Where did I go wrong suggestions

[BKhunter]

Hey All,

I went on my first back pack elk hunt last year and am itching to get back out I am trying to determine what I did wrong as I saw elk sign but no Elk. I did however see mule deer and moose. I think the trip was a success even though I did not punch my tag as I set out from NYC with the mission to hunt a week solo in the back country of CO and did just that.

I drove down a forest service road about 2 miles to the end and then hiked in roughly a mile and set up spike camp. Each day I hiked roughly 7 miles calling here and there to see if I could get a bugle back. It was right after labor day I started hunting so I am guessing the lack of bugles was due to how early it was int he season. Each evening I would watch large meadows to see if I could see Elk coming out to feed. I was primarily hunting around 10,000 feet and mostly walking though the woods and not a designated trails. I am not sure if maybe I was to high at elevation and needed to drop down or if I should have been walking a main trail and calling off of that and then dropping off once I heard a bugle. Should I have been carrying camp on my back and spiking out each night. Just looking for some guidance on if what I am describing above seems like I did what I was supposed to or didn't do anything right.

BK

 

[bsnedeker]

Have you watched Randy Newberg's escouting series and understand the 5 elk hunting seasons? I would start there as it seems like you just may not have been in the right area.

How many days did you spend in that area? One thing to keep in mind is that you should not be afraid to pick up and go to a different area if you are struggling in one area. I'm only a couple of years into archery elk hunting myself, but if I'm in an area and I'm not hearing bugles or seeing FRESH sign then I'm looking at option B,C,D, etc. I wouldn't spend more than a couple of days in an area without seeing an elk.

 

[BKhunter]

I have listened to him, and I feel the area I was in had everything Elk needed. Like I said I did see sign just didn't hear any bugles or see them on hoof. I do agreed with you in that I should have moved after 3 days to a new area. My fear was not knowing the area and having a hard time to find camp and a water source that I could use for the remainder of my trip. That was the one regret I did have when I left.

 

[slowelk]

Something said often amongst elk hunters is - don't hunt where you think the elk should be, hunt where they are. I have been in numerous areas that scream elk (water, feed, cover), have sign, but elk aren't there. That early part of September, elk are moving from their high country, bug-free sanctuaries, down for the rut, so you may have just been a few days to a week behind their migration down to lower elevations.

I completely understand your hesitance to move spots in an unfamiliar area. When I'm faced with that, I move, but make my path more concentric, and only venture 2-3 miles from the truck until I start finding sign.

 

[5MilesBack]

If your cow calling is decent at all, you'll have raghorns sneak in silently. Many times you won't even know they are there. It is unreal how an animal that size can be so silent when they want to. If your bugling is decent, you'll get responses. Try bugling in the middle of the night. If you're decent and there are elk around.......they'll respond.

 

[BKhunter]

Can anyone add clarity if my walking through the timber and meadows was the what I should have been doing, or should I have been just using a main marked trail and covering more ground trying to locate elk?

 

[LandYacht]

Walking is too fast. Make sure the wind is right and look waaaay ahead of you with your binoculars. You’ll be amazed how many critters guys kick out in front of them and don’t even know it. Calling is only one way of locating them. If they don’t call back you’ll never know they are there. Smelling them is another way, once you smell them though you’d better be slowing everything to a crawl until you have eyes on them. Seeing them is the best way to bring the odds in your favor. Everyone wants the experience of brining in a bull on a bugle, it is flat out awesome, but not every elk wants to play that game. You miss out on a lot of elk by using your ears to locate instead of your eyes.

Let your eyes do most of your walking and let your legs be the means to change your view very gradually.


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[WV Mountaineer]

Finding elk can be hard. Killing elk once you found them is not that hard. So, to kill one you must CI d one. To me, that means covering as much ground as I can until I find reason not too. Which means I found elk. No just their sign. But elk. I know I walk by elk. But, I’m not I tersted in hunting silent animals when they should be bugling. Cause I’m likely not patient or knowledgeable enough of lands and their habits to kill those animals.






If I were going to a new area, I’d car camp and cover a bunch of ground until I found fresh sign. I’d let the distance from the truck, days I had left to hunt, etc determine my next move. But, there are only so many days you can walk -9-15 miles through the mountains carrying 25 pounds of extra weight. So, I’d camp much closer. It will also allow you to hear them at night bugling. God Bless

 

[11boo]

You need to be seeing fresh sign. Like squishy poop, fresh tracks. If I cover some ground and don’t see that, I move on.

 

[ckleeves]

Finding elk can be hard. Killing elk once you found them is not that hard. So, to kill one you must CI d one. To me, that means covering as much ground as I can until I find reason not too. Which means I found elk. No just their sign. But elk. I know I walk by elk. But, I’m not I tersted in hunting silent animals when they should be bugling. Cause I’m likely not patient or knowledgeable enough of lands and their habits to kill those animals.






If I were going to a new area, I’d car camp and cover a bunch of ground until I found fresh sign. I’d let the distance from the truck, days I had left to hunt, etc determine my next move. But, there are only so many days you can walk -9-15 miles through the mountains carrying 25 pounds of extra weight. So, I’d camp much closer. It will also allow you to hear them at night bugling. God Bless

I disagree if we’re talking about archery season. August/September elk are not that hard to find. I mean I can drive the hwy and pull over and glass elk or hit some high glassing spots over huge canyons and see 3-8 legal bulls during archery season on public land any given day. Granted they may be miles away. Killing those elk is an entirely different matter.

Rifle season I agree, it’s the opposite. Hard to find elk much easier to kill them once you find them.


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[WV Mountaineer]

That’s great. If I lived in Colorado, I’d likely agree with you. We all know that Killing elk requires Finding elk. Accomplishing that on a 10 to 14 day hunt with 3-4 days of travel is the hold up for non residents. In any elk season Colorado has. That’s just the way it is regardless of who says differently. Place yourself 1600 miles from your hunting grounds, with 8 days best case scenario to find and kill one. More likely 5-6 days to get it done And, you’d see it differently too.





God Bless men

 

[FlyGuy]

It sounds like you had a lot of big first steps. Spiking out solo is a huge success. Those are huge gains that you can really build off of. Hard to say what was going on. Agree with others that you aren't just looking for elk sign, you are looking for VERY FRESH elk sign. If you were not seeing that then it's time to keep moving.

So, it sounds to me like mistake #1 was the lack of a Plan B.

Next time, Download maps from Gaia or onX or something and have water sources pinned. Have a plan in your head to start in area X, but if no sign or activity, then you will hike/drive to area Y, then Z, and on and on. Have a few different elevations.

Mistake #2, IMO, was taking on too much too fast. I'm basing that on the fact that you only packed in one mile, and then we're afraid to relocate. That tells me You were already WAY outside your comfort zone. Now, I applaud you for pushing outside your comfort zone, but the idea of doing so is to increase your odds of success-Not limit them.

You don't have to pack in deep to kill elk. I know that's all anyone talks about, so everyone thinks it's required. The truth is, without experience, that makes the elk hunting much more stressful. It sounds like your discomfort over water availability is what prevented you from exploring other areas. Would you have honestly felt the same way if you would have been camped right next to your truck? I'm going to guess-probably not. Leave base camp early am, drive up the road a bit, hike in for full or half day. Find sign and make a new camp, find nothing much and move on.... There is nothing wrong with day hunting from a truck camp. Spiking out is hard. Real hard solo. And really, really hard to do solo for a 1st time elk hunter. Personally, I'm not going thru all that trouble just to set up camp ONE mile in, not unless that is one crazy-ass steep mile that separates me from the other hunting pressure. It sounds to me like that spike camp you made ultimately dominated your hunt strategy, when it should be the other way around.

But, the good news is that you gained a ton of valuable experience to draw from in future years. It just takes time to really learn all this stuff, and mistakes and Bad decisions have always been my best teachers.

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[ckleeves]

That’s great. If I lived in Colorado, I’d likely agree with you. We all know that Killing elk requires Finding elk. Accomplishing that on a 10 to 14 day hunt with 3-4 days of travel is the hold up for non residents. In any elk season Colorado has. That’s just the way it is regardless of who says differently. Place yourself 1600 miles from your hunting grounds, with 8 days best case scenario to find and kill one. More likely 5-6 days to get it done And, you’d see it differently too.





God Bless men

All I’m saying is that I bet if you did an exit interview with every non-res archery hunter that 90% of them would have seen an elk on their hunt but only 10% killed. So finding is much easier then killing.

 

[BKhunter]

Thanks all this is great feedback.

Still curious if hiking through the timber was a smart move or if I should have been sticking to trails or a mixture of both?

 

[FlyGuy]

I stay far away from trails

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[cnelk]

I drove down a forest service road about 2 miles to the end and then hiked in roughly a mile and set up spike camp.

***You could have easily driven by elk in those 2 miles

Each day I hiked roughly 7 miles calling here and there to see if I could get a bugle back.

***You probably moved around too much

Each evening I would watch large meadows to see if I could see Elk coming out to feed.

***Large meadows are for rifle hunters


I was primarily hunting around 10,000 feet and mostly walking though the woods and not a designated trails. I am not sure if maybe I was to high at elevation and needed to drop down or if I should have been walking a main trail and calling off of that and then dropping off once I heard a bugle.

***Elevation doesnt matter as much as what part of the mountain you were at and where the elk were at


Should I have been carrying camp on my back and spiking out each night.

***Only you can answer that as areas are all different, and now you can base the next decision on history

 

[CX5Ranch]

Elk sign can be in the woods for a really long time if its dry weather. It sounds like you need to learn what fresh sign is. I was taught to smear the poop with my boot. If the outer edge is darker than the inside then it is at least 24 hrs old. If the outer edge is crispy but still smoosh in middle its 2 days or so. If its solid hard and dark it is several days to weeks old. Find that fresh green smoosh poop that is the same color through and through. There will be several tracks as well. And water nearby.

I'd say if you were having trouble finding water that's why the elk weren't in your first set up. I would leave the tent in the truck and travel light all day until I found them. When found go get the tent and set up from there. The hard and sometimes impossible part is finding them. After that at least you can make a decisive plan. Don't give up.

 

[unclericco]

The fact that you spiked and covered all the ground you did says something about you as a hunter imo. You’ll be successful eventually but part of hunting is being patient. You’ll get skunked sometimes and that’s just hunting. Sometimes you’re into the elk and they’re all over the place, other times you’re wondering if there are any elk left in the entire unit. Elk can cover a lot of ground and fast. I’ve got on sets of tracks in the fresh snow from the night before and followed them for miles into the back country where no other hunters were anywhere near me and still never catch up with them. I agree that you need to be willing to get completely out of the area if you’re covering that much ground and not seeing elk.

 

[David Gough]

Tons of good information here I wish I knew when I went on my first elk hunt three seasons ago. If you're finding fresh sign they were that at some point within a day or two. Figuring out when and why they are there is key. To go on a trip like that takes some cojones. Stick with it and you'll find elk. Then you'll get close encounters. Then you'll end up at full draw. Eventually, you'll be tagging out.

How was the hunting pressure?

 

[5MilesBack]

That’s great. If I lived in Colorado, I’d likely agree with you. We all know that Killing elk requires Finding elk. Accomplishing that on a 10 to 14 day hunt with 3-4 days of travel is the hold up for non residents. In any elk season Colorado has. That’s just the way it is regardless of who says differently. Place yourself 1600 miles from your hunting grounds, with 8 days best case scenario to find and kill one. More likely 5-6 days to get it done And, you’d see it differently too.

I have to admit.......I don't scout before I hunt. The last two years I've even hunted two different units that I had never hunted before, scouted, or even spent much time in ever. So even living 2-5 hours away, I'm in the same boat every season. Two years ago shot a 6x6, and last year only got 2 days of hunting in after taking my daughter hunting, but still had four different 6x6's within 50 yards during those two days. I find it easy to find elk, but killing them requires a lot of things to go right all at the same time (especially solo), the greatest of which is what we can't control....the wind. I've had the wind change 180 degrees on me while at full draw waiting for the shot, probably a dozen times. That happened on my last encounter last season. Bull at 35 yards behind an evergreen, at full draw waiting for him to step out, and the wind suddenly switched about 130 degrees right to him. Finding them is easy, killing can be easy as well.......IF everything goes right.

BKhunter........I may take a trail every now and then, but when I'm actually hunting......I'm probably nowhere near a trail at that point. And for archery, I always locate elk by calling. I tend to hunt thick timber and I need to know where they are before I go stomping through.