Am I getting my leg pulled??
Elk
I've got an elk hunt coming up this September, and I'm very new to archery elk hunting. The rut is very new to me, and I've only experienced it during October rifle cow hunts. Anyways, I've been scouting my unit every other weekend for the last 3 months trying to prepare myself as much as possible. I've also been talking to anyone that will listen about ideas, tactics, strategies, and so on. I was talking to a buddy the other day about my hunt and got some interesting information. He gave me some information that I know to be true, because I can back it up with what I've found in the unit so far. Also he is a very accomplished archery hunter with multiple elk and deer kills under his belt. However, he was telling me about elk pits the other day which threw me for a loop. He said that the elk in this one area, come down for a certain hill, and fight in these pits. He showed me the pits in person, and they almost look like crop circles. Lol. They are perfectly round, and have nothing growing in them. They have no elk tracks in them right now, and really do appear to be caused by elk fighting. The center of the pits is a little bit lower than the outer part of the pits, and dirt piled up around the edges. He said that every year just as the rut kicks off the bulls will come down and fight in these pits for a day or two. There are only two pits by the way. Another thing to mention, is that he has been hunting this unit for over 18 years. I've looked, I've read, and searched high and low for information on elk behaving like this. I can't find anything, so I figured I would ask. Does this really happen or am I getting my leg pulled? Sorry if this is the dumbest thread of the year, but I really am intrigued now. Thanks again.
I have seen what you are talking about a couple of times. But what I saw wasn't bulls it was cows and calves stomping all the "mule's ear" to dust. The cows and calves were running around having a good old time It has always been at the higher elevation.
Was the soil soft sand or silt?
I've seen this pits and to me they don't fight but just love to prance around in the soft soil
I've seen it too always at higher elevation too. I saw the same type of behavior but no bulls ever fighting. Maybe it has something to do with the mineral content in the ground?
Knew it would eventually come to this. "Ladies & gentlemen this fight is sanctioned by the RMEF. Fighting out of the Aspen corner and weighing in at 1,200 lbs with a 7 X 7 447" rack is your undefeated and current reigning Rocky Mountain Champion................." Yeah, it was just a matter of time.
A lot of cattle and elk have over lapping range during the summer and fall. There are a few dirt pits in one area I hunt. The ones I have seen are made by cattle... mostly bulls and often times are round. No wallow... just dust.
It was in a rocky area, but no rocks in the pit. It appeared that it could be silty when it was dry, but it had just rained and it just looked like hard packed dirt to me.
You're describing a salt lick perfectly. Whether natural or the annual location a rancher places salt blocks for summer range cattle, they look exactly as you've described. Bull elk do not fight for the fun of it. The rut requires far too much precious energy to do it just for fun. They may spar pre rut, but not with the ferver of estrus induced lust.
Bulls are going to fight only when pushed hard enough by a competing bull(s) requiring them to defend their herd, wherever that herd may be. They aren't going to travel to a certain location just to hold battle there.
Me thinketh your leg is in danger.
I've noticed elk like to rut in the same areas. Usually these area don't have a lot of summer activity, but come the second week of Sept it can be over run with elk.
I haven't seen "pits" but if it rains and it gets muddy it could be a wallow spot and bulls like to fight that time of year.
Yeah I kinda figured they wouldn't just meet up to fight UFC style, lol. I guess I was lead to believe that this was an area that the bulls came off there summer range to start pursuing the cows, and where they started sparing over the cows. He made it seem like this was a yearly routine kinda thing I guess. We did find a lot of bulls, and they are all still in their batchlar groups. Here are two pretty decent bulls that we got close too twice this last weekend. There are 5 bulls total in this group. Two you can see their antlers, one you can just see his body, and the other two are behind trees. Sorry it's just a crapy phone picture, but it's all I got. I need to start taking my wifes camera with me.
If you've seen em eye each other up and walk/trot parallel to each other and go through the whole thing.... it just happens when/where it happens. The smart ol bulls like a bit of a slope, they can get uphill on the opponent for an advantage.
What these are is bedrooms where they go to have sex....
Ok, ok....
Mineral or salt licks maybe. Or just a low alkali spot where nothing grows. Lots of them in the Breaks of MT and other places with flats on them. Water with high natural mineral/chemical content collect there and leave deposits when the water dries away.
Send me the coordinates and I'll confirm if it is indeed an "elk pit" or not.
Haha. I'll get right on that Thornton. :)
When I hunted the San Juan, there was an area where big herds of elk would meet and fight all night long and just as it broke daylight, they would head out in all directions.
I don't remember pits being there, but I didn't stay and look after it got daylight, as I was always trying to follow a nice bull.
Once I found this out ( late in the hunt) my son and a friend got down there early the one morning about an hour before light and we could hear the horns crack and hooves fighting in the dirt as they pushed. Several times they came within yards of us and we also could hear them hit a nearby fence as they battled.
There were definitely many groups of elk, that came into this area each night, for a period of time, from many different directions. It was a phenomenon I had ever seen or witnessed tell that time. I have never seen it since. But it was a great place to be, so that when it started to lighten, to begin chasing bulls, after their fighting. But it was way too dark to actually see them, but it was non stop antler bashing and bugling!
It was a great experience, one of which I will never forget.
Have a great bow hunt. BB
Its hard to believe that all that happened 9 years ago. No wonder I am 73 year old,
I went back and took this clip from my San Juan hunt. It better describes the event that I did in my last post.
"Back at camp we ate and talked about the day. I now had less than 24 hours before my hunt would end. I needed to choose a good plan for the last day.
I was aware of all the elk around Aspen Wallows. I was also aware that the elk from Pine Wallows and other areas would come together after dark and rut. Dion told us of all the elk just below Aspen Wallow that he had seen while out riding his four wheeler. After much discussion, I decided we would start the morning hunt at the foothills below Aspen Wallows.
I wanted to be there early and make sure the elk were there. There would be no time to make a mistake and hunt an area without elk. That's okay on day one, but not on the last day, when you have yet to fill your tag.
Shortly after 5 AM we parked the four wheelers, just off the main road and started hiking to our pre determined destination. Bugles broke the silence from the moment we shut down the bikes. It was like nothing I had ever heard, in all the 35 years I have hunted elk with my bow.
Soon we were surrounded by screaming bulls. We could hardly whisper to one another. I would not be exaggerating by saying that 5 seconds was a huge lapse between bugles. Most of the time it was non stop. One bugle after another. The rut had officially begun!
It was still several days before the full moon and by this time the moon had set and it was pitch black. Using this curtain of darkness we moved to the middle of the action. It was electrifying to say the least.
Horns clashed as bulls fought and the noise and non stop commotion left one spell bound, while your ears were filled with the constant ringing of screaming bulls gone rut crazy!
Fifty or sixty different bulls, perhaps more, screamed their war calls and battled for cows. There were animals running all around us and it was actually spooky.
We had moved to the center of the action and were standing by an old fence. It was still pitch black. Hoof sounds echoed around us and glunks, bugles, moans, and all sorts of rutting sounds could be heard. Things were nuts.
Then all of a sudden there was a loud clash of horns just a short distance away. Hooves grabbing dirt and a fierce scramble for the winning push, could be heard just yards away. Then the fence we were standing by sounded as if it was hit by a thousand cars at one time. I remember my son saying, "We've better to get out of here or were going to get killed."
It was like nothing that had ever happened to me. It was scary, but totally awesome. We were all shaken to our core.
But as the eastern sky started to lighten the commotion lessened even though the bulls continued to scream. But they were leaving. Bugles began to distance and the elk were leaving their rendevous site. They dispersed in all directions. And soon the elk were on their way to their bedding areas. And for the first time in over a half hour we could actually hear each other whisper.
Which herd do I follow? The one with 20 bulls above us, or the one with 10 just under Aspen Wallows, or should I go for the easy country just to the north of Aspen Wallows where at least 15 or more bugling bulls were heading.
The elk had dispersed and were now heading, in their separate herds, to their bedding area. We now had to decide which way and which group to follow."
If any of you elk hunters, that have never read my posts on my San Juan elk hunt, and would like to, just go to the Bowsite search and type in "A season on the San Juan."
Here's he link. http://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread-print.cfm?threadid=345474&forum=5
Have a great bow hunt. BB
I'm calling BS on the pits. Sure they rut in close to the same locations if undisturbed...but fighting in the exact location and creating a pit just shows your friend hasn't seen them fight much.
Many times they will trot side by side for a short distance then turn and clash. So he is saying they do that in the exact same spot- like a boxing ring- Ha!
Someone above nailed it with the dried puddle.....
That was 9 years ago BB????? That seems like just a couple seasons back. Wow.
Not much new under the elk hunting sun. So, I say buy into the elk pits 100%, kill a decent bull, get good pics and write a book.
"Hunting the Pits"
"Taking advantage of a widely unknown elk behavior"
Regardless, looks like a beautiful elk spot you have there.
I have seen something similar, but it was what I would call a dry wallow. The rubbed out area smelled like an elk urinal but was relatively dry and the dirt was powdery. You could tell an animal had been rolling around in it.
I've also called similar areas around here dry wallows.
I've seen dry wallows, but nowhere near the size scale of the posted photos.
Is it possible that these pits are at low points that hold water from fall rains and become rutting wallow areas even though they look dry now?
To be clear, these are not wallows that have gone dry. Rather, they appear to be dry areas where wallowing type activity has taken place. They are also larger areas than normal 'wet' wallows.
Just as domestic cattle bulls do, elk bulls dust. These are dusting pits. They have nothing to do with the rut but are more related to late season insects. You can the full explanation from chapter 11 of my recently unfinished book, "Hunting is the Pits".
Thanks for all the responses guys. I'm thinking that they are just dusting pits, and happen to attract a lot of bulls in this particular area. It's lower in elevation than their summer range, and would explain why they don't hit them until the rut. They tend to drop in elevation for the rut in search of females. This is a special spot in the fact that it is one of the easier spots to come down off the mountain, and is located several miles from any roads. It also has the luxury of having several natural watering holes and wallows very near by. Can't wait to stick a big one hopefully this year!
Two years ago I hunted AZ and witnessed exactly what BB described above but on a smaller scale (15 to 30 bulls same area). There was a dry lake that the elk would descend into every night, scream at each other, battle and chase cows all night. By the 5th night I could tell where certain elk would enter the "lake" by their bugle. Some elk were NEVER messed with, while others had battles almost nightly.
It didn't seem to matter how far out I ranged in the evening, they would never materialize until after legal shooting light. My hunt became a chess game of trying to intercept particular bulls in the morning as they left the lake bed, depending on wind conditions.
So the elk definitely met nightly in the same place to fight and claim cows, but I never saw any of the pits in your pictures. I would guess mineral licks or dusting pits that happen to be in a congregating area like I experienced and BB described. Pete
