Locating elk with high pressure

[midwestcowboy]

I’m about halfway through the season on my cow elk tag in Idaho. I’m having a tough time locating elk, haven’t seen one during season yet. The unit is less than a few miles away from my house so I’ve been hunting long weekends and after work most days.
I’m not a road hunter, I’ve been hiking in a few miles and glassing along the way, then hiking out in the dark. I don’t typically access from trailheads, and if I do it’s to reach an area where I can split off from the trail for some “privacy”

I took a general season buck the day after opening hunting, I was 4 miles off the road. Didn’t see a single elk, nor hunter during that weekend - curious if the large influx of hunters could be pushing the elk onto private? Deer season ends the 31st, but I don’t wanna chalk it up to that. Especially since I’ve still got a couple weeks of season left to try a different strategy. The last few days I’ve been hunting / glassing the fringes of private where I’ve seen the elk congregate - none of them are wandering onto public… feels like a total waste of time and there’s always a couple other guys working the same herd.

For context - we have about 6” of snow at 8k feet, temps have been between 20-45F, and the snow seems to be holding above 8k feet. I’ve been hunting above the snow-line, and even more below. I’m seeing loads of deer and deer sign every time I’m out, nearly everywhere I look. Snow depth / temps doesn’t seem to be pushing deer down, which has me thinking elk would be up just as high if not higher. I’ve run a few cams throughout the unit over the last few years, I know the elk and deer use the areas I’m hunting, even during season. Deer are popping up on my cams daily, the elk are GONE.

Any tips? Do I just put my head down and hunt harder? Should I try to focus on snow-line and above? Not concerned about burning more boot rubber, only worried about wasting time.

 

[kcm2]

How long have you had 6" of snow or more on the ground?

 

[Plainsman79]

With snow on the ground, have you tried covering large swaths of ground looking for tracks? If you still can’t turn anything over, might be time to move to a new area.

Try not to get too caught up in hunting where you want the critters to be or where they were last year. Stay mobile and keep moving until you find a herd.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and again with the same results.

 

[Ross]

If the snow has been on the ground for awhile and no elk tracks, you need to put some boot leather down and start picking the area apart. New glassing and roaming areas to find out where they are moving or holding. If pressured and there is dark timber or isolated areas I would be looking there. Go the places we don’t like to walk and they do.

 

[Indian Summer]

Got hunt a more remote area where there isn’t private land for elk to see refuge on. That’s always a losing game.

I’ve watch hundreds on both sides of a ranch I was on. Not only did they stay on private property but they knew which ones were safe in which ones weren’t

 

[elkliver]

have you seen any sign? if no sign, you are wasting your time and need to move. IT is often not about going deeper and hunting harder, you just need to hunt where the elk are.

If there is sign... then keep at it. slow down. maybe find a place where a couple of trails come together and go set down

 

[midwestcowboy]

Snow has been on the ground about a week now. I’ve been putting 13-15 mile days of hiking on the weekend days, weeknights less. I feel like I’m covering good ground with the boots and the eyes - maybe just in the wrong area.

Probably best to abandon my focus area and work a different part of the zone. As I mentioned, I’m very familiar with the unit since I live nearby and recreate, scout/hunt it all year. I’ll aim to spend time where there isn’t private to hide on, which shouldn’t be too hard.

I do have a few more cams in deeper parts of the unit which I haven’t checked in a few weeks, they have also had great action throughout the year. Access is quite a bit tougher with the snow on the ground, but maybe that’s what it’ll take.

I’ll report back with (hopefully) some good news.

 

[midwestcowboy]

In all honesty, I’ve just been BLOWN away by how many deer I’ve consistently encountered the last few weeks but I somehow haven’t seen an elk... Legitimately will go out for a night after work and pick up 25-30 deer in a single basin glassing for 3 hours.

Is it safe to say (in general) elk are more impacted by hunting pressure when compared to mule deer?

Maybe thats a dumb question but I’m an adult onset hunter and going to ask anyways hahaha

 

[Jakeb]

Sometimes when hunting our local areas we get trapped into spending too much time in spots we have history with.

If you were on an out of state hunt and put that many elk less hours in would you still be focusing on that area?

You’ve determined where the elk are not at. Change it up, find something new and different and start covering ground. They are somewhere.