Running for Shots

[TurkeyBowMaster]

I occasionally read where someone had ran to get a shot and even ran towards elk after missing and got another shot. This is so foreign to me because I have never hunted anything other than hogs that will stand for this kind of behavior, and even hogs will only allow it if you have lots of cover. I tend to give some animals more credit for being super smart than maybe they are due and that could cost me. It is just bizarre to hear some of the running after stories when you have never hunted animals that allow for that kind of aggression.
I'm just wondering what the strategy is...do you bugle and charge in to sound like an intruder and count on their lack of eyesight to confuse them long enough to get a shot? Wouldn't you worry about blowing them out?

 

[twall13]

I've done it successfully with pheasants when I saw them land a few hundred yards off and shooting hours were almost up. They held until I ran into where they landed and then spooked up.

With elk I wouldn't do it as a first option, more as a last resort. It's true that some noise with elk isn't the end of the world as they are noisy animals themselves but I still prefer to move in quietly if at all possible. Getting the wind right is much more important with elk but running at them isn't something I'd try as a first tactic. If I've done everything else and feel like I'm about to lose my last opportunity at an elk I might try it because what do I have to lose. Maybe someone else has more feedback on this subject than me but my take has always been that some guys run at them when they are out of options and may get away with it from time to time. That doesn't mean it's a first choice plan of attack, just that you can sometimes get away with more noise with elk than other critters.

 

[TurkeyBowMaster]

That sounds a lot like my motto...never hunt like there is no tomorrow unless there is no tomorrow. Still, if something gets to working as a last resort it might could be a first resort. I arrowed two turkey back to back in the last two days on some heavily hunted public ground in Kentucky last spring. Got them by stalking instead of calling, which wasn't working because it was so late in the season. My personal preference is calling so I will always do that first, even if I think I could kill easier other ways.

If elk allowed me to just run in and shoot them I would loose respect, so I suppose I would rather it not work most of the time. Still in a crunch and a matter of taking meat home vrs not I would probably do it. I'm just not much into reaping.

 

[wapitibob]

I've run in on more than one but I stop before they see me.

 

[kicker338]

Good question TBM a lot of guys here in the Id panhandle do this, why?? You gotta understand the area and the elk. Lots of roads in this area and people in the woods ( national forrest ) yr. around. Summer camping or just out driving, woods are full of people in the summer. Winter, snowmobiles running all over the place. Keeping that in mind, these elk are very used to being around people. They don't act like wilderness elk, run 5mi. before stopping, these elk usually only run 2 or 3 hundred yds. before stopping then sneaking off in the brush. Also they usually don't get a better view of you than you do them and they are not sure of what you are so they tend to hang around a little to see what you are.

 

[ElkNut1]

As an archery elk hunter we are faced with a variety of elk encounters, most differ from one another. Reading the situation at hand & applying your best odds for a method chosen for a close encounter is what we strive for. This means we don't bugle every bull or cow call every bull or use both. The same applies at running at a bull or the whole herd where cover & wind cooperate. This is a method where a certain situation lends itself in that direction. When chosen for the right situation it is very deadly on the elk you are using it on, just not used for every elk encounter.

When used on a bull I generally will wait for him to invite me over to join the group, this is done through cow calling, this is generally a herd bull with an undetermined amount of cows, he calls you to the group because he won't come your way as easily as a satellite bull as he doesn't want to leave his cows unattended. This is a great time to give the bull what he's asking for & go right to him calling with the sounds a cow uses as she accepts the invite to come. Noise is not a factor here on the hunters movement as he closes the distance. Keeping wind direction & cover in your favor is of utmost concern. I'm also looking hard & fast as I close the distance for other unseen elk. You must do this on your approach & avoid getting tunnel vision on just the bulls spot from where he's bugling & chuckling for you to come to or you can be busted before you get to him.

You see you're giving him what he's asking for so he expects to hear you coming, it can work great! Right time right bull & place! Here's a bull I took with a longbow with this exact method, I took him at 14 yards, so yes it can work!

ElkNut1

 

[5MilesBack]

Throughout a season I run quite a bit.....especially later in the season when they're all herded up. Running to cut them off, running to get better wind, or just running to keep up with them.......I'll do whatever it takes to make something happen. I hunt elk very aggressively as that's the most fun for me. Does it always work out? No. But at least I've given myself a chance in situations where I never would have had a chance. No.......I don't just charge the herd running in with reckless abandon.

Two years ago I spent 2 1/2 hours within 100 yards of a herd creeping in and around on my belly trying to get a shot at the herd bull. There was one really nice 350 class bull and about 50 cows. When the cows that were around me worked away from me and the bull followed, I finally had an opportunity to get into the timber and run to cut them off. They were feeding in an opening along a draw away from me now, and there was a finger of timber ahead that would put me about 50 yards from them. So I ran through the timber high enough so they couldn't see me and was only about 50 yards from that finger when I literally ran right past a satellite I didn't see at 15 yards above me (that tunnel vision thing Paul mentioned), and he busted. All that commotion caused the herd to move up the opposite slope and away from me. Now it was almost dark and too late to try to outrun them and cut them off on that slope.

But there have been many times where I'm soaked with sweat enough that I can take my hat off and hold it vertically and watch the sweat drip out of it as it's completely soaked, along with the rest of my clothes.

 

[Frito]

I've ran after a few hogs but always with cover and usually from a very long distance on edge of the woods to get a closer shot. I've had it work for me on several occasions, but that's hogs.

I've run on the other side of the mountain after a heard of elk that were on the move for a better chance. I was up-wind though and it didn't work out. It would not have worked out anyway because they were already spooked from hunters on the other side of them and they were moving out fast. I tried to do what I could JIK.

 

[njdoxie]

While rifle hunting, sometimes it makes sense to run for a better vantage point if they're moving off, often they won't see you and won't hear you because they're far away and maybe making noise themselves. Ideally when you get a better vantage point, they pause long enough for you to get a shot.

 

[Frito]

I know a guy who hunts black bear and heard from a guy that accompanied him once. He said he'll run you into the ground chasing bears. He's got quite a few bear to show for it too. Of course this isn't running at the bear in plain site but a lot of jogging to move in on them.

 

[Bar]

My style is sneaking in on them unseen. Running is out of the question.

Besides.........old guys don't run.

 

[5MilesBack]

Besides.........old guys don't run.

YES......I'm still considered young! Yee-haw. Of course sometimes when I'm walking some people think I'm running.

TBM, one thing you mentioned in your first post baffles me......elk don't have poor eyesight.

 

[Idaho CTD]

I ran parallel to a herd of about 100 this year to get a shot at one during rifle season. My buddy shot at a 6pt bull and missed and the whole mountain exploded with elk. We could only see 10-12 of them. I had to run 150-200yds. When I use to bow hunt a lot we would run at bulls to close the distance in a hurry and try to get them to come in to a call. It works quite well if they are hard in the rut.

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Buddy and I shot 2 6 points a few years ago when we ran out of cover at last light. Ran right up to em and blasted away

 

[Bar]

They just stood there while you ran at them?