It is nice to get Randy's viewpoint as a guy who needs elk to show up in camera range with someone filming he needs to see elk. I watched one of his shows where he rented an aircraft to leave the orange behind.....if I remember correctly even then they weren't alone on that public area.
Two years really isn't much time to make as many mistakes as most folks before they start having success.
Finding the elk is key - in a bad 2nd season I kicked up 2 bulls within 800 yards of an outfitters horse string starting out camp. They were bedded separately with a single and 2 cows in a wooded area way less than a singe square mile between a main road and accessible ATV path. They found a refuge that I stumbled on by following fresh tracks but not being quiet and sneaky enough or setting up an ambush they both escaped. Two mistakes in 20 minutes by the same idiot ....me.
It is easier said than done but hunt like you expect to find and kill a bull the minute you leave your sleeping bag. Just being ready when the elk show up will get you a lot of elk that you would normally miss.......another piece of advice I give but way too often forget.
So in July I'm strategizing how to battle the orange and my own impatience and stupidity. I took 3 years to kill my first elk and now I have 12 down in the last 12 years hunting the same areas full of orange ......and as I have shared often times despite being impatient and stupid. Every year I make several stupid mistakes when I replay the season. These days I buy a bull and cow tag so my mistakes don't cost me an empty freezer.
