How far can you smell an elk?

[Lefty]

Just a bit of a switch from Ghosts' thread How far can an elk smell you.


How farI was able to track down a herd just over 2 miles in the desert. While not body odor but poop and pee. while they were not following a trail the odor was easy to follow., didnt even need to look at the sign in the grass.
I shot my first( and only ) Idaho bull from getting close to his bedroom smelling the lovely fragrance , slowed down and caught him entering back to bed.

[Swede]

I don't know how far I can smell one of the critters, but have smelled them before I saw them. If you get that whiff of elk, it sure puts you on the alert.
I have also located the bull I shot by dropping down into the draw and going down until I caught its scent. It was pretty after that. I checked the wind and walked directly into it for less that 100 yards and found the rascal in a hole between some downed trees.

[Da White Shoe]

I've smelled them right before seeing them many times. Good lesson... slow down when you catch a whiff!
A buddy had shot a bull in the late Custer Park bow season... November. We were tracking it and I kept getting that elk smell. The wind was fairly strong, so I peeled off the track and just followed my nose for about 500yds.
No. It wasn't the downed bull.
I came to a rimrock ledge and looked down off it. There were 150 head below me... mostly bedded.
So, therefore... I know I can smell 150 elk at 500 yds!
Which translates to one elk at 31yds?

[Roosiebull]

I have noticed 2 kinds of elk smells....smelling elk, and the warm elk smell. I don't know how far I can smell them, but there is a difference in smelling elk that were there, and smelling elk that are there.....it seems pretty obvious between the 2.

in my experience, smelling elk right there isn't a huge benefit if there is silence, usually means you are walking up on bedded elk, and if it's a lone bull, fine, might work, but groups of elk are tough to sneak in on bedded if all you can do is smell them....they aren't reckless in their places they decide to nap, there is always a set or 5 of eyes that will get ya.

usually that warm smell of elk with silence is followed by the sound of elk getting up, elk getting restless, then elk running off....I used to like that sound "i was close" now I hate that sound "i messed up"

[ElkNut1]

How far, good question? I have no solid response there. To me I love smelling them in destination spots such as watering spots, natural mineral licks best. I know they will return to these. Bedding areas & feeding areas in the mountains is a crap shoot as elk seem to bed & feed in different spots daily. Yes a hunter can be in their area but not an exact bowhunting range in many instances. My best smell of them is when I'm having a tough time finding an arrowed bull because lack of blood, more than once their barnyard stench has guided my nose to them. If I have a tough time finding a wounded elk I do my best to get downwind of where I feel they may be layed up, it works sometimes & sometimes it doesn't! Definitely worth the shot though! (grin)

ElkNut1