Got an itch...

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

To hunt some desert elk. I know Montana has them, and I will do the work to find them.
I even know how to hunt that type of country (just treat em like antelopes), but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to hear the stories! I know some of ya'll have stories about such places. Enlighten me further. Please? I'm kinda goin stir crazy right now...

[Swede]

I know a bow hunter that has been very successful at hunting desert bulls. He has a job that puts him in a small airplane or helicopter many days every year, flying over the desert. The hunter is law abiding in everything he does, but he knows where the elk are and where they are headed. It sure does not hurt, that he sees elk from the airplane on a regular basis. He knows every water hole, juniper grove and oasis on the desert. He has quite a collection of 340+ class bulls.

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

Well that got my wheels turning quickly!

[Indian Summer]

Not really an elk hunting story for you Malachi but one time I was hunting antelope in eastern Wyoming. We were on our bellies looking at a herd over a rise. I happened to look behind us in a wide open sage flat... not a hill around for miles, and there was a herd of about 40 elk. Here's the good part: 17 were bulls! They were all single file and moving along. The biggest one would step out of line and hook the rest as they went by him then run back to the front of the line. There were 320 plus bulls getting out of his way. It was a heck of a sight I'll never forget.

When I get about 7 Wyoming points it's highly likely I'll be hunting desert bulls. The area has a good number of 340-350+ bulls and I'm really good at hunting open country where lots of people might think there's no way to get in close. It's amazing that even in that wide open stuff finding them is more than half the battle.

Good thread.. got me all worked up.

[elkaholic]

Chasing "elkalopes" can be fun or extremely frustrating. I'm still in the frustrating phase but I think I am starting to figure them out. Water is huge but they can travel up to 15 miles to get it in a night. Rarely did the elk come into the water during shooting light. I had a camera set up and I think I only had about half a dozen pictures of elk in the daylight.
Good optics and patience are your best friend, more so than hunting mountain elk. Saves you a lot of footsteps.
Carry extra water with you. I carry twice what I usually go through. The added weights sucks but is totally worth it when I need to refill in the middle of a sage flat.
I haven't had luck with waterholes in my area but they could be a gold mine in other areas.

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

The first elk I shot was actually out of Montana's famed unit 380. For a while, kids under 15 could take a cow on a general tag in that unit (don't know if that is still the case). Anyways, my grandpa had a harebrained idea to hunt the unit for mule deer one year, and so we talked my uncle into joining us and headed out that way, with the idea being that I could tag along and pop a cow if we saw one. The mule deer hunt devolved into an all day stalk when we spotted some elk a good mile away, on the only hill in sight. It wasn't quite desert terrain but it was genuine prairie country. The stalk got delayed by a coyote shoot up in a juniper choked draw (we jumped a group of 3 at 30 yards) and we didn't get within range of the elk till 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I got my cow, and turned 16 that January, thus making it unlikely that I would ever hunt that unit again due to the low draw odds.

That hunt has bugged me ever since. I've always wanted to chase elk in that type of country with a bow. It seems like the odds of connecting are rather low. But if you make it happen...

[bowman177]

I hunt desert elk down here in New Mexico. One tip is to find the water and maybe even sit there at dusk or dawn. However, I have noticed that desert elk have become somewhat immune to not drinking water everyday. The elk will usually tuck away in a source of shade during the day and could care less about cow calls/ bugles. Another thing I noticed is that the elk will stay in the same location and even if you spook them they will come back. Hunting desert elk has it's pros and cons like any hunt but harvesting a desert elk is a huge reward!

[Lefty]

Expect to cover more mile and spend more time glassing. Dont expect elk to answer calls during sun up. Bulls will respond when the rut is heavy but otherwise lots of glassing
Think of antelope hunting ,.. without a truck
I hunt water in the evening
And the 15 miles to water,.. well thats what they do some nights
Know where your nearest irrigated fields are,../. that a place to scout
More miles fewer elk fewer hunters,.. I like it