Scouting Elk

[BlacktailTracker]

What are your guys general strategies for scouting/locating elk? I've found that deer generally have smaller ranges and if you find them in one area you can go back to that area and find them again. Are elk similar? Or are they more nomadic? Is covering lots of ground better for finding herds or returning to areas that you have seen elk before? How do elk utilize their range? How are elk and deer different in their habits and patterns?

 

[CMcCormick1805]

I hunt spring bear to scout for Elk and have found it works wonders.

 

[jgilber5]

I've found my elk to be nomadic, but generally hit the same spots each year depending on pressure. I've had the best luck just following trails in the off season. Narrow trails on ridges and saddles? Probably just a travel route. Tracks start to spread out and slow down? Probably somewhere to check in season for bedding/feed.

 

[Indian Summer]

Elk are NOT deer. Unless you plan to tree stand hunt forget everything you know about deer hunting.


The natural progression is to cover lots of miles putting scent down in bedding and feeding areas, spooking elk, and beating yourself up. Exploring for both scouting and for having fun. Then you think back to the places you passed up and start over. Slow down. Can you e scout for deer? Yes. For elk? Yes, but not until you’ve actually put boots on the ground and learned about them, about mountains, and how to hunt them in the mountains. Good luck!

 

[justinspicher]

I’ve been hunting the same area for ten years now and the elk patterns have changed dramatically due the amount of folks in the woods and cattle/sheep being put on public land. Over the past couple of years it feels like I’m relearning how to elk hunt every year.

 

[cnelk]

Ive found the best time to scout for elk is after the early snow.
You can find bedding areas, wispy trails, travel corridors etc

 

[bz_711]

Living 15 hours away...I start scouting the second my hunt starts.
Only thing I've learned is that hunting in high pressured OTC/General units that almost nothing is the same year to year. Spots I've tagged bulls have never produced again yet. If sign is not VERY fresh it's almost useless. I base my hunts more off human pressure than elk sign/habitat and that is when I started having more success.

And yes - Elk are nothing like deer.
Good Luck.

 

[Coveyleader]

Elk are NOT deer. Unless you plan to tree stand hunt forget everything you know about deer hunting.


The natural progression is to cover lots of miles putting scent down in bedding and feeding areas, spooking elk, and beating yourself up. Exploring for both scouting and for having fun. Then you think back to the places you passed up and start over. Slow down. Can you e scout for deer? Yes. For elk? Yes, but not until you’ve actually put boots on the ground and learned about them, about mountains, and how to hunt them in the mountains. Good luck!

I know you're an elk guru, but from what I've seen, you can apply a lot from the deer woods to the elk woods, especially early on in the season. As a matter of fact, for me, I hunt elk the same way I hunt deer until about the 10th of September. If your plan is to kill an elk, you can apply many things from the WT woods that directly translates to elk. They may be even more deadly. One example, fence crossings. They are deadly for WTs, and the same for elk. For those that live in elk country, pinch a top strand and see where the elk start crossing.

 

[LCguy]

Elk are so nomadic that I don't even bother scouting for actual elk until the week or two before the hunt. Now, I DO scout potential glassing points, roads, access, hikes, etc., prior to that, so no matter where the elk are in the unit, I already have a plan to hunt them in that area.

 

[CBGunner95]

Just talking my experience, seems like its been harder lately to pin down patterns earlier in the year that hold true through elk season... Factors vary from different weather extremes during elk season (early vs late snow), late summer or early fall fires, ranchers running cattle later than normal, logging crews slashing junipers, etc. Found best use of time is to really put boots on the ground to scout about a month before the hunt.

 

[Hunterscamera]

I hunt spring bear to scout for Elk and have found it works wonders.

Are you finding good habitat, forage, water or actually finding the elk in the same spots come hunting season?

 

[CMcCormick1805]

Are you finding good habitat, forage, water or actually finding the elk in the same spots come hunting season?

Same general drainages just not the same hillsides.

 

[Coveyleader]

I think one could make a case there are two types of elk. Those that roam large vast wilderness areas with alpine above treeline environments. The other, low BLM type county elk. You could almost classify them as two different species in terms of the way they act and use the country. One of them fits the classic nomad, large distance traveled type elk. Here today, three giant drainages over the next. The other are much more condensed and easier to hunt. So depending on where you're hunting, you could throw my previous comments out the window keeping in mind I'm referring to WY and CO.