Ive noticed that we waste huge amounts of time discusing stuff that makes little differance, like whether the 180 grain bullet from a 30-06 is better than a 175 grain bullet from a 280 remington,most of this is a waste of ink in that if either one works so will the other and at exactly the same ranges and angles, and if the bullet is constructed the same the penetration will be very similar also.
what really determines your success in almost every case, is getting a good shot AT THE ELK, in the first place.
I look at elk hunting almost like a huge chess game. now we have all found out what doesn,t work and some things that do work. heres how I normally hunt ELK.
first I find and check all the terrain features, both on topo maps and by scouting the area. Im looking for natural terrain features that channel and limit travel, (deep caynons, sheer cliffs, rivers, timbered slopes, rock slides, ETC. ) then you find all the likely camping sites,road access points, trails into the area, and other likely pressure points that will allow the weekend hunting crowds to push the elk herds though the travel/escape routes out of the area, next you look over the those likely escape routes for good places to place rifleman and likely safety areas the elk are likely to flow into when pressured to get away from the hunting pressure,next you locate the nasty, steep and difficult to access areas with both cover (conifers and dark timber) and access to water.
now on opening day you want to be on those restricted travel points that limit the elk travel about 3-5 miles from the nearest road or camp site before dawn that have the largest most difficult to access caynons just past them, after opening day you want to be still hunting those same difficult to access caynons, especially the heavy conifer pockets surrounded by aspen on the benches and steep slopes that are especially dificult to reach with 2-4 guys covering all escape routes out of those caynons
useing a drop back stalk works very well for hard pressed elk,thats where one guy still hunts about 1/3 of the way up from the caynon floor and a second guy follows about 1/3 of the way down from the crest of the caynon about 500 yards to the rear, elk frequently try to circle behind and up hill from hunters that don,t see them as the thermals raise as the day warms up, about 1-2 hours before dark the thermals reverses so at that time the upper guy leads . no its not fool proof but it works surprisingly well if done correctly with a small team of guys that understand what they are doing and why they are doing it and work as a team, we normally swap possitions in the team about every 3 hours and every guy gets an equal chance
if Im hunting the timbered slopes Ive found that working as a team with at least one other guy adds greatly to both our potential success rates because both of us will at some time push Elk we don,t see into the other guys sites. don,t get all hung up on the rifle your useing, almost anything can work with correct shot placement if the ranges are short , and in the timber those shots rarely exceed 200 yards, while its very true that some rifles do have an advantage in their ability to drop elk anything from about a 270 win or above in the hands of a good shot will work with precise shot placement.
what I want to hear about is how do you find the herds, get close to the ELK and set up for the shot! theres not a single hunter that can,t improve his skill levels, now I almost always have better than average success but and I for one would like to be able to go into a strange area and score ever time on the first day, if I chose too instead of wasting time that if I had greater skills could be used more effectively
what are your tips,
what really determines your success in almost every case, is getting a good shot AT THE ELK, in the first place.
I look at elk hunting almost like a huge chess game. now we have all found out what doesn,t work and some things that do work. heres how I normally hunt ELK.
first I find and check all the terrain features, both on topo maps and by scouting the area. Im looking for natural terrain features that channel and limit travel, (deep caynons, sheer cliffs, rivers, timbered slopes, rock slides, ETC. ) then you find all the likely camping sites,road access points, trails into the area, and other likely pressure points that will allow the weekend hunting crowds to push the elk herds though the travel/escape routes out of the area, next you look over the those likely escape routes for good places to place rifleman and likely safety areas the elk are likely to flow into when pressured to get away from the hunting pressure,next you locate the nasty, steep and difficult to access areas with both cover (conifers and dark timber) and access to water.
now on opening day you want to be on those restricted travel points that limit the elk travel about 3-5 miles from the nearest road or camp site before dawn that have the largest most difficult to access caynons just past them, after opening day you want to be still hunting those same difficult to access caynons, especially the heavy conifer pockets surrounded by aspen on the benches and steep slopes that are especially dificult to reach with 2-4 guys covering all escape routes out of those caynons
useing a drop back stalk works very well for hard pressed elk,thats where one guy still hunts about 1/3 of the way up from the caynon floor and a second guy follows about 1/3 of the way down from the crest of the caynon about 500 yards to the rear, elk frequently try to circle behind and up hill from hunters that don,t see them as the thermals raise as the day warms up, about 1-2 hours before dark the thermals reverses so at that time the upper guy leads . no its not fool proof but it works surprisingly well if done correctly with a small team of guys that understand what they are doing and why they are doing it and work as a team, we normally swap possitions in the team about every 3 hours and every guy gets an equal chance
if Im hunting the timbered slopes Ive found that working as a team with at least one other guy adds greatly to both our potential success rates because both of us will at some time push Elk we don,t see into the other guys sites. don,t get all hung up on the rifle your useing, almost anything can work with correct shot placement if the ranges are short , and in the timber those shots rarely exceed 200 yards, while its very true that some rifles do have an advantage in their ability to drop elk anything from about a 270 win or above in the hands of a good shot will work with precise shot placement.
what I want to hear about is how do you find the herds, get close to the ELK and set up for the shot! theres not a single hunter that can,t improve his skill levels, now I almost always have better than average success but and I for one would like to be able to go into a strange area and score ever time on the first day, if I chose too instead of wasting time that if I had greater skills could be used more effectively
what are your tips,
