How Would You Hunt?

[Still Hunter]

Here's the situation. I know most of you are bow hunters, so you'll have to use your imagination.

It's 3rd rifle season which means early Nov. It's been a warm fall, and there's little snow in the mountains in Colorado. Elk are silent.

I'm not asking, because I don't know the answer. I'm asking to see how you would hunt post rut. Explain how you would hunt, and why?

[cohunter14]

If it has been a warm fall with little moisture, I would say finding water is important. I would be looking for water in areas around both feeding and bedding areas and would probably try to hunt the trasition routes around them. BTW, I am a rifle hunter, so I hope I am close!

[Still Hunter]

There's more than one way to hunt, so there's no right or wrong answer. This is just how you would do it.

Keep in mind though. There is snow, it's just not deep. Which should help you decide where the elk might be.

[cohunter14]

If there is snow on the ground, the need to find water isn't as severe obviously. And as you said, the snow on the ground definitely can help in finding the elk, depending on how old the snow is.

[cnelk]

In November, elk are putting on the feed bags, alot.
They are conserving energy for the upcoming winter.
I look for small aspen meadows that hold feed and cover nearby.
Edges of clearcuts where feed is present is also good.
South facing slopes where there is little to no snow attracts elk for heat and more feed.
They could be in bigger herds [10-20] getting ready to stage a migration to wintering grounds

[Still Hunter]

How would you hunt? Not so much where are they?

Tactics.

[cohunter14]

I think a lot depends on the location. Can you spot and stalk? Or is it all thick vegetation? With it being a rifle hunt, you don't necessarily need to be right on top of them to ensure a clean kill. The first trick is finding them, the next is figuring out how to hunt them. Finding them is a lot easier spotting from a hillside then trying to find them in the woods, hence the question.

[pointysticks]

i'd sit up high and glass..then when i find them. shoot them from my perch if i could..if not, move to a more advantageous perch.

i agree with Cnelk. they will be where the food grows..so where the sunlight hits. glass those spots, and shoot.

for me..rifle hunting the challenge is finding them.

[Still Hunter]

Yes, finding them is the first step. Where though? This is a very high pressured season.

[pointysticks]

How would you hunt? Not so much where are they?

Tactics.

i thought "where" wasnt the question..

is this like "who's on first?"..hahah..JK. hope you find the answer...i am a bowhunter. i just punted my feeble answer into the mix from that background.

[Still Hunter]

I'm not looking for a specific answer. I still hunt no matter what the season is.

Calling is such a big part of this forum. I want to see how you guys would hunt if calling wasn't the ideal way to hunt.

Just because it's 3rd rifle season is no reason to not use whatever weapon you want. I use a muzzleloader no matter what the season is.

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

Find where they've been feeding at night, get the wind in my favor, and start still hunting heavily timbered benches near those meadows. I never see elk in the open. Maybe I'm just unlucky. But a bull will be somewhere in the thick cover, preferably with a seep or three in said cover. I'd try to kill him in his bed. Also, the smaller pockets of timber and areas way up high, would be my first focus. Bulls recovering from the rut don't generally like to hang out with a bunch of other elk during the day.
p.s. I use a rifle in this situation.

[Indian Summer]

Open country? Semi open? Nothing but timber? What is their main food source? How much pressure? Bulls only or either sex?

[Still Hunter]

I mentioned it will be high pressure. The rest is your choice. You're putting in for the tag.

[FemoralArchery]

i'd sit up high and glass..then when i find them. shoot them from my perch if i could..if not, move to a more advantageous perch.

This. Find elk, kill elk.

[Still Hunter]

You don't think the elk will be pretty much nocturnal by 3rd season?

[Harmy]

This is actually how my season ended up last year. However, by the second week of November my season was antlerless only as I ended up missing most of the OTC bull hunt in early October due to last minute urgencies at work.

My tactic. Spot and stalk (which is how most of my elk have been taken over the years). Hike slow and cover lots of ground over the course of many days. I ended up covering between 4 and 10 miles a day over the course of 10 days. I found sign in multiple locations (between 8,000' to 11,000' on mostly South slope wilderness-Utah High Uintas). Twice I found bulls bedded down on the steep North facing fir-covered slopes 200-300 yards below the ridge between 10,000 and 10,500 feet in about 6-12 inches of snow. In another encounter early in that week (Nov 9) I stumbled upon a small herd with a good bull and 8 cows. They were bedded right on the edge of a large park bordering a deep canyon at 10,800 feet in a foot of snow. They were in thick pines and were only 30 feet from me when I spooked them out of their beds and I was way too slow to react as I was not expecting them and as I was headed to drop off the edge and traverse it about 200 yards below the edge. Instead of running at them to see if I could get a quick shot off I sat down and tried the lost cow call for about 30 minutes with no response. Had I run at them I believe I would have seen them through several openings. I tracked them for an hour and found that they had circled around and went high and over a pass into another deep canyon. I tracked them for a mile or so to about 11,000' but the snow was about 18" deep and I was bonking so I bailed that day. After finding these bulls and having little luck with finding cows I changed my focus to lower elevation aspen areas instead.

I had several close encounters with cows but could not close the deal until the last day. Contrary to the bulls, the cows were almost all located in the transitions between pine and aspen forests at about 8,500-9,000 feet on the south to west facing slopes. This was also the transition where the snow line began. I ended up taking a calf on the last day and she was bedded in the aspens about 20 feet from the pines. She was alone and stood up about 100 yards away.

[Still Hunter]

Very good Harmy.

[Trophyhill]

I'd revert back to my rifle mule deer tactics. A combination of still hunting and spot n stalk. This is 1 reason I started bowhunting. I was getting close enough to these animals to kill them with a bow and rifle hunting got to easy

[Still Hunter]

Getting within bow range is the hard/fun part. What weapon you use doesn't matter.

[elkmtngear]

Getting within bow range is the hard/fun part. What weapon you use doesn't matter.

Unless you are NOT in bow range

[>>>---WW---->]

I've tried to answer this post three times and for some reason it won't take my comments. So I guess I'll just keep my tactics a secret for now.

[>>>---WW---->]

Well, whata ya know! I finally got on

Any rifle season in this part of Colorado is a sea of orange. There are more hunters than you can shake a stick at. So, if I were rifle hunting, I'd find me a good spot where I could watch a large area on a well known escape route and just park my tail there all day. About 9:00 AM or so most of the other hunters will start stirring around. This is when elk feel the pressure and start moving. And hopefully it will be down the escape route I'm sitting on. Also, from about 3:00 o'clock until dark is also a good time as most of the other hunters will be either going to or coming from their evening hunt.

Pack a lunch and sit tight. Let the other hunters do the work for you!

[Buglemaster]

I'd pull up a seat right next to WW & we could share the goodies in our packs. I like his idea the best.

[Trophyhill]

Getting within bow range is the hard/fun part. What weapon you use doesn't matter.

Unless you are NOT in bow range

that's funny right there lol since I started Bowhunting mulies I'm out of range more often than in range.

[Still Hunter]

I always figure i'm in bow range if i'm under 50 yds. Which is most of the time. I can't use open sights much farther. It might be 40 yds soon.

I might have to use a club and a bowie knife someday.

[Huntrgathr]

I archery hunt November every year. Tactics really vary by unit, weather, etc. It also takes a completely different strategy to hunt mature bulls than it does cows and small bulls. To hunt bulls post rut you have to be willing to go to those deep, dark hidey-holes, often in deep snow. You may not be physically able to get where they are at this point. In my experience, Bulls will migrate later than the main herd. They just find an abundant food source and sit on it. I think this os the most difficult time of year to hunt big bulls. Hunting cows and rags in November is another story. I hunt a combination of spot and stalk, still hunting and ambush. Gaining knowledge of migration patterns, identifying staging or transitional areas is pretty key. Saddles can be real hotspots. Know your area.

Elk can still be called this time of year but mainly just lost cow/calf scenarios. The bulls could care less.

[>>>---WW---->]

I'd pull up a seat right next to WW & we could share the goodies in our packs. I like his idea the best.

Dave, if you and I hunted together we'd be so busy telling windy tales that the elk would all slip by laughing at us as they past!

[Indian Summer]

Since I hate hunting where there is nothing but dark timber I'd be somewhere with at least some open stuff. I'd be glassing REALLY early hoping to locate, spot and stalk. Then if I didn't get something going, assuming I knew my way around (how do I know this is the answer you're looking for?) I'd spend my day still hunting and looking for a lone bull track to follow up on along the edges of feed and timber. That late though I'd also keep in mind that bulls may be in bachelor groups where I hunt and in places with not much food. Also... that late is the season where I hunt I'd be keiyng on places elk stage before migrating to lower elevations.

[>>>---WW---->]

No offence intended Joe, but what you are doing is exactly what I'm counting on in my previous post. Nothing happened with the spot and stalk method so now you are out still hunting, following a track, or what ever. Some guys are even heading back to camp. Things like this are what gets the elk moving and I'm counting on that to move a few elk down the escape route I'm sitting on.

A couple of things to consider are that I have to know the area I'm hunting and I know where those escape routes are. And I'll admit that it takes time to know an area good enough to figure that out. Another thing is knowing that when others are moving around, they will bump elk out of the area and never realize they did so.

I have a good vantage point and with my 7mm mag, I can reach out and touch someone. So I'm not all that concerned about elk running right over the top of me. So long as they are within rifle range, that is good enough.

[Indian Summer]

More power to you my friend. if I do my job right you'll hear the cannon go off. If not I'm sure I'll find out real quick where you're sitting. Send me a text and I'll be your pack mule brother!