The last couple of years I've had the pleasure of watching and hunting some really nice, old bull elk. I was fortunate enough to do this both before and after the season opened. What really impressed me was how well they dealt with hunter pressure, including mine.
I'll give you an example. During the 2011 season, I watched two herds, one in particular, that held two old, four year class plus, six point plus bulls. This was before the season. Watched them for a week. Evem watched them move to within 300 yds of me when they spotted a wolf above them about a 1/2-3/4ths of a mile out.
They were always there, every morning. I stayed close to a mile from them and was often in the open. I'd get up and change position sometimes. They didn't care.
But when the season opened, they were not to be seen by anybody. Even by the guys that walked in their area in the dark. Seems they saw nothing wrong with walking up the ridge line with their headlamps on.
Second example. Watched another bunch with four big bulls in it for a week and a half before the 2012 season. Yet when the season opened, nobody got a shot. One guy walked into their favorite spot in the rain and darkness. Another headlamp user.
I saw two of those bulls move right around and past us. Just turning around slowly, to trying to setup for a shot at 600 yds., they picked up on my movement. Not enough to spook them, however.
They kept looking over their shoulders. After they left, and this was just after sunrise, three hunters appeared where they were watching, several hundred yards out. They knew just where to go and how fast they had to move.
Later in the season, I watched a guy on a stand up higher, near where these bulls would go into the timber. He'd been there most of the morning I later learned from his buddy. He saw nothing. An hour and a half after he left, at 2:00 PM, they came out to feed, not 300 yds. from where he sat. How's that for nerve and smarts ?
I wonder if I'll ever get a real chance at one of these very impressive animals. Of those that get taken, the vast majority seem to be taken in wilderness areas where they are more numerous, or on private land. I suspect they don't have as much experience with hunters either.
Have good friend that claims that some of the old bucks in his area, a very large desert area, are so good they are literally unhuntable. I suspect a few old bull elk are that good too. E