Passing the time on wallows

[Shadow24]

So I'm planning on sitting over a wallow for the middle part of the day during my hunt. Im guessing I will be there for several hours at a time. Just wondering what you guys do, if anything, to help pass the time. Since the fall semester just started, I was thinking about packing one of my $400 textbooks in my pack and read a few chapters. Is this a bad idea? I know I need to be on "high alert" while in the elk woods but It would also be a good time to stay caught up in my classes. Any thoughts?

[Lefty]

Ive read books while hunting but school books I left for ice fishing.
My wife brought her kindle while sitting in the bear blind

[ElkNut1]

No book for me. When I'm sitting a treestand or make shift ground blind I do my best to stay tuned into every little sound or movement, no way would I be pre-occupied with something else, elk hunting is way to important to me to be side tracked. Too, you can learn a lot just sitting there for hours & listening to the forest & the critters including the squirrels!

ElkNut1

[GobbleFarmer]

Sometimes when Im in a treestand I bring a Fur Fish Game magazine, or a book, but most of the time the squirrels are entertaining. If you pay attention it's easy to tell if there's a female in heat, Freaking hilarious what they can do! Or even the birds, last year was the first time in my life I saw a bald eagle, 5 minutes later another baldy! would've missed it if I was reading. Even a little vole, or a field mouse can gain my full attention. You could bring a book in-case its really really slow.

[timberland]

When I'm hunting, I'm HUNTING!. I save reading for bedtime.

[elk-n-walleye]

Taking a text book falls into the category of "good intentions". I was in the same position (studying for tests, etc) as you the last 4 yrs. I always had a couple of those "good intentions" at base camp while elk hunting but I always found other hunting oriented things to occupy my time. But that is just me. I've always had a tendency to procrastinate when it came to studying text books.

Good luck and have fun!

[elkstalker]

For me my hunting trips are time to get away from it all, I don't want to drag it with! Enjoy your time, bring a book if you need to, and like Elknut said, look, listen, and learn from your surroundings

[mjblowers]

As a person who has had three bulls in the past two years "ghost" in and out of my view within 70 yards without making so much as a needle drop of a sound, who knows what else I've missed when I decided to be "that guy" and play a cell phone game or catch a few winks.

[Raghorn_Reaper]

I don't have a problem doing some other activities when on stand all day from sun up to sun down. I have found over the years it has taken me some time...every year I seem to have a little more patience. I just wasn't in that place in my twenties to sit out all day.

I say do what you gotta do to make sure you are actually hunting rather thank sitting back at camp eating lunch.

Yes, you may miss that ghost bull, so keep that in mind when doing other activities.

[Shadow24]

Thanks for the replies. After thinking about it, I'm just going to leave my books at home and save my school work for another time

[Passin Thru]

I will fall asleep from time to time but I'm a Vietnam Vet and a mouse moves, I'm on it. I learned from there you use your whole body to sense the surrounding area. I feel movement and sense it too. Coyotes are almost invisible as well as rabbits but I'm always pointing them out to people. They twitch their ears, so do Elk, they sniff too. Sit still and enjoy the beauty of and the violence also of nature. We have Bald Eagles in N VA and see them often. 2 wk ago I took pics of one right OH at about 100 ft. Big bird, saw one along the road and stopped and he looked at me and said , If you get out of that truck, I'll eat you.

[elk.addict]

I don't know how you guys do it. I think the longest I have ever been able to sit still was about an hour, then I get bored and leave. It's a shame too - I know a lot of folks who do really well in the early season by sitting near bedding areas or on wallows.

[WYO_ELK]

I will probably play some Yahtzee and cribbage on my phone, eating helps pass the time too

[chiledog]

Don't do tree stands but do some ground blinds for shorter periods.
I may read Paul's Playbook for a ideas or reminders, but mostly it's eyes, ears and nose to business - ELK!
Elk can be sneaky.

[CurlyTail]

I agree that you SHOULD be vigilant and hunting at all times to maximize your chances for success. The reality however for me is that I get bored and it helps to keep my mind active while putting in some time waiting. I like a good book. May I recommend "Open Season" by CJ Boxx - a riveting murder/mystery involving Elk Camp, a great game warden hero, and set in the Bighorn Mountains of WY. Beware that this is the first book in a series that is highly addictive.

I was sitting a high saddle last season. Reading my book. Calling softly every 45 min. Enjoying the view. Luckily - the smallish 6x6 bull gave a groan a hundred yards out, so I had my book marked and was ready for action when he came across the saddle at 30 yards. A very pleasant morning indeed.