Should I move?

[Bubba]

Year 3 week 3 and still failing. I’m hunting a mountain range in my unit (new unit this year) and outside of one drainage where I had one bull respond I haven’t seen anything.

I’ve been bugling at night, listening, and even popped out the thermal scanner to look from ridges. Nothing.

I have pounded out countless miles for two weeks and haven’t even seen any fresh sign outside the one draw. If I saw fresh sign I’d just figure they’re all quiet or I just suck.

Talking to regular hunters in this area they say it’s normally pretty good and they’re all talking. I haven’t even jumped a buck in all my hiking. Just a few doe on the roads. I’ve heard from one guy that Corey Jacobson downed a 6 point around here but other than that haven’t seen one truck with a kill in it and haven’t heard anyone else say they’re seeing much. No ek tracks on the road anywhere. Another Rokslider stopped by my camp for a night and decided it wasn’t worth staying to hunt there.

I’m starting to lose my mind working this hard for this long and still feeling like I’m not even close to getting one.

Should I abandoned this area? If I move, how far should I go?

Have hunted elk for 10 years and had a few opportunities but came up empty handed. Finally got my first archer bull on the ground on the 15th. Keep at it!

 

[David-D]

Keep moving around until you see fresh sign or activity. It took me 8 years to kill my first bull, then I killed bull the next 6 years in a row. Once you're in them, things will look up. As far as bugling at night, that's a great way to get tight-lipped bulls to respond. They are more apt to respond because they are more confident, unless there are wolves around.