https://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hunting/2014/08/11-mistakes-elk-hunters-make-and-how-avoid-them
1. Mistake: Chief among failings, according to outfitters, is a hunter’s sorry state of physical readiness. Elk country isn’t all steep, high, rocky, and strewn with jackstraw timber, but that’s often where hunted elk go. Saying “I’m just a little slow” doesn’t negate the fact that elk are not slow. They live in big places and cover distance very quickly.
▶ Lesson: At a minimum, walk or jog for several weeks prior to your hunt to get your legs and lungs in the best shape possible.
2. Mistake: Many riflemen shoot poorly without a bench. Over the years, I’ve muffed several shots that seemed at the time to be too easy to miss. As a guide, I’ve seen clients drill golf ball–size groups from a rest only to miss beach ball–size vitals with hasty pokes at elk.
▶ Lesson: Practice regularly with a paper bull’s-eye from sitting, kneeling, and off-hand positions. A .22 makes practice affordable and more comfortable. Determine a “90 percent kill” sight picture, and fire only when you have acquired it.
3. Mistake: Long-range rifles often handicap hunters. Once, before I could stop him, a client crippled a far-off elk when we could have gotten closer. Another fellow who’d zeroed his rifle at 400 yards overshot a bull at 200. Heavy rifles also slow your step, tire you in the hills, and keep you from wanting to venture into the best elk cover.
▶ Lesson: Limit your rifle weight to 9 pounds. Zero at 200 yards; hold center to 250. But most important, always get as close as you can.
4. Mistake: While I’m fond of
iron sights, scopes are faster, with elk and reticle appearing in the same plane. But you lose target-acquisition speed, brightness, and field of view when you crank up the magnification. I’ve killed elk at 300 yards with 3X magnification. High power once cost a client an easy shot when he couldn’t find two bulls in his scope as they trotted by at 60 paces.
▶ Lesson: Keep your scope at 3X or 4X. You’ll have time to dial up for long shots.
As fond as we are of
iron sights, scopes are faster.
Wayne Van Zwoll
5. Mistake: Often on elk hunts, a good option can scuttle a better, easier one. Topping a ridge long ago, I glassed across a draw at meadows and second-growth that screamed elk. A few minutes later, as I glassed the slope, a twig snapped close by. The bull that had stood there surely wondered why I didn’t fire before it bolted.
▶ Lesson: Look near before you look far.
6. Mistake: Elk hear well but dismiss some noises. Once, I sneaked into an aspen copse on an elk trail, pacing my steps as an elk might, and I passed a bedded cow at 4 yards to kill a bull. Padding along other tracks, I’ve surprised bulls that were bedded just feet away. Some were so astonished that they stood for a shot. But hunters who talk loudly or let their gear clack and rattle as they walk send elk packing.
▶ Lesson: Move like an elk where elk move. If you must communicate, whisper.
7. Mistake: The wilderness pack trip has come to define “pure” elk hunting. But odds at a shot can improve on forest fringe near agriculture, where elk densities run higher, especially in late seasons. Success in Idaho’s Frank Church, Montana’s Bob Marshall, and Oregon’s Eagle Cap wildernesses hovers below 15 percent. While I’ve killed elk in all of them, they yield elk reluctantly.
▶ Lesson: Places of legend typically offer better scenery than shot opportunities.
8. Mistake: Dreams of outsize bulls fuel elk fever. But assuming you can always kill a lesser elk later in the hunt if a big one doesn’t show early on is perilous thinking. One client passed up several fine bulls looking for a brute we knew was in the area. I admired his discipline, but he went home without firing a shot.
▶ Lesson: Have a realistic plan. As an outfitter pal advises his clients, “Shoot the elk you’d take the last day as soon as you see it.”
9. Mistake: Crusted snow and bare ground can make for noisy tracking and spooked elk. But as I hunted through crust one day, I caught up with a bull, thanks to wind, topography, and knowing when to leave the track. I moved wide around the herd through cover, and my chance came as I paused at the cover’s edge. Across a meadow, the bull had stopped to check his backtrail.
▶ Lesson: Tracking can produce but always assume that the elk are stopping frequently and looking back.
10. Mistake: While taking a friend on a hunt, we passed a thicket in the dark and heard elk. He wanted to stop, but I urged him on. We ignored the animals and kept climbing. At dawn, in some Douglas fir, the flick of an ear caught my eye. The bull fell to his .300.
▶ Lesson: Hiking past elk early puts you where elk don’t expect hunters to be. Don’t stop in the dark to listen for elk. They’ll spook. Hike purposefully; the elk will let you by, and you’ll shoot one later.
11. Mistake: Many years ago, when bugling to attract bulls was still a novelty, a pal insisted on shadowing a herd bound for shade at dawn. The bull thought him a pest and left. That afternoon I probed the timber silently toward a sometimes-vocal elk. At last I glimpsed him long enough for a shot.
▶ Lesson: Rutting elk sometimes respond to a bugle by moving away. Still-hunt toward a noisy bull, and be aware that he might lie beyond alert cows.
https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/8-tips-for-rifle-hunting-elk-for-the-first-time
Going on my first elk hunt taught me some things. Here are some things that I learned that may be helpful to the first-time elk hunter:
1. Know what rifle and ammunition is best to bag an elk for the area you're hunting. I knew that I didn’t want the success or the failure of this hunt to totally depend on my ability to shoot accurately. I researched what rifle would be best to take, and what ammunition I should shoot in that rifle to bag a bull elk.
2. Spend plenty of time at the rifle range to know how your gun will perform at different distances. I made two trips to the rifle range with my rifle and my Leupold scope, and I shot three boxes of ammunition. Although I didn’t really need that much ammo, I wanted to build my confidence, so that when I put the crosshairs where I wanted the bullet to hit and squeezed the trigger, my bullet would hit there. I shot my rifle at several various distances to get ready for the hunt. If I had the opportunity to take a bull, I wanted to know for certain that I could make the shot and know my rifle was sighted in and how that rifle and ammunition would perform at different ranges.
3. Be prepared for a wide variety of weather changes when hunting in the mountains. As I researched elk hunting, I learned that in the mountains the weather could change within two heartbeats, and I needed to be ready with the proper clothing regardless of what the weather did on any day I hunted. When I got to Wild Country Outfitters, I learned that the morning air temperature would be about 20 degrees. Through the day, the air temperature would warm up to about 40 degrees. We could have sunny weather one minute and the next minute spitting snow. So before the hunt, I knew that I needed to be prepared for a wide range of weather changes when hunting in the mountains.
4. Wear layers. I had a base layer of
Nomad underwear. Then I put Nomad all-season pants and jacket in the Mossy Oak Mountain Country pattern over the base layer. Finally, I had a late season Nomad vest. When the weather got cold, I had Nomad gloves to wear and a neck gaiter, and I wore a sock hat over the top of my hunting hat. I also carried a Nomad rain poncho, but the snow didn’t last long enough for me to use the poncho.
5. Footwear is important and is a major concern for the first-time elk hunter. An elk hunt is all about climbing up mountains, climbing down mountains, walking on top of mountains and often hiking a number of miles each day. I chose
Danner Pronghorn boots, and I can honestly say those boots felt like tennis shoes. I have issues with my feet, so I was really concerned about what type of boots I should take with me on this hunt. As I began to research the boots that I might want to consider, I looked at the features of boots from several different companies. I finally settled on the Danner Pronghorns, and they proved to be the best for me in the mountains of Utah.
6. Realize that quality optics are critical to your success. Elk hunting is a spot-and-stalk type of hunting. Therefore, the farther you can see, and the clearer your optics are, the better you can determine whether the bulls you spot are worth making a long stalk or not. Those
Leupold and rifle scope that I used were critical to my success.
One of the things that I appreciated the most about my rifle scope was that it had Custom Dial System (CDS) technology in the scope. I sighted in my rifle at 100 yards. Once I determined the range that I might have to take a shot, I could dial the scope in to that range and hold my crosshairs tight on the spot I wanted to hit, and the scope would automatically calibrate the distance and the aiming point. Then I didn’t have to worry about hold over and trying to adjust the crosshairs to the right elevation to hit the spot I wanted to hit. With this scope, regardless of the range, once I dialed in the distance, I could hold my crosshairs dead-on and the bullet would hit right where the crosshairs intersected in my scope. That scope took all the guesswork out of the shot. I didn’t have to hold high or low.
7. Wear the right kind of camo for the terrain you're hunting. This hunt wasn’t the first time I had worn
Mossy Oak Mountain Countrycamo. I wore it last season during turkey season, because it fit into the environment where I was hunting turkeys. But this was the first time I had worn Mountain Country in the type of terrain and foliage for which it was designed. I saw just how effective that pattern could be when hunting elk. We had plenty of elk come in really close and not be able to see us. We had bulls from 10 feet to 10 yards away that never saw us until we moved. So for me, I knew that Mountain Country passed the elk test.
8. Trust your guide. The elk I took scored 330 inches and was the best bull we saw in four days of hunting. I’ll have to admit that I saw several other good elk that I would have shot in a heartbeat if I’d been hunting by myself. However, I learned that my guide Ammo had been hunting elk most of his life and had been hunting elk on the land we were hunting for much of his life. He knew much more about field judging elk than I did. Although several times during this hunt, I wanted to fill my tag with the bull standing in front of me, by listening to and following the advice of Ammo, I was able to harvest the best bull that we saw on the hunt.
https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/hunting/10-tips-to-make-your-elk-hunt-more-successful
1. BE IN SHAPE
Expect to be oxygen-deprived if you’re coming from the East or the South to hunt our mountains. But even so, you need to have your body in good condition. I explain to my hunters that they need to be in shape to hike at least six miles per day in rough terrain. They may want to get into a running routine before the hunt, lift weights and/or ride a bike. The better the physical condition you’re in, the better your odds will be to have a successful elk hunt. If you’re on a 10-day hunt, by days two or three, once your body becomes adjusted to the altitude, you may have days of hiking that aren’t so hard.
2. STAY MENTALLY TOUGH
Most people never consider this aspect of successful elk hunting, but often
being mentally tough is the critical difference in success or failure. Whether you’re on a horse elk hunt trip or climbing mountains or hiking in the high country, you’ve got to bring a good attitude with you and decide that whatever is asked of you, you’ll try to do. Be strong enough in your mind that you can push past hurt when you need to do so. When you wake up in the morning, you’ve had a hard hike the day before, and you really don’t want to come out of your tent, you’ve got to push through, crawl out of that sleeping bag and be ready to go another day.
Sometimes late in the afternoon, we’ll have one more mountain to climb. You must be mentally tough, have a positive attitude and decide that you will do whatever is necessary to get to where the elk are to get a shot. You must understand that if you hunt hard one day, and you don’t even see an elk, that you must be ready the next morning. That may be the day you take the bull elk of your dreams. The other part of being mentally tough is to have fun while you’re going through this ordeal of hunting elk.
3. TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET
You won’t go anywhere or do anything if you don’t have quality boots and good socks. I never go cheap with boots. I wear
Zamberlan boots that are Italian boots, but there are other quality boots you can purchase. These boots are made and designated for mountaineering for serious backpackers and climbers. They’re easy to purchase. You can buy them from Sportsmen’s Warehouse in this country, which means you can try them on and have the best fit. I like these boots because they’re very lightweight, have good arch supports and are stout boots.
You need to match those boots with a quality pair of Merino wool socks. If you get a blister, your feet swell up on you or they begin to ache, and you can’t walk and hike to find your elk. We had one guy in elk camp two years ago who developed a blister on his heel the size of a quarter. He also didn’t come to elk camp with that mental toughness to push through the hurt. We patched up that blister with some moleskin. However, he didn’t want to go out and hunt, because he’d have to put on his boots. I realize blisters can be painful. Also, if your feet get wet, that will ruin your elk hunt. You need to have boots and socks that will keep your feet dry.
4. KNOW THE AREA WHERE YOU’LL BE HUNTING
Plan to get out and do some scouting before your hunt starts. You may want to visit the area you intend to hunt during the summer months before your elk hunt takes place in the fall. Study maps to see where your camp will be, the terrain you’ll have to hike through, and where you expect to find the elk. If you’re a non-resident, hopefully you’ll have a guide or an outfitter who will do that scouting for you. Or, find a friend in that region who will help you get started and give you an idea of where to hunt. Then you’ll be familiar with the landmarks.
Also, before you go, learn the migration routes of the elk. Search for good wallows before an early-season hunt. Locate them on your maps, too. Today, so many maps are available in app form that you can pull up on your cell phone even when you don’t have cell phone coverage. Most Fish and Game Departments or Natural Resource state agencies will offer an app that you can get when you fill out your application for a tag, especially in the Western states where most of the elk are concentrated. Once you fill out your application online, there generally will be a map link that you can download on your cell phone. The worse-case scenario is you always can get a topographical map to look at the terrain where you’ll be hunting.
OnX Maps,
HuntData and
www.mytopo.com are good places to get all kinds of maps that definitely will help you.
5. REMEMBER OPTICS ARE IMPORTANT
You’ve got to be able to see the critters that you’ll be hunting from as far away as you possibly can. Have a
quality pair of binocularswith you. I prefer 10x binoculars, but I also realize that everyone’s eyes are somewhat different. You need to pick a pair of binoculars through which you can see the best. When you go to a sporting-goods store to buy binoculars, look through several pairs to decide which ones you’ll purchase. However, with all the technology available today, I don’t think there’s a bad pair of binoculars or spotting scopes on the market today. Too, if you’re planning to hunt with a rifle, you need a rifle scope that you know can give you a clear, bright picture of the elk you want to take. You must be comfortable aiming and shooting that rifle at dusk and at dawn.
When I’m scouting for elk, I’ll often take my rifle and scope with no ammunition and go out to look at elk early and late to better be able to spot them in my scope. I think that knowing what animals look like in various lighting conditions is important to your success afield.
6. BE PROFICIENT WITH YOUR RIFLE OR YOUR BOW
If you’ll be hunting with a bow, you should have spent several months prior to your elk hunt shooting it. You need to be sure to have your sights set at the distances you may have to shoot. You need to be comfortable with your draw weight. If you’re shooting a rifle, go to the range and learn how far you can shoot accurately and comfortably before your trip. You must know that when you squeeze the trigger, and the target is in the center of your sight picture, that that’s exactly where the bullet will land. You don’t want to get out in the field, see your elk and try to push the limits of shooting accurately. Remember, shooting a bow and a rifle are fun. I believe a bowhunter should practice out to between 40-60 yards. Most archery elk hunts are held during the rut when the elk are being stupid. Generally then we can get those bull elk to within 40-60 yards or perhaps even closer.
We had an archery event out here in Utah, and some of the guys were bragging about being able to shoot their bows accurately out to 100 yards. They validated those brags by shooting accurately at that distance. However, realistically, I don’t think you should take a shot at more than 40-60 yards or even closer at an elk with a bow. The firearm hunter should be able to shoot accurately from 200-300 yards.
7. KNOW HOW TO DRESS PROPERLY FOR AN ELK HUNT
Your base layer is the most important layer of your hunting clothes when you’re pursuing elk. I’m a big fan of Merino wool for a base layer. You can buy different weights of Merino wool base layers, depending on how cold or warm the weather will be when you’re hunting elk. I like Merino wool because of its great wicking qualities. But what I mainly like about Merino wool is odor control. Even if you’ve been sweating in that base layer for three days, Merino wool tends to keep the hunter’s odor fairly neutral.
Next I put a quality insulation layer on top of the base layer. Once more, depending on the weather, that clothing needs to keep you dry and comfortable. In the early season, you may want to consider wearing a lightweight rain suit that can be easily folded up and put in your pack. If you’re hunting in the late season, you may want to wear wool pants and a warm jacket that’s also waterproof and windproof. But your most important layer is that base layer.
Most elk bowhunts begin in August. I suggest wearing lightweight Merino wool then because you can wear that like a t-shirt, and it will pull moisture off your body and keep you cool. At the end of September or the first part of October, I’d go to a mid-weight base Merino layer, as the temperatures drop down to the 30s, 40s or 50s during the day. You definitely need a rain jacket and pants in your pack then. Most elk hunting is spot-and-stalk, so you’ll be doing a lot of aerobic activity. For that reason, you don’t want to be too warm. However, you do want to have extra clothes in your pack, so if the weather changes quickly, and some rain or snow occur, then you have that outer layer to keep you dry.
8. STAY HYDRATED
No matter how warm or cold the weather is on your elk hunt, you’ve got to keep yourself hydrated. The secret to staying hydrated is to take some type of water filter with you. Having the ability to purify water is very important when you’re hiking in the mountains. You won’t always have pristine water to drink there. If you don’t remain hydrated, you’ll cramp up and have a miserable hunt. One of the relatively new filtration systems is the
Straw Filter, which I like because it’s only about six inches long and fits in your shirt pocket. You can lay down beside a stream and suck all the good, clean water you want out of that stream.
I’ve seen people load up on water in containers and put them in their backpacks. However, after you’ve been hiking and climbing for a while, that water becomes very heavy. But in the mountains when you’re hunting elk, there’s most always a water source – melting snow, a stream or a creek. Besides a purification straw or some kind of purification system, do take an empty plastic bottle with you that you can fill up. Some filtering systems state that they’re good for 1,000 usages. Companies are manufacturing more of these filtering systems, especially for third world countries. You also can bring powdered sports drinks to put in your water to replenish electrolytes you’ve lost from climbing and sweating.
9. BRING SOME TYPE OF SHELTER AND SLEEPING GEAR
Take a shelter with you in your backpack that you can roll up, like a one-man tent. You may get too far from camp at times while hunting elk to return in one day. You may need a shelter to get into, especially if rain or snow is falling. Also if you get on a herd of elk, you may want to spend the night out near the elk to enable you to get up in the morning and have a much better chance to take an elk than if you have to hike back to camp and hike back to the elk’s location the next morning. Too, plan to have good sleeping gear to use when you return to camp. Usually you’ll put in a hard day of walking and climbing each day when elk hunting. Getting a restful night of sleep will play an important role on how you feel when you wake up, and how well you’ll perform the next day. When you get to camp, you want to eat well and sleep well.
10. LISTEN TO YOUR GUIDE OR OUTFITTER, AND LEARN TO BLOW A COW ELK CALL
Your guide or outfitter’s job is not only to get you to a place where you can see and possibly take an elk. He’s also responsible for making sure that you’re not so tired and worn out when you reach the elk that you can’t take a shot. Most guides and outfitters have been on numerous elk hunts. They want to help you become successful and want to make sure you have an enjoyable experience. I suggest that anyone going elk hunting should have a cow elk call and learn how to blow it before they arrive at elk camp. Then no matter what happens during the hunt, you’ll have a device – the cow elk call – to make a bull elk come to you. For instance, you may get separated from your guide or outfitter and see a bull. By simply giving a few cow calls you may be able to pull that bull to you.
https://www.wideopenspaces.com/top-6-overlooked-rifle-elk-hunting-techniques-put-meat-freezer/
So with rifle season fast approaching, I've compiled the top six overlooked rifle elk hunting techniques that will help you put elk meat in your freezer.
1. Glass in thick cover
Glassing for elk on open hillsides often leads to elk sightings, especially cows and young bulls. But some of the best sighting can be done in thick cover. Slipping quietly through thick timber and glassing even in the thickest fir re-growth areas can reveal big bulls like this one.
2. Find flat spots amid steep slopes
You should invest in topographic maps of where your hunting and seek out the flat spots at the head of drainages. It's easy to get overwhelmed when hunting elk in big country like Montana. Hiking 15 miles in a single day with no real plan is about as productive as staying in camp all day. Find areas that are likely to hold bulls. Thick flat areas where water starts flowing at the top of a creek drainage is as good a starting point as you can get. This single tip may be the best time saver you'll ever learn when hunting elk.
3. Pay attention to the wind
So many hunters seem to ignore the wind. If you have to hike an extra mile to approach an area from downwind, it will be time well spent. After hiking three or four miles over rough terrain, now is not the time to avoid a little more physical exertion.
4. Be in shape
Elk hunting hurts when you're not in shape! Hiking five miles to where the elk are requires motivation, carrying 70 pounds of meat five miles takes stamina. Being in shape for elk hunting isn't the same as being in shape for deer hunting or even in shape for a marathon. It's different. Be ready to hike up, down, over blow downs, carry a heavy pack and be able to run when you need to. Be in shape before you get to the mountain.
5. Slow down
I have a friend who is in excellent shape but he hikes ten miles in a single day and often complains about not seeing elk. It is much better to spend a little more time sneaking through a prime area than to put on miles in search of an elk.
6. Hunt in the afternoon and be where the elk are until dark
So many times I see hunters heading into the woods early who leave at midday. Five of my last six elk were shot several miles from my truck between 2 pm and 4 pm. Hunt until dark and be prepared to hike out with a headlamp. Staying in the woods back where the elk are will pay huge dividends.
Early rifle season elk don't just disappear after the rut is over. Knowing the areas where to find elk and hunting in those areas all day will consistently put you in spitting distance of bulls. Slowing down, and glassing will put them in your crosshairs.