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Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

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Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 06 15, 2022 •  [Post 1]

I've had some interesting discussions with friends on this topic over the years. Should you hunt them or not? At some point, before daylight, very early in the morning, even into mid morning, as the weather/hunting pressure/moon cycle dictates, the herd "normally" heads to a bedding area 2/3 to 3/4 the way up the sidehill. As with many elk hunting options/strategies, it depends.. It depends on what? It depends on the area you're hunting and many other factors. Perhaps it is the only drainage you're hunting that year. It depends on how thick the area is impacting effective ingress/regress. It depends on the patterns of the particular herd whom are bedding in said area.. A bit cryptic I know, sorry... just trying to spark some elky chat ..

The question is, do you consciously hunt known bedding areas and what are your tactics? Remember, we're talking peak rut time when the wapiti are very vocal.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Swede » 06 15, 2022 •  [Post 2]

I am addressing the question as a tree stand elk hunter.

If I hunt a bedding area, I go in at first light and plan to stay all day. I arrive before the elk are around.
If no elk show up in the morning, I may leave around noon, but I know it is risky. Elk can show up at any time and when you bust them out of the area, you are effectively done for the day. I cannot remember ever busting out elk when going to or from my stand, when I am close to my perch, that I have had a second chance that day. The elk are effectively gone. Go and hunt another stand.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Wapiti » 06 15, 2022 •  [Post 3]

Here’s last years bull from bedding area.
I morning hunted into this area I knew was a bedding area. I Called and hiked all morning on the game trails. Surprisingly I never heard a Bugle All Morning long. I did multiple set ups using advertising sequences and also breeding sequences. This was the morning of October 1. The night before in the same area I had 4 bull elk bugling and literally work themselves up into a bugling frenzy !!

Once I got close to this area it was roughly 12:30 - 1 o’clock in the afternoon now. The spot I came to was a small little meadow area with a little creek running through it. This spot was in the middle of the bush Surrounded by willows and poplar trees. The small little area was basically the hub of a wheel with all the game trails leading into it.

So I checked the wind multiple times and set up on top of the creek bank downwind from all the trails. Then I played the waiting game and just hunker down to wait for a couple hours. About 4 o’clock I did a very small breeding sequence which basically consisted of a few sporadic cow calls mixed in with a couple calf calls. I started this off very quietly and slowly with just a few calls to start. Then about 20 minutes later I did that all again. Then I waited about another 20 minutes and did it again but this time I introduced the bull to the equation. Giving bull elk sounds like little moans and groans and very quiet chuckles. I then went quiet for about 15 minutes. After that the next bull elk sound I made was a low note bugle very quietly so only elk within 100 to 150 yards would be able to hear me.

Instantly one of the bulls from the night before finally let a bugle rip !! Then after about 30 to 40 seconds I could hear the bull elk stepping on sticks as he came my direction. He was getting closer and closer and there was a couple big spruce trees to my left and as the bull passed under the spruce trees I came to full draw !! The bull stepped into my shooting lane and I gave a very quiet mew with my voice, but he didn’t hear it so I gave a 2nd louder mew which stopped him. I settled my 20 yard pin and let the arrow fly !

The bull elk was hit hard and he only ran about 50 or 60 yards and crashed and I could hear him thrash around for a couple seconds and then nothing but silence !! I thought to myself this was the perfect plan for hunting this bedding area and it all worked out so awesome !! My only mistake was not taking a video camera along with me on this hunt as I was by myself and didn’t feel like carrying everything !! What a huge mistake that turned out to be !!






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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Lefty » 06 15, 2022 •  [Post 4]

We try to hunt where the bulls are. But,,,,,,,,if there are over 50 head in the area we haven't been successful pulling a bull out

With that said, others have often messed up the larger heard of elk from the 15th to 22 nd
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby saddlesore » 06 16, 2022 •  [Post 5]

NO. If the elk have not been pressured, they may use that bedding area for awhile. Get in there and stink it up and they will leave. Only on your last day if you know you won't be back there. Sure,you might get lucky and tag one,but statistics show most hunters get busted more often with encounters than they get shots.

In a bedding are, you have all those eyes and noses to catch you and most likely the bull will not be bedded right amongst them. By the time you locate him 20 other eyes and noses have located you.
.
Newbies and those that don't know any better hunt bedding areas
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Swede » 06 16, 2022 •  [Post 6]

saddlesore wrote:NO. If the elk have not been pressured, they may use that bedding area for awhile.


Saddlesore makes a great point. That is where tree stand hunting makes a big difference. By being 20-30 feet up my scent does not go to the ground anywhere near where I am. I have had deer, bear and elk come up under my stand very soon after I took my seat above them. I have had them come right down the trail I walked just a few minutes earlier. Even urinating from the stand does not affect the game use. I have watched deer eating the bush I just peed on. The bear I peed on years ago, walked under the tree I had relieved myself from earlier. If I planned to hunt a bedding area, it would be from a tree stand.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 06 16, 2022 •  [Post 7]

Nice bull and great write up Trav; that was an exciting hunt! OK, my thread question was somewhat of a trick question I spose. More often than not, elk will be very close to or in their bedding area(s) from from early to mid-morning up until they start moving to the evening/nighttime feeding area. This roughly places elk in/near their bedding areas 7+ hours during daylight (shooting) hours. This is when and where a good number of elk are killed each year. Doing it consciously or not, particularly during the rut when elk give away their movements vocally, an bowhunter is oftentimes hunting near or in bedding areas.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby saddlesore » 06 16, 2022 •  [Post 8]

I hunt Muzzle loader season.Basically the same time as archery.I must have different elk because by mid morning elk have already been in their bedding area, and might stand up, move around a few yards at noon or so,but don't start moving again until about an hour before last shooting horse( Dusk) . Those you do see during the day,have been busted by other hunters and are moving out. Figuring 6:30 am to 7:30 pm,that is close to 13 hours. Moving an hour or so in the AM, same in the PM, 2 hours total. Those are the prime shooting times.I don't agree that a goodly number of bulls are killed outside of those hours, Early in the season, bulls may bugle once or twice at day brake and the nothing except a few during the night. During peak rut, yea,they will be more vocal, but it does not take too much to shut them up by creeping into their bedding area. I have killed a few elk mid day, but by far many more in the first hour of the day.

The tactic is hunt them on their way to and from the bedding areas,not in it. As the saying goes, even a blind pig can find an acorn every once in a while. Some will kill elk by hunting the bedding areas, but people that kill elk consistently every year in the same local keep out of the bedding areas. I put it in the same class as people that camp in prime elk habitat. JMHO

Of course,I am talking about Colorado where hunting pressure is extreme and elk are in a survival mode instead of what they do the other 9 months of they year. Especially those OTC archery units.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Elkhunttoo » 06 16, 2022 •  [Post 9]

I will have a tree stand in a bedding area this year…I had a trail camera in this bedding area last year…the earliest elk entered the bedroom was around 9 and the latest was around 2 pm…this spot is one of my brother-in-laws favorite places…last year the elk pounded it…I have 2 other bedding areas that are super good also and I’ve had trail cameras in them too…it depends on the size of our hunting crew if we have tree stands in them this year.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby ElkNut1 » 06 20, 2022 •  [Post 10]

Travis, way to go sir, nice bull bud!

My main technique for taking archery bulls is to call them out of their bedding area. My Son & I have taken quite a few elk & over 40 have been set up on the perimeter of bedding areas where taken.

We do not get amongst them as that's too close, get within 200 yards or so & they are very vulnerable to the right sequence, works like a charm on OTC public land bulls.

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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby saddlesore » 06 21, 2022 •  [Post 11]

ElkNut1 wrote:Travis, way to go sir, nice bull bud!

My main technique for taking archery bulls is to call them out of their bedding area. My Son & I have taken quite a few elk & over 40 have been set up on the perimeter of bedding areas where taken.

We do not get amongst them as that's too close, get within 200 yards or so & they are very vulnerable to the right sequence, works like a charm on OTC public land bulls.

ElkNut



Spot on for sure
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Wapiti » 06 27, 2022 •  [Post 12]

ElkNut1 wrote:Travis, way to go sir, nice bull bud!

My main technique for taking archery bulls is to call them out of their bedding area. My Son & I have taken quite a few elk & over 40 have been set up on the perimeter of bedding areas where taken.

We do not get amongst them as that's too close, get within 200 yards or so & they are very vulnerable to the right sequence, works like a charm on OTC public land bulls.

ElkNut

Thanks you Paul ! Honestly most of the tactics were taught by you and I’ve just fine tuned them for our areas up in Alberta !! Thanks to you laying down the ground work and being willing to share with all of us !!

PATIENCE was absolutely the key to this bull. Then using the correct sound and volume or in this instance lack of volume !! Quiet calling is a super awesome tactic that I use a lot and it sucks the bulls right over !! Oh sure we can use volume in our bugles in many instances but low volume calling is one thing most guys do not use.

Try it out guys. Use low note bugles and very quiet type calling. Moans and groans and swooshing the grass along breaking a few very small sticks. Make the scenario as realistic as possible !!

OH BOY bring on September !! I can’t wait already !! Lol
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby >>>---WW----> » 06 29, 2022 •  [Post 13]

Elk need a sanctuary or secure area where they feel safe and can rest up while being able to detect any danger. That is why they pick selected bedding areas. If undisturbed they most likely will remain in the same general area for several days.

Once I locate a herd, my theory is to hunt around the bedding or hi use area day after day and try to catch them coming and going from the bedding areas or feeding areas without ever letting them know I'm in the area. As soon as the thermals shift, I'm out of there.

I try my best to never enter a known bedding area. I may hunt within a couple hundred yards of it but never in it. That's just a sure way to bust them out of the area and have to spend the rest of my hunt trying to relocate where they went.

The only exception to entering the bedding area might be a last ditch effort on the very last day of the hunt.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Jhg » 07 03, 2022 •  [Post 14]

I have and will hunt bedding. For me I want a couple things to be known: 1) can I access on my terms and not the elks? 2) is it actually a good option or is it impatience rearing its head.

One hole I hunt you can get above the herd early and they come up to you. It is very exciting as there is a small creek they cross and the herd bull calls a lot when they are crossing. Talk about sweaty palms! Sometimes it is harder knowing they are coming. That 15 minutes gives your mind a lot of time to psych itself out.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Swede » 07 04, 2022 •  [Post 15]

I find the biggest problem is going into elk bedding areas during the middle of the day from about 0900 to 1700. The elk may not be there at 9:00 AM or as late as 5:00 PM, but I would not push it.
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Re: Hunting Elk Bedding Areas During the Rut

Postby Jhg » 07 04, 2022 •  [Post 16]

Bedding area bull...


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I found him opening morning as I had just crossed over a small saddle and was dropping down at an angle into the next drainage. It was about 8AM. I pulled out right away. The wind was not in my favor and if I had gone another 20 yds or so they would have had my scent. They had not seen enough of me to confirm as human. I figured that as opening day, unpressed elk, they would not "hold the grudge" if I (the possible threat) never showed up after that initial moment.

Following morning I hunted around the end of the ridge the saddle was on instead, and got under them. Wind now in my favor, I caught them coming in to bed and called him in then using a bugle followed by panting.
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