Elk Behavior Question

[CiK]

I have a few questions about scouting and elk.

I used to tournament fish for bass, and 9 out of 10 times…I could catch a bass off a stump on a point and come back 1 hour later and catch another. That feature drew them in to the spot. Does the same thing work for elk?

Let's say I am out scouting for elk in the early season. While walking around, I bump some elk.

With your experience, how far do those elk go? Will those elk return soon to that spot again or are those elk gone for good?

A part of me wants to believe that they might return. If the habitat was good enough for them once, it would be good enough for them again. And even if they don’t return, maybe another elk will use it soon.

Tony

[Swede]

Normally one brief encounter with the elk does not send them into the next county. Pressure sends them away. The amount of pressure it takes to run them off surely varies from area to area. Elk can learn, and I believe they have a good memory. When masses of hunters come in bugling, chasing and driving the roads, the elk leave. If this reoccurs the following year, it will take less chasing to run them away. They have been educated. One hundred pickups or a thousand log trucks driving a road, but otherwise not bothering the elk will not run them away. One hunter scouting an area and bumping the elk, but not chasing them will have little impact.

[Elkduds]

CiK, I haven't welcomed you to the forum so, good to have you with us. Where the elk went is just as useful information as where you found them. You don't want to push them, but you want to know where they go when bumped. Depending on when you scout vs when you hunt, the elk could move to different elevation, different drainage, different county.

[saddlesore]

I have set on mountain top saddles a day or so before seasons and watched elk go up and over, just by hearing pack strings, camps being made,guys talking etc.

Where one elk finds a good hold up and is pushed out sooner or later another elk will find that spot. No doubt about it though elk don't like people, but will behave quit differently in the summer when no one is hunting them than they do when the first days of hunting season opens. I don't put much emphasis on early scouting. Most of the time,the elk won't be there in the later months. I keep an eye open when I am hunting and catalog information for next year.
Few times I have hunted the same bull in the same local, but not often

I found what really educates them is guys calling them in and then if they don't want that bull, instead of backing out quietly,they show themselves or spook the bull.Th elk puts that little bit of information back in it's brain some where, and pulls it out when it hears another bugle. The same with hearing you,they don't get real buggered.Seeing you,maybe a little bit more,but they smell you and they are gone

When it is all said and one though ,you can't put hard and fast rules in elk hunting. Just when you thought you ran that bull out of the country,you turn around and find it did a circle and is standing there watching you through some thick brush or timber

[Swede]

Years ago I attended a class where collared deer or elk were monitored. I forget. Some were bedded near a highway in Wyoming. Their heart rate remained normal until someone stopped and started checking them out.
I never noticed that the elk went far when I was working in the woods for the Forest Service. It sure makes a difference if we grab our gun or bow and start chasing them. Saddlesore appears to be right on with his observations, from what I have seen.

[CiK]

Thanks all for the replies, and thanks Elkduds for the greetings.

So here is what I am trying to get at.....I live in the Midwest and I am planning my first Idaho public land OTC DIY hunt. Boots on the ground before my hunt is not in the cards for me......and I won't come on here and ask for honey hole information because as a tournament fisherman, I wasn't giving that hard earned information out to people either.....I get it.

So instead, I am trying to play it out in my head what happens when I get to my computer created starting point. I would like to hike in, drop camp and then scout around. When I said "scout" in my earlier post, I wasn't talking about summer scouting because I can't do that. What I meant was the first few days of a 7 day hunt.

I have listened to several public land hunters about getting in on there first few days of a hunt and scouting. When doing that, what is a good strategy? Do I just walk around aimlessly until I see elk?

I asked about bumping elk because I am worried I would.....and I was hoping they would come back like a bass.

Tony

[Swede]

Cik, you are asking some good questions. As this is your first hunt in Idaho, I would be very flexible. You will want to find fresh sign as soon as you can. I would try not to bump the elk. but you are there to hunt them. Don't worry about bumping them so much, but rather have strategies to kill one. You will want to get close, so bumping them is a risk.
Here are some suggestions that come to mind. Others can add to these I am sure.
Come prepared for a very physically demanding hunt. Know your limits. At 68 I am still doing fine. If you can find a good tree stand location, you can catch a good afternoon break.
Learn some basic calls. The Calling Card is a good start. It is more important to learn elk than to learn every nuance of calling. Don't overdo calling thereby educating the elk. Once they see you, or smell you and associate that with the calls, they are trained.
Don't rush into bedding areas from mid morning until about 4:00 PM. Pushing them out of a bedding area will send them farther away than a casual encounter as they cross a hillside.
Watch the wind. A fickle breeze will mess you up quicker than anything else.

It is my guess that you have no experienced elk hunter to pair up with. I am a firm believer that a good tree stand set up, is the most productive way to get elk in many areas. That goes ten X over for a new elk hunter. If you bring a stand don't risk hunting on the ground, in the same area in the morning.

[saddlesore]

I don't archery hunt and you didn't specify which, so maybe some of this will only apply to rifle hunting

Look for saddles on ridges where elk will move on/over when bumped, benches or flats that run length wise along the mountain where elk will move along, nasty blow down areas with thick timbers, north slopes. All the places elk would go to get away from people. In all honesty,unless lady luck favors you or someone puts an X on a map, you will probably spend the first few seasons getting to know the area you are hunting rather than punching a tag. Filling a tag is icing on the cake.

Forget about setting on the edge of some beautiful meadow that is usually depicted in hunting magazines or hunting shows. If you do see evidence of feeding activities in openings, try to find out where the elk are traveling to and from that area and set up there. If the hunting pressure is light,they will tend to use the same trails.Once pressure gets up,they will find forage and water in little pockets in the timber and not even come out.Elk usually will not feed in one local for a week or more,they tend to move on and might not hit that area again for many days or weeks. Bulls recuperating after therut are an exception.They find a good hidey hole with food and water and hole up there to regain lost weight,etc

When I am hunting the thick and nasty country, I have found that I usually get one shot for every 8-10 elk I bump and I am enough of a hunter that I have shot quite a few in their beds by sneaking up on them.

Any of these areas,you need to be there before first light. 20minutes at least, 30-45 minutes better. Even when bulls are not bugling,they may at times do 2 note bugles or grunts and squeals before daylight as they are moving. Cows will be talking to each other. If they have gone nocturnal,you will be able to find that out if they are moving back to their bedding area before daylight. There might be elk all around,but they are not moving during the day, unless some one bumps them. I have killed elk all hours of the day, but the first 20 minutes after legal shooting hours have been most productive for me. The last two years I have killed bulls the 1st five minutes of legal shooting hours. I don't hunt late evenings as I hunt early and evenings were never that productive for me. If the elk have gone nocturnal,they might move the last 5- minutes of shooting hours and most of the time,past that.If you can survive on 4 hours of sleep, though,go for it and maybe take naps in the middle of the day.

In rifle season,where they have already been hunted,you will mostly likely have to figure out what the elk are doing because of the other hunters.

When you setup that camp,don't put it in prime elk habitat. Don't go in to those areas a day or so before season to scout. If the elk are in there,most likely you will push them out.If the area doesn't look good in 1-2 days,move

Pay attention to where you are and how hard it will be to get and elk out. Have a plan in place before you even start to hunt. It is a whole other world vs getting a 150 pound deer out. Sometimes,it is better to put the safety back on and let them walk. There will be other hunts. Don' t trip the trigger just because you feel you have to kill an elk.