The 1 Thing You Learned- ELK

[Oregon Hunter]

Always be ready

An elk can appear and present an opportunity at any time

No kidding. For some reason they don't follow our best laid plans lol

 

[Oregon Hunter]

Indeed. Similarly, don’t play with your cow calls during lunch with your bow out of reach. Actually it’s a lesson I haven’t learned. Seems to bite one of us every 3 or 4 years.

Even when we aren't "hunting", the woods is still aware of all the sounds

 

[Oregon Hunter]

This year I learned just how quickly a cow call with stop a bull. He was coming downhill on a trail that somewhat paralleled the one I was on. His trail was taking him away from me though and I thought well I'd better cow call to get him coming this way. Nope...he stopped on a dime at 54 yards with a ton of brush in between us. I knew a cow call was supposed to stop them, but not THAT fast! If I'd given him another 10 seconds I would have had a shot.

The point was further driven home when I saw a hunter stalking by that I thought was my buddy. I gave a cow call to get his attention. Stopped just a quick as the bull. Turned out it wasn't my buddy...whoops, sorry guy. Anyway, turns out all animals react about the same to a sound - stop and figure out what that sound was.

This can also depend on different areas and times of the season. For example where I used to bow hunt, a cow call would stop them after 5-6 steps. Rifle season was different, it would stop them quickly. Maybe they were more skittish later in the year. Anyways, this highlights the advantage of hunting the same areas year after year so that you can learn patterns

 

[Winnie]

I have seen some people give the advice to "shoot on the first day what you would shoot on the last". To me, this is terrible advice. Now bear with me!

If that is what you want to do, fine! It is your choice and do whatever makes you happy. However, it would NOT make some people happy to shoot a cow on the first day and then they get into bulls later in the week. Many people, myself included, would rather take the chance to go home empty handed than shoot their non-target animal on the first day and then have regrets. That is entirely okay too. My advice is pretty simple, shoot what makes you happy at the time! If that is a calf on day 1 of a 14 day hunt in a LE unit, so be it! If that means you pass up a 6X6 on a 3 day OTC hunt and don't get one but are okay with that, so be it! But don't listen to some cute saying and then have regrets. Applying your values to someone else's hunt shouldn't de done in my opinion. And yes, 3 times I have passed up cows and later shot bulls. Twice I passed up a cow and did not get a bull. I am okay with that. A big part of it for me is that I don't want to end the hunt so soon!

So my advice would be to be very careful about telling others what they should or should not shoot. It is certainly okay to tell them about relative game density, but let them make up their own mind.

 

[Oregon Hunter]

On my last elk hunt (solo) I realized, that even if you went 2 weeks without ever seeing an animal, killing it is the easy part. The hard part starts when its on the ground.

Have any of you guys considered contracting a horse packer if you're way back there or by yourself? I read about Cameron Haines doing this years ago in the Wallowa mountains and thought it was an interesting idea

 

[Oregon Hunter]

I have seen some people give the advice to "shoot on the first day what you would shoot on the last". To me, this is terrible advice. Now bear with me!

If that is what you want to do, fine! It is your choice and do whatever makes you happy. However, it would NOT make some people happy to shoot a cow on the first day and then they get into bulls later in the week. Many people, myself included, would rather take the chance to go home empty handed than shoot their non-target animal on the first day and then have regrets. That is entirely okay too. My advice is pretty simple, shoot what makes you happy at the time! If that is a calf on day 1 of a 14 day hunt in a LE unit, so be it! If that means you pass up a 6X6 on a 3 day OTC hunt and don't get one but are okay with that, so be it! But don't listen to some cute saying and then have regrets. Applying your values to someone else's hunt shouldn't de done in my opinion. And yes, 3 times I have passed up cows and later shot bulls. Twice I passed up a cow and did not get a bull. I am okay with that. A big part of it for me is that I don't want to end the hunt so soon!

So my advice would be to be very careful about telling others what they should or should not shoot. It is certainly okay to tell them about relative game density, but let them make up their own mind.

This is a really interesting perspective! I've adopted your perspective when deer hunting. Maybe more people feel they should shoot whatever they see because elk are harder to come by?

 

[Oregon Hunter]

Only hunted elk once but gonna go many more times. I noticed that all that pressure seemed to turn them into whitetails held tight to cover were very quite in the sounds they made moved after dark and got in there well before light. I started looking for those pockets that's were we started having opportunities. Other thing I learned on the mountain THE WIND IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!

Wolves have also impacted their patterns and made them hold tighter to cover

 

[Oregon Hunter]

X2. Ripped off a locator bugle this year trying to get the bull down the canyon to respond and a different one charged out of cover 60 yards away from us. We weren't ready and he turned tail once he saw us.

Valuable lesson. I've found that unless the rut is really cranking, bulging tends to scare bulls away in my area

 

[trophyhill]

Hind site is 2020. I had a golden opportunity to kill a cow at 40yards opening day and I let the bow down. That was the 1 and only shot opportunity I had in 23 days of hunting.

 

[Gapmaster]

Hind site is 2020. I had a golden opportunity to kill a cow at 40yards opening day and I let the bow down. That was the 1 and only shot opportunity I had in 23 days of hunting.

...I passed on a few cows at 10 steps on day 5 of a 10 day hunt. Bulls were talking. Never had another shot opportunity. Almost out of elk meat now. Any elk with a bow is a trophy.

 

[Still Hunter]

Hunt all the way back to camp even when you are worn out. Can not tell you how many times I have encountered elk 300 yards from my camp site.

You work your butt off to get a arrow off, take the extra second or two to be sure you get the right pin on the bull. Nothing like doing everything right and then rushing at the last moment to end up shooting over or under a bull. You might shoot a 6” group all day at 80 yards but at 36 yards miss that once in a lifetime bull because you used the wrong pin.

 

[MasterTimo]

@OP
Elk hunting taught me I have to be patient and prepared at all times still.

YES, it is ADDICTIVE... LOL

 

[Campcreek12]

DIY OTC on public is more difficult than many would lead you to believe.

 

[Gerbdog]

DIY OTC on public is more difficult than many would lead you to believe.

That's true, its easy to find success stories and youtube videos of kill shots because no one posts their abject failures. Ah well, being humbled in life once or thrice is good for a person

 

[hibernation]

Just 1 thing eh?

I would have to say 'Slow your ass down' and learn how to hunt your elk areas 'Soft'.

By 'Soft' I mean going in and not blowing them out.

I have a few places I can go in EVERY DAY throughout the season and have an elk encounter. I make sure the wind is right, time of day is right and calling is barely audible. Now, I may not get an elk every time, but having the encounters is what matters.

BTW - these spots ^^^ are only 300yds from my truck.

So many times I see guys racing around the woods, trying their best to at least SEE an elk, knowing they have only 7-10 days to hunt. They end up drive or even hike past so many elk its crazy.

I guess they cant leave the fast and furious lifestyle at home.

But YMMV - what works for me may not work for you. But I can say this, it really, really does work for me.

I'm still fairly new to the archery elk game, but "slow your ass down" is definitely my lesson from this year. Blew some good opportunities by being too aggressive, especially trying to close the distance on a bugle. I was right on estimating where the bull was... but didn't count on the cow that was 100-150 yards closer. Totally busted, and she took the herd with her.

 

[jodorouse]

What do you REALLY need in your pack to hunt? Don’t take anything more than that. It gets heavy toting it around Heaven’s creation.


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[Gapmaster]

What do you REALLY need in your pack to hunt? Don’t take anything more than that. It gets heavy toting it around Heaven’s creation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ounces=pounds and Pounds=Pain!!

 

[Deadeye17]

**Sometimes** you have more time than you think. Made a bad shot on a bull facing head on when he and the 15 or so other elk had no idea I was there. Ended up losing the bull due to other hunters bumping it after it bedded down no more than 125 yds from where I first shot. Also, remember to take extra rounds when you drop your pack

 

[Oregon Hunter]

We’ve had an outstanding response from all of you on these “1 Thing You Learned” series. I just created a new forum thread about antelope. Head over to this link if you’d like to share one thing you learned about antelope, or want to shorten your learning curve for your next pronghorn hunt!

 

[TBO_Jason]

Great topic. I learn something new on every elk hunt. One that I don't think has been mentioned...
Don't "guestimate" distance, even if you think he's "really close." Use that damned range finder that you've been lugging around all week.