What am I not thinking of? (OTC Dark timber, mountain elk)

[Indian Summer]

You’ll need to do the impossible and hunt every day like it’s the first day. Why in the world would you spend precious days of your life hunting a place like that??? Elk hunting is hard enough and THE number one thing you can do is pick an area with care. You just described a place I’d only hunt in a bad dream. To each his own. Good luck!

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Make sure your hip flexors are strong, AND flexible (aka, not adaptively shortened). Downed timber can really mess you up.

 

[KennethDeemer]

You’ll need to do the impossible and hunt every day like it’s the first day. Why in the world would you spend precious days of your life hunting a place like that??? Elk hunting is hard enough and THE number one thing you can do is pick an area with care. You just described a place I’d only hunt in a bad dream. To each his own. Good luck!

Haha - I was in there last year and got the bug! I value low pressure over more opportunities, but maybe that’s inexperience speaking haha. Thanks for the advice!

 

[KennethDeemer]

Make sure your hip flexors are strong, AND flexible (aka, not adaptively shortened). Downed timber can really mess you up.

Thanks for the advice! I was dying this year. Some places it was so thick we were log walking for 1/4 mile at a time

 

[KennethDeemer]

Sorry, maybe bad wording, not so much see in the dark but they help break down and see through... i dunno... layers of the forest? Haha Either way the binos are helpful even in the thick timber!

Haha I was just messing around. I never really used them till this year and their low light capabilities shocked me! I’ll definitely be using them and moving slow. Thank you!

 

[Bronco8000]

2021 was my first archery elk hunt and I spent a year training, watching youtube pack dumps, listening to pod casts, and reading as I had no idea what to expect on a solo hunt. That being said the biggest things I took away were "WIND WIND WIND" it has to be right. Come at one at the same elevation if you can not above or below with reference to thermals so that they are either up or down. Meat care... get it hanging and cooling as fast as possible. Be Ready... my whole hunt lasted 5 minutes. I literally climbed up the mountain from camp sat down to rest after a 5.5 hour climb , threw out 3 terrible cow calls, and had a 6x6 stomp in to 43 yards. He couldn't have been more that 100 yards away and I had no idea.

 

[Jwknutson17]

2021 was my first archery elk hunt and I spent a year training, watching youtube pack dumps, listening to pod casts, and reading as I had no idea what to expect on a solo hunt. That being said the biggest things I took away were "WIND WIND WIND" it has to be right. Come at one at the same elevation if you can not above or below with reference to thermals so that they are either up or down. Meat care... get it hanging and cooling as fast as possible. Be Ready... my whole hunt lasted 5 minutes. I literally climbed up the mountain from camp sat down to rest after a 5.5 hour climb , threw out 3 terrible cow calls, and had a 6x6 stomp in to 43 yards. He couldn't have been more that 100 yards away and I had no idea.

Nice work. Saw the other bull you posted in the meat pole thread in CO. What state you kill this one in? Great bulls.

 

[Bronco8000]

Nice work. Saw the other bull you posted in the meat pole thread in CO. What state you kill this one in? Great bulls.

It's the same bull in CO Sept 6 2021 the only one I saw that hunt LOL

 

[Dos Perros]

I'm not sold that low densities are a problem. Assuming you can find them. I hunted a low density spot once and we called in the first two bulls we came across. Shot one at 8 yards, my partner put another arrow in it, and then I put a third, all broadside double lung, while the second bull was out at 55 yards raking a tree.

We met some other dudes at a hotel the next day, they found a bedded bull, made one bugle, and that bull got up and walked a half mile straight to this guy and he killed it.

I sort of surmise elk in places like that are lonely and trusting creatures.

 

[KennethDeemer]

I'm not sold that low densities are a problem. Assuming you can find them. I hunted a low density spot once and we called in the first two bulls we came across. Shot one at 8 yards, my partner put another arrow in it, and then I put a third, all broadside double lung, while the second bull was out at 55 yards raking a tree.

We met some other dudes at a hotel the next day, they found a bedded bull, made one bugle, and that bull got up and walked a half mile straight to this guy and he killed it.

I sort of surmise elk in places like that are lonely and trusting creatures.

Shhhhh

I feel the same way, the encounters we did have were high quality.

 

[KennethDeemer]

2021 was my first archery elk hunt and I spent a year training, watching youtube pack dumps, listening to pod casts, and reading as I had no idea what to expect on a solo hunt. That being said the biggest things I took away were "WIND WIND WIND" it has to be right. Come at one at the same elevation if you can not above or below with reference to thermals so that they are either up or down. Meat care... get it hanging and cooling as fast as possible. Be Ready... my whole hunt lasted 5 minutes. I literally climbed up the mountain from camp sat down to rest after a 5.5 hour climb , threw out 3 terrible cow calls, and had a 6x6 stomp in to 43 yards. He couldn't have been more that 100 yards away and I had no idea.

Awesome feedback! We had a bear come right up on us during lunch last year and that was painful because we had no opportunity and 4 bear tags in our pockets haha. Bows and guns were 5 yards from the closest person.

 

[Wrench]

Have 27 backup plans. Forest fires, slides....windstorms, it all happens. Luck favors the prepared.

 

[Gapmaster]

If I could pinpoint the root cause of all my bone headed screw ups over the years, I’d say it was being impatient. When you know you’re on them, slow way down. Be smart, sometimes you just gotta back out and wait. That’s probably the hardest part for me. Sit there and listen to one screaming but not go after him if the conditions aren’t good. Wind. Wind. Wind. And did I mention the Wind?

 

[43.6N]

I know it’s popular to “be aggressive” and to storm into the elks “bedroom” asking for a fight…
But to be completely honest I have been surprised at how many quality encounters materialized when I stopped calling and stopped moving.
YMMV

 

[KennethDeemer]

If I could pinpoint the root cause of all my bone headed screw ups over the years, I’d say it was being impatient. When you know you’re on them, slow way down. Be smart, sometimes you just gotta back out and wait. That’s probably the hardest part for me. Sit there and listen to one screaming but not go after him if the conditions aren’t good. Wind. Wind. Wind. And did I mention the Wind?

Golly, I wish I had seen this before last year - haha. Made a play on a bull (literally first bugle I had heard in my life) and blew an incredible opportunity vs. just waiting for the thermals to switch.

 

[KennethDeemer]

I know it’s popular to “be aggressive” and to storm into the elks “bedroom” asking for a fight…
But to be completely honest I have been surprised at how many quality encounters materialized when I stopped calling and stopped moving.
YMMV

Great feedback, thanks!

 

[fatlander]

Golly, I wish I had seen this before last year - haha. Made a play on a bull (literally first bugle I had heard in my life) and blew an incredible opportunity vs. just waiting for the thermals to switch.

There’s a fine line between aggressive and reckless.

Aggressive to me is deciding to take yourself to a bull that’s mostly lethargic and using a planned sequence to work him up.

Reckless is charging in with a bad wind.


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[Bighorner]

When I think of dark timber i think of mature trees with really sparse to no vegetation in the under story. If that's what you are hunting it dosen't have enough vegetation generally to support many/any elk and you may want to think about hunting closer to the edges where the habitats changes. The area may hold elk, but they have to eat somewhere else.

 

[Gerbdog]

When I think of dark timber i think of mature trees with really sparse to no vegetation in the under story. If that's what you are hunting it dosen't have enough vegetation generally to support many/any elk and you may want to think about hunting closer to the edges where the habitats changes. The area may hold elk, but they have to eat somewhere else.

That's a good point.... maybe dark / deep timber should be used differently... i consider where i hunt "deep" timber but the truth of it is... used to be dark timber but beetle kill has wrecked that. There is vegetation growing abundantly under the canopy now. I dont think those elk need to move at all for water, feed, or bedding.

 

[Gapmaster]

That's a good point.... maybe dark / deep timber should be used differently... i consider where i hunt "deep" timber but the truth of it is... used to be dark timber but beetle kill has wrecked that. There is vegetation growing abundantly under the canopy now. I dont think those elk need to move at all for water, feed, or bedding.

That can definitely be a blessing and a curse all by itself. If they don’t move, they don’t leave as big a footprint of sign and they seem to be more weary in my experience. Maybe they’re too familiar with everything around them?