Opening day - Close but no see gar

[rocksteady]

Was out in the bush by 5:00 ish, hiked the 1.5 kms to my favorite honey hole in the dark., temperature was 8 C, had rained overnight, but had stopped.....Got set up on a nice ridge overlooking a saddle where the elk travel...6:15 would have been light enough to shoot at 40 yards..All was just ducky until the fog rolled in at 7:00...

Oh well, wandered down the side of the ridge into the thick creek bottom, trails all over the place but no fresh tracks....Got back to the truck about 08:45, started driving out, got about a km down the road...BINGO...Bull elk.....He was standing in some thick regen at 52 yards, broadside, but obscured by branches,no ethical shot, he stood in there for 3 or 4 minutes, when he did move, he took off like a racehorse, to catch up to his 10 cows/calves...

Sitting out there for a few hours in the dark this morning did not hear any cow calls and no bugles, don't think the rut is here yet....

I know where I will be set up tomorrow morning, could not tell if he was a 5 or a 6, good mature bull though....


No pictures for you guys, but not a bad start to the season....

[hunter1947]

You come close Mike ,but no cigar.

Maybe tomorrow morning or this evening you will get lucky???

[rocksteady]

Think I will hold off til morning. I find during bow season I am up early to be there in the dark, if I do an evening hunt I am not home til 10ish, then draggin my ass when I have to get up at 4:00.....Even with a few hour nap during the day.

[elkdom]

Was out in the bush by 5:00 ish, hiked the 1.5 kms to my favorite honey hole in the dark., temperature was 8 C, had rained overnight, but had stopped.....Got set up on a nice ridge overlooking a saddle where the elk travel...6:15 would have been light enough to shoot at 40 yards..All was just ducky until the fog rolled in at 7:00...

Oh well, wandered down the side of the ridge into the thick creek bottom, trails all over the place but no fresh tracks....Got back to the truck about 08:45, started driving out, got about a km down the road...BINGO...Bull elk.....He was standing in some thick regen at 52 yards, broadside, but obscured by branches,no ethical shot, he stood in there for 3 or 4 minutes, when he did move, he took off like a racehorse, to catch up to his 10 cows/calves...

Sitting out there for a few hours in the dark this morning did not hear any cow calls and no bugles, don't think the rut is here yet....

I know where I will be set up tomorrow morning, could not tell if he was a 5 or a 6, good mature bull though....


No pictures for you guys, but not a bad start to the season....
I FEEL YOUR PAIN !!!! lmao

[BCRiverBoater]

I FEEL YOUR PAIN !!!! lmao

I expected you to have your bull this morning. What happened?

[elkdom]

I expected you to have your bull this morning. What happened?

read my thread, lol I really do feel 'rocksteadys' pain! and my own! lol

[brotherjack]

At least you saw some elk. I logged 8 hours in the bush and didn't see nothing but squirrels.

[rocksteady]

Patience BroJ, the whole thing can turn around in about 100 yards or 30 seconds , whichever comes first....

[hunter1947]

Patience BroJ, the whole thing can turn around in about 100 yards or 30 seconds , whichever comes first....


Mikes right ,elk are where you find them and they could be anywhere just jump around to a few different places you will find sooner or later.

[brotherjack]

Yep, I know, that's why I'm still hunting the frustrating darn things.

[Kody94]

At least you saw some elk. I logged 8 hours in the bush and didn't see nothing but squirrels.

Count your blessings. At least you went out hunting. ;) I still can't put a boot or shoe on my burned ankle/foot.

Cheers,
4ster

[hunter1947]

Count your blessings. At least you went out hunting. ;) I still can't put a boot or shoe on my burned ankle/foot.

Cheers,
4ster

Thats the sh*ts SSSter ,but look at it this way the hunting season is still young and you will be healed up well before the hunting season is over.

You will get back onto the mountains this year.

Good luck on getting back into your hunting boots http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif.

[bozzdrywall]

sounds like a good day. My day was ok had a bull come in on me at about 40 yrds but the basterd would not give me a kill shot he looked to be a 6x6 but i was not counting. any way he winded me and took off. on the way out i seen a whity buck that had to be 24" spread or more not even a chance at him Good day all around looking forward till the next one

[brotherjack]

Another 6 hours in the bush, zero elk seen or heard. :(

[Kody94]

I think you need to find a better spot BroJack!

[Kody94]

Thats the sh*ts SSSter ,but look at it this way the hunting season is still young and you will be healed up well before the hunting season is over.

You will get back onto the mountains this year.

Good luck on getting back into your hunting boots http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif.

At the rate its been healing, I am not so sure. Could be a while yet. But thanks for the encouraging words! And I will figure out a way to get out there regardless of whether I can put a boot on that foot!

I was not looking to fire up a pity party for me....just thought I'd try to help Brotherjack put things in a more positive perspective...ie. the worst day of hunting is better than the best day hanging around the house waiting on an injury!

Cheers
4ster

[rocksteady]

Another 6 hours in the bush, zero elk seen or heard. :(

Day 1 and you are sounding as frustrated as you were at the end of last season....Its a long season, I am just hunting mornings right now, so that I don't get burned or bummed out too quick.....Things will change in a little bit here, the rut is pending and with the start of hunting pressure, the elk are gonna start doing weird things, as far as travel. Go to an area where you saw them mid season last year, as the pressure is going to make them change their patterns. Where they were yesterday, is not where they will be in a couple days...Hang in there, pretty soon you will be posting pics of your success..

[hunter1947]

Another 6 hours in the bush, zero elk seen or heard. :(


It sounds like you should be looking else where for elk BJ.

With that amount of time in the bush you should have come across a few elk ,my opinion ,time to look some where else for elk :roll:.

[brotherjack]

I don't know where else to look, really.... it was two different spots yesterday (about 9 kilometers apart), both elk trails with fresh tracks and sign all over them (and I have trail cam pics from 3 weeks ago to prove that the elk run those trails).... Of course, this seems to happen to me every year - I scout out a nice area the week or two before hunting season, and come hunting season, they're gone somewhere else. It's like you can't scout for elk or something - drives me crazy. Whenever I find an area with great deer sign - bingo, I'll have a deer in the freezer within the week. Find an area that looks like elk heaven, and I might as well not bother hunting there, because they always seem to have moved on by the time I find it.

And yeah, I skipped this morning; yesterday felt like last year (and the year before, and the year before, etc) never ended. I think I may just quit this and see if I can't talk someone out of a good early-season mule deer spot and go chase mulies.

[rocksteady]

I scout out a nice area the week or two before hunting season, and come hunting season, they're gone somewhere else. It's like you can't scout for elk or something - drives me crazy. Whenever I find an area with great deer sign - bingo, I'll have a deer in the freezer within the week. .

Elk tend to cover a lot larger area between feed and water. Elk will travel a lot of miles to get fresh water, they consume a lot, as compared to a deer. A deer will also drink out of a stagnant mud puddle, but an elk won't..

Elk are more finicky in their diet too. They are true grazers (grass) whereas a deer will eat grass, shrubs,herbs whatever it can find to fill its stomach....

Deer are lazy, elk are not..

[brotherjack]

But how do you scout good elk holes? I obviously just don't get it. I spent most of last bow season sitting down by a mountain spring that had a gazillion elk tracks on the trails around it, a wallow down the hill from it, and a couple dozen trees the size of my arm thrashed up and broke off about waist high - the whole place stunk to high heaven. The elk had apparently moved on - there was poop/track as fresh as the day before hunting season on day one, but zero fresh tracks/poop all bow season - they didn't come back till later on during rifle season.

Well traveled trails don't seem to be any good indicator - I have spent literally weeks in the bush over the years set up on trails that are covered with fresh elk sign; and never seen anything but squirrels.

I do excellent scent control - when deer hunting, I get whitetails in my downwind all the time; have even had them come up and sniff me at point blank range without spooking - so I don't see what I might be doing that would run the elk out of every single area I frequent. ???

I just don't get it - really, in 5 years of hunting (most years 30+ days a year), I have never successfully "hunted" an elk. I've had some random encounters with elk for sure, The Wife(tm) and I have even killed a couple, but that was all totally by blind luck.

I just don't get it. I can shoot nice deer year after year with minimal effort, but none of the skills that makes that possible seem to do one whit of good for hunting elk.

Anyway, I should shut up and go away - no point in my depression bleeding over to all you guys who really love to hunt elk.

:)

[rocksteady]

I was not what I would call a successful elk hunter for quite a while, sure I would bump into one now and again and get lucky by putting meat in the freezer......Once I hooked up with my bestest friend and hunting buddy, we went elk hunting and I thought he was absolutely nuts....We would cover miles and miles on foot every day at breakneck speeds.....However I learned a sh^tload of information from him......

One of his best suggestions is to be aggressive with elk, if they bugle, don't hang around and try to call him in...Thats for video sales.....Get your hunting partner (if your wife is with you) to bugle and you GO AFTER him...

Scent control - Do you use cover scent?? I use it very LIBERALLY when I go (My wife does not care for me stinking like elk pee, but if thats what it takes to put the meat in the freezer).....

Calls - Have a variety with you. I pack 3 diaphrams (small/medium/big bull) a hootchie moma and a Hot lips.....

Are your areas getting hunting pressure from other people ??? Is every Joe Shmuck driving down the road, bugling his head off to try and get a response?? This can make elk go quiet and find another place to live...I try to go places where no one else goes...Effluent fields - Why bother.....

Find yourself some little out of the way place and pound the ground..

Have you looked on google earth to locate your spots to see if you can determine bedding and feeding areas, as well as possible travel routes??


You have to remeber that the elk rut is way more aggressive than deer rut, once it hits they will travel willy-nilly all over the place because of lust..Your trail cams may be good at locating pre-rut, but once the testerone hits, who knows....Last year, in the last week of the season at 3:00 pm I saw a 5 point bull and a dozen cows right by the old Gas Plant on Victria Ave???WHats up with that???

[brotherjack]

So how do you cover a lot of ground at breakneck speed without spooking the elk? All the elk I ever stumble on will head for the next province if I go thrashing around the bush in their vicinity. ?? Same question regarding the "GO AFTER HIM" idea - I've tried that, but every time I do, as soon as one elk spots me, the whole herd heads for the next mountain over at a hard gallop. ??

I don't usually do cover scent on me; I've tried off and on over the years dousing a bush or two in the area I'm hunting with cover scent though.

I definitely don't hunt the most remote areas (I can't really - I'm on call for a living, have to hunt somewhere where there's cell phone service), but I do hunt some areas that don't seem to get much pressure. The area I hunted yesterday morning, we were there for 8 hours, and the only tracks on the road for the last to 2km were ours. The different are we went to last night appears to have been "discovered" though. In years past, I had that mountain to myself. Saw half a dozen trucks parked here and there on the drive in - probably not going back up there anymore.

[rocksteady]

I spent most of last bow season sitting down by a mountain spring that had a gazillion elk tracks on the trails around it, a wallow down the hill from it, and a couple dozen trees the size of my arm thrashed up and broke off about waist high - the whole place stunk to high heaven.

:)

Lets analyze -

The spring - dependant on weather, there may be many other watering holes available.

The wallow - The bull would roll and do all sorts of nasty stuff to make himself smell nasty for the girls, but once he has a harem, a herd bull won't leave the gals...The satellites may but not the herd bull.

The broke off trees- Was this to get rid of the velvet or was he just bashing/crashing as part of the pre-rut, to get ready for the ladies. Same as the wallow, once he has his harem, he is not gonna leave them to go beat a tree....


Now the big secret about elk hunting........................

The bull does not run the herd..:eek::eek:

In a lot of elk hunting magazines and videos they talk about the herd bull rounding up the cows and taking them elsewhere....What a load of crap...The cows are usually feeding and doing what they want and the bulls are running around frantic, trying to keep his ladies together. Ever wonder why the bull is usually last in the herd, hes not rounding them up, he is following....

The elk that runs the herd is the old matriarch cow, she has been there done that many times without her brain being messed up because of testosterone. She decides when its time to leave to go for food, water or sleep. Her cows/calves will follow the old gal, then the bull will follow them..

You are married, how well would it go over to be running around the house being stupid, while the wife is having dinner, telling her where to go and how to get there:mrgreen: Probably not very well...Elk are similar...


Don't give up Adam, once you get the hang of it, elk hunting is very satisfying....Its so addictive because its so challenging...

[rocksteady]

So how do you cover a lot of ground at breakneck speed without spooking the elk? All the elk I ever stumble on will head for the next province if I go thrashing around the bush in their vicinity. ?? Same question regarding the "GO AFTER HIM" idea - I've tried that, but every time I do, as soon as one elk spots me, the whole herd heads for the next mountain over at a hard gallop. ??

You cover the ground by sticking to trails that you can cover the ground quickly and quietly. I wear soft soled felt pack boots, as compared to vibrams..less noise...Elk are not quiet animals, every so often let out a cow call, make them think you are just another elk in the forest..

Going after them same thing - go at them, of course keeping wind in your favour, couple cow calls, try to predict their next move...If a cow sees you and they decide to beetle out - where will they most likely go...

Sooner or later you will scorre..

[brotherjack]

Lets analyze -

The spring - dependant on weather, there may be many other watering holes available.

The wallow - The bull would roll and do all sorts of nasty stuff to make himself smell nasty for the girls, but once he has a harem, a herd bull won't leave the gals...The satellites may but not the herd bull.

The broke off trees- Was this to get rid of the velvet or was he just bashing/crashing as part of the pre-rut, to get ready for the ladies. Same as the wallow, once he has his harem, he is not gonna leave them to go beat a tree....


Since the trees were broke off pre-Sept 1, I presume pre-rut activity.

The spring is there year-round, and is the best/cleanest source of water in the area, and the only source that can be used without having to leave cover and get out in the open. There are two small seasonal lakes in the area (one about 1/2 an acre, the other maybe 2 acres in size, both appear to be standing water in a basin, and not spring fed; the smaller of the two will dry up completely in the summer if there's not much rain) - I've sat at both of them for days in years past and not seen any elk (really not much of anything - the odd whitetail, and a moose once). There is a long creek down in the valley below (runs for miles), I've seen elk tracks here and there at different spots down by the creek, but nothing that says "the elk drink here regularly".

[hunter1947]

But how do you scout good elk holes? I obviously just don't get it. I spent most of last bow season sitting down by a mountain spring that had a gazillion elk tracks on the trails around it, a wallow down the hill from it, and a couple dozen trees the size of my arm thrashed up and broke off about waist high - the whole place stunk to high heaven. The elk had apparently moved on - there was poop/track as fresh as the day before hunting season on day one, but zero fresh tracks/poop all bow season - they didn't come back till later on during rifle season.

Well traveled trails don't seem to be any good indicator - I have spent literally weeks in the bush over the years set up on trails that are covered with fresh elk sign; and never seen anything but squirrels.

I do excellent scent control - when deer hunting, I get whitetails in my downwind all the time; have even had them come up and sniff me at point blank range without spooking - so I don't see what I might be doing that would run the elk out of every single area I frequent. ???

I just don't get it - really, in 5 years of hunting (most years 30+ days a year), I have never successfully "hunted" an elk. I've had some random encounters with elk for sure, The Wife(tm) and I have even killed a couple, but that was all totally by blind luck.

I just don't get it. I can shoot nice deer year after year with minimal effort, but none of the skills that makes that possible seem to do one whit of good for hunting elk.

Anyway, I should shut up and go away - no point in my depression bleeding over to all you guys who really love to hunt elk.

:)

Elk move around lots brother ,you got to jump around and look ,I will have lots of places I have seen elk in at different times of the season but there not always in the same place as they where the last year.

If I can't find them in one of my places I keep jumping around till I find out where they are.

You have to cover lots of different areas and then when you find elk log this place and remember where it is.

Continue to do this till you have over a dozen places where you have seen elk.

Scouting as many times as you can during the month of Aug ,this will tell you where you have seen elk and where you have not seen them.

Then where you have seen the most elk concentrate on this area for opening morning of the elk season.

I'm not going to say that they are going to be there but your chances are better knowing you saw elk there a week before the opener.

If you can't find elk there then move on to where you saw some other elk when you where out scouting ,then move on again to a nother area where you saw elk in the same month ,continue doing this till you find them ,then work them.

[hunter1947]

Since the trees were broke off pre-Sept 1, I presume pre-rut activity.

The spring is there year-round, and is the best/cleanest source of water in the area, and the only source that can be used without having to leave cover and get out in the open. There are two small seasonal lakes in the area (one about 1/2 an acre, the other maybe 2 acres in size, both appear to be standing water in a basin, and not spring fed; the smaller of the two will dry up completely in the summer if there's not much rain) - I've sat at both of them for days in years past and not seen any elk (really not much of anything - the odd whitetail, and a moose once). There is a long creek down in the valley below (runs for miles), I've seen elk tracks here and there at different spots down by the creek, but nothing that says "the elk drink here regularly".

Thats why toy have to get out and really see what in the area during the month of Aug ,more times spent scouting will tell you if they are in this area or not.

I would be there in the dark and then cover the area till 11am ,then come back at 5pm and work this area till dark.http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif.

[brotherjack]

Thats why toy have to get out and really see what in the area during the month of Aug ,more times spent scouting will tell you if they are in this area or not.


That's exactly the problem - I seem to be the master at finding places that the elk hang out in August, that they do not hang out in September.


Footnote - day three; still no elk sightings.

[hunter1947]

That's exactly the problem - I seem to be the master at finding places that the elk hang out in August, that they do not hang out in September.


Footnote - day three; still no elk sightings.

Try some new areas that you have not looked at to this day ???.