Beds from water
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: soloman
19-Jun-15
In your experience how far will elk travel from their watering holes to their bedding areas?
From: huntforever
19-Jun-15
Completely depends on the area and hunting pressure. If there is enough feed, they only go as far as they need too. Vague answer, but way to many variables.
From: soloman
19-Jun-15
Well, what they do is feed in some pivots across the highway and on there way back to bed, they hit the water about a half of a mile away. There Is another mile or so of rolling juniper and then the base of the mountain starts. I was thinking in the heat of August they might go toward the top of the mountain but was looking for some other thoughts.
From: huntforever
19-Jun-15
I don't know your area, but if that is the only or one of the only water holes nearby, I'd hunt that. When you see elk travel, 1 mile is NOTHING to them!
From: tobinsghost
19-Jun-15
I would make sure there are no other unknown water sources like springs. Are there any high spots you could watch them from to see what they do?
From: soloman
19-Jun-15
It's very limited water and they are on there way back in the dark. I'm heading out there next week to do more scouting.
From: velvet mulie
20-Jun-15
Probably depends on how much pressure they get
From: Kurt
20-Jun-15
In desert country I would frequently follow elk for 4-7 map miles between where I saw them in the morning and where they bedded in thick juniper a few hours after daylight. This was in CO and AZ. Not all herds do this but some certainly do. Some of these elk weren't hitting water until after dark, often miles from the bedding area if hunted hard over waterholes. Each area and herd is different with no set rules or pattern as far as I could tell from here to herd.
