Elk in 4-03

[Wayne]

I'm heading up towards Cranbrook for the 3-rd season and I have yet to see an elk. Does anyone know for sure if there is elk in the Wardner, Fort Steele areas, or I should try somewhere else? Where should I look for elk - up in the high in the thickest brush or in more open areas? Do I have a chance to spot one without calling or calling is a must?

[yote]

I go up that way too and will be going after the local herds. I don't go too high up.

[Jelvis]

Hey Wayne, are you using bow and arrow or rifle? Are you hiking or road hunting? How many guys are you going to have with you for a helping hand and where in particular do you want to go or are you limited close to Cranbrook? 4:03 is that the one you want to hunt in only? Or another MU too?

[Wayne]

We are going 2 guys bow hunting. We are not road hunters, we usually cover 10-15 km area a day by foot. I am asking about 4:03, because I have been there twice and kinda know the area, but never spotted any elk... I have no experience wit elk at all. I'm not sure if they move around as a herd, i.e all elk concentrated in one place, or are scattered everywhere like white tails...

No, we are not limited in that area, we can go somewhere else, if not too far from there. But I am interested to know if there is elk around Fort Steele and Wardner, as people keep talking that there is, but I haven't seen any...

[bighornbob]

Wayne find a feeding area. in the area you are talkign about, the alfalfa feilds outside of cranbrook or any green feilds in your area. Try and see the elk on the field and see where they go. Hunt the timber inbetween their bedding area and the field. You should be able to see the trail they are using and I would wait somewhere inbetween.

The elk may be together for the summer heard of a hundred but as soon as a few guys start chasing them, they will splinter into smaller heards.

BHB

[yote]

I am going with bow too to that area and I find that once the shots go off from the LEH guys, the elk start to change thier habits and are harder to find.

[Jelvis]

Hey Wayne, sounds like some good advice mentioned by bighornbob and yote.It sounds like Fort Steele is appealing to you. MU 4:22 This is good elk country I have hunted Quinn Creek theres a road closure in some areas. you can ride a mountain bike or walk in. What bighornbob said sounds like what I would try, with a bow and arrow.

[BCrams]

Jeeeeze ..... I think you really are RockyBluffs ...north river jock.....

Your language is undeniably exactly the same!!

[Trapper]

Wayne
I live 10 min. from Wardner and yes there is lots of elk there,hunt between the ha ha cr.rd and the hwy. you'll see lots of elk

[Husky7mm]

Jeeeeze ..... I think you really are RockyBluffs ...north river jock.....

Your language is undeniably exactly the same!! Or Moosehunter

[Ddog]

what?! are you serious, you are coming to cranbrook area for the 3rd season and you have never seen an elk? do you know what an elk looks like? just in case you dont you should look up a picture. If you dont see the elk why keep coming back? there are tons of elk all the way over to here, like throughout creston and yahk, both excellent areas to try and yes i have been there and seen elk everytime i have been looking for them, keep in mind you are here in the archery season and the weather is hot during the day so the animals are travelling early morn and early evening when the sun sets. during the heat of the day we just end up doing some flyfishing when the trout are very aggressive on one of the world class rivers.
cheers........ddog

[yote]

Wayne
I live 10 min. from Wardner and yes there is lots of elk there,hunt between the ha ha cr.rd and the hwy. you'll see lots of elk

That's real close to where I will be, perhaps we'll meet. I am staying at Mayook Settlement.

[Jelvis]

I like what I'm hearing here. Pin pointing proven elk area, solid information sharing, a little humour, sound advice based on experience, the building of comradery, it makes me want to try this area, but I never tried Bow and Arrow yet. One or two question for you archery people. How close do you have to get before you send your projectile at a bull elk? Also what types of terrain in MU 4:03 is condusive to successful archery hunting for bull elk?

[bosch]

I have hunted in 4-04 and 4-03 for about 20 years off and on and have had pretty good success over the years. Depending on when you go, we have found the Yahk area provides pretty good numbers for a non LEH area. Areas like Malpass and Norge have been very productive but as Ddog says the earlier you are there the hotter it is so you have to be in place before dark in the morning and stay until dark in the evening. We have found cow calls work better than bugling. I have also hunted 4-03 in newgate area when I was successful in a couple of cow-calf draws, however that was in November. I have relatives who own a 650 acre ranch by the Kookanusa lake and have hunted in that area which provides good numbers. The other spot I can suggest is the Teepee creek road area where numerous big bulls have been harvested. These animals are very smart and have a keen sense of smell and sight so DON"T MOVE and be patient is all I can say...Good LUCK!!

[brotherjack]

The closer the better, right up until about 2 feet. Any closer than that, and you run the risk of the arrow striking the animal before reaching full velocity, and thus not penetrating well.

Seriously though, 40 yards is usually preached as the outside limit for ethical shooting with archery tackle in a hunting situation, and I've read the statistic that most _successful_ shots with archery tackle are taken in the 20 yards or less range. An elk might be a little less likely to string-jump than a white-tail, but I've dang sure seen elk jump the string on more than a couple elk hunting video's I've seen.

I don't know the area all that well, but several parts of 4-3 I've looked over would be very conducive to archery hunting elk. Lots of nice little draws with elk track in the bottom of them. :) My wife's got at LEH for that area this year too, so I'm planning to spend my archery elk hunting time out there, getting a better idea of where a good spot to set her up for Sept 10'th would be (and of course, hoping to arrow an elk of my own!)

[yote]

we are lucky enough to have a small ranch as a base and have seen elk every year that we go. I find that more times than not, right near the vey end of archery season the bulls start to bugle. A good frost the night before would do wonders to get things going. The nice thing as well is the abundance of deer, and the doe season this year coinciding with archery opener. There's nothing like a nice alfalfa fed deer. If we don't see 20 deer a day then it was a slow day.:lol:

[Shop Lord]

I'm leaving for the Yahk area at 4am tonite. If anybody sees a 2000 white silverado stop for a cold one. Good luck everybody.

[chevy]

To see the elk in that area you have to take the caps off your bins no seriously get yourself a hoochie mamma and head on down to the bull river area i get my elk there every year and some big bulls too it's about 30 mins from wardner to go to the good spots