Found a big broad basin a few miles in that held dozens of elk in late August and zero by muzzleloader season. They'd packed in with horses and set up a big camp right smack in the middle of where they elk were hanging.
They'd have been much better off camping at the trailhead and riding in every morning.
It was a good area so we stuck with it and now we hunt the spots they push the elk to every year. It works pretty well.
Elk are rarely in the same location during the fall that you would find them in August or early September without people in that area. The best solution for successful elk hunting is to go 2 years in a row and use what you learned the first year to get your elk the second year...
Yep, that's about how it played out in this particular area. Found a few spots that the elk go to after archery season starts. ML season starts in early September so they're not moving because of snow, strictly due to hunting pressure.
