As others have pointed out, things change.

I have had spots shift from being "the spot" to "nope" by fire, logging, predator movement and even shifts in plant cover (regen density).

I have heard of guys here having spots blown by social media.

Animals adapt to changes and we have to as well.

 

[T-Rex]

We have a spot in Montana we call Shangri la. It's easy to drive by and pay no attention. Only issue is that you have to drop 1000' and climb 500' to get into it and the reverse on the way out. Its a small area surrounded on 3 sides by private, but it seems to hold elk most years. The good thing is you can glass into it first prior to dropping in.

 

[Coveyleader]

I had an elk spot that was unbelievable prior to Onx. The unit fell right on the corner of two topo maps, so back in the day, you had to buy two BLM maps (the entry was on one map, the back country on the next) in order to see what was going on. I could drive in there just 10-15 years ago, in Archery, Rifle, it didn't matter, it was a ghost town. A place where you could leave elk on a hillside to go look for others and come back pick the one you wanted. Now, that entry has 15 trucks and 10 camps all season long. There are still elk in there, but its a shell of how it used to be.

 

[Jqualls]

I've had a bunch over the years. Over time someone sees me packing an animal or just happens in there by random chance and it gets blown up for a couple years or however long. Then I scout a bunch and find another spot and so on....That's the fun part.

This has been my experience as well. Had one spot that we did really well with hunting rifle but became known over a few years. I think it is still very good just more people to contend with. Current bow spot has been really good for a few years. Myself and another group were the only ones I used to see in there but last year there were a couple more tents I saw throughout the season so it may be coming to an end.