Originally Posted by
Bugle M In
Elk need a lot of water daily.
These days, Septembers can be very hot.
They need cool places to sit/rest, which is mostly during daylight hours.
As long as the timber if fairly thick, and there is a creek/stream with a decent amount of flowing water, that is shaded,
it acts like a "air conditioning" unit, which will keep elk cool. (try finding them, you will see what I mean).
Also, they need to drink 10 gallons of water per day, not something they can just get from the dew on the plants they eat.
This could mean North or east slopes, but I find them on south and southwest facing slopes as well.
Look for benches on google, the larger the better, and if cutblocks exist, the better it can be.
However, too much logging in an area has also been detrimental, in my experience anyways.
It's a fine balance.
Wallows, and Rubs, and fresh tracks and droppings is a dead give away.
During mid day into the afternoon, if warm, they almost always are laying by or in a creek, which can range from low
down on a main river, in all those slews, to up high, below sub alpine, where creeks are flowing.
IF there is no water, you are wasting your time.
They like Alders and Birch, but have seen them in the pine only as well.
Scree slopes used to be the area to hit, but logging and lack of snow and snow slides have changed that up to some degree.
Have taken elk at 1 pm, in 30+ temps.
Have chased them from first light, til mid day, have gotten them to respond mid/late afternoon, but these one usually then wait til almost dark to check you out.
The last hour is usually when that occurs, and often, the last 15 minutes before its completely dark.
But by 10:30, they are most times moving to bedding areas til later in the day, and usually stay hidden.
Sometimes elk don't move much at all for several days, just hanging in a small area, which gives the appearance that
nothing is around, but they are.
You just have to believe in the sign you find.
Try to close the gap on a responding bull.
IF it is obvious he is coming to you, then hold up, and get someone ahead of you.
Cow call, hoping he responds to give location as coming in helps.
Sometimes, you just have to keep your ears open.
Squirrels can be your best friend for game.
When they bark away, it generally means something has entered their area, and they blast away.
Many times I have seen ilk or wt come in/by shortly after.
Listening for the odd twig break, as they don't always crash in, but can move really stealthy as well.
Depend if he is just curious, or if he feels he is the big boy on the block.
Bulls with cows is a different scenario, and if you bugle, from too far away, they may reply, but then they round up,
and walk the other way.
Getting in close is crucial then.
That's why bugling and getting a response can be difficult to then decide what to do next.
Is he single, which he will come in more times then not.
IF he is with cows, you need to figure that out.
Spotting is aways the best to know what the situation at hand is, but not always possible.
Again, it's hunting, and if you get into it a lot, and get lots of action, you are going to realize that you will screw up
more then you will succeed.
Hard to sometimes tell if a bull is a legal 6, especially in timber, or at a long distance off.
When possible, I take a spotting scope for those hunts where I know I will be sitting at the river, and watching and calling, where the distance can be 300 to 400 yards + when they do show up.
Other times, you will be trying to figure out at 5 yards if they were big enough!
If they figure you out, and blow them out, they probably wont be in that same spot the next day.
But, another bull could be searching the next day.
It's all possible.
But, if it was a bull your intent on, and he figured out your a hunter, you will be looking kilometers away the next day to find him.
If he comes in, but never really figures out what is going on, he might be there the next morning or in the evening again.
Look at LEH allocations.
The higher the allocation, or the lower the point limit, the chances are the more elk that are held in that MU.
That's also a good guide line, but expect more hunter as well.
Depends how young, how fit and healthy you are, and how far you are willing to push into the back country and wanting to pack out as well.
A few areas I know of, that I can no longer get into, but they exist, that might add to success.
IT takes time, and years to get the hang of it.
But you never get to the point where you don't make mistakes, that for sure.
Lots of vids out there, from Primos to 101 to show what ways can work.
Watch other hunters when you are out there too, there are some who do know what they are doing.
The driving around may work for MD/WT, but I watched lots of guys drive by me, to only have a bull respond a minute
later to me, on foot, or by mtn bike.
By foot, you can see tracks/sign, and you can spot better, and call locate better to.
Way more success that way, by a long shot.
When you do get that first bull to respond, and he does come in, you will never go back.
Its a real thrill, and an addiction for sure.