Hunting wallows

[MallardSX2]

Almost every wallow I have ever found is in a place that it would be VERY difficult to kill an elk over it due to the wind changing every 5 seconds.....

 

[Sharpio]

One of my favorite tactics on OTC hunts is to stay back from the Wallow/Waterhole. I prefer to be 100-250 yards away & Advertise/Display in their domain! Doing this allows me a great setup spot where I have predictable wind.

The 1st 10 days of elk season is my favorite times to use this. Elk fall for it every year! Some will bugle randomly as they close the distance, most come in silent but that's fine with me as long as they come! (grin)

I prefer this as I'm generally done within 30 minutes of setting up as opposed to sitting days at a time because I'm leery of calling & running elk off. Too, as Jaq mentions the wind is your enemy if it swirls even a single time & reaches any elk! If this happens the elk will leave the area & you may not have a clue they did; thus wasting extra days still awaiting their appearance!

Advertising in their territory is a game changer, try it!

ElkNut

I like sitting near wallows beginning of the year and never thought about doing this...Great idea! I will have to give it a try.

 

[Gman12]

I hunt water 75% of the time during the beginning of archery season. The area I hunt is very dry and the water sources are few and far between. In some places it may be several miles between water. It seems a little more consistent in the afternoons than in the mornings but sometimes both are excellent. I never sit all day as I rarely see any activity after 930 or so in the mornings or before 3 in the afternoons. I doubt it would be nearly as effective if there were water sources spread out all over the place.

 

[Geewhiz]

If you can find the right wallow its a game changer. I've always had a hard time sitting on wallows because I just prefer the run and gun bugle fest type hunting, but I committed to it a couple of years ago and it has treated me well. Finding a good wallow that has consistant action with playable wind is a pot of gold.

 

[dtrkyman]

I found an insanely hot wallow and tons of fresh sign one year in OTC Co. After no bugling all morning I decided to spend the day at the wallow and see what came in, beats hanging around camp!

After less than 20 minutes it was obvious why the area was all torn to pieces, the wind blew every direction possible the entire time, I was outta there!

This wallow was in a low spot in a hidden basin, rough access but no way to hunt the wallow.

I had some good hunts the next two mornings on a ridge near by.

 

[Chaser96]

Sounds like I’ll be on the ridge near the wallow. I saw multiple bulls two mornings doing that last year even though I didn’t realize or plan that as a strategy. Thank you all so much for the replies. I’ll be there for two weeks along with my buddy that should have a muzzleloader tag so I’ll be sure to come back and let everyone know how it went


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