Why elk hunts fail?

[Bubblehide]

It's kind of funny, on another forum, earlier today I gave out some advice to a newb hunter about bear hunting here in Southern California. My focus was on methods to quickly find trails bears are using, i.e, covering a lot of ground to find areas to concentrate on that you know the animals are using at the time. Just finding elk'y or bear'y looking areas simply isn't enough. You need to know they are still there. Just like being able to find the animals on opening morning, but everyone after opening morning asking where they went. If you have taken the time to learn an area, you have a huge advantage, but if not, you better have a plan of how to locate the animals, especially if they have moved on. And, considering how much ground elk can cover in one night, you may have a whole lot of country to cover if you haven't done your homework, and leg-work.

 

[Thunder head]

I guess ive been lucky at finding elk. On my 3 public land hunts iv always seen a few elk.

My first two trips a lot of the elk I saw were in a place I "felt" I could not get them out by myself. This was the biggest reason for those failures.

I know a lot of people aren't mentally tough enough.

Most don't have a plan A, B, C, & D. This may be the reason for me seeing elk. If I spend one morning and one evening in a place without seeing or hearing Elk, I'm gone.

 

[Backclintry]

When I was a newby I failed ALOT because I simply did not understand elk behavior. I was in shape. Lots of backcountry experience. Had decent gear. And was comfortable in the backcountry for days on end. I, however, did not understand movement patterns, their preference for different habitat (feeding, bedding), rut behavior and group dynamics (herd bull/cow/satellite interaction), and just general knowledge of the animal. For this reason, I was not able to consistly find them, and when I did, I had no clue what they were doing or why. I learned through first hand failures, observing their behavior, youtube, podcasts, etc. I also picked up a text book called the Elk of North America and read all ~500 pages in depth. That helped more than anything.

 

[md126]

Mental/physical preparation and TIME

Finding elk in the backcountry takes a LOT of time and effort. In a 5-7 Hunt you’re racing the clock right from the start.

 

[Jeepers87]

Biting off more than Incould chew on my first elk hunt. I went in almost 5 miles into the most rugged nasty place I could find solo, and after a 7 hour brutal hike I was spent. As fate would have it a nice 5x5 is sitting in range oblivious to me, I sat debating to drop him but I knew I was barely getting out of there with what gear I had, let alone multiple trips. Let him go and took the long walk back of lesson learned about overestimating my abilities.

 

[Sled]

Biting off more than Incould chew on my first elk hunt. I went in almost 5 miles into the most rugged nasty place I could find solo, and after a 7 hour brutal hike I was spent. As fate would have it a nice 5x5 is sitting in range oblivious to me, I sat debating to drop him but I knew I was barely getting out of there with what gear I had, let alone multiple trips. Let him go and took the long walk back of lesson learned about overestimating my abilities.

i quit trying to hunt deep after the first time i packed an elk out. hunting solo sets limitations on you that are both self and terrain imposed. 1-1.5 miles in steep terrain and 2-3 in level terrain is my max. it means i may not get the biggest animal in the woods but my back and family are happier for it. a nice cow or calf tastes great compared to the rutting behemoth i could shoot with a little more effort. albeit the fun factor goes up with the big boys.

 

[Lark Bunting]

Why elk hunts fail:

Because I made a promise to my daughter I'd never miss her birthday (Sept 8th) or her party. Somehow we are stretching out her party to next Saturday. Only leaves the last weekend for my son to get out.

 

[johnhenry]

Cause its just before first light - just light enough to see the game trail you are following without a light and you smell elk. you are just about to the set of beaver ponds where you think they are hanging out so you think you are just smelling an elky area. you are new to this endeavor. so you keep walking and get another nose full and say to yourself "wow that smells like elk". and you keep walking and get another nose full. so you slow down but do not stop and wait till and listen. you walk on but a bit more slowly and then you hear a whole bunch of elk running away from you and realize why smelled it so elky. they were only 30 yards when they took off. lesson learned hopefully. going back tomorrow.

 

[sneaky]

I was just listening to the elk talk podcast and was reminded of a very important thing when it comes to elk hunting. Everyone remembers Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs but most people forget he struck out over 3000 times. Perseverance is the key, make mistakes and learn from them! You will “fail”, but it’s really a win if you learn from it. Don’t be afraid of those fails, get better and you will eventually connect!


Hunting is conservation

Babe Ruth also said, "every strike brings me closer to my next home run"

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[timmymac24]

Hunting in AZ it took me a couple of screw ups to realize there are usually a lot more cows around besides the few you can see. Therefore I wound up getting busted. Also had to learn to slow down because of self imposed pressure to get an elk down. A lot to learn for guys that have grown hunting deer in the midwest but it's worth every moment spent in the mountains.

 

[JP100]

Because Im a picky bastard and wanted the 300+ bull I saw but couldnt get haha.

Failure is depended on how you measure success, remember that!

 

[TheGrayRider]

Why most elk hunts fail: Lack of mental determination.

Pain makes people think. Thinking makes people wise. Wisdom makes life tolerable. - John Patrick.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Lark Bunting

Best reason imaginable my man

 

[Mercyme]

A lot of people don't research, they don't get on their A' game before they hit the woods. a lot of people don't know how to play the wind, don't know how to read the wind and change when the direction of the wind changes, some need to works harder on being a good shot.

 

[lavazhole]

Biggest reason for failing in an elk hunt is hunting where there are no elk. Especially for guys coming from out east.

Not having a good mental game and sticking with it is the reason for failure for any big game hunt. Not specific to elk.

How do us easterners get past this?

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[WV Mountaineer]

How do us easterners get past this?

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Time and the willingness to move when an area isn't working. Having multiple areas. Or, slowing down once you are in the area. It really is different year by year or for different areas and times. Big thing is most from the east don't realize many year after year successful western hunters have lots of areas, have scouted extensively, know elk behavior and how that applies to where they are hunting, and are so familiar with their hunting grounds, it doesn't take vocal elk for them to find and kill elk.

 

[5MilesBack]

For me, I have passed up archery shots on bulls every season for at least the past 8 years. But the biggest and really only reason why I don't bring home an elk every year is because sometimes it's just not possible to get a clear shooting lane when the big ones are close. I was within 40 yards a dozen times over on the same big 6x6 herd bull this year, and never did have a shot. It sure didn't help that is was so dry that every step sounded like walking on potato chips, so even small movements at close range were difficult. I chased at least four other decent bulls this season as well, and while very close (even 5 yards) the cards just didn't fall in the right place. I did have a couple possible "iffy" shots, but I've hit branches before and wasn't going to chance getting the arrow through the small spots without being 100% certain of the trajectory. This would have been a really good year to have a good calling partner along. I also had a couple opportunities where I most likely would have had an open shot if I had been a few seconds earlier to the spot, and in the other case.......a few seconds later. Sometimes it's just a crap shoot......especially when you're the one calling as well. This pic wasn't from this year, but it illustrates perfectly what we're up against most the time at close range.

 

[Steelhead]

Being fully prepared for the hunt, mentally and physically.
Mentally, so that you can strategize where to find them…and how to re-strategize once you’ve blown a herd. Are they coming to a bugle, are they moving away from it or are they staying put and staying quiet? How do you approach that once you’ve made enough mistakes to figure it out?
…do you have enough days to re-plan? Or re-re-plan…
Physically, so that when you discover that they bail down the deepest, farthest heavily forested draw you can legitimately follow them down…and pack one out. And do it again tomorrow if you don’t succeed the first time down. Or when you hear a bugle 2 ridges away you can make a judgement call whether to go all in, or re-strategize.
Partners, it helps morale if you and your partners are all similarly fit. Otherwise you risk losing one during the hunt. Also helps if you are a cohesive group, especially when having the re-strategize if the elk aren’t cooperating. Nothing more annoying than watching a plan you don’t agree with scatter the herd.