Finding and hunting elk undetected within eyesight is the key to success. Elk are adept at picking out motion and outline, so once they appear it’s essential that you remain silent.
Keep an eye out for rubs, hoof prints and trampled grass. New rubs should have yellow-white coloration with clear sap inside.
Scouting
Once your plans for elk hunting are in motion, the next step should be scouting for signs. Scouting should occur both locally near your house and miles away in remote country; you can glean information through topographic maps, aerial photos, or simply walking the area yourself. However, remember that scouting requires patience and dedication!
Look for signs of fresh elk, such as rubs and wallows. Furthermore, find feeding areas, water sources and bedding areas. It is important to remember that elk are known to migrate frequently between locations; thus it is wise to focus on areas with heavy use rather than locations with light usage; otherwise this may indicate either that hunting pressure has caused them to move elsewhere.
Scouting for food and water provides an ideal opportunity to identify possible travel routes. Look for trails connecting bedding areas, feed areas and watering spots by looking for signs such as tracks, trampled vegetation, heavily browsed shrubs or rubs. If there is one that directly passes through a place that might harbor elk, consider setting up along this route.
As an added benefit, this is also the ideal time to look for hidden areas with thick timber or steep ridges that could provide cover and concealment. Take this time to search out a suitable spot where you can set up camp and view from a good vantage point.
Consider that elk typically don’t move into their rutting haunts until September or later; thus if you go scouting in June or July you might not see any. But this doesn’t mean your time spent scouting is wasted; just expect that it could take time before any elk show up.
Observation
Observing and learning elk behavior are among the most valuable methods of finding them. Over time and with practice in the wilderness, this skill becomes refined. With this insight comes a more complete knowledge of where hunters hunt – giving them better odds at understanding and anticipating animal behaviors they pursue.
Elk are animals like all others; their behavior is guided by seasons and instinct. As summer temperatures heat up, elk move to higher altitudes for cooler mountain air and lush grasses to provide them with food sources more suitable to their diets. As winter draws near, they also move lower elevations so as to have easier access to sustenance when snow coverage prevents their movement.
When observing elk, it is essential to remain as quiet and still as possible. Any sounds can easily scare off their herd and force them away – particularly during mating season when bulls become aggressive about breeding.
Listening is equally as essential. During the rut season, forests and meadows come alive with the haunting sounds of bull elk bugling; their deep tonal language escalates into high-pitched screams during breeding process, while cows and calves communicate more subtly through mews or chirps.
Water is another crucial element in the elk formula. It helps lush grasses thrive that attract herds, as well as providing an area for bulls to wallow during rutting season. Locating these mud pools, puddles, and wallows is a surefire way to find suitable places for treestands or brush blinds to be set up.
Scout for areas that contain high levels of sign and water sources. Search for rubs on rocks and trees, tracks across open sage flats, small pools or puddles where bulls may be resting and small pools or puddles where one may be lying wallowing. When approaching these locations make sure you remain downwind from them as elk prefer being scared away from being upwind rather than from behind them.
Scent
Elk rely on their sense of smell as well as sight to locate food, water and potential mates. Their scent can be picked up through their saliva, urine or scent molecules attached to their antlers; its characteristic earthy-natural aroma can change depending on diet, age or environment conditions.
If a herd has recently moved into an area, you can quickly detect their presence by searching for fresh droppings. Fresh droppings typically feature greenish hues with wet texture while older drops have darker brown tones and dry out over time. Dirt piles and rubs provide indication of bedding areas as these have recently been compacted by animals’ hooves; either fresh piles will appear loose while compacted areas may contain compacted dirt with compacted soil that’s been compacted further under their weight; signs that could indicate animal presence include compacted areas compacted under hooves compacted soil compacted by an animal’s hoof; while compacted areas have been compacted by animal hooves compacted dirt piles and rubs can also provide evidence that someone else might have recently moved into an area; this way.
During the rut, which typically runs from September and October in northern states and more widely throughout southern states, bull elk rub trees and brush to remove velvet from their antlers and display their dominance. Doing this releases a scent known as pheromone which alerts other elk who is dominant and helps synchronize breeding readiness among male and female animals. Bulls leave their scent behind by creating wallows – which are pits where bulls use their hooves to stir up mud pits – for other male elk to catch.
Elk have an acute sense of direction and can detect even minute changes in wind direction, so paying attention to this factor can help you locate and avoid herds without disturbing them.
An effective method for controlling scent is applying cover scent to clothing and gear, either commercially available products or by spraying an aromatic plant such as sage on it prior to entering the field. Doing this will mask human scent and lessen recognition by elk; we don’t want them recognizing us when within 100 yards!
Sight
Sight can be an effective method for finding elk. By finding a high vista and spending some time glassing before dark, it may be possible to spot herds of elk moving towards their bedding areas in the early morning or en route to feed grounds – giving you time to figure out their positions before positioning yourself within range of them. Keep in mind, however, that their movements could change quickly when moving towards bed or food and could quickly evade you once they feel threatened by you following them too closely if they detect that you follow them too closely or if they feel threatened by you following them – which would mean losing any chance to spot these beautiful beasts!
In such cases, it’s wise to attempt to limit your movements as much as possible by avoiding crossing open meadows or other exposed areas. Staying under cover from trees or vegetation is another smart idea as this can help muffle any sounds you make; wind conditions permitting, you could use this terrain advantage by staying downwind of any elk you may spot.
When encountering an elk, pay special attention to their ears and tail as they move, especially as these parts can be very distinct compared to other body parts and help you identify whether it is part of a herd or just one individual bull. Also be sure to examine its antlers closely so you can assess its quality.
Elk sign usually remains fresh for several days, so be sure to take time reading its clues carefully. Sometimes it may be difficult to distinguish an ear or tail from other rocks, trees, or objects and when this happens it is important to use indicators like color, relative body size and behavior to help identify an animal as worthy of pursuit. When using this method it is best to be patient and study large areas rather than climbing mountains in search of animals you might not recognize with certainty.