Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Deer v. Elk

I know nothing about bow hunting, and nothing about elk hunting, but I'm curious.

What are the differences between bowhunting deer or elk in terms of tactics, equipment, or anything else?

My experience has been that there is no difference in the hunting techniques, but the difference in altitude and location sometimes means you need to have the ability to stay out over night on the elk hunts.
That is just me.
It has to do with where the elk were. In many other places it would not apply.

Elk are like giant white-Tail deer in how they hide and how they use their nose and eyes. The one huge difference is with elk you don't get a 2nd chance at one. They don't live in a small area and keep coming back. If you push them and get caught, they move, and can go 2-5 miles in their first run from you. And then just "set up house" in the new place. White tails will be back in a day or 2. Elk may come back in a month, or in the following year.

Tactics would be totally different, specially compared to back East hunting. I know some guys stand hunt for Elk, but that is the exception not the norm. Everyone I know and myself included Spot and Stalk's Elk. It is a whole lot more fun and exciting than stand hunting. Calling Elk is a lot more successful then calling Deer from my experiences. Note I did not say easier, I said more successful! Other than that I pretty much agree with szihn.

Well that's a good point M C H.

I tend to forget that many folks hunt WT deer from a stand, especially in the midwest and back east. That's not done out here on white tails or mule deer, And you'd REALLY have to wait for a looooong time for that to ever work on elk. so when I say it's like hunting giant white tails I meant spot and stalk. Elk just are not that specific in their movements. Might be in places where you have a lot of private ground and no pressure, but out in the wilderness areas where I hunt, finding elk at all can be time consuming and require many miles of foot work.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I agree!

Whitetails can be patterned and shot on trails from a tree stand. Elk can be called and duped quite easily when you understand their characteristics and get good with calling. Mule deer don’t pattern, or come to calls, making them a much harder animal to get with a bow.

If you look in the Pope and Young record book, there are about 45,000 Whitetail deer, 7,500 Elk and only 3,000 Mule deer. It is obvious that a Mule deer is the hardest to get with a bow by a large margin...

Agree 100%

So elk don't need a closer range or heavier bow than deer do? Any shot angles you would take on a deer but not an elk?

Don`t be fooled the whitetail deer is the smartest deer to bowhunt,elk would be number 2 in smartness elk act like whitetail deer and mostly stay in herds which makes it sometimes even harder. number 3 mule deer maybe in smartness. try to hunt whitetails from the ground almost impossible. mule deer are a great animal to bowhunt from the ground if you have learned to bowhunt whitetails you will enjoy a mule deer hunt. just finding elk can be hard, elk move fast and far quickly. i have bowhunted and shot target archery for now over 55 some years in Minnesota,Wisconsin,Iowa, both Dakotas,Colorado,Wyoming,Montana, Canada ,and don`t ever underestimate the big Whitetail Buck he is the luckiest and smartest of all game animals and the hardest to bowhunt. at my age of 65 i have taken my share of trophy animals,i do not believe in record books or putting them in the so called trophy books ,its a personal thing with me and the animals i have ate and harvested for the family . i only ever say meats in the freezer and horns on the wall my son feels the same way. >>> Some of the best bowhunters in the world none of us will never know who they are ,they feel the same way as i do, its a very private humble experience and a respect thing for the animals we have taken. good luck hunting , be safe and always shoot to kill,Pete53

NO! I have seen Elk killed with 45lb draw bows. Any reasonable range you can accurately shoot at will kill an Elk. I suggest a quartering to quartering away shots. Elk have big vitals but I don't believe you should handicap yourself by shots that really shrink them.

I disagree and I have hunted whitetail numerous times from the ground. My father hates hieghts and has only ever hunted from the ground. No problems filling the freezer. Most all my friends here in Montana spot and stalk Whitetail. Whitetail are creatures of habit, Know their habit and you will kill whitetail. Elk and Mule Deer are not so much creatures of habit. As Shrapnel has said Elk and Mule Deer will more out of a zip code in a second, some could even more out of an area code.


Sorry mis quoted Shrapnel. It was szihn

That says it all. Pete you may not only be wrong about hunting, your English sucks too!

I think most bow hunters have had a deer "jump string" that is to drop at the sound of the bow and have the arrow pass over the deer.
(At the speed of sound a deer past about 22 yards can react to the sound and move before the arrow arrives... causing a miss or worse a poor hit.)
I am new to elk bow hunting, but, do not know of elk reacting to the sound in time to spoil the shot.
I deer hunt with a one pin sight...zeroed at 22 yards and just do not put myself in a position to shoot beyond that, I feel more confident and practice regularly on elk targets to 50 yards.
Experienced elk bowhunters please chime in!

I have called in mule deer with the Primos fawn bleat call and patterned deer moving into ag fields.

hitnrun heres my entire quote:
.> its a personal thing with me and the animals i have ate and harvested for the family . i only ever say meats in the freezer and horns on the wall ,my son feels the same way. >>> Some of the best bowhunters in the world none of us will never know who they are ,they feel the same way as i do, its a very private humble experience and a respect thing for the animals we have taken. good luck hunting , be safe and always shoot to kill,Pete53
>>>>> next time maybe be a little smarter read and use the whole quote. why be so negative with what people post ? does it make you feel bigger ?

sharpnel: > yes mule deer do pattern and do come to calls but maybe not to your pickup ??

"the animals i have ate and harvested for the family." Good Lord, do you live in a cave?

"i only ever say meats in the freezer and horns on the wall ,my son feels the same way>>>" You don't see anything wrong with this either, were your parents cousins?

"Some of the best bowhunters in the world none of us will never know who they are ,they feel the same way as i do" Another clue your mom dropped you out of the family tree. The only thing long and hard on you was Kindergarten.

Reading your entire post doesn't correct your butchering of the English language. Of course, you can't see how stupid you look because your writing doesn't make you stupid, being stupid is what makes you stupid.

Well here's my 2 cents. I've killed 7 bulls with a bow. A couple by calling, a couple spot and stalk, a couple running to get ahead of them and ambushing, and last year's sitting on a waterhole.

To do any of them successfully you will need to be in the best shape of your life, be willing to go hard day after day and deal with defeat. When you look at success rates in the F&G sites remember that of the 15%-20% success, most of those guys are the ones that kill elk every year. A newbie's chance is more like 5%.

Calling on public land will most likely end up with a hunter or two moving in on you. It is nearly impossible to get away from people on public land here in Idaho without a pack string, so you will have to come up with a twist. Last year I hauled a pop up blind to the top of a mountain and sat on a waterhole. It worked, not as exciting as calling but I will be sitting that same water hole this season using the same method.

I think you would save yourself a lot of time and headaches if you could find someone to mentor you - or if you can get on private land where they are not so pressured.

It's fun, I love it - and live for it each fall, but by no means is public land elk hunting easy. Good luck to you.

In my experience elk are every bit as habitual as whitetails and in certain circumstances they can be patterned as well, just on a larger scale.

The first thing to learn about elk hunt absolutes - there are very few, and every one has an exception somewhere...

Every state is different in terrain - public/private, the animal habits, the hunting pressure, and the available seasons - what works well for me in Idaho may be 180 out for Colorado or New Mexico.

IMHE - No...a 400 grain arrow and broadhead (sharp) will pass through an elk, BUT the bones are bigger and heavier if you are off of the mark.

You may get away with a bone shot on a deer, probably not with an elk. I know of two elk lost with a shot that hit the shoulder blade of the elk and did not penetrate enough for a clean kill.

Point being - you must know your range limitations, and practice shooting out of breath, on one knee, both knees, and after holding your draw...all likely to happen on an elk hunt.

Elk hunting is about the scale of the hunt - area you need to consider is generally much larger than deer, the elk will usually cover more ground in day and require you to cover more ground to keep up.

Yes, they can be patterned, but usually not by a hunter coming into the area a day or two early - see the mentor comment above, or you need to plan on hunting the same area for a few seasons and learn the terrain.

Pressure - get away from the roads where you are going to hunt...simple rule, go where people aren't - but expect to work and travel a bit to get there.

As noted with bugling/cow calling - expect other hunters to come in to you as well,. especially if you haven't used the rule above.

Elk targets are usually quartering flat targets, Rarely if ever will you see that in the wild. I am not knocking shooting the target. But what I am saying is know the elks anatomy! Understand where his shoulder is at the position he is standing. It changes it is not a stationary fixed location. Another pointer I will give that I see some very good archers make a mistake on is their own position. If you are shooting down hill, Do Not lower your bow hand. Bend at the waist. Your arm should always be straight with your shoulders. If you are shooting up hill, the same thing applies bend at the waist. Pay attention to your elevation to the animal, it might be a very small incline or decline bend at the waist accordingly. Moving your bow hand to chase the target changes your draw and anchor. You want the same draw and same anchor every shot. Like AH64Guy said you DO NOT want to hit the shoulder. Aim Small, Miss Small. I would rather error slightly back then hitting should. Another pointer I think is helpful is practicing awkward positions. My first Elk snuck up behind me when I was trying to get the Elk in front of me to come in. I had to turn my upper body only about 130 degrees to get the shot. As AH64Guy said Kneeling, sitting, anything you can think of. It will help you. If you can practice shoot on uneven ground that is perfect.