2024 plan A

[Elkhunttoo]

What is your A plan for this season? Where will you put your stand that gives you the best chance?

I was super confident heading into the 2022 season! We had placed our stands and felt great about the opportunities they were going to provide. First weekend my brother in law shot a bear! Off to a great start. I had elk by my stand on multiple occasions. With only a few days left my brother in law took a nice 6 point bull. Overall 2022 was a great season and all offseason I couldn’t help but think 2023 was going to be great. We had added 2 new tree stand sites we thought would produce.

2023 started off slow. Then it stayed slow…I sat one of the new spots…this area got hit hard in 22 but we didn’t find it until the last few days of season. Last year I sat it several days in a row to start the season with nothing. I wondered if it was me causing the nothing. I felt great about my approach and the wind in my stand seemed good. I had a sow a cub come in on the 6th in the evening. They gave me some confidence that I wasn’t the problem. I few days later some deer came in and bedded about 50 yards from me in the middle of the day. My wind was heading right at them and they never moved for almost 2 hours. This made me feel even better.

Yet no elk!

I decided to go try my other stand the next morning and then come back to this on because maybe it was just and evening spot. This decision might of cost me my elk last year (13th). As I was walking up to my stand a bull let out a bugle when I was about 200 yards from my stand. I worked as slowly and quietly as I could to my stand. The bull was bedded about 100-150 yards above my stand. Even with the thermals going up I new the wind well in the draw from sitting it all week so I was confident I could get in the stand. As I started climbing the ladder the bull bugled again. I never called back to him. He bugled about every hour until about dark and worked his way above me back and forth. I think he was trying to get a nose full of what he had heard in climbing up the draw and wasn’t getting anything.

I know he was bugling to see if I was a bull. I’m fairly confident if I would have went to my stand in the morning that bull would have hit the water that day. I sat the whole next day with nothing and then had to work the 15-17…a bull came in on the 16th. Needless to say it was a long season.

This leads me to 2024. I have no idea which place I want to tie myself to. I still like our spots we have used so far. I’m definitely confident in the tree stand but want to be consistent this year…it’s all about picking a place and getting comfortable I guess

[Tigger]

What is your A plan for this season? Where will you put your stand that gives you the best chance?

This leads me to 2024. I have no idea which place I want to tie myself to.

Well my plan A, B, C, all the way to QQ is not to be tied to any one place. I tree stand hunt whitetails, so I want to hunt elk differently. So I am hunting elk without an effective tool, but I have accepted that.

Here is my take on tree stand hunting elk. It is one tool in your toolbox. It shouldn't be your only tool. Sorry Swede, that is my take. It can be really effective, it can be a complete waste of time. Just like calling. Just like spot and stalk. Just like still hunting. All have their place and time.

[Elkhunttoo]

Maybe if I was tree stand hunting white tail I would feel different too because I do love chasing bugles.

Last year I probably spent 1/4 of my season (mainly in the second half) calling and “run and gun” style. I love doing it but I also know the results of tree stands. My uncles started tree stand archery hunting in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The amount of mature bulls they have killed over the years makes it hard for me to argue it. I’m sure we will spend some time on the ground this year. Calling a 6 point bull into about 4-5 yards from my wife’s feet on her first hunt is what hooked her to archery hunting so fast. Same for me, some amazing fun days in the woods.

I love chasing them but after sitting in a stand it’s crazy the amount of confidence I have when I’m in my stand vs when I’m out and calling. I feel like I’m just wasting my time when I’m calling and I used to be completely opposite. As of right now I’m still planning on taking the road less traveled and the majority of my season will be in a stand this year.

Also for work I could only get the first two weeks of the season off which are usually pretty quiet in our area so I feel the stand will up my odds. I will probably get to hunt about half of second part of the season but it will be on and off with work schedule

[Tigger]

Your last paragraph makes a lot of sense. If the conditions favor tree stand hunting, then it is best to tree stand hunt. My only point is don't use a hammer to screw on a 2X4.

[Swede]

I am 100% more confident in a good tree stand over any other elk bow hunting tactic.
I am guessing here a little, but I would have tried a periodic cow call for the bull you heard. I would keep it short and just enough to let him know you are there. A call fairly soon after you got into your stand would have confirmed to him that he heard a cow come in. Cow call on your own schedule and do not answer him. This is a special time I would break my own rule of thumb and do a little calling. Be patient and be prepared to wait a few hours for him to come in.

[Elkhunttoo]

I am 100% more confident in a good tree stand over any other elk bow hunting tactic.
I am guessing here a little, but I would have tried a periodic cow call for the bull you heard. I would keep it short and just enough to let him know you are there. A call fairly soon after you got into your stand would have confirmed to him that he heard a cow come in. Cow call on your own schedule and do not answer him. This is a special time I would break my own rule of thumb and do a little calling. Be patient and be prepared to wait a few hours for him to come in.

I know I debated if I should call over and over and over and over and over… if I’m remembering right I didn’t call at all. I do think a cow call might of put him more at ease… I just tried the ignore him part and hoped he would come take a peek

[Swede]

It was about the year 2000 I called in a small bull to my stand that way. He came in with a herd that had bedded in the timber above. I called from my stand which is something I don't advise, but it worked that time. I think it may usually be better to stay in your stand to call so you are not detected while moving around. If it is legal I would like a remote-controlled cow call hidden in a draw or in some heavy cover, so the rascal had to come close to see what was making the call.
Hopefully you get a shot at him this season. The time is fast approaching.
I understand Tigger not wanting to hunt from a tree stand. It becomes lot of hard work once you kill an elk. Often you need to find your elk, then you must butcher it. I do not care what time of day or night it is, that butchering needs to start right away. After that it only gets harder as you must then pack it out. After all of that the work is still not done unless you take it to a butcher shop. It is much easier to wander around tooting on an elk bugle. The beauty of wandering around is that you will see and hear more elk that a person perched in a tree somewhere.

[Tuffcrk14]

I found a water hole up on top of a mountain (1,200 ft climb, 2.5 mile walk) surrounded by timber with an old and mostly unused hiking trail going around the east side of the water hole with another trail that then goes to the waterhole/pond on the south end. I set up a camera where the two trails meet, which ironically has a big tree at the fork of the trail that bears scratch and rub on. From May 24th-June 28th I’ve gotten pictures of a wolf, three mountain lions, six black bear, cow moose, two small bull elk, and random deer of no size or significance. There is no stream feeding this pothole, but could be spring fed. I haven’t attempted to hunt water for a long time and think if there’s one place to sit over water, this seems to be the spot. There is no other water source that I am aware of unless you drop 800-1,000 feet to the bottom of a spoon drainage next to it. My plan is to hunt it on the hottest day of opening weekend and sit there until dark. I don’t have any tree-stands that I care to pack up that mountain, so a ground blind will have to do. I’ve been highly successful hunting whitetail from impromptu ground blinds, so I’m going with that tactic for this trip. My number one priority is elk although if any predators come by me, I feel obligated to shoot them even if it screws up the area for a while. I don’t know how elk and deer can sustain themselves with the amount of predators I’ve gotten pictures of up there. I’ll be checking my camera this weekend to confirm if I should still plan this area as my #1 or not and see if the pond has water in it still. It’s been pretty hot and dry in NW MT. My biggest question mark on this spot is if bulls will be there at the end of august or if they’ll be dropping lower into their transition zones for breeding season.


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[Elkhunttoo]

As long as the water hole is in a spot that the elk feel comfortable going into in the day light I think you will have as good of a chance at that water as anything else you would do the first part of the season. That’s a pretty good hike in. Are you planning on being there before daylight and sitting all day or just mainly an afternoon and evening spot?

[Tuffcrk14]

I plan on hiking in before daylight and getting to the top as it gets to be shooting light and will still-hunt my way down to the waterhole. If the wind isn’t cooperating, I won’t even attempt going in there until it is good. Luckily, it gets a nice southwest prevailing wind through there and I can make that work well. When I check cameras this weekend, I’m going to clear out a good spot for a ground blind and try to clear out as much deadfall/brush off of the trail as I can for a quiet approach. Like I said, no one really hikes through that area and it’s overtaken by downfall now in some spots. I’ve got the patience of a stone, so I plan on sitting it all day until dark. I’m going to do some occasional elk sounds to get anything that’s close enough to hear me curious to come check out who is getting a drink hopefully. Just off the north side of the pond is a timbered north slope with some stair step benches and I got a picture of a bull walking from the trail that leads down there, so I feel good about that.


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[Swede]

Tuffcrk14, I like the sound of your spot and the measures you are taking to get an elk. Your patience may be tested to the max, but it will be rewarded. Ground blinds work but their location is critical to success. The problem is that if you do not know what time or direction where the elk come from, it may be impossible to have the perfect blind set up. I am sure you know that, so it boils down to whether bringing in a tree stand and rigging it up is worth it or not. Best wishes on your hunt and keep us posted. I hope to see a picture of you with a big Chuck Adams grin crouched behind a good bull.

[Tuffcrk14]

Thanks Swede, I’ve put a lot of time and research into finding something like this area. I’m hopeful that it goes somewhat according to plan. I killed my first bull with a bow over a wallow have struggled since by trying to call and it just isn’t panning out. After visiting with other bowhunters at the yearly convention, I had my mind made up that I need to change my tactics up a bit based on guys talking about how they sit water/travel routes instead of calling and how much more success they have. It’s not the romanticized version I have of elk hunting, but an elk is an elk and I’m fine with changing things up. I have a feeling I’ll be investing in a lightweight tree stand in the future for hunts like this one. Any recommendations are welcome!


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[Swede]

I prefer the Millennium M100U for all of my stands. They are not the lightest, but if you are going to sit in one for hours at a time your butt and back will thank you for the comfort. The stands are quiet and safe to hang. I like it that I take up the hanger up the tree with me and put it in place before I pull the stand up on the drop line. If you purchase two hangers/receivers you can move just the stand to sit in a new location. It is not quite as easy as two stands, but if you are packing them in, it is likely worth it.
Calling is a dicey situation. If I am going to bugle at all I do it before I climb into my stand from the ground. I make a short (2 second) two note call from a location where any elk coming around has to be within my bow range before it can determine no elk is where it heard the call come from. Elk often take two hours co come check out the call, so do not get discouraged or too anxious. Be patient. An elk is not going to come to your call very often either. My success is about 1 time in 10-20 calls. If you want to cow call from your stand, keep it short and infrequent. I have had a little success with that, but it is no panacea either.
Someone wrote on Amazon that my book on tree stand hunting rocky mountain elk was simply a matter of sitting over a water hole and waiting. I like water holes along well-defined elk trails, but not every water hole is a good one. Not every tree at a water hole is a good stand location. A couple of fellows set up a stand along an old trail and asked me to look it over and tell them what I thought of it. We were not far from where the old Oregon trail was once located. There is still evidence of it today. I asked they why they did not set up a lemonade stand along that trail to serve pioneers coming in covered wagons. They were just as likely to get a customer there as they were to get an elk at their tree stand location.

[Tuffcrk14]

I’ve got a plan B spot about 20 miles away where I had killed a bull during rifle in early November on a logging road that runs just below the crest of a east/west ridge along it’s north side. Each side of the road is either thick with snow brush/downed timber or steep.. sometimes both. I’ve gotten pictures of about 5-6 different bulls ranging from a spike to a very solid 5x5 traveling that road in the mornings this past June. The most days in a row that they walked through there was 5. This spot would be terrible for the predominantly southwest winds we get, however. If I could nail down where they get water from exactly, I could really exploit that. What’s weird in this area I hunt is I have found zero wallows. I’ll find some seeps on north faces where there very much could be a wallow, but nothing. Very odd compared to southwest Mt where I run into them quite often.


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[Swede]

Just remember you are not hunting wallows. You are hunting elk. I don't care much one way or the other about wallows. Elk drink and walk trails a lot more than they wallow.

[Tuffcrk14]

[img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240811/4bd6322173c09573f0209fe3219db76b.jpg[/img]
My plan A quickly moved down the list to Plan L or possibly M. Got a wolf, black bear, multiple deer, some humans, and a cow/calf moose over the last five weeks. Met a guy near the trail head who I started visiting with and we exchanged some info of what we knew about the area. Funny how if you talk to someone and offer a tidbit, they tend to want to offer a tidbit back. Super nice guy. He said he was thinking about hunting this pond on opening weekend too (before I knew it was dry). He can have it as far as I’m concerned! Pretty day to walk the dog no less. Back to the drawing board and onto plan B.


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[Elkhunttoo]

I can’t see your uploads Tuffcrk

Good luck with the change of plans. Hope you can find a good spot