I'm Not A Wallow Fan

[Swede]

Point: Many archery elk hunters consider finding a wallow a big prize. Some mistake springs and seeps for wallows, as they don't know the difference. These hunters must get excited a lot. I know of no wallow that alone would interest me in setting up there. I am not against sitting at wallows. It just takes more to get me to hang a stand over one. Add to that wallow, four to six well beaten game trails and a good spring, and I go from a yawn to looking for a good tree to set up my stand in. "Good" wallows are not hard to find but consider everything you would at a spring or saddle before setting over one. That great looking fresh wallow you found last season may never get this year. The one that was hit just before the season may not get visited again. I am not a wallow fan because they are not reliable enough.
OK Lefty: Let's see your counterpoint.

[saddlesore]

All wallows will tell you is an elk was there at some time.Chances of it returning are slim. However another elk might wander by. Finding a drinkable water source in dry times is more reliable, but elk tend to visit that in the night.

[Swede]

Saddlesore, you are right on the money. I consider the last hour of light to be the golden hour for killing elk at a waterhole. I kill more at that time than all of the rest of the day combined. That is why I am up to 2:00AM and later so often. Hunting friends get real excited getting into a stand where the elk have torn up the nearby spring and surrounding area very recently. I never object to them claiming that spot. If they can stay long enough, maybe the elk will return. And maybe not.

[Elkhunttoo]

Wallows are never a sure thing (I guess nothing really is). But they are interesting to me. I have ran cameras for several years. I have one wallow that will get thrashed one year and then elk will be in the area the next year and then not hit it. One year a had on camera a small 6 point go morning and evening 2 days in a row. Just always interesting and seems to be no reason….2023 season didn’t have one elk hit a wallow that the elk usually like. We have more cameras in the area so we know elk were in there. Yet in 2024 the bulls hit it harder then they ever have

[WapitiTalk1]

My hunting buddy killed a really nice 5X6 while the critter was standing in a wallow, throwing mud 10 feet on either side (while his cows looked on 20 yards uphill). That bull dropped before he even got to where the cows were. It was around the second week of September. IMO, that was a rare situation. “Most” of the consistent wallowing activity in the states that I’ve hunted occurs late July thru mid/late August then it seems to peter out. Sure, there are some residual visits by elk to the wallows of August during September and beyond, but it’s not consistent… it’s more like hit and miss. Do I check out known earlier in the year wallows during the September archery elk season(s)? Sure, why not …

[Swede]

Even with a career with the Forest Service, I do not remember seeing a July wallow. I am sure elk can wallow at any time, but most of the wallowing I have seen, including fresh wallows, has been between August 15-September 5th. I have seen fresh elk wallow later. I killed a 5X5 that I allowed to wallow later in September, and one with recent mud still on him on the last Saturday of the archery season.
I never thought cows wallowed until I watched one wallow just like a bull. I would have shot her, but it was a bull only hunt area. That day the bull came in about 1/2 hour later and I killed him before he got to wallow. That was mid-September 2022.
BTW: It is raining now for the first time in a month and a half. Yea!

[Tigger]

We came upon a wallow when it was lunchtime. Good place for a sandwich. Sure enough, here comes an elk. However, when it cleared the last bush and we could see it, it turned into a mama bear with 2 cubs. I guess she wanted a drink. There was water flowing all over, so she wasn't going to drink wallow water. yuk. hey, that is a good name for a new drink. Wallow water. Can you just picture Swede 90 feet up in a tree taking a long drink out of a bottle with a brightly colored label saying "Wallow Water"??!??

[Elkhunttoo]

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With my trail cameras I have seen bulls come into the wallows in the summer but they just drink and leave…they earliest I have seen “wallow activity” from a bull is around the second week of August…it seems like it coincides with them rubbing the velvet…this is definitely not scientific but just what I have observed

[Lefty]

Ok Swede I just got back from some Colo0rado Elk country, A little fishing, gold panning and 4x4. Not all was play time,, but we did have much more play time than expected.
Plan was to get a friends cabin ready for sale: Pack stuff up then play.
Listed the cabin Saturday evening, Was shown Sunday and they accepted the offer Monday morning,,, ,,,,So we came back Yesterday the 9th

So Swede Ill start with the definition ( you asked for it)
Wallowing can refer to both physical actions and emotional states.
1Physically, it means rolling around in something like mud or water for pleasure or comfort, Actually my kind of fun So Im a fan

Emotionally, it describes indulging in negative feelings like self-pity or grief, often to excess. I avoid, this completely takes the fun out of things Not a fan of wallowing

When I hunted the desert,,wallows were on ag fields where the water runoff from irrigation, or by water-tanks overflow,,, both kind of stinky,,, And I dont like working with rank/stinky

Where we hunt now most wallows, springs or seeps that come back out of the ground. Generally places where cattle stomp out and area a few are nearly dried up beaver ponds
However most of out water come out of the ground, then back in,,, maybe reappears a short or long distance away.

Like rubs and scrapes wallows are used here and there, just indicate use,,, but so does poop and tracks
we know of a few wallows used year after year but dont hunt them specifically. The one is where water is above ground for maybe 500 yards, With some of the places used yearly, it is an open bottom yearly used for rutting.,,, sorry Swede no trees

We use to hunt it heavv , but others now frequent the same area the last weeks of the season Just not our thing to be competitive hunting. If we see a vehicle along that stretch of road we leave.

[Swede]

I know I did not specify "elk wallows", but this is the elk forum. A sailing ship caught in the Doldrums could be said to be wallowing. Bears wallow and the Bismark after being torpedoed by a Swordfish biplane off the Ark Royal was rudderless and wallowing. None of this has anything to do with the subject at hand. Focus Buddy, focus.

[Lefty]

[Swede]

You are a good sport, Lefty.

[Lefty]

I apologize Swede,,,
Ive been working hard,,,, and all that bundled up humor isnt leaking out as it generally would ,,just to set you strait, straight, strate,,, ahh,,,

[Swede]

I apologize Swede,,,

I can't imagine why. I harangue you and you just give it back. You always stay above the belt and I like that.

[Lefty]

I apologize Swede,,,

I can't imagine why. I harangue you and you just give it back. You always stay above the belt and I like that.

I use to teach 7 graders,,,, So even my joke are sub PG