Spreading myself thin...

[TrailDog]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'm curious...

I work and live in the mountains of NWest Montana. Specifically, I work for the state DNRC and cover A LOT of ground during the year, seeing and learning 1,000's of acres of good game habitat. Over my 15 years as I hunter here I've had highly variable success...never finding a "spot" but rather lots of areas that are decent enough to warrant some hunting effort. I've hunted areas hard for a week, seeing nothing, and gone back the next year and found success at first light on opening day. That seems to be the pattern here in Region 1...variable!

Do most of you spread your hunting effort out over lots of terrain...or focus on a few key areas? Within a 1 hour drive of where I live the amount of huntable terrain is mind boggling...let alone a 1/2 day or full days drive. I want to be as effective as possible, but struggle to find consistant, reliable success, in proportion to the amount of effort and time I typically exert. So I'm curious, lacking a quality "spot" for deer and elk...is it better to cover and hunt more terrain over the season or trust that a few decent spots will eventually produce?

 

[Kyle C]

I keep very mobile and move daily if I'm not finding the elk, or sign I like. For example one year in Montana we had breaks tags. After 6 days of bouncing around the entire unit we decided to change areas and go to a general area. The part most find weird was we were into alot of elk, but no large bulls. I'm one of those guys that leaves elk to find elk if they don't play my game. Went to one general unit 4 hours away, and nothing after one day. Packed up again and drove another 5 hours to another general unit and killed 2 bulls in 4 days. Being mobile and not afraid of trying unfamiliar country has contributed to more dead bulls in front of me then anything else.

 

[wyosam]

I have always had a variety of spots within a general region. She. I was in western Wyoming, I had a good variety of spots that tended to be good at different times or during different weather patterns. If there I wasn’t finding sign in one spot, that usually educated the spot I chose next. Haven’t figured Alaska out yet, and probably never will. Hunting Alaska as a resident is very different than having a once in a lifetime hunt in AK as it turns out.

Edit- not that there aren’t great opportunities as a resident, but they seem to require much more time than I’m used to. Work and family obligations make it tough.


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[Drenalin]

Spread it out. I’m in the eastern half of the US so this isn’t a direct, or possibly even relevant comparison. But I’m similar in that I don’t really have “spots.” I have some starting points, but I’m generally doing more walking than sitting. I move until I find good, fresh sign or actually see animals, then I either slow way down or stop and wait. It’s probably not the most efficient way to hunt whitetails, but I enjoy it more than stump or stand sitting, I have tons of public land to explore, and I’ve been more successful since I started hunting this way.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Quit trying to make elk into deer. The range on elk in nw mt is 3-5 drainages. The search is where are the elk under the current conditions. There are no hot spots just miles and miles of looking. If you kill them two or three years in a row you will likely find they pull out and it is up to you to figure out where they went. In the first 15 years of hunting in that country, I moved camp 4 times.

 

[TrailDog]

Quit trying to make elk into deer.

Sage advice right there!

 

[insanelupus]

I too live and hunt in NW MT. Spent over 20 years trying to figure out elk as a former mid-west deer hunter. Pony Soldier is right, ALWAYS be scouting new spots.

Elk are highly variable. I suspect it is due to feed in heavily forested country. They are less variable, for instance, with access to ag fields than elk that are predominately mountain (non-ag field access, typically). This seems to be tied to changes of the landscape over time. Logging units and burns being the primary "rapid change" factor with re-growth/recovery then slowly changing over time. Cow elk will always find the better feed sources, they are larger and a herd animals, have a bigger impact on their environment than other ungulates. This year I also noticed when beef cattle entered the mountain landscape elk tended to move out for a while. Something I'll pay attention to in years to come to see if that is also a pattern.

I've learned to hunt elk and deer differently. For elk, my primary species of choice, I've begun to focus on food sources first then look for nearby cover that I've found tends to hold them. Water isn't typically a big deal to find but if narrowing down areas to check, water for me is consideration #3.

Keep in mind, I tend to focus on elk in NW MT during SEP/OCT archery. Rifle season is my deer season. I've found better success with that technique in our area.

SEP elk hunting in NW MT has turned into an endurance event for me. Even with scouting, elk move. Some areas have higher probability than others and I focus on those, staying mobile. I hunt on foot and due to fewer elk per square mile, hunting solo, and high heat in SEP focus more on checking spots I've e-sciuted as likely and looking for bugles and or fresh sign. Elk not ready to play I come back to in a few days, with mental notes on the areas. I don't usually hunt weekends for less competition and more family time at home. And I'm not afraid to line out 2-4 specific areas to check daily. Covering miles for opportunity is how I play my game. There are other ways to do it too..

Lots of country out here, not as many critters as other locales, and critters don't disperse on it evenly.

Edit to add, please make no mistake, I'm no expert, with only 2 bulls in NW MT the last 2 years after 21 years of chasing them. I'm still learning myself. But the above has started helping me be more successful.

 

[Dwnw/theAltitudesickness]

I'm one of those guys that leaves elk to find elk

I've been thinking a lot about this, thought as well. I disagree with the "don't leave elk to find elk" thought. Even deer for that matter. There are just to many other factors in play. Time of year, weather conditions, expected weather, hunting pressure, current age class of game, only males, only females. I have been on a few hunts that failed to meet expectations due to not being willing to be mobile/ explore more country.

 

[Ross]

Northwest Montana and north Idaho are very similar. Low density, Heavy Vegetation and A lot of predators. Add in the weather element and you better have several options to go and cover ground. Pre wolves I could sit you in several places in NW Mt and always get a raghorn. These days you better bounce and learn multiple options. So many easier places to hunt in Montana than the nwest corner. Good luck

 

[MallardSX2]

I focus on 1 of 4 areas that I know well.

Normally 2 of those hold elk and If I find the elk I never leave them.

I just shadow the headed the best I can until they mess up and we almost always kill a different elk than the one we were trying to get. Lol

Wife and I have a combined 75% success rate with a bow on public land so we must be doing something right.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I abandoned nw montana in 92. The elk were very thin the lodgepoles caved in and the planted wolves. I tried a couple times in my old haunts but only found wolf tracks. I finally gave it up to Cody Carr and his games and focused in better areas. There is an end to many things.

 

[Mapledog]

I just moved to the NW region of MT and have hunted the SW region for several years. Spots I’ve scouted over the summer up here have mainly found me glassing moose and whitetail where I think there should be elk. I’m hitting 5-10 year old cuts, natural meadows ( which are hard to come by up here) and water source intersections (good wallow points). Running a similar elevation of around 4-6k. I will hit the woods hard come bow season to learn more about the landscape but just hoping I’m searching in the right areas (food,water,shelter). Really hate to drive 4 hours to where I know best every chance I can but I’m barely finding old rut activity in the areas I’ve hiked so far. Any suggestions would be much appreciated on what I should be looking for more.

Thanks

 

[Pony Soldier]

Forget the meadows and focus on the northside thickets about about a third of the way down from the top. Learn the trails, focus on prevailing wind direction.

 

[Mapledog]

Forget the meadows and focus on the northside thickets about about a third of the way down from the top. Learn the trails, focus on prevailing wind direction.

Thank you for that information!!! I will start looking into that more instead of the clear cuts and meadows! Good luck this fall!

 

[jtevanMT]

Forget the meadows and focus on the northside thickets about about a third of the way down from the top. Learn the trails, focus on prevailing wind direction.

I have also hunted for 20+ years in western MT. Pony Soldier has VERY good suggestions for successful archery elk hunts in Western MT.