Elevation

[Mathewsz7-elkridge]

Is there a certain elevation you find elk at in there bed, feed and traveling. Or is it more along the lines of where there pressure has them and where the the dark timber is. Just try to narrow my search for elk sign. The area I am going to be hunting ranges from 9000 to 12000 ft.

[Charina]

First Security. You can't eat or breed if you're dead. Then habitat needs to have other necessary resources such as food and water. The most secure area at 12000 feet is of no use if there's no food or water. Likewise the most secure cover on the north side of a slope may not have very good vegetation for food near the timberline.

I really don't care about the specific elevation. It's all about the proper security and habitat. If that happens at 9000 feet, then there will be elk there. If that happens at 12000 feet, then there will be elk there. If that happens at 2000 feet, then there will be elk there.

9000 feet might be The Sweet Spot in the more Northerly latitudes. 12000 feet might be The Sweet Spot in more southerly latitudes. No one can really give you any reasonable advice about what elevation without knowing where it's at or what the habitat is like. Focus on security and habitat forget about elevation is my advice

[Lefty]

Very litle habitat above 10,000 feet much more below
Ive taken elk in Idaho from 5690 to 9100.
This year my best hunting was from the valley floor to the very highest ridge and everywhere in between. from 1000 yards to a main road to the furthest in, within the area.

With in your mind dont limit your hunting to elevation, or type of habitat

[CurlyTail]

Like all animals, Elk favor "edge" habitat. They always seem to be near edges of trees/meadows, treeline/alpine tundra, forest/burns. I try to avoid large unbroken expanses of any type of terrain. A common patter is for the Elk to bed in the timber near treeline, then feed up in elevation in the grassy tundra above treeline. But they also like to bed 1/3 from the top of a ridge, and feed down to the stream/grassy meadows at the valley bottoms. Another common pattern is to bed in the National Forest, and feed on private land (alfalfa) down in the low country. Can have well worn travel corridors.

[cohunter]

Curlytail is right... habitat is much more important. In this part of CO, you'll not find much at timberline... and there are a few that live their entire lives in one little stretch of river bottom at around 5,200 feet. Even in the mountains, a good acorn crop will pull them down the mountain, better feed in the spruce trees, they'll move higher... It changes constantly, week to week, year to year. Hunting pressure can change a lot. It's hard to predict any of these factors until you really get to know a specific area.

[Swede]

Here in Oregon and Washington we can find elk at sea level to the timberline miles away and everywhere in between. As stated before look for the right habitat.

[mongopino915]

Don't really think elk pay attention to elevation but more on habitat and seclusion from pressure.

[Charina]

Here in Oregon and Washington we can find elk at sea level to the timberline miles away and everywhere in between. As stated before look for the right habitat.

Now Swede . . . I wonder if you might be exaggerating a tiny bit. Have you ever seen one AT sea level? I've seen them at 50ft elevation just across the highway from the beach, but i don’t suspect combing the beach at sea level will turn up much.

[Swede]

I have not personally seen them at sea level, but I watched a video of the critters swimming in the ocean. I think it is still out on You Tube. I take my statement about the elk going from sea level and change it to 3 feet below sea level since their legs were well below the water level. Maybe I can find it.

http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrSbgwF ... h2ueGJ9GQ-

[stringunner]

My wife and I were in Astoria OR last fall, first week in October and were driving my truck out on the beach. We looked up to see a nice bull and his cows feeding along where the sand ends and grasses start. I thought wow, that can't happen to often, until we drove around another area, again still in the sand and here is another herd. All within a stones throw of the ocean waves.

[Mathewsz7-elkridge]

Ok thanks guys

[slim9300]

I feel like elk generally bed from 2/3 to 3/4 slope (the bigger the bulls, the higher they seem to bed). In my experience they generally move up to bed in the morning and down to feed/drink in the evening.

And this has nothing to do with coastal elk (which I hunt every year). These are Rocky Mountain elk with totally different behavior.