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Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

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Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Swede » 10 01, 2020 •  [Post 1]

Whether hunting with a gun or bow there are certain qualities that make a good hunter. In this post/thread I will try to list them in order of importance. Feel free to disagree, but please explain your objection.

1. Know your quarry and its sensory perception. You need to defeat the animal in its own habitat.
2. Know where to hunt and the surrounding area.
3. Know how to hunt the game you are after.
4. Be patient.
5. Be persistent.
6. Be able to appraise the situation and act effectively.
7. Know where the animal will be at different times of day and different times in the season.
8. Be in good shape. You really do not need to be a super athlete.
9. Be adaptable. This goes from where to hunt to how you hunt.
10. Be prepared for anything and everything, including people barging in, to foul weather.

Ok this is my first shot at this. Lets see if we can improve on it.
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Billy Goat » 10 02, 2020 •  [Post 2]

this looks like a table of contents for a far more detailed book, Author Swede.

just sayin.

that..... and Ieave to apply (hopefully some of) these qualities tomorrow morning. :)
"First teach a child to love God,
teach them second to love their family
and third, teach them to hunt and fish,
and by the time they reach their teens, no dope peddler under the sun will ever teach them anything".

-Cotton Cordell
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby >>>---WW----> » 10 02, 2020 •  [Post 3]

Some good thoughts there Swede!
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Indian Summer » 10 03, 2020 •  [Post 4]

1) Prioritize your elk hunting. Think elk hunting 365 days a year!

2) Use your animal instincts. The sixth sense. Think like an elk!

3) No limits. No limits to what you spend to go elk hunting. It is what is. No limits to maximizing the amount of time you take to hunt. Line up a new job if you have to. And finally no limits to how much effort you’ll put in each and every day and no limits to where you will go to kill an elk! The sweetness of success lasts long after the pain of packing is gone!

4) Be sneaky. Everyone talks about what it takes to kill elk. Learn how to call them in. Be patient enough to hunt the timber. Sit in a tree stand and let them come to you. Get the right gear to spot and stalk and d shoot further. I know a big group that puts on drives for elk! But regardless of which method you prefer if you want to close the final distance and turn a sighting into packages of ground meat you gotta be sneaky! Forget you’re a human. Move slower than the shadows. Scan everything ahead. Go watch a cat sneak up on a bird!

5) Mind over matter. Mental stability is critical. Learn to coach yourself. Learn to coach your partner too. There are going to be times when you realize you are just a stupid human out of your element, Mother Nature hates you, and the chance of finding an elk let alone killing one seems about as likely as dropping off Bigfoot at the taxidermist shop. So you’re gonna have to learn not to think like that. You can read the crap we type on the internet all year long but at 4:30 am on the last cold morning of an elkless elk hunt you have to actually believe that today could be the day. There is no reason other than human nature for you to think that day 1 was the best day and from there it goes downhill. Instead you have to tell yourself... maybe even out loud for your partner to hear.... those stupid elk have no idea if today is the first day or last day of my hunt and they have to eat 20 pounds of food a day so look look out beotches here I come!

6) Laugh instead of cry. Whoever coined the words Blood Sweat and Tears was probably an elk hunter. I’ve stood there totally soaked in sweat with tears of joy laughing with my finger bleeding because I was dumb enough to cut myself while wrestling a dead bull. Who hasn’t stood at the very bottom of a massive uphill march first thing in the morning on day 5 and wanted to cry? Elk hunting is, in a lot of ways, self abuse. So self coaching is the only solution. I don’t look at the top of the mountain before I start putting one foot in front of the other. I set shorter goals. Ok lets start by making it to where the trail turns right and gets steeper. When I look at elk that are way below me on the opposite side of the mountain I came up I laugh and say to myself oh ok this is the challenge the hunting gods decided to throw at me today. But if I run over there and kill that dirty rotten bull today I won’t have to do this madness again tomorrow or the next say. Sounds good to me haha.... gone! Elk hunting..... your favorite thing that you look forward to being done with!

7) Stop hey what’s that sound, everybody look what’s goin’ down. People move way too fast. Animals don’t look at their Fit Bit and think “I need to get 2000 more steps in today”. If there is one thing that absolutely chaps my arse it’s getting busted. Looking a bull in the eye for .5 seconds before he easily vanishes. Or just hearing the thundering hoofbeats of 8 elk not even knowing if there was a bull. Time for self coaching. “Oh real nice dumbass now there’s not an elk within a mile of you!” Of course that’s the first thought as your heart is sitting in your gut. So you pick yourself up and tell yourself not to let that happen again. There’s really only one way to do it. The solution is a no brainer but easier said than done. You gotta slow down. You gotta see elk BEFORE they see you! For me the only way to still hunt properly is to be where I know there are elk. That way you are always thinking there could be one on the next step. Still hunting is NOT about searching for elk. It’s about picking an area where you know elk hang and hunting it. It’s about being way more eyes and ears than hands and feet. Once you’ve slowed down.... slow down! Sit. In a way still hunting is mobile stand hunting. Mosey along at full alert then put it in park. Stop and look everything over. Sniff the air. Look ahead anticipating the general direction you want to mosey to your next sitting spot. How long do you sit? Nobody knows... remember your an elk not a human! Sit there until something tells you it’s time for a change of scenery. Or.... until you are looking at a dead elk. When it comes to trying to outwit elk speed kills!

8) Dig in! In several ways. For starters establish a solid camp. Camp is your security blanket. It should be a place that lifts your spirits. The reasons why are because you know there’s not a worry in the world there. It’s a place to regroup and recuperate. A place to get warm and dry and give your mind and body what they need: Food and sleep. It’s also a place to socialize in between long days of solitude. Have a few laughs but also talk about what’s going on with the elk. Compare ideas with your partner. Lift each other’s spirits and get your head screwed on straight. Maybe think about torturing yourself by going out and freezing for a few nights in a bare bones spike camp for fun. They said it would be fun???

9) Dig in! Didn’t I just say that??? Well you can’t dig in with a killer camp until you dig into your hunting area. So don’t save points to hunt your dream area. I’d rather be a good elk hunter every year in a medium quality area than an out of practice lousy hunter in a high quality area. Some guys might say no way man the hunting in my draw area is insane. That’s probably true but you don’t know it that well because you’re lucky yo go there once every 5 or 7 years. So you lack confidence so when you do go there I can see you shooting the first 280 inch 6 point you see because you don’t hunt elk enough and get all worked up at the first sight of ivory tipped antlers. Meanwhile you can kill elk that big anywhere. And besides.... it’s supposed to be fun. There’s no question you can have way more fun in an area you hunt way more often. So list your priorities when picking a spot. That should be easy! We all want the same thing. Or do we? I want a bunch of elk in an area without a lot of people that’s not so nasty that I’m afraid to kill one there. I couldn’t care less if it’s an extra 8 hours from home. I don’t care if I have to do a little homework to understand the license application. I want a place to call home where I can forget about starting over next year and instead pick up right where I left off. So you know that bull that pissed me off by waiting long enough to laugh in my face before he effortlessly waltzed away... yeah him.... next year I know a little more about him... and a place where other bulls might think like him and I’ll be the one who laughs last! That’s why you dig in to your area.

10) Hmmm. I could probably list 10 more but I’ll go with something that through experiences both good bad and downright ugly I have come to believe is one of the top ingredients to long term consistent elk hunting. If you aren’t successful and having fun with it you won’t last. A good partner is vital to that. Well... unless you are truly wired to be a solo hunter. I know people who have gone to beautiful places, island resorts or on a nice trip to the mountain states and when they came back all I heard about was how their friends Mr and Mrs Killjoy ruined the whole trip. Nothing is worse than a Debbie Downer. No matter what’s going in they are saying “Looks like rain” and the other couple is thinking “Yeah it’d be a great day for you to fall over the railing of this cruise ship” :lol: The one thing just as bad is a cheapskate. A trip to the beach where everything is expensive... or your long awaited elk hunt is no place to find out Mr Elk Slayers wife gave him $20 spend money for the week. Who here hasn’t walked into a shady dive bar where all the scruffy looking locals eyeballed you... only to find you and your friends having a blast after they bought you a beer and told you some of the funniest schidt you’ve ever heard. You leave saying we gotta stop in there again sometime! The point is people make or break anything. Your job. Your recreation. Parties. Marriage! And definitely an elk hunt. I won’t list the criteria for a solid partner. Just find someone who thinks like you. How much experience they have is the least of your worries. If you get it right you’ll both be rooting for the other guy and doing whatever you can to help make each other’s lives easier.

Sorry I got off topic Swede. I know these aren’t skills that an elk hunter needs to possess. But in a way they are. Regardless I think they are some really important fundamentals for hunters who plan on getting the job done and sticking with it.
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Indian Summer » 10 03, 2020 •  [Post 5]

There goes an hour of my life. I need a raise! :lol:
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Swede » 10 03, 2020 •  [Post 6]

Indian Joe needs a raise. I suggest that your pay here gets doubled or even tripled.
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Swede » 10 03, 2020 •  [Post 7]

I think Joe makes some excellent points. I have been thinking about the good partner part and I believe it may be a lot more important than many might think.
Dad and I went hunting many years ago with a neighbor that took $10 for our 10 day deer hunt. We got to Bend Oregon and he needed to stop to buy a box of 30-30 W cartridges. He also bought a pint of whiskey. Neither dad no I drank, and we did not have a 30-30 either. This neighbor bought no gas, no food no nothing. He was a mooch and when it came time to hunt he tried to get ahead of dad and me to all of the good places.
At least he did not go with us again on any hunt.
Now my brother goes with me. He does not hunt, but makes a great partner. He stays the whole month and manages camp, and more than pays his fair share. And in case you are getting any genius ideas: He is not available to go with you jerks. :D
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Trumkin the Dwarf » 10 05, 2020 •  [Post 8]

You gotta be masochistic to kill elk. Like Joe mentioned above, you will fail, fail some more, fail again, and usually about the time you're ready to throw your weapon down the mountainside in disgust, you're going to think, "one more hunt". Then, if your luck is like mine, it'll be at least 4 more full days of hunting before you get a shot. And if you muff the shot? Oh man, you better not muff it. The whole cycle repeats at that point. So learn to be absolutely lethal with your weapon while you're at it.
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Tigger » 10 05, 2020 •  [Post 9]

No. 1 for me is you need to hunt where there are elk. Both on a macro level (in this area of the unit) the mid level (in this drainage) and the micro level (on this bench 3/4 of the way up the mountain). Not everyone sees elk every day, but I read way too many stories of people going a whole trip without seeing an elk. They are doing something fundamentally wrong. Timing plays a role here as well. Hunting from 10 am to 2:30 pm is not going to result in a lot of elk sightings (unless you are hunting dark timber and if you are, odds are you are an old hand at elk hunting). Being able and willing to get to the elk is crucial. Road hunting will not result in many sightings.

One year we were at camp after taking the morning off cuz we packed my bull until 3 am (actually, that happened this year too..... :lol: ). This couple pulls up in their truck and admires the rack. They asked where I got him. I took one look at them and realized I could tell the truth because there is NO way they would get there. they were grossly overweight and wearing insulated bibs on a 50-some degree morning during archery season. No, I didnt tell details because I said, "Steep and deep". They probably thought I was a jerk for not answering them directly, but there was a lot of wisdom in what I said. A general unit bull is not waltzing around a meadow that borders a road at noon.

Persistence is another quality that is critical. Stick with it. Game densities are small.

Positive attitude is huge. Both for you and your hunting partner. One person with a bad attitude will pull the whole camp down.

Lastly, and this is not often talked about, but the ability to perform under pressure when "The Moment" comes. Being prepared with arrow notched and release on the D loop. Sliding 2 slow steps to the right because you read where the bull is going to go. Drawing at the right time. Knowing when and where to shoot. All that happens so fast and is so crucial. Many people who have plenty of experience hunting don't do it well at all. They freeze under pressure. They can't get the release on or the safety off. They spook the game. They just freeze and don't shoot. They aren't ready when the window is open. And finally, the big one--they miss. Show me someone who is good at this stuff and he/she will have a freezer full of meat and a wall full of antlers. There are more people who struggle with this than you realize and some of them have quite a few sesaons under their belt. I am betting at this point, you all have someone in your head who fits this description!
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Swede » 10 05, 2020 •  [Post 10]

Tigger wrote:the ability to perform under pressure when "The Moment" comes.


That will make another thread. Thanks
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Lefty » 10 05, 2020 •  [Post 11]

I quite enjoyed Joe's read.

And awakened many memories
Most of my life I thought the same way about work, trapping, work, goose hunting and work and inched too close when I first started archery hunting.However many of my qualities were developed before I got into archery elk.
I do need to develop making it happen under pressure.
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Lefty » 10 05, 2020 •  [Post 12]

Swede wrote:,,, And in case you are getting any genius ideas: He is not available to go with you jerks. :D


Ill send him an application,.. Im not a jerk,
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Re: Ten Top Qualities Of An Elk Hunter

Postby Roosiebull » 10 14, 2020 •  [Post 13]

this subject is a rabbit hole :lol:

so many qualities are related to others and blend together, it's hard to list importance, and importance is always changing depending on the situation.... many can't grasp the super simple concepts (hunting is caveman stuff) and many are just stubborn and want to do things how they want to do things.

experience is huge too, learning those qualities by default, and learning when and how to apply them. hunting with others, one thing i see a lot is the inability to shift gears on the fly, and when that needs to happen.... shifting up when you should be shifting down will change the outcome many times.... when it does, will you even see it in hindsight?

i think humility is a valuable quality, often overlooked.... you need to be ok blaming yourself if you are to blame... if not, you learn nothing from the encounter.

lots of moving parts in this discussion!
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