Wallow hunting vs stalking

[MTN Humper]

Sitting isn’t elk hunting. It’s deer hunting. I’d say only as a last resort. If they are silent and you can’t find them but they are sneaking in there. I’d use a camera first. Like someone else said that is boring.

What a load of . How many times on Rokslide alone have you preached about getting somewhere you can see and glass up elk? That’s boring too and must be deer hunting until you see an elk then it’s elk hunting? Just making sure.

There are days in many areas and units where the elk are quiet, terrain isn’t open for glassing and hunting a wallow is a viable option.

 

[Indian Summer]

What a load of . How many times on Rokslide alone have you preached about getting somewhere you can see and glass up elk? That’s boring too and must be deer hunting until you see an elk then it’s elk hunting? Just making sure.

There are days in many areas and units where the elk are quiet, terrain isn’t open for glassing and hunting a wallow is a viable option.

Glassing from vantage points means looking over MILES of country with breath taking views in places. It’s fun! You see all kinds of animals.

And it means looking for herds of elk out feeding. A much more productive method of locating elk including quiet ones.

Elk are too nomadic to put all your chips on one mud puddle. I’d rather watch over a heavily used travel route through a saddle leading from bedding areas to feed slopes.

 

[MTN Humper]

Are you sitting? In one spot for more than a minute? Sounds like your definition of deer hunting. Better make sure you have a deer tag for that unit too then!

 

[Pow]

If you hunt high altitude elk in wet places, hunting wallows is a waste of time. It is generally cool in September and water is everywhere, there are wallows everywhere. If you are going to sit something in that situation, it should probably be the trails transitioning from feed to bed. Better yet, sit a lick.

 

[TaperPin]

Personally, I’ve never had much luck with elk returning to wallows I’ve run across that were freshly used. So few that I’d never sit at one. It could be there’s too many other wallows since the areas I see them in are rather wet and boggy following small streams up the mountain. It would be cool to just sit a few days and whack an elk. Oh yeah, I can barely sit through a catholic mass, so watching muddy water settle out until it’s clear isn’t my super hero skill, so that’s a no go.

During the day, still hunting can include covering wallows, but is much more enjoyable and productive than sitting still.

 

[CC11]

Man, sitting over a productive wallow in the early season late afternoon into the evening, we've killed a LOT of bulls lol the guys saying "It's not hunting", that's their right. When we hunt we use every tactic availabe to give ourselves the best chance at filling our tags. Sure it can be boring, but the other alternative is to still hunt in super dry and hot conditions when the elk aren't even in the rut yet and sometimes don't even get moving till right before dark. All the youtubers running around bugling all day every 200 yards has conditioned a lot of people that that's the only way to kill bulls. Now I'll say it is definitely the most fun, but I'm out there to fill a tag and dependent on conditions, I'll utilize everything in my arsenal to make that happen.

 

[Indian Summer]

Man, sitting over a productive wallow in the early season late afternoon into the evening, we've killed a LOT of bulls lol the guys saying "It's not hunting", that's their right. When we hunt we use every tactic availabe to give ourselves the best chance at filling our tags. Sure it can be boring, but the other alternative is to still hunt in super dry and hot conditions when the elk aren't even in the rut yet and sometimes don't even get moving till right before dark. All the youtubers running around bugling all day every 200 yards has conditioned a lot of people that that's the only way to kill bulls. Now I'll say it is definitely the most fun, but I'm out there to fill a tag and dependent on conditions, I'll utilize everything in my arsenal to make that happen.

Hmm. I always say the answer to the question is based on where a guy hunts. Maybe there aren’t as many wallows and seeps where you hunt. Like some of the guys above mentioned there are so many options for the elk where I hunt that picking one of them isn’t a high percentage plan. There is water everywhere. They are no more likely to return to the same one than they would be to a fresh pile of $h1t.

Down in Arizona water is a gold mine I hear. In a place where water is scarce I’m sure it would be.

I’ve hunted the west side of Washington state where tree stands and ground blinds were a solid tactic. If you were a good deer hunter you would kill elk.

 

[SleepyJones]

Seems like calling at wallows is not done very often. An acquaintance I met last spring said he found an area with what looked like a couple active wallows in a small vicinity, and he tried bugling. A bull was near by and came in hot! He killed that bull.

I've tried calling a bit and doing some splashing (not hanging out next to the wallow long at all... like 1 minute) and then moving 40 yards away and waiting, but never had any luck myself.

 

[Jaden Bales]

For what it's worth... (might not be much) but there are a good number of guys killing elk in eastern Oregon from treestands and sitting wallows on the ground. Both down where there's lots of water, like a wallow near a creek or where it's drier. Didn't really matter as long as the hunter actually commits to it and there is recent elk sign.

I run cameras in Wyoming on wallows and elk hit them all September long (see pic) and into October. Just gotta be there enough days to catch them. Just like you gotta be running and gunning while calling enough days to catch a hot bull.

Love the comment about just another tool in the toolkit. I wish more folks who are in mediocre physical condition would consider it instead of burning themselves out trying to be like BRO or Jacobsen.

 

[cnelk]

To the guy(s) that think sitting wallows or trails isn’t hunting, sooner or later your cape will fall off and the S on your chest will slip