Hunting areas with tons of roads?

[TJH24]

This question is pretty much as the title says. I hunt an area that if just full of logging roads, most of them old and areas have been logged years ago. The problem is access, its easy for everybody to get to them. A lot of the gates are open to drive in archery.

I always read about trying to get as far away from roads as possible, but what is the best way to be successful in areas like this?

I know there are pros and cons. You can easily cover ground and it does make it easier to call to bulls at night and locate them, but it also makes it easy for a lot of guys to just drive around and bugle out of there running truck windows, haha

How do you guys successfully hunt these areas?

[kevin_t]

I know of someone who was hunting elk in the timber. They sat down and smoked a cigarette and when finished, stood up and there was a bear a sleep 25 yards away. I guess the bear didnt care. They were not downwind either

[JohnFitzgerald]

Are you a caller, spot and stock, or tree stand hunter? Since you mentioned calling at night I'm assuming you chase. Hunt the elk the same way you would for roadless. I hunt both and my tactics are the same. One good thing about roaded area's , it's easy to close the distance on a vocal bull in a very short amount of time.

At times, I find just as many elk outside of roadless areas. Hunt where the elk are.....3 miles in or 200 yards in.

Just my dos centos!

[Swede]

I also hunt a heavily roaded area. Since a ranch sanctuary is nearby, the elk can easily be pushed off of public land. Adding to the problem of roads and people are the cattle than cover the land like maggots. I know many people think of sheep as the maggots, but cattle are about the same, except they don't have a dog trailing them. I prefer to stay quiet and hunt isolated places from a tree stand. I will find a water hole near a bedding area. The upper slopes are better than the bottoms as the cattle prefer to stay lower and only move up when pushed or they have decimated every edible thing down low.

[Indian Summer]

I hunt some places with forest roads. Some are gated and some aren't. What state? How many people are you crossing paths with? Where I'm at there aren't enough bow hunters to matter and so the ease of access isn't an issue.

[cnelk]

Some of the places I hunt are near roads/trails.
I have put alot of effort in finding where the elk are - and arent.
I have places where I can sit in my tree stands and here vehicles.

The first step would be is to determine if the elk are there during legal hunting hours.
Then I would do a wind check of the area to see if they are 'huntable'
If the wind can be in my favor for at least a morning or evening hunt, then I will then look for campsites where I think hunters will be camping/making noise.
Only after I put these and a few other factors into the mix will I dedicate time to hunt near roads.

For more info hunting near roads, re-read my post 'And the quarters are hung' from this past September

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2944&hilit=and+the+quarters

[elkmtngear]

We used to hunt that type of country way back when in the Umatilla National Forest in Oregon. I never heard a single bull bugle in three Seasons hunting back there. We would see elk regularly, but they would mostly be on the move.

In 15 Seasons in Colorado, hunting Wilderness areas with just a single main access road, I've never seen an elk from the road.

Elk certainly adapt to the conditions at hand.

[wawhitey]

disclaimer... ive not tagged my first elk yet... but... i hunt (deer elk bear coug etc) in areas riddled with logging roads , and my experience is that 99% of people hunt from their trucks.. if you get where you cant SEE a logging road, in some thick stuff, you find animals. mature ones. the young bucks, bulls etc that are dumb enough to get in a clearcut during season near a logging road are the ones that dont make it. the smart critters just hang far enough in deep stuff that road hunters cant get them. roads dont mean there arent good animals around, they just mean that its easier to pack them out. most of the areas i hunt i know i can find nice bucks and whatnot, and as a general rule if i drag them downhill in any direction i get the carcass somewhere that i can access with my quad if not my truck. never underestimate the laziness of the masses