I very much believe that OTCWill and others on here have the ability to do that. But I don’t have the same confidence in my own abilities. In fact, I’ve been in the situation where a bull and a few cows are out in the meadow 100 yards from the trees; the wind is right but I stand there in the trees near the edge of the meadow thinking “now what?”.
I’ve tried cow calling and they just look over wondering who the new cow is and why she doesn’t come out of the trees. I’ve tried escalating the calling to more demanding cow calls with the same effect. I’ve tried “threat” type calling too and pretty much any call I do gets the same response. They either ignore it completely or just look over every once and a while and keep grazing.
So, I’ve come to the conclusion that, more often than not, calling is not what I should be doing in this situation. These meadows are often pretty sparse grass with maybe some sage brush. I’ve never tried to actually sneak across the open meadow to close the gap.
So what is your approach to a situation like this? Belly crawl across a fairly open meadow to get in range? Try to figure out where they’re going and back out and circle them to try to ambush them?
I would try to call only briefly in your situation to see if I get a response. Sometimes a cow will peel away from the group, sometime the bull might come 1/2 way etc.
If no response to the call I would sit and wait a while for the animals to forget about my call and get very comfortable in the meadow. Then very carefully and extremely slowly make a move. With only a couple elk actively feeding a person can crawl into range if they are very patient and move very slowly.
I have managed to do this on a couple different occasions. With deer, elk and the hardest of all antelope. My one antelope stalk took 4 hours for me to cover about 200 yards. The hardest part of this is getting to full draw without being seen...
The other option is getting as close as you can and just sitting. I always tell my buddies that is you can get with in 80 consistently an just sit they are eventually going to walk in front of you.
They act like they don't have a brain in their head sometimes. Just has to be the right situation.
Best of Luck, Jeff
You can put on the elk ear hat, with the umbrella, If you want to go "high-tech", but in NM, that's just likely to get you shot from the ridge.
Calling can work if the right tactics are used.....I like using those decoys and have a couple tricks that make them more effective...well mostly- grin
Jeremiah Johnson: What if he sees our feet?
Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Elk don't know how many feet a horse has!
Hand -n - knees zig-zagging like your a coyote might get ya close---- or charged and trampled!! ha
Maybe mid day dig out a little depression and put a cloth ground blind material over you and sit them out until they feed out might not be a bad idea....shoot from your knees when they get under 40 years....
Maybe a 'bedded cow elk' decoy might peak an interest or a comfort zone....
I wouldn't waste my time calling as it is over rated in a wide open scenario.
Good luck, Robb
Poison Arrow's Link
Or
Throw a burlap sack over your back and waddle crawl in pausing frequently like a porky. Some might actually come to you
The exception to this, If they are ahead and you know they are moving too fast and are going to bed, let them. Now you can set-up to pick them up in the evening.
In bow hunting elk I have found getting elk into 100 yards is not the hard part it's that last 60 yards that is the hard part. Usually you must be confident and make it happen because the elk do not tend to just walk over and let you shoot them you must go get that bull. Most hunters I run into are way too timid.
If it takes a hour to cover 50-100 yards... no big deal. It's hard when you get excited... but just make yourself move a few inches at a time, preferably when the target has it's head down feeding. Line up any cover, use ground contour as much as possible. Have done it over bare dirt before.
Many times had folks tell me "no way to get on those animals" but sometimes all you need is a shallow depression, a good wind.... and it can be done.
Victory rewards the aggressor.... sometimes.
Note: If you're hunting a low pressure area and pretty sure nobody is going to bugger them up.... sometimes the best plan is to figure out how to cut them off or get on them tomorrow. "IF" they may do the same thing tomorrow.... "live and fight another day" rather than blow them out of the drainage.....
tough call. a judgement call.
So now by strategy is to get a basic idea of what the elk are doing, the direction of elk travel, and wind condition. Then I quickly develop a plan and CLOSE THE DISTANCE... Sometimes its on my belly or using the trees as cover, but I CLOSE THE DISTANCE. I pretty much never wait for something to happen, I make something happen.
Three years ago I had a bull in a meadow by himself (Sept.1, 346 bull) . He was in the middle of the meadow feeding, quartering to me, 150 yds away. When his head was down I would push towards him as fast as it was safe to do. When he'd pick his head up I'd freeze. I was as low as I could get, sometimes crawling. Eventually (maybe 45 minutes) he was within 30 yds and I drilled him. He never knew I was there and I was lucky he didn't have cows.
Sometimes being aggressive runs them off (I do my best not to "blow them out of the drainage"), but if I do I simply scurry off to the next opportunity. IMO if you do this enough you'll eventually be rewarded with a great opportunity.
Happy hunting and get after them!!
the biggest problem i have with stalking them is wind shifts!