Elk Hunting Tips

[CattleAnnie]

I've got a jim dandy 6x6 bull lurking around the most easterly hayfield. He's not quite in rut yet, so bugling hasn't been productive. I've tried cow calls a bit, but he's just not that interested yet.

If any of you are fellow hunting addicts, I'd love some ideas on how to coax this old boy out into the open and eventually my freezer. Thanks.

Take care.

 

[MULDOON]

Down around Texas ,, The best way is to rattle a feed bag!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I shouldn't say that, But it was to easy!!
Good luck , I hope you get him!! :lol: :cboy:

 

[Dave]

I have found that they tend to be creatures of habit. They usually enter and leave a field or clearcut through the same route. I try to find a place where I can sneak up on that route in the early morning before light and ambush them at daybreak. I seem to have better luck doing this in the morning when they are leaving their feeding area than in the evening when they are headed to it. The worse the weather the more it seems like they stay out in the open feeding. Our season is well after the rut so calling has never worked for me. Once the rut does start however, it should be easier. A group of elk is easier to sneak up on than a single. I think a single bull elk is the hardest critter there is to sneak up on in the timber.
Dave

 

[J Baxter]

I just wish that I had your problem.

 

[Jake]

Look for worn paths or broken down fences towards a watering hole or something like that, study them for a while then hone in on their habits, stay out of sight and even when scouting keep down wind and cover scented!

 

[CattleAnnie]

Thanks all.

He's got some rubs that he's been working in the area, and a big scrape right dead middle of one of the hayfields. Looks like a nice little herd of cows in the area, so will have to keep being patient and seeing what happens.

J. Baxter, it sure isn't a problem, just one of the perks of ranching up here, that is if you've got a elk proof hay yard. Otherwise they're awful hard on the bales. What they don't shred, they urinate on and then the cattle won't touch it. Anyway, thanks again.

Take care.

 

[J Baxter]

I guess everybody has their perks, some are just perkier than others. I have a wall full of nice whitetails, a 19 1/4 inch black bear and various other things, but I've been fascinated by elk since I was a child. I actually went out to Northern Colorado and Wyoming 'scouting' an area to hunt a couple of years ago, but time constraints haven't ever allowed me to get back out there.

I really want to tour Canada. The photos I've seen of it impress me. I'm afraid that I may not want to come back....well at least until I had my fill of the government.

JB

 

[CattleAnnie]

Well if you get a chance come on up in the fall, J. Right now the leaves are turning beautiful colours and wonder of wonders, at 6:15 am guess who was bugling? Heh heh heh. O happy day! Must finally be getting into the rut.

Take care.

 

[MULDOON]

How bout a update?
We were cooking up some Elk sausage, and I thought about you :lol:

 

[jgn]

Not speaking for her, but I think she said in a different post she didn't get the bull.

 

[DaleK]

We'd love to be able to hunt them here. Bunch of "conservationists" convinced the province that since woodland elk went extinct here a hundred years ago or so, they should bring in Rocky Mountain elk to re-establish the herd. They're running wild destroying fences, tearing up wrapped bales and silage tubes, driving cattle away from the feeders and even attacking full-grown Belgian stallions - no compensation for damages, and if you shoot one it's a $25,000 fine minimum plus confiscation of everything you used to hunt it.

 

[CattleAnnie]

No compensation here for damages incurred by wildlife to our crops either, Dale. One morning last winter we counted a dozen moose and over twenty mulies and whitetails in the hay yard. There was also a herd of eighteen cow elk making forays into the hay in the wee hours of the morning.

Needless to say we scrounged up some cash this summer and erected a game fence around the stack yard. Couldn't afford not to build it, what with the scarcity of feed due to the drought.

And again, sad to say I didn't get another chance at that bull elk...there's a reason he's gotten as big as he is - his momma didn't raise no fool.

Take care.