Excellent timing

This couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m heading out to Colorado this September for an elk archery hunt with my brother. We have never chased elk before…especially with archery equipment. But we loved the thought of the challenge and reward it might bring. Would love to get some pointers from the pro’s on how to approach this particular hunt. We will be hunting the south west portion of Colorado (San Juan National Forest area). I have been told we should approach our hunt much like turkey hunting…to be aggressive once we’ve located a bull and try to call him in just as we would a tom! Looking forward to your suggestions! And thanks guys for your timely addition to the forums!

No doubt Dart !!! I am hopefully heading to Montana for an Elk & Muley hunt this fall…. hoping for the luck of the draw

big G

depends on what kind of hunt you are doing as to the way to hunt the animals.

Are you packing in, being packed in, base camp hunting, bivy hunting?

Base camp hunting is what we’ll be doing. We did rent horses for basically the trip up the mountain and to hopefully pack out the animals!

Everbody knows it, and everybody says their going to do it, but seriously get away from people. Find a wilderness area, and go, when you think you have went far enough, go some more. Find water, find thick cover, and don’t push the animals.

It’s hard not to dog the herd during late morning, but if things aren’t going hot, let them bed up, and work them in the evening again. Depending on the area the elk could be moving 5-10 miles each morning and evening. We aren’t built to keep up with them.

Keep the wind in your face always, and try to get in front of the herd.

Once the herd beds up for the afternoon, is it impossible to draw the bull away from the herd? Does he pretty much just stay with them until they are ready to move again? Thanks for the advise whitetail!

No it’s not impossible, but probably closer to it then not.

Generally to get the herd bull away from his harem, you have to get in close, usually inside 100 yards, and the closer the better. Which is hard to do once they bed up, and you have all the extra eyes just rotating around. It is easier to move on the animals when they are also moving, and not paying as much attention to everything that is around them. Also easier to keep the wind in your face.

Know the area you are hunting. If it gets pressure go very easy on the calls if any, the TV shows make calls look too good. My experience with elk is they are nothing like whitetail. A whitetail will ignore a call if not interested while a elk will move away from it. Their eyes and ears are much bigger and usually more sets of eyes on you at one time so everything is critical. It is a huge chess match because you are moving and predicting travel (unless you happen to get on the unscaved herd that come in like magnets). Wind direction is twice as important as they smell much better than other game and the winds are constantly swirling in the mountains/valleys. If you cant beat the wind you dont stand a chance. I dont use wind checkers much while deer hunting but they are must elk hunting IMO.
I am not an expert by any means but am very fortunate to get the chance at multiple elk each hunt so if I screw up I probably get another chance. For many elk hunters you only get one chance if that. Hope this helps.

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I dont use wind checkers much while deer hunting but they are must elk hunting IMO.

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Truer words have never been spoken. There are some great points in this thread, but in my experience an elks nose is not easily fooled. I have had whitetails, wolves, coyotes, etc. walk under my treestand with wind in their face and although they may sense something is wrong, they wait it out and most often tend to ignore it if movement isn’t attached with the scent. Elk will be 1000′ feet straight up the nearest ridge in a matter of seconds at the slightest whiff of something unnatural. Cover scents (cow elk urine, sagebrush, pine, etc.) are a must and a visine bottle filled with unscented baby powder is 2nd (IMO). I have had to refill one of those bottles 3 times in a week of elk camp.

I’ve been tracking elk in the past with wind at my back and have been able to get close enough to get a shot with the above scents in wafer form on the outside of my clothes. Combined with the occasional cow call, I have been able to fool them. On other occasions, I’ve glassed bedded down elk on a hillside 1000 yards away and had them bolt with a slight change in the wind.

Getting away from pressure is also extremely important for bowhunting (not so much for rifle). Getting to camp a day early and actually setting up camp in the middle of the herd’s range before anyone else gets there can lead to great success. Spend the first day scouting (if you have the time and are not pressured by other hunters) and try and find them moving into the timber at sunrise.

I love this new forum and can’t wait to share more experiences and learn from everyone.

Thank you guys so much for all the tips. There are a lot of good suggestions and we will definately use them to our advantage! I’m getting pumped by the day and now that we have a Forum to talk about it…well it’s only getting better! Thanks for adding this forum to the list! Hopefully in September I’ll be posting some pics as well!