Confused??

[Elkhunttoo]

2022 my groups stands produced a bear and a 6 point bull. With a few more really close calls. I passed up a small 5 point and needed a few more steps from a nice 6 point that some branches I never would have thought to brake cost me.

So I went into 2023 with a lot of confidence. And it burned me. It was a slow season. Of my 3 brother in laws I was hunting with 2 of them passed up elk. One passed a cow that went right under his tree saddle. The herd bull went through on a different trail and he didn’t get a shot. The other two brother in laws were sitting fairly close to each other one night. The one that killed the 6 point in 2022 passed up a 5 point hoping the other would get a shot at it and he never did. So I guess we had a few opportunities but I spent a lot of hours in the stand with nothing.

My confidence for the ‘23 seasons kinda relied on a new spring/wallow that I found towards the end of the ‘22 season. I hung a camera on it the last week of the 22 season and a nice 6 point and his cows hit that water 4 times in the next 12 days.

I have bugled with elk all throughout the season in years past in the draw and never knew the water hole existed. Elk seem to really like this area.

After last season being as slow as it was in that spot I’m confused if I should sit it much this year. Every time I go to the spot I feel confident but it was a lot of nothing last year and I’m worried about this year being the same at that spot.

Let’s just say as confident as I was going into last season, is as confused as I am going into this season

[Lefty]

How many years have you hunted elk?

Attitude is often worth more than luck and skill in the long run.

all things considered often a great hunt can happen every day

[Swede]

Often there is a reason elk quit using a waterhole when you start going there. That reason is they have detected you. It took me a year to figure out what was going on at one particular wallow/water hole. A friend had a problem similar to yours at another spot. To cure my problem, I found a different tree and hung my stand 25 feet up the tree and the tree was on a bench overlooking the wallow. That meant I was about 15 feet higher that I was in my previous tree. That changed everything. My friend started going to his stand from a different direction. He avoided flooding the hillside and hollow at the spring with his scent before he reached his stand. In both cases the problem was solved. Maybe your situation is different, but ask yourself is there some way or ways the elk know when you are there? There is a fine line between patience and wasting your time. It is critical to know which is which. Best wishes.

[Elkhunttoo]

How many years have you hunted elk?

Attitude is often worth more than luck and skill in the long run.

all things considered often a great hunt can happen every day

30 years Lefty…just a few

Attitude sure didn’t help last year… I think I was over confident last year. The main confusion of this year is do I abandon that spot or do I just chalk it up as coincidence.


Swede…I have gone over it a million times…had a sow and cub come in and drink and hang out for a few minutes. Had deer come in and bed just above the water hole for quite a while with my wind going at them the entire time. Nothing seemed to have a clue I was there.

I really feel it was just the movement of the elk last year and they just didn’t hang out in that area for one reason or another. Love the spot when I’m there and feel great about my approach and stand. Just not the confidence I had going into last season

[Swede]

I know that situation too. I did all I could last season too and came back with nothing. I too have thought long and hard about what I missed. I have a couple of ideas but nothing concrete. There are things that are outside of our control. The movements of those dirty, stinking elk are one. They have no respect. That is partly why I shoot them.

[Elkhunttoo]

I know that situation too. I did all I could last season too and came back with nothing. I too have thought long and hard about what I missed. I have a couple of ideas but nothing concrete. There are things that are outside of our control. The movements of those dirty, stinking elk are one. They have no respect. That is partly why I shoot them.

I’m with ya!!!

[Lefty]

30 years!! And you don't have elk figured out completely:

Some times the season is just that way. the odds against us.

This past year my deer hunt was a big zero. I never saw a deer in three days in my great deer area.
Goose season was similar. The geese didn't show up.
One year I was on the receiving end of hundreds of elk . Over a dozen days. Other hunters weren't finding them.
This year's antelope hunt was the toughest ever, The most hours ever to kill my antelope.
then the bear hunt lasted less than 3 hours in the blind

And this year in Montana the elk didnt move or herd up where I hunted.
I visited with one fellow,,, 50 years same place, 48 years an archery bull, bull 49 with a rifle,, This year, year 50, never saw a bull in archery range, and hadn't seen a bull by the 3rd week of rifle ,,,