Not seeing elk the whole trip

[Kcarlson63]

As I’ve spent hours upon hours planning my first trip out west, I have of course spent a lot of time on this forum. In doing so you obviously see a lot of comments between the guys who make it happen those that never get the opportunity. Going solo on an archery hunt from the 10th-26th. Packing in with enough to stay out 5-7 days at a time if need be. Not afraid to stay out or move if it’s not happening where I am at. And multiple backup plans. For either party..the successful guys or non-successful..what do you think the biggest reasons are for not even seeing an elk at all the whole trip?

-area your in?
-lack of elk knowledge?
-physical or mental limitations?
-hunter pressure?
-something I haven’t listed?

Just trying to gain all the information that’s free on here if your willing to put yourself out there and ask the questions. Probably will be the one of many more threads I’ll put out there before I get in the truck and go.

Thanks for any help guys!

 

[Btaylor]

I think you can boil it all down to physical or mental limitations.

You have to go find them period and they move around. If you are in an area that you are not seeing them and there is no uber fresh sign to suggest they are around, you need to relocate. Some folks lack the physical ability to cover enough ground to find them. Some folks lack the mental ability to pack up and move when need be. At its most basic level hunting deer or elk revolves around food, water, sex and security and the variables that influence each of those. Success, generally speaking, is most significantly influenced by effort and decision making as it relates to the above. As experience grows decision making gets faster and more accurate, until then effort is the name of the game and "can't" never did a durned thing. That's my thoughts from 4 elk hunts anyway.

 

[rclouse79]

I used to make the mistake of falling in love with one area too much. Now I bring enough to stay out a night and move if I haven’t seen or heard elk.

 

[SBAHunts]

grizz pressure not helpful

 

[BRTreedogs]

I used to make the mistake of falling in love with one area too much. Now I bring enough to stay out a night and move if I haven’t seen or heard elk.

Guilty as well, I find myself wanting them to be in certain places, then I realize there not and I have to move.
Elk knowledge, read thr sign, if its fresh then play the wind and it's a matter of time.
Also knowledge of pressure, human & predator. Keeps them out of certain areas.
Mental toughness. You should expect it to take a few days to find them.
Alot of people are discouraged and chasing themselves off the mountain after a few days.

 

[NJDiverDan]

Agree with the above, physical & mental. After a couple of days of miles with no elk, it is easy to start getting discouraged. Start thinking of home, etc.

That said, if you are sleeping close enough to where you think there should be elk (1-2 miles) you should be hearing them at night at least. If not, get out and hike some ridges at night and send out some location bugles.

Don't be afraid to move to plan b, c or d....but, also don't jump ship if you are hearing elk at night, just not seeing them during the day.

 

[Kcarlson63]

grizz pressure not helpful

Going to be in Colorado so not expecting too much Grizzly pressure

 

[Marble]

I think hunters look at areas that are going to suck to go to, suck to leave and suck to pack out of and then gamble on trying to find elk where they want them to be instead of where they are.

Guys want to go, but not many are willing to do whatever it takes.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Oh man. That would be a horrible scenario. If I don’t see/hear/smell elk by day 2 or 3, it’s time to pack it up and go somewhere else.

I see a lot of folks do the opposite though. They can’t close the distance on elk even though they are there, so they’ll bail and try to find more “cooperative” elk. I think that’s a huge mistake - leaving elk to find other elk.

 

[wannakillabigbull]

Lack of elk knowledge is what I see the most, followed by physical limitations. You don't have to be a world class athlete to find and kill elk, but understanding elk is so critical to being successful year after year. Being on the younger side, a lot of the guys I know focus way too much on buying gear and going to archery shoots and training to hunt etc. I think spending your time scouting the elk in your area and understanding their habits throughout the year is a way better use of your time and money.

 

[KHNC]

Biggest reasons i have had were due to going to Idaho and NW Montana to hunt elk. Anytime i dont hunt there i see elk

 

[Phaseolus]

What is being left out, and is one of the most important considerations is: Knowledge of the unit. Obviously that is something you won’t have as a first time to a unit hunter. I am very successful in large part because I have spent a bunch of time in the group of units where I will hunt elk.

 

[Kcarlson63]

What is being left out, and is one of the most important considerations is: Knowledge of the unit. Obviously that is something you won’t have as a first time to a unit hunter. I am very successful in large part because I have spent a bunch of time in the group of units where I will hunt elk.

I’m doing my best between OnX and GE but am fully aware that looking at those and a computers screen can never compute to the brain how vast these areas are.

Just trying to study and mark as many promising areas in the units I am looking at. I’m halfway through Elk101 which I think was indeed worth the investment regardless of what I could have and have learned through my own research

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Man packing up camp and moving sucks balls, but until I have enough experience and time on the ground to develop spots that produce year after year that's always going to be on the menu. I'm learning my units and taking notes. There's honestly way too much area to roam in the units we're targeting. We've been hunting later rifle seasons too as my wife always wants to go, so weather plays a huge part in where they're at.

 

[5MilesBack]

lack of elk knowledge?

I really struggle to figure out how someone could spend a week in the mountains of CO and not find any elk. But you hear about that happening all the time. I guess the only thing that would make any sense at that point would be the above "lack of elk knowledge". But even then, eventually you'll run into them just by chance even if you have no idea what you're doing and you're bouncing from tree to tree.

Since you're going to spend 17 days in elk country, you're definitely going to find elk.......even if by dumb luck as the worst case. Go out and have fun.

 

[Kcarlson63]

I really struggle to figure out how someone could spend a week in the mountains of CO and not find any elk. But you hear about that happening all the time. I guess the only thing that would make any sense at that point would be the above "lack of elk knowledge". But even then, eventually you'll run into them just by chance even if you have no idea what you're doing and you're bouncing from tree to tree.

Since you're going to spend 17 days in elk country, you're definitely going to find elk.......even if by dumb luck as the worst case. Go out and have fun.

That’s the plan

 

[Smallie]

I went to Colorado to hunt elk for the first time last September and we didn’t see a single one and that’s between 4 different areas in 8 days. Backcountry for 3 days and it sucked admitting we had to pack it up and move but we had to do it. Covered tons of ground on little BLM spots but couldn’t make it happen. It wasn’t for a lack of trying but we picked a low density unit on purpose in hopes that hunting pressure would be lower. We only ran into two guys the second day after I called them in basically but that was it as far as elk hunting pressure. Not seeing any elk was the trade off though

 

[wapitibob]

There can be a ton of country totally void of Elk. Find a unit that you know has Elk in good numbers and go from there.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

Biggest reasons i have had were due to going to Idaho and NW Montana to hunt elk. Anytime i dont hunt there i see elk

 

[bsnedeker]

I always blame democrats.