Characteristics of your elk spot

[Swamp Buck]

What makes your perfect elk spot?

For me these are the things that I look for in an elk hunting spot.
Remote
Low Pressure
Easy Access
Elk
Water
Shelter, cover
Food

[easeup]

Lots of elk

[Trophyhill]

Lots of elk

This^^^^^^

[Lefty]

Remote ,
Easy access,
few elk,
fewer hunters but presured this year
flat and vast
food
no trees
no water
tall cover is a 3 foot sage
The next mornig I woke to elk bugling on both sides of my tent

IMG_4720 (Small).JPG (40.46 KiB) Viewed 3809 times

[Fridaythe13th]

A camp fire with good friends. oh ya lots of huntable elk

[stringunner]

I don't need a ton of elk, just a few that are huntable. Doesn't need to be remote either. I've hunted them in the sage brush, in the deep canyons, on the flats, dark timber, etc. I just a need a few huntable elk.

[Swede]

My hunting area is sorta like Stringunners.

[stringunner]

Actually I believe my hunting area is more like Swede's, since he has inhabited it longer than I!

[Toby]

Elk
Rugged enough or far enough to give me places to go that a lot of others won't
Great scenery

[WapitiTalk1]

Actually I believe my hunting area is more like Swede's, since he has inhabited it longer than I!

You got me thinking Stringunner. I googled "Swede, turn of the century, Oregon" and came up with this guy. Hmmm, I wonder just how long old Swede has been around. Just teasing Swede, I'm not that terribly far behind you. I do like your elk rifle though. 45-70? (I'm gonna get it for this one ...).........

mountain-man.jpg (78.37 KiB) Viewed 3720 times

[zpd307]

Actually I believe my hunting area is more like Swede's, since he has inhabited it longer than I!

You got me thinking Stringunner. I googled "Swede, turn of the century, Oregon" and came up with this guy. Hmmm, I wonder just how long old Swede has been around. Just teasing Swede, I'm not that terribly far behind you. I do like your elk rifle though. 45-70?

mountain-man.jpg

i sure am glad that I am not as old as swede is. I do not know if I could handle everyone giving me such a hard time about it

[Indian Summer]

Remote with east access? You guys lost me there. Fly in? Parachute? ha ha Horses don't even qualify for easy.

Man Phantom I LOVE that picture. I was born 100 years too late. I've imagined many times hunting elk in the days of Teddy Roosevelt. Word is there actually weren't as many elk back then but who needs numbers when it's pretty easy to find a spot with nobody from Pennsylvania or Washington around and bulls that never heard of a Hoochie Mama? Just think... that cat never heard of a draw or preference points lol (used your word lol)

My spot doesn't have to be remote. I do hunt remote stuff but just for the fun of it. Packing has obvious advantages but if you know where you can find huntable elk from a base camp then packing in is really for the adventure aspect. If I have unlimited time I will pack in. I love doing that as long as there's time to do it right. But if my time is limited I base camp and use 100% of my time to hunt.

BUT... there does have to be a plan B & C where I can bail to places harder to get to if the unforeseen happens and I have more company than I anticipated. Notice I didn't say X miles in... just harder to get to.

So the places I find myself at these days has elk within 1 mile of the road and the idea is to be there long before light and then a loop that goes 3 or 5 miles in and back around to where I came from hopefully returning from a different direction.

[elk-n-walleye]

My Plan A elk spot:
-has fairly open forest floor with lots of grass and very little blow down
-has a nice mix of ponderosa, spruce and aspen
-has primarily rolling hills with some long steep slopes
-doesn't have a wolf pack destroying the elk herd

but unfortunately it...
-is being destroyed by beetle kill
-has limited public land access
-and is a draw unit with only 30% or so draw odds

Plan B elk spot:
-is OTC with sufficient access
-with huntable elk (as others have said)

[stringunner]

Actually I believe my hunting area is more like Swede's, since he has inhabited it longer than I!

You got me thinking Stringunner. I googled "Swede, turn of the century, Oregon" and came up with this guy. Hmmm, I wonder just how long old Swede has been around. Just teasing Swede, I'm not that terribly far behind you. I do like your elk rifle though. 45-70? (I'm gonna get it for this one ...).........

mountain-man.jpg

Now thats pretty funny right there Phantom! Though I have seen Swede during the archery season and I don't remember him having a beard quite that long, but perhaps he grows it like that for gun season! Either way, I think that is a trophy picture!

[elk.addict]

I like my elk hunting spots to be:

- Fairly Remote - I like to be 4-6 miles in, and at least a few miles from any trail. I don't have problems running into other people this way.
- Scenic. I just like spending time in the high country with plenty of beautiful scenery. It's not all about killing elk for me.
- Contain elk, obviously.

Usually can't go wrong in September with classic high country elk habitat. Meets all my criteria and makes for great hunting.