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Bust the roost?

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Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 1]

I've been giving the elk herd immunity..

My plan is/ was to hunt fringe groups or singles closer , for a shorter pack out. The elk are just one huge group.


I haven't been busting the roost so to speak in goose hunting terms.

The elk are impossible to get near in this wide open country of slightly rolling blm sagebrush.I played the wind and topography a dozen times, 4 times I was successful in getting under 40 yards of the targeted elk, three of those times waiting for the perfect shot other elk walked up even closer on me that I never saw. Once the Wind made the switch and busted me, twice darkness has brought an end to the days hunt.

Other times I was 100 or1000 feet or yards from the right place.
I even played the fog.

Everything seems to be working on the Elks favor :x :lol: .

I seem to be either the only one to know where these elk are, or the only fool trying to hunt them, Well the only fool trying to hunt them :)

My brother said I need to go in and and hunt them in their beds and bump them until thy break up into smaller groups.

What say-yee!

The only pattern I have is sometime between dusk and dawn the elk end up on the only public pasture that wasn't grazed to the dirt by cattle.

I use to enjoy s good stalk, but my knees scream no ..
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Jhg » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 2]

I don't know the important details regarding where the elk are bedding of course but I would want them coming in to me morning/late morning and would do whatever it took to get there ahead of them.

I am not a fan of your brothers suggestion, no disrespect intended or implied. I do agree you need to change from waiting/watching to activity hunting but it sounds like you are making smart decisions it just has not quite fallen into place.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby wawhitey » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 3]

Remember those old paintings of injuns stalking bison herds with a wolf fur draped over them? Maybe drape a coyote rug over yourself and crawl in on all 4s. Bet they wouldnt spook before you got in range. Be sure to go pro it. :lol:
Real eyes realize real lies
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby wawhitey » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 4]

This could be you lefty. Do it.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Jhg » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 5]

Or this:

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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 6]

I don't know the important details regarding where the elk are bedding of course but I would want them coming in to me morning/late morning and would do whatever it took to get there ahead of them.

I am not a fan of your brothers suggestion, no disrespect intended or implied. I do agree you need to change from waiting/watching to activity hunting but it sounds like you are making smart decisions it just has not quite fallen into place.


My muzzle loader hunt has been a long hunt, Normal mornings 300-450 elk in the open could see everything. These elk know of safety in the herd, and this location isn't by chance. Im not the only hunter who knows the elk are there, And All Ive talked to have said the big herd isn't doable. Always in the open walking into the wind, always. Morning currents dictated which canyons or drainages they would head up. I had been try for the edge of ingress and egressing straggling elk. The odds would eventfully work for me. But so far hadnt. But let me add, some was my choice, Because I don't bust the roost ( or kill the goose that lays the golden egg, or any other such idiom)



We had crazy thick fog. Sometimes visibility less than 30 yards. My brother also reminded me that I killed my first antelope at way less than 10 yards in thick fog. And earlier on that hunt I followed a herd by smell.

I set out minutes after the post, my hope was with the thick fog my body stink would stay drifting away and I would stalk by sound and smell. Right off I heard elk,.. I truly think I was just following some elk headed to where the elk were. ( or where thought they were just shy of two miles ).

Sort of like magic a pocket of sight happened and a cow mewed at me nearly 200 yards away. And the fog was right back to visibly under 70-80 yards. The elk were still a mile and more from where they had been bedding, however evidently bedded early in the fog. Then I saw ears, and elk and more elk on a trail we occasionally walked in on. And they started talking , a couple of bugles . The wind was good
I moved as fast as I could trying to get to the sharp ridge above me .
Im huffing and puffing,, breaking my own rule, never move faster than you can shoot.
Then an antler,, oopps the funky 3x1 my daughter wouldn't shoot during archery.
Less than 60 yards, the funcky bull vered off, then a cow calf, another cow calk, and more pairs, some only 35 yards,,, an easy shot,, and what goes through my mind. Shot one on the other side of the ridge. Who knows there still might be 100 or 200 , maybe more elk coming my way!

The another thought: was that bull on the tail end of the herd?

More mews in front of me!,

I passed my rock ( rock I have often glassed elk miles away. )
I drop to my belly,, Being wierd me: I scoot back and kick my rock with my right foot, , I chuckle a bit, Why is this going to be so stupid easy.
I put the gun over a rock.
Lifting my head I give this whiney cow call, nearly a scream,,,

Ok it may have only been 20 elk , but the whole world in front of me was elk heads and ears, coming towards me, Another whiney call and 4 yearling charged my direction,, Whoa ,, this is more than I want. I lift my head and the front elk saw something, me ,, stopped,,, I really don't know what happened to all the elk , I focused my full attention directly on the four elk in front of me, I did wait for a clear shot on the biggest of the four yearlings,

I squeezed the trigger, as the smoke cleared the elk made a hop and a skip, then tipped over .
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 7]

wawhitey wrote:This could be you lefty. Do it.


That was my brother and me 52-53 years ago with Holstein cows and slingshots at our cousins farm :lol: or maybe :oops:
Completely inspired by such pictures as kids,, along with plenty of other stupid things that gravity often won
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 8]

Swede no need for a tree stand, I was laying on the ground , shooting over a rock the size of a basketball


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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Jhg » 12 03, 2021 •  [Post 9]

I had a feeling it would come together. Nice persistence hunting.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby saddlesore » 12 04, 2021 •  [Post 10]

Never hunt their beds unless you are 100% sure you can tag one and don't plan to go back in there if you miss. Bump them a little where they feed or moving and they won't go far unless you really screw up.Bump them in their beds and they most likely they will leave and not come back.You leave your scent in there and most of the time the bull is bedded a little piece away from the cows .While you are picking thru the cows looking,the bull sneaks away. That stuff of bumping them and staying with them until they separate is a fools errand. They get further away fro m the truck or camp, more than likely lead you into the next drainage, and if you catch up to them and bump them again,they are gone out of the country.

This is completely different when elk herds have left the timber country and migrate out into the sage or grass meadows.Those elk are more than likely will stay around until the forage is used or may move 1-2 miles just on a whim
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby >>>---WW----> » 12 04, 2021 •  [Post 11]

Very sound advice from both Jhg and Saddlesore. The only time I would ever hunt bedded elk would be on the last day of my hunt.

The herd you described is most likely bedded there because they feel secure and nothing can approach them without being detected. If you bust them out of their bedding area, there is a good chance you'll spend the rest of your hunt trying to relocate them.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Swede » 12 04, 2021 •  [Post 12]

Congratulations Lefty on your elk success.

I often place my stands just a short way from a good bedding area and try to go in before the elk show up. Still there have been times that I busted them on the way into my stand. They were either bedded or at the water hole before of me. They were like the three little pigs, and I was the wolf, I guess. When I have done this by mistake, it is best to turn around and go somewhere else. No elk will be showing up there for a good long while.
In different areas, you can have varying experiences. In one unit I hunted there were several herds that moved through, and they all used the same water holes more or less. I think they used the same bedding places, but I am not sure about that. By returning later, you could get elk where you bumped some a couple of days earlier. Where I hunt now, they will come back but it takes about two weeks. I do not chase the elk I busted out, and I think that helps. They were startled once, so they left, but it does not appear to have a long-term effect on them.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby saddlesore » 12 04, 2021 •  [Post 13]

We always tried to let an area soak 3-4 days before going back to it.Now days with so any hunters, chances are slim to see them there again. I never quite convinced myself that it was the same group of elk that moved back in or another group that were pushed from somewhere else by other hunters.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Swede » 12 04, 2021 •  [Post 14]

saddlesore wrote:I never quite convinced myself that it was the same group of elk that moved back in or another group that were pushed from somewhere else by other hunters.


I agree. The only way I would know is if a unique bull was in the herd. That is very rare. I have observed the elk behave differently in different parts of the State. We know they are reacting to different situations.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 05, 2021 •  [Post 15]

Swede wrote: on your elk success.
returning later, you could get elk where you bumped some a couple of days earlier. Where I hunt now, they will come back but it takes about two weeks. I do not chase the elk I busted out, and I think that helps. They were startled once, so they left, but it does not appear to have a long-term effect on them.


Everyday out there is an elk success for me

This year was such a strange season with the weather, lack of snow , the number of elk seen.
I really do want to get an elk for my daughter ,,
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Swede » 12 06, 2021 •  [Post 16]

Success is accomplishing what you set out to do. If just being out is a success, then just take a lunch. :D
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Billy Goat » 12 06, 2021 •  [Post 17]

glad to hear it worked out, Lefty! I've never hunted them in big open BLM environment. definitely a different set of challenges.

attaboy for keeping on it.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 12 06, 2021 •  [Post 18]

Not to bust your roost guys, but as a matter of fact/record ..many elk are taken each year, particularly in archery season (during the rut) very close to bedding areas.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Swede » 12 06, 2021 •  [Post 19]

I prefer to find where trails come together at a waterhole near a bedding area. It really doesn't get any better than that. If you are in your stand early and plan to stay, you may get them coming and going.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby saddlesore » 12 07, 2021 •  [Post 20]

WapitiTalk1 wrote:Not to bust your roost guys, but as a matter of fact/record ..many elk are taken each year, particularly in archery season (during the rut) very close to bedding areas.


Yes,but many more are busted out of bedding areas never to return. Is there a book somewhere that records where all elk are killed? If so, I'd sure like to buy one.Or is this personal experience and fact /record for you? Very close and in bedding areas is not the same.

I could go into a bedding area and kill an elk almost ever year. However, if I screw up or miss a shot, I have essentially ruined that particular area for the remainder of the season.Particularly in the 5 day rifle seasons that Colorado has. When one has a month to hunt as in archery season, other elk may move back into that area. In my personal experience, that is a fact to me,and a matter of my records, but maybe not to others.

I hunt with a partner. We can take an elk out of a group coming or going to water or feed . If you don't do all that jumping around and high fives that one sees on TV hunt shows, and remain quiet after the shot, we can usually go back in there in 2-3 days and take another one. It may be the herd bull bringing up the rear, a satellite bull,or a cow. If either of us head right into the bedding are, kill or spook and elk, we ruin it for the other guy . Then we have to go find them again,which could very well be several miles away.

Generally speaking for rifle, muzzle loader, and archery hunts it is best not to hunt bedding areas if you don't want to run elk out of the country. If hunting by yourself,and are pretty darn sure that you can sneak in there and take an elk, pack it out and go home, then go for it. As Bill said though, it is better left to do that on the last day of the hunt.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Jhg » 12 07, 2021 •  [Post 21]

I have killed several elk near bedding areas but that is a narrow distinction. 75 yards away from where they lay is basically the same thing as being in the area.
Anyway, my most successful tactic is hunting them as they come up into bedding. It is very effective but you can't just be ignorant about doing it.

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The questions I consider are:

1) Will they wind me? If they will I won't try this tactic or will pull out asap. Whats the point if you spook the elk. I killed this years bull by pulling out right away then got him the next day with a better plan In the same place.

2) Can I pull out without being detected? Kinda tied into #1. This is really a big deal. Don't hunt bedding if they will know you where there.

3) Can I get where I need to be without messing up the area? Approaching bedding has to be in secret.

4) Will I gloat unreasonably if I arrow a nice bull? Its hard not to get excited about a successful hunt. I agree with keeping the celebration quiet. Besides, its more in keeping with respect in my opinion. Ya just killed a creature after all. Be humble.

Elk hunting like this is very different than Paul's run-n-gunning. Plan changes moment to moment, subtle shifts in wind, terrain and cover all figure into it. I guess its a game of inches, a game of patience. The idea is the elk have no idea you are around. You may call, but calling is chosen as the final closer, not as a locator, not as an enticer, not as a means to get action.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Swede » 12 07, 2021 •  [Post 22]

I like the comments and observations I am reading here. I have tree stand hunted within good bedding areas. Two spots come to mind that I have gone to when I hunted with my son and Stringgunner. At these two spots it was critical how we approached our stands. We went over a ridge and dropped directly down very early in the morning. It was best to stay in the stand until last light. I have been busted several times going there, but those springs have been good to us also. Saddlesore is right about the elk leaving the area for a good long time once we scared the elk from their bedding grounds. The funny thing is that Stringgunner killed a huge bull in one of those stands and he and his dad butchered and packed it out in the afternoon. By evening the elk were back. I am not sure if it was the same herd that he scared off when he shot his bull or not. At any rate elk were still in the area after they were working and packing all afternoon.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 11, 2021 •  [Post 23]

Approaching a stand , blind , or where we hunt, the term aggressive to some is a bad idea for reckless.

I was talking to a buddywhe specializes in big bears.
A rich and famous hunter insisted on hunting a stand with a huge bear. T wanted the fellow to hunt another stand with good wind.

The hunter paid a lot to hunt the bigger bear,, then killed a 350 lb bear, and in the process the huge bear never came back to either baits.

I've had goose fields, that if you don't get in and put the fid is dead for weeks
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 11, 2021 •  [Post 24]

And Swede : I was less than aggressive with that big pile of elk. First were ever seen so many their and didn't want to blow them out of the country and back to nowhere Montana.

The wind caught me a couple times, I backed out other times.

But what an experience most never will have that close so long with elk
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Jhg » 12 11, 2021 •  [Post 25]

Persistence hunting.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Lefty » 12 11, 2021 •  [Post 26]

Jhg wrote:Persistence hunting.

I would like to think it was the right way for the elk, others and myself.
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Re: Bust the roost?

Postby Jhg » 12 13, 2021 •  [Post 27]

A persistence hunt story can be found at Tradgang. Go to pow wow and enter a search for Three Days of Blackleg.
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