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water

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water

Postby bnsafe » 06 28, 2012 •  [Post 1]

do elk drink from running streams or do they need a pond like pool of water. theres a small creek running through the area im hunting and not sure if they water there or if i need to look at diff water sources.
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Re: water

Postby westaner » 06 28, 2012 •  [Post 2]

Running water is fine for them to drink from.
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Re: water

Postby BowElkDwn » 06 28, 2012 •  [Post 3]

If you do find the area that the elk are drinking from you should know it. Lots of tracks and probably some sort of pool. Walk up and down the stream until you find somthing that looks like elk are coming to and using. It is always a good idea to walk up and down a stream in elk country..
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Re: water

Postby Swede » 06 28, 2012 •  [Post 4]

Elk can and do water in streams. The problem with streams is they have a lot of options on where to water. It is usually hard to determain where it would be best to set up. Often if I can I will set up at the head of a small stream. That way anything coming in from above is likely to come there first. Sometimes streams dry up and the lowest point along the stream can be good. On a long creek or a river, unless there is some special location where trails cross regularly, I would not bother. Go with the evidence on the ground, but be careful that you are not fooled into thinking elk frequent a spot, when all that actually happened, is a whole herd came in once and watered.
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Re: water

Postby westaner » 06 28, 2012 •  [Post 5]

Like Swede said the head of the stream were it first appears can be golden for elk! Honey Holes for me. First running water elk can hear when they come down the hill.
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Re: water

Postby ElkNut1 » 06 29, 2012 •  [Post 6]

Yes, elk can drink from nearly any water source, streams included! The thing to look for is continual use! These areas will show old & new tracks & generally have the barnyard aroma all around the area. The more elk using it the more activity you'll see. If you see a few tracks randomly here & there it's not a good spot to anchor yourself! Look for beat down trails to these water sources as this shows continual use! Here's a couple cows drinking out of a small creek like bowelkdown mentions. In the 2nd photo you can see there's not a lot of water there but these elk use this area for over a month, even big groups will show to this spot & the trails leading to it shows heavy use & the smell of elk is extremely powerful! This is what you're looking for, now that's activity!! (grin)
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