Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting my sophomore year of hunting

I've seen a lot of posts coming up that remind me of what I was asking my first year so I wanted to post a little something about myself going into my 2nd year of elk hunting.
In my first year I felt overwhelmed yet excited and eager to learn EVERYTHING there was about elk hunting. I read about the elk itself at first and then branched out eventually finding this forum. I think the hardest thing for me was the amount of information and advice that you can read. I felt like there was so much to learn that I'd be so lost when it finally came time to hunt.
I was not successful last year in my first hunt but the experience I picked up along with being able to apply what I had learned and what tips veterans had shared with him was worth it 100 fold. Going into my second year, that feeling of being overwhelmed is gone. Now I have a better understanding on what to focus on and what to work on in regards to mistakes I made last year. I know to sit another 5 minutes and look a little harder rather then try and get more miles in. I had a much better idea of what to look for while scouting this year along with making myself a plan B, C, and D. I also understand now when some of the old timers that have given me some of the best advice so far tell me to put my time in. It's a lot of hard work and a big learning curve but the experience is worth it and I cannot wait for the satisfaction of filling my freezer when my time comes.
Since I grew up with an anti-hunting anti-gun dad and missed out on years of this, I can honestly say that I'm an addict for life and I feel like that is something to say coming from someone who wasn't able to get an elk last year. I enjoy reading everyone's posts and love everything about elk hunting. I can't wait to get out there this year and hopefully have a good first elk story to tell when the hunt is over.


Thanks for reading,
-Phil

Nice post.
Even when you get to the point where you have killed many elk you still make many mistakes. Hopefully they don't keep keep you from having success.
I'm sure you will do well.

Or, you can spend your entire life chasing the critters and then when you get older, forget all you learned. Then you just blunder around in the woods until you find a dumb elk. BTDT.

HAHA! I'm sure a dumb elk is just as tasty tho!

I had dumb elk for dinner last night. Delicious.

They're all I shoot, seeing as how I'm only slightly smarter. A big smart bull would laugh at me.


P

im about to go out on my freshman elk hunt this fall, and definitely feeling slightly overwhelmed. were going after cow in Unit 61 in Colorado. any one piece of advice you wish you had last year that you didnt?

Buy good gear. You can't hunt well when you're uncomfortable because you slept poorly or are wet and freezing your azz off in lousy gear.

Take your time and glass the country, it's not a race.

two things I wish I knew on my first year, 1-have a backup plan and a backup plan for your backup plan, and a backup plan for that one too. 2-trust your senses and wait 5 more minutes, if you feel like you're ready to start moving again but hear, see, or smell something you aren't so sure about, wait some more. I didn't do that and it cost me an elk. I felt like something was there but wasn't sure and rather than wait more I moved closer only to see a bull's ass getting smaller and smaller.