Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk hunting black cloud (advice wanted)

Don't really know where to start with this post, but would like some advice on reasons why I always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when I'm hunting elk. Over the years I have become really frustrated, and cannot understand why these animals always elude me. I really try to stay positive and focused, and work hard to cover a lot of ground and glass good elk areas that many hunters in our area have killed elk in, but more times than not come home unsuccessful. I'm not saying poor me, or anything to that point, just want to become better. I've taken a few elk, but for as many years as I have hunted, my success rate is poor.

I have always done really well deer hunting, maybe I'm trying to hunt them the same way, and that's is my problem. Appreciate any advice, thank you.

Elk and deer to me are totally different. You can't pattern them the same way. Patience pays off. My thinking is if you find a place that looks good hunt it and even if you don't see any thing the first time try it again. It seems to work for me. Also when you are covering ground make sure you are hunting and not just walking. I have guys that I hunt with that will cover threee times he ground that I do and never see anything. Take your time

Too many variables to answer you. What state, what type of terrain, public or private? Shooting an elk out in a hayfield, is not the same as stalking a bull in his bed in dark timber.

And where they happen to be depends on weather, migration patterns etc. In some areas elk are there year round, in some areas they move into these areas as seasons change.

This is a tough question. Have you or do you have a mentor? If you have partners that are killing elk when you do not, what are you doing differently. I have found over the years that many "hunters" try to cover to much ground when hunting. I think that "scouting" is tremendously important to be successful. What type of hunting do you do, walking, spot and stalk, or still hunting? "What units are you hunting in, what are the sucess percentages." Are they general hunts or special hunts? Many times special hunts have better odds. When are you hunting, early or late? Do you get out in the mornings before dark and leave the woods at dark? Also, conditions should/can dictate what type of hunting you do. For example this year in Wyoming it was warm and dry. We killed two out of three elk by stand hunting over meadows. The elk would come out 30 min prior to darkness. The statistics that I am familar with show that the average elk hunter, kills an elk every 7 or 8 years. I know that you will get some excellent advice here.

I don't see your location listed, post up a general area, state... Different areas will have different techniques to help you successfully produce. I mostly hunt the Cascade Range of OR and have been very successful (4 out of 5 years)... I've rifle hunted Eastern OR (spike only tags, didn't draw control hunt) and it was a much different approach, I've yet to yield results there... I'm sure others will comment once your type of terrain/area is added to your post.

I hunt in Central Oregon on BLM public land. I hunt the OTC general Rocky Mountain elk second season. Much of the public land is surrounded by private land, and the elk move from private to public depending on the hunting pressure. This year they have killed many bulls and cows off the land, which started this Saturday. Just a question, now that the elk have been pushed around throughout the weekend, where should I focus my efforts? Appreciate all the advice. Thanks

Elkman,
I have always been a guy to wear out the boot leather, and maybe to a fault, I try to cover as much ground as possible to better my odds at finding the animals I hunt. I apply for controlled elk hunts in my home state of Oregon, but it takes a few years to draw a good elk hunt, so I go with the second season general elk hunt on public land. The type of land is high desert juniper and sage brush, deep draws, and a lot of areas to look in (BIG COUNTRY). The last elk I killed was a cow in that area in 2006, so I'm right with that average I guess. Thanks again for the advice.

My dad and I were talking today while out elk hunting, and we did see a lot of fresh elk sign, but he brought up the idea of stand hunting and letting the other hunters on the BLM land work for us. We in fact were looking at a draw that bottlenecks from other areas that the elk funnel though, and the fresh tracks prove it. If a guy was patient enough to sit on a stand throughout the season you would see elk. I'm going to try it for the last weekend coming up.

Where do they eat and water? How good are your optics?

Your best bet, and had you done it already ....

Do you ever just back off and watch feeding areas with fresh sign until dark?

I'd hate to admit how many seasons it took me personally getting nothing before something clicked and then after that I was pretty successfull every year. It seemed like there was endless ways I could find to botch an opportunity.

Not like other forms of hunting where you can can expect success if you do everything right. Elk owe you nothing. Good elk hunters adopt a sort of zen attitude toward success or failure. Once you look beyond simply punching a tag it seems like that is when you begin to punch tags.

Hang in there. Read, scout, study, practice. Time is on your side. You'll do fine.

Try doing more glassing and less walking. The terrain is relatively open where you're at. Glass from as high a vantage point as possible and from a promontory that offers an expansive view. If you're adjacent to private ground, pay close attention to travel corridors which offer ingress and egress. When I was hunting and doing photography work on central Oregon's BLM and State lands, that tactic worked very well for both elk and mule deer, during the course of several years.

sevenmm, just some more thoughts, based on your post. If you are only hunting weekends you are really limiting yourself. Lots more people, a lot more activity. It takes the elk a few days to calm down and then its the weekend again. Try to commit to at least 5 or 6 days in a row. I like your idea of sitting on that draw. Know where you are going to sit ahead of time, be in there at least an hour early. Sit on it at sunset also. As already mentioned get somewhere high and glass. You can walk for miles in the wrong country and never see an elk. Glassing will reduce the miles. I also hunt NE Oregon and drew a spike only bull tag in a unit I have hunted for years. Spent most of the day Friday glassing and walking and filled my tag at daylight on Saturday morning. Last year I was skunked with no elk. I am seeing about 40-50 each year. Seeing them also does not kill them but it helps. Good luck this weekend, PM me if you would like. Maybe I can help some more.

I know it sounds simplistic, but you have to invest some time before the season and determine where the elk are at sundown and sunset. Then be there waiting.

I have never had any success at stillhunting elk. I find a few that way but the shot opportunities are too quick in too much cover.

You will have only about a 15 minute window at either twilight time before they drift back into cover.

Anyway, that's what works for me. I'm 7 for 8 with that strategy. The 8th one walked out of nowhere at midday.

Good luck!

General season elking in Oregon is a tough deal with about a 15% overall success rate. Averaged out, that's an elk every 6 years, but there are those that score consistently from season to season.

My suggestions: 1. Do a lot of preseason scouting. Not so much to learn where the elk are, because archery, deer seasons, and livestock movements will scramble everything by the time elk season rolls around, but simply to learn the country, elk habits, and how/where the hunting public can benefit one.

2. Be willing to go deeper and into more rugged terrain than most. That means getting as far from roads and the off road 4-wheelers as possible.

3. Be there at first and last light. In the last few seasons, I've had more opportunities at bulls in the last 5 minutes of daylight than any other hour. Mostly, I've passed on those, as I have little desire to ferret out and work up a bull alone and in the dark while those in camp are wolfing down T-bones.

4. Be as mobile as possible in a unit. If one finds little to no sign and sees no weather shifts on the horizon, move to different country. I am terrible at this myself, because I like to come early, establish a near dream camp, and not turn the keys on in the rig until the season is over. Our elk though are pretty much herding animals and the rut seems to be running later into the fall that it used to. The issue with a herd is that if one is into the elk then there is a sh-tload of country that is not holding any. Another aspect here is that the habits of elk change substantially from year to year. A locale that was a breeding pasture last season might not have seen an elk in the last six months this year. Fires and year to year water and forage dynamics greatly alter their habits. Locally, our 1990 fires burned a lot of elk winter range. In the spring, summer and fall of 1991, our elk never left their winter range because it supported the most nutritional forage around and it sustained a much longer green feed period that surrounding ground. Two years later the fire effect was gone because the same area was carrying a wealth or old straw like herbage.

5. Elk are not dummies, and quickly figure out that substantial private holdings are great refuges. That's especially the case in some of the central Oregon units. Literally hundreds of elk leave the west side forest of our Silvies unit and move out into the GI ranch open range to avoid hunters by the second day of the season. That being, court some deeded property owners if possible.

6: As to hunting technique: I score mostly consistently from sitting over favored foraging areas. Next comes still hunting from the top down, or glassing if one is out in big sky country. I've got zilch when still hunting upslope.

Good luck out there. Persistence and familiarity with the country will bred success.

Were those elk killed this year? That might be the problem right there. If others have been killing elk there recently, they likely won't be there. Also, if lots of hunters are thrashing around and leaving their scent, the elk will vacate whether anyone is shooting or not.