How long to switch locations?

Joined
Feb 23, 2021
Messages
74
Hi friends!

Loved following along with many of your hunts last few seasons and I have a general question. I used search and didn't turn up much on it - If I missed something and you would be willing to direct me I would truly appreciate it.

One of my biggest challenges this season was knowing 1. When to move and 2. How far to move and how to choose that place based off of what factors.

First, How do you determine when to move? I was hunting in an area with known low elk densities and challenging terrain and was on fresh elk sign day in and day out. Rubs, wallows, tracks, scat, etc. I was on actual elk every day the year prior using the same strategies, but was unable to catch even a flash of brown this year. I know there was heavy predator pressure, but extremely light hunting pressure. I felt like I was doing everything right but could not get a single response to calling or create a single opportunity with an elk. I spent full days trying different tactics: Calling, not calling, sitting water, still hunting, setups, etc. How do you determine when it is time to relocate?

Secondly, what does "relocating" mean to you? What are the various factors you use when you determine how far to relocate? Does this mean switching 1-2 major drainages over or does it mean switching to another part of the unit/different unit? We only majorly relocated one time but the rest of our "moving" was all within three interconnected mountains.

I know these questions are a bit vague, but I really appreciate any feedback! Thank you.
 

t_carlson

WKR
Joined
Nov 1, 2022
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504
Location
Montana
If you are hunting an area with low elk densities and are seeing fresh (as in FRESH) sign daily, then you are probably on the right track.

My general approach is to keep moving until I find fresh sign.
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
713
Location
Upstate NY
One thing I would take away from my hunt this year as a first time elk hunter was I felt like we were on sign. Fresh sign every day. Saw a spike, bumped another elk on a different day. We could smell elk most days. What I would say is that make sure you are on the heard. I think we were on a few elk. Maybe a single spike or a cow/calf. As a whitetail hunter the sign looked like a lot but I am pretty sure we were missing the herd and hunting stragglers. We should have moved.....
 

Ross

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Feb 24, 2012
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4,674
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Liberty Lake, WA
If archery I’m with wapitibob, no bugling I keep walking till I find them. This can mean miles, ranges, canyons or over the next ridge. Somewhere they are talking. If they are not and lots of bull sign and wolf country the wolves are likely around. If no rubs and no bugling move to another area miles away. You can’t shoot them, if they are not there no matter how good it may appear. Good luck🤙
 
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
2,591
Location
Tijeras NM
If I’m not seeing or hearing elk by day 2 or 3 depending on how many days I have to hunt, it’s on to plan b. Sometimes that could be moving to the next drainage over, or it could be the other side of the unit. We have to have multiple backup plans and backup plans to backup plans.
 

Wapiti1

WKR
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
3,569
Location
Indiana
If in a new unit, or one that I'm familiar with, but do not have long experience in, I start at one end and work toward the other. My spots to try are based on what I see on Google Earth or know is there to attract the elk. Food/water/bedding that cows will be interested in. Since this is archery season what the cows want is my focus. For a 7-10 day hunt I'll have 10-15 spots to try unless they are quick half day treks. Then I'll have 20 spots.

Again, I choose based on what I think the elk want, not distance from a road. I've called bulls across busy forest roads in the middle of the day. Everyone kept driving by, but the best food was in a clearcut just above the road. And those silly cows fed in it every night whether the bulls liked it or not. I found it by driving the roads at 1am and sending out locator bugles. Crap! I just gave away one of my secrets.

Each spot gets max 2 days. If I am not into elk, I move. Into elk means encounters from calling, or I have physically seen straw colored butts skeeedaddling away from me. Or some variation of that. I don't hunt sign unless I can link it to an actual elk. An outfitter that I worked for long ago said "if it's not falling through the air, it's not fresh enough". You can chase nocturnal elk all week and never see one. Not a way to get success.

Now, there is a wrinkle. If I hunt a spot and I know it has elk, but they are absent or have been pressured, I will probably give it another go mid-week. Usually, these are places that I have been into them in the past, and know they will hold elk at some point. But, not every awesome spot is awesome every year. Wet years, and dry years change patterns.

I also pay attention to where camps, trucks, and any other human activity is.

Wolves are a wild card. I've seen the shut down a herd. I've seen them push elk to the next drainage or farther. I've seen them barely affect the elk. They don't really factor into my plan until I actually deal with them.

Jeremy
 

Deadfall

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Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
1,526
Location
Montana
1. Change how you call.
2. With concerns to the wallow, they probably bedded fairly close and down wind. Based on mid day thermals. Probably they hit wallow from 1-3.

I find alot of elk tgat others miss simply because I'm patient and how I call.
The chess match is the fun part!

Every call has different tones and pitches. Carry atleast 3 different external calls. Some are very loud and high pitched, stay away from those.

!!!!!!!!!Stop trying to talk to other elk!!!!!!! This can't be emphasized enough!

Start being your own little band of cows with a small bull running with them.

Elk move down in evening and up in morning.

Morning....squeal one time, single note maybe a light chuckle on end of it; just a soft quick 2-3 chuckle. Better to be away from road. Hour before daylight is best.
Ease up the mountain kind of meandering around (elk don't travel in straight lines).

Just a few minutes before you can see decent put those cow calls to use. Just chirpy stuff. Cow and calf sounds. Not much emotion in them. 2-4 minutes of intermittent calling. End it with a couple calf chirps and then a emotional cow telling her kid to catch up. While calling move around in a area roughly 50 yards by 50 yards. After you stop calling move downwind of that area by 150 yards ish. Be quiet and still for a good while.

Whether anything happens or not you have just let every elk withing ear shot ( they hear from ALONG WAY) know there's a band of elk messin around. Now the stage is set.

After a good bit of time continue towards the bedding ground. Stop and chirp once in awhile. Break a few sticks, just act like elk act, when they at ease. Don't get carried away with it.

Don't go into bedding ground. (Top 1/3 of mountain/benches). Hook around the bedding ground. Find somewhere with a opening that sound will travel good.

Around 930 or 10. Walk around cow calling. Try to pretend you are 4 to 8 cows/calves jibber jabbering back and like a bull is trying to make you do something you don't want to do. After 4 or 5 minutes of jabbering, move off 80 or so yards and give one single note squeal definitely with a chuckle on end of it. Short and quick is key. Then back to cows after a short break. Continue with cows off and on for a hour. Intermittently throwing in what some say is a estrus cry. It's not that, however it is a cow being emotional about something going on in band she don't like..

From 11 to 1 be completely silent. At 1 make a move about 500/600 yards from the last calling set. Pretend a couple cows got up and chirped a few times. Nothing more then stretching thier legs and saying hi, then laying down again.

At 4. Give another single note squeal. This is a slightly longer tone like 4 seconds. Nothing at end. Just a one note squeal. No other sounds!

At 5. Back to the cows. Off and on until dark. Stopping to work over some bushes or tree. No big sticks!

If there are truly elk in the area by end of day you'll have found them.

Do your best to keep a favorable wind from where you think bedding is.

Also elk are back door experts. When calling blind often they will sneak in from a unexpected area.

If you get winded. Shut the entire thing down, leave immediately. If they bolt north you bolt south fast as you can. Do not sneak out. Give it 2 days and then hit it again. Can't say this enough...if busted do not sneak out...Do not keep calling...shut up and leave fast.

Hunt somewhere else a couple days then hit it again. However, hit it from a different direction. This is important!

Learn the psychology and sociology of elk and this will make more sense.

Bulls are more likely to fight in mornings.
Bulls are more likely to love in evenings.
 

Deadfall

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Joined
Oct 18, 2019
Messages
1,526
Location
Montana
In tge scenario you described it sounds like perfect place to have a grunter bull with few cows. This is old bull that most likely never does anything bit grunt a bit.

These are the bulls I live for. If you ever hear a sound that sound like a pig with the depth of randy Travis. Then you have found a old bull. Never ever hunt this area with anyone else.

99 percent of hunters don't have the patience or discipline to hunt a bull like that on public land.

These bulls are ghosts. The highs and lows are like nothing you'll ever experience hunting anything else.

If you have found a area with a bull like that. There will always be a bull like that in there. One dies another moves in.
 

Rick M.

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Joined
Mar 9, 2018
Messages
532
Location
Upper Midwest
If archery I’m with wapitibob, no bugling I keep walking till I find them. This can mean miles, ranges, canyons or over the next ridge. Somewhere they are talking. If they are not and lots of bull sign and wolf country the wolves are likely around. If no rubs and no bugling move to another area miles away. You can’t shoot them, if they are not there no matter how good it may appear. Good luck🤙
Are you bugling while moving or moving silently?
 

nphunter

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Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
1,699
Location
Oregon
Like a couple others mentioned, if I’m not in actual elk that are talking I’m moving.

Sometimes moving is driving down the road to the next drainage or clear across the unit. I don’t like to hunt quiet elk, I’ve sat 30 yards from a 6 point bull with a few cows and blew every call in the book and had them not even acknowledge that i’m there, even lip bawled and glunked at the cows with zero reaction. Sometimes elk just aren’t in the mood to die, I don’t like those elk and move on until I find one that is wound up.

Elk sign can be hard to judge age, ribs are the most difficult for sure, followed by tracks, poop and pee. If you find dark brown piss with water still standing in the divot that is fresh. Anything else could be hours or days old depending on the soil type, temp, weather or other variables. If I’m not hearing elk I’m moving, to me there’s not a better way to blow up a spot than wandering through good elk country blowing out quiet elk. If you know there are elk come back every day or two and blow a couple bugles, eventually they will be ready to kill, otherwise just keep moving.

Elk move a lot at night, sometimes it really pays off to just move around a listen in the dark. If it’s a roaded area you can catch elk moving across roads in the dark, when you see that drop a pin. Stop at good vantage points or saddles where elk would most likely come out if a drainage to feed in a grassy spot. Bugle and listen, wait 5 minutes while listening well and bugle again, if I can’t get a bugle in a could have attempts at night I move on. I find most elk bugle back right away when they are on the move, sometimes during the day if you know there’s an elk in a spot it may take some effort to get a response from a bedded bull but elk on the move are vocal and they move mostly in the morning and at night. If you hear an elk bugling like crazy and then all of a sudden stop most likely that means the herd has reached their destination or is out of earshot.

I would recommend hunting an area with broken country and good road access if your not familiar. The easiest way to cover ground is in an automobile. Until you learn what good elk country is and know how to identify it your will waste a lot of precious hunting time wandering around aimlessly on foot. Elk are way less bothered by passing cars than by people walking through the woods, just because there are roads doesn’t mean there aren’t elk. They adapt to roads well and a lot of times some of the best hunting is right next to a busy road they 90% of people drive past.

There are also a ton of good easy to draw units with high elk densities, there is no reason for a green hunter to handicap theirselves by hunting low density areas.
 

GSPHUNTER

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Joined
Jun 30, 2020
Messages
3,905
My friends went on a four day Elk hunt in Utah and did not see any sign of elk nor did they hear any bugling. I asked why after the second day they did not move to a different location. They really did not have a good answer other than dragging up camp was too much hassle. So actually they were camping not hunting. If you are not hearing or seeing sign of Elk it's because they are not there. MOVE.
 
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