Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Finding Mature Bulls on Public Land

the key to kill a big bull is Alfalfa in the archery season during the rifle season its a crap shoot in Montana on public land . good luck,Pete53

LOL, so stay out of the millions of acres of national forest, especially the wilderness areas. Great advice!!

Saddle and Smoke already provided some good advice re: Colorado hunting. Here's my $0.02 on Colorado elk. If the big bulls aren't taken in ML or archery, they are on private land by the end of opening weekend of the 1st season gun hunt. I don't believe this notion that they hold up in some thick honey hole that's too rugged for a hunter to access. There is nothing in Colorado that is inaccessible by a hunter in this state. Nothing. No matter how far I hunt away from the road, no matter how rugged the terrain, I still see hunters. And now there's this trend where people set up camps deep in elk habitat because they think they gaining some sort of advantage getting away from everyone on the side of the road. Instead, they just ruined it for themselves and everyone else.

Away from other hunters in this state does not exist...on public land. And that's your answer. Like others have said, the elk move from hunters and find easy refuge on private land. Even CPW officers I've spoke with in the field have stated such. One of the places we hunt on NF is surrounded by large private ranches. We've driven the county roads through these ranches at night, three days after opening day of 1st season, and there are elk standing on the road. Herds of elk, massive bulls, little bulls, cows, eating grass at the edge of the road. And there's nothing you can do about it. At the edge of the road, it's private land and they know it. We have multiple videos of them on grazing at 4pm on broad daylight on private land during gun seasons as well.

4th season they are out of the mountains and on lower elevation ranches. Guaranteed. You might find cows and spikes grazing BLM. Might. Even my taxidermist says the big bulls come in during archery/ML season and he rarely sees a high 290+ elk come in after 1st gun season.

True Words Mountain10mm.I am in complete agreement.

Drive up the Ohio Creek Road north of Gunnison anytime after archery season and you will see 500-800 elk on the Castleton ranch, eating with the cows.

Another big ranch where you use an access road to get into NF leading to Medano pass has the same thing.

OP, my .02 cents worth.

You are doing great hunting the way you are. If you can regularly take a legal elk on public land absolutely continue to do so. your sample size is too small to draw any meaningful conclusions from, except that you have found a formula seems to be working.
The way I hunt is similar to what you are doing, and sooner or later a bigger bull will come by. But unless you are seeing lots of animals nearly every trip in the woods, by all means, take the legal elk when you can, punch that expensive tag, and enjoy the meat the rest of the year.
I have had my share of success elk hunting, and what I do is sneak into spots I know elk may frequent before shooting light, and don't do any rooting around. I leave the same way, either at mid day or after legal shooting time in the evening. Minimal intrusion is what I try to do. My favorite type of spot to post up and watch is a meadow leading up to a saddle with timber on both sides in a tucked away location. Early and late are usually by far the best, but not always.
Elk can travel much better than I can, I let them come to me. Plus you usually have the advantage in those situations.
I personally like hunting bulls, but most everyone I know is happy as a lark with a cow tag.

Just before dark, watch ridge tops near timber. Often a herd will move out of the timber after sunset. If you see a herd, be there before 1st light. There's a very good chance they'll still be there. I've killed several elk doing that. Sometimes they'll all be cows but I've seen some really nice bulls that way, too.

> oh silly you , yes you know best . your so positive and thanks for your advise , sorry i guess you have never seen big bulls during bugle season much during archery season in Montana ? the new world record archery bull elk was shot in Montana in 2016 .

LOL, what's that have to do with alfalfa, Buckwheat?

Alfalfa is candy to an elk, a muley, or an antelope.

Probably won’t find many alfalfa fields on public land though!

so dopey smokey what ever you call yourself do you know anything about elk ? it appears not . > as has been posted alfalfa is elk candy and again "that is Alfalfa is elk candy" understand ?

you just need to know how the elk move to alfalfa fields , its like hunting whitetail deer just that these are elk we have killed some big bull elk doing this ,get between bedding area and the alfalfa field if public land is involved and now with corner section crossing it makes things even easier . we have even called in some nice bulls with a cow call it does work doing archery season in Montana.

He's rifle hunting in November and you're talking about archery hunting?

Good to see you here, Brad!
It’s been a good thread, but like any campfire thread there is the occasional post coming from way out in left field.

I’m sure if anyone could add to this conversation, you would be a good one! Tell us more about how you found that old bull last year/year before!

In November, they'll be bunched up for the winter. They could be in herds as large as several hundred. The bulls may or may not be with them. Sometimes the bulls will form small bachelor herds. They won't be far away, though. Trying to sneak up on 300 pairs of eyes can be tricky but it can be done.
A few years ago, I got on a herd like that, maybe 80 to 100, and on public land. I only saw a couple bulls but I had a cow tag. I was hiding in a rock pile at about 3 to 400 yds deciding which cow to shoot when a single cow walked out of some trees at not much over 50 yds. Bang.

OTOH, some years ago my partner needed a cow so I went along for the ride. We found them alright. They were in 2' of snow on top of a bare wind blown ridge, temperature -16F. It was one cold sucker. They were right out in the open with no possible approach and well out of range. We didn't even try that time. Then we found their beds from the night before - in a low area right along the road.

Lots of good comments here.

I have only hunted elk in Colorado and the only truly big bulls I have seen were either in special protected/trophy areas, private land or way up high in remote difficult terrain.

Seems I will see a hundred small bulls for every true 6 point trophy bull. Many of the 6 point bulls around here have thin spindly racks. Yes, six points, but not great mass. The “wow” factor can be low on a spindly 6pt.

I once had a herd of 16 bulls parade out in front of me…. 2 were six pointers, but none that I would consider enough mass to warrant the “trophy” moniker. YMMV…. btw…. I only had a cow tag.

I once scouted an area in the Flat Tops…. In July….saw literally dozens and dozens of elk in that three days. Came back for September muzzle loader, hunted there for 6 days and never saw an elk. The hayfields down below had dozens and dozens of elk.

I have a buddy who has access to an area only 3-4 miles from Rocky Mtn Park…. He shoots a big 6 pt bull every a 3 or 4 years. His secret to success is to hunt near the park.

Over the years, I have seen only two 7 pt bulls outside of RMNP. Both in dead of winter, on private land about 5500’ elevation.

All that being said, big bulls are just sometimes “where you find them.” Gotta keep looking….

I ran across a hunter one time…. Packing out a bull. He had been camped near us and we knew he had been hunting for a number of days….. I asked him how many elk he had seen since he started his hunt…. He said…”just one, this one.”

yes i know he is a rifle hunter but elk still go to Alfalfa, but he has a better chance at a big bull elk during the rutt /bugle time in most states its during archery season. i have seen elk including bulls in a Alfalfa field in January. you need to remember on public land ranchers rent that public land all summer for their cows and most of the grass is no longer there by rifle elk season or later.

I've only taken one bull. All the rest were cows. Almost all the bulls I've ever seen found me. Two things were common for most instances, but not all. One was, I was in the woods hunting. Not always with the intention of shooting. I guess some call it scouting. The other was, cows were in the area. Except a couple times when there was no cows around. One time, the bull walked right up to me so close, I could have touched him. Our eyes take time to adjust from bright sun to dark shade and back to bright sun. Elk have the same problem. He froze, and so did I. I was pretty nervous and made sure he saw my face directed towards him when he resumed motion. The other time I was back packing far above timber line in August. I surprised a group of bulls napping by a snow melt pond, all in thick velvet. I drew my 35mm camera only to snap on the end of the film roll. A common occurrence for me during my back packing misadventures.

Most of my elk hunting experience was in September with a muzzleloader. Elk worked up in the rut move fast. Anyone trying to lay an ambush or catch one will work hard for it and need some luck.

LOL, great advice pete, but what about those of us that don't hunt anywhere near alfalfa fields? That would be most elk hunters.

I'd love to hunt over an alfalfa field but hunting even near one means you're down in flat farmland and near roads. Try hunting in flat farmland near roads on public land in Colorado and get back to me.

And like Brad said "November" dummy.

Mostly for bow hunters during the rut....About Labor Day they start the rut. This is something I've seen several times. The bull will find a couple cows. The cows will decide who's the leader and her job is to find more cows. She'll take off on a cross country run, usually moving at a trot. The other cows will be lined out right behind her and the bull will follow them, trying to keep up. She'll cover as much distance as possible to find more lone cows. It's inevitable that sooner or later one of the new cows will take over her job but if that happens, the new leader will keep up the same program. I once watched a dozen cows come straight down a very steep hill at a fast trot. The bull was 100 yds behind them with his tongue hanging out and doing his best to keep up The cows got to a big stand of quakies at the bottom and waited for the bull. He hadn't been there 2 minutes when the lead cow was off again, straight up the side of the mountain from where they'd just come. Over the 1st week of the rut, they can cover many miles like that. I haven't had much luck slowing them down with calls. Maybe it's that I'm not convincing enough. I don't know.