Tree Stands and Trails

[Swede]

How much does the presence of elk trails or lack thereof effect your decision about where to place your tree stand? What do you look for?

[blackwolf]

Good trail is important. My stand spot this year has a good trail coming from thick bedding cover following a high ridge a couple hundred yards below ridge line. It comes to a very small opening with a great pair of wallows with water seeps in the area also, it then continues about 200 yards to another small opening with a couple good wallows. From there , the cover opens up and the elk head over the ridge to a large burn with plenty of forage. My plan is a ground blind in both small openings. The morning blind will be nearest the burn and the evening will be spent closest to the bedding. We will see how it goes, the plan seems great. There are also weaker trails coming from below but mostly at an angle so any westerly wind will work and evening thermals down should still work with right stand position. I like being up high on a east-west ridge.

[stringunner]

I sat a stand a few years back on a main elk trail that didn't amount to anything on the days I was there. Since then I have focused mainly on water holes as that at least is an attractant and trails alone in the area I hunt can be hit or miss as the elk move around a lot. When picking water holes I do like to see 2-3 trails coming into the water hole that look to get fairly used. A water hole close to a bedding area with multiple trails is a primary factor I look for. Where we hunt there tend to be many cattle in the area, thus when I am scouting I look for old sign of cattle to gauge whether the trail systems coming to and from the water are being used more by cattle or elk. Trails with elk rubs leading to water get me excited.

[mandrroofing]

Stand locations near water with multiple trails and sign makes sense to me.
Is there a certain elavation on the mountain you all are looking for when placing stands, lets say the first few weeks of the season?

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[Swede]

I have not found one particular elevation or even aspect such as north slopes to be the best. I hear a lot about north slopes, but if someone wants to go there, then I will take another side. The key is to find spots where there is evidence of significant elk use. Muddy, stinking water holes and churned up dusty trails are hot spots. You can also focus on rub trees. If there are a lot of rubs in an area, a bull is frequenting that place. Trail cameras can be helpful in deciding where to place you stand. Where I have been hunting for years it is getting harder and harder to find exceptional spots. It used to be much simpler. The advantage I, and people like Stringunner on this forum have, is the considerable experience we have in our area so we enjoy a historical basis for where to place our stands.