Elk Urgency

[Trophyhill]

are you a sports fan? have you ever watched a sporting event like football and you see the losing team that just doesn't play with a sense of urgency? like the 4th quarter and a team is down by a couple touch downs and the team mopes up to the line of scrimmage in a lackadazickle kind of way? almost like they don't want to win!

how bout when you are elk hunting? when, or do you get that sense of urgency that you better make something happen or you're going home with empty ice chest's? how do you keep complacency from setting in? maybe you've blown an opportunity or 2 and you can't get it out of your head causing a major stumbling or mental block. or you are having a hard time finding elk and your attention to detail starts to wane. any thoughts on this?

[Swede]

If I have to hunt the full 30 days we have for elk season, I don't give up. I hunt as diligently the last day as the first. I start having my doubts after a couple of weeks with nothing to show for my efforts. Those doubts get more serious the last three or four days of the season. Maybe this is not my year, I wonder. I never give up until dark settles in on the last day. If I have to go home with no elk, I feel I did all I could. I don't spend much time second guessing or wondering "what if".
I can say that I have killed elk the last weekend and even the last hour of the season. As Yogi Berra is famously quoted as saying "it ain't over til it's over." Those are important words for the elk hunter to consider. Almost always I hunt alone the last half of the season. How can a hunter who goes as a team ever give up early?

[easeup]

that urgency is always there....maybe it is because the NR hunter ususally only has a week to get it done, so by design there is no time to waste.

In regard to that mental sharpness of the hunt, I see what you mean usually about 3 days in to it and you are not seeing anything and the disappointment starts to creep in. Many of us know that everything can change in a matter of seconds. In the blink of an eye a bull appears in the woods below you or a bugle sounds just a couple hundred yds away and it is a full court press at that point.
just like your analogy of the game, there has been many a game where one team just cant stop the other and they are down and need a boost. The winning team seems to be on an unstoppable drive at 6 yds per snap. one more score and the game is out of reach. Then low and behold, the ball is on the carpet and a scramble to pick it up and instantly everything is different.

[otcWill]

I can honestly say that for me there is no sense of urgency regarding sealing the deal unless I am running out of light or elk are headed for someplace unhuntable and I have only seconds to seal the deal or make a decision. Otherwise, I try to enjoy every second and don't get too hung up on success though I admit there is some letdown if I come home empty handed.

[cnelk]

There is nothing like taking a 1/2 day off and going fishing for brookies or looking at a map at a completely differnt area and saying...
"Im going here!" to eliminate the urgency/disappointment feeling.

[elkmtngear]

If it gets down to the wire, I get desperate.

I hate giving up, and I will push the timeline to the last possible second.

My hunting partner gets bored easily and is quick to throw in the towel. Just one of the reasons we have parted ways this Season.

[BrentLaBere]

I usually have the patience to wait the situation out and persevere until the end. I think I added that quality to my hunting while hunting for whitetails out of tree stands for so long. There is only so much you can do.......be patient. With that being said though when an opportunity presents itself and it feels like it may be slipping away after a long hunt I get desperate. I would pull the goalie (sports reference) and sometimes even get caught with an extra guy on the ice. haha sometimes getting down right sloppy and get busted (wind, being in the open, making too much noise at the wrong time, list goes on) but at that point I am going for broke because its my last opportunity and I have nothing to lose.

[slim9300]

It's all about outlook. If coming home empty handed is losing, and one hates to lose, they will push until the end. I can appreciate the 'experience' like the best of em' but if that's all I was looking for I would go for more nature walks. I think the trick is to hunt for the reasons that make you happy. For every hunter this is going to vary.

[Trophyhill]

well said Conlan! i truly enjoy the whole experience but i really do enjoy eating elk more than just about anything. i hate getting skunked lol. Brent, i'm very familiar with the analogy. i've been watching alot of hockey and increasingly it is becoming one of my fav sports to watch.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Finding another bugling bull usually helps get my head back in the game.

[Indian Summer]

I'm a 2nd wind kinda guy. When the going gets tough I find this extra gear I didn't know was there. I feel like the more obstacles I've overcome the closer I am to completing the test and earning the paycheck. It's no different than day 1 when the first 3 or 5 ridges didn't have a bugling bull. Odds are at that point that you are about due.

I think a big thing there though is knowing what is considered a reasonable amount of effort to judge your results by. A first time elk hunter is busy taking in lots of things going on around him or her. That takes some mental effort on it's own by the end of the day. Just about the time they may be thinking holy crap this is like the Great Race... the guy who's been there before knows that that's just the half of it.

You have to mentally coach yourself... and sometimes a partner. One of things I say from time to time is: Just suck it up right now and do what you waited all year to do and maybe, just maybe you'll get it done and can sleep in tomorrow if you want. I guess the trick is to keep believing that 10 or 20 or 30 days in a row. But I do.

I've also been known to say: Nobody ever said I'll be standing next to a dead elk in an hour but many many people have said "man... when we left camp this morning who would have known today would be the day" But it was.

Stay thirsty my friends!