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Treestand over Elk Wallows This Year

I have an increased number of elk in my hunting area this year and I plan to start by treestand hunting over wallows until about the middle of September. I welcome any tips regarding treestand height, cow elk urine use, whether I should wait after they bed for the day to walk into my stand, etc. All tips are appreciated.

Here's the bull I'm after.

David, That's a great bull!

"Treestand Hunting Rocky Mountain Elk" is a great book by Bowsiter "Swede". I have it available at our Online Store at the link provided. It will answer all those questions, and much more.

Best of Luck, Jeff

Thank you for the pointer! I'll order it ASAP.

I haven't spent much time a treestand since I hunted the Bitterroot River South of Missoula, MT back in the early 80's. That's where I ran into Barry and Gene Wensel but I didn't know who they were. When I described who I met, my friend Chuck responded, "Living Legends". Now I count the brothers as good friends. Pinching myself.

That's a beautiful bull! I will be trying the early season tree stand method as well this year. From what I have read elk don't look up much. I plan to hang my stand around 15' give or take depending on the setup. Best of luck to you sir!

Great looking bull. Hope you can get him

Good luck with that guy!

Swede's book is a good read and has plenty of information to try.

Tree stand hunting for elk is an over-looked type of hunting in the mountains. It is another very deadly and rewarding way to shoot elk

Im going after this guy from my tree stand

Good luck to you

Great bull good luck!

Man am I jealous! Good luck!

good bull great video id hang any stand 18 to 20 feet its not rocket science . best of luck keep us posted

Thanks for the response. I'm looking forward to trying something different this year. I have double the number of elk I saw last year and last year was a great year. Pinching myself.

I have found a few incredible wallows over the years where the amount of activity exceeds my wildest expectations. One wallow I found about 10 years ago has produced over 6,000 images and hours of footage. Some of that footage was used by National Geographic a few years ago for their Untamed Americas series. My footage starts at 1:16 into the promo clip. Search for Elk Brawl on youtube or hopefully the attached link will work.

Hi David. Lou here. The problem we've had with treestands over wallows is having them wind us if the terrain is steep and they come in from above. Your area looks pretty flat, so that will help.

Wouldn't worry about scents - any hot wallow will have enough of its own.

The other thing - in our area they tend to not hit any particular wallow with any consistency, but roam around and hit whatever wallow is closest to wherever the herd is that day. Tom and I have cammed bulls hitting a wallow one day and another wallow a mile or more away the next. We've also cammed numerous bulls at wallows that we never saw during the season.

Then again, the "Froggy" bull from my article last year was a regular at one specific wallow, though he was never there when I was. I killed him about a mile and a half away and 1,000 feet higher than where he constantly posed for me.

Looks promising, though, and worth a shot. BTW, I figured out the Yeti Cam and am using it now, but haven't captured any bulls of the caliber of yours and Brad's. Good luck this season!!

Thanks Lou. Great to get your message! I completely agree, it's a crap shoot of sorts. But I feel it is better in the early season not to spread my scent around and stick to this spot. If it all comes together I'll be elated. I'll start hunting on the ground around the 10th of September to the end of the season.

I'm glad you were able to get that trailcam working. I'm super impressed with this new Browning I picked up from trailcampro.com. I also picked up a second one from Ebay for $135, a screaming deal. The latest videos on my site of the elk were taken with that camera. It provides the best video quality of a sub $200 camera.

Let me try that link again. The last three bull elk clips were taken with the Browning Spec Ops camera.

Wow - great stuff! Thanks for the tip!

Lou, I don't have your phone number. Give me a call. I've been way to productive and I need a bowhunting conversation distraction.

Lou's words rang true this year regarding my hunt from a treestand over an elk wallow. I was having so much fun early in the season with five legal bulls coming in within four days. I wanted to learn as much as I could this first season from a serious attempt in the treestand. I had sat in a stand over a wallow before but never gave it much time. This year was different with ten days in the stand.

A typical day included being in the stand by 9:00 a.m. and sitting until after dark. Elk were most active right near dark although I had elk come in at all times of the day.

I never had the big bull I was after come in while I was sitting. He came in when I wasn't hunting, both night and day.

Next year I won't be quite as picky. That's what I say now. Who knows. I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt and I would focus all of my effort toward the first week of the season. The wallow was used much more earlier in the season than later.

The thermals and predominant wind was absolutely perfect. Once the sun hit the meadow I was sitting on the edge of, the wind came across the meadow right at me and then went straight up in the air as it hit the bank of trees where I was located. To watch my scent go straight up in the air was incredible.

Now I'm back to my focus on mountain lion images and footage with my custom remote cameras.

I've always considered this...a question for you in the know. Now in my mid 60's with 1 new knee and the other rather gimpy, I'm jusyt physically not able to hump the high country as in the glory days of yesteryear...heavy sigh...

So, would y'all consider this a viable option for an old timer who loves the mountains and still has the elk itch?

Rick, it's not only a viable option for an old timer, it's a viable option for anyone. Find an area that elk travel through, pick a tree, cut shooting lanes if needed. It's really no more complicated than that. Although wallows can certainly be productive, they can be hit or miss as Jaq said. I prefer along game trails myself. If you can set up close to where two or more intersect, so much the better.

Although I prefer running and gunning on the ground, I'm here to tell you hunting elk out of a treestand can be extremely intense and exciting as well. Due to the squirrelly afternoon/evening winds where I hunt, I've hunted out of a treestand exclusively for the past 17yrs. The key is location, location, location. Find the right spot and it can produce year after year. Good luck!

Tree stand hunting for elk is a viable option at any age! Give it a try.

Typically elk wallows are located in some fickle wind spots. Game trails can be much more favorable wind.

I like to do the same as Wyobullshooter, sit in the early evening, sometimes in the mornings, and wait. I like to give a few mews every now and then.

Here is short video of a cow coming into our calling this past Sept. Early morning, made a few mews, and here they come. There was a bull behind her but he peeled off. My son was over to my right, but she didnt quite go that far for him to get a shot.

Fun stuff for sure

Fence crossings are a favorite of mine.

Are Elk less likely to look up for danger then deer? It used to be that deer seldom looked up (back in the 60's and 70's), but seems like they have been educated over the years and they are always wary of danger from above.

You can get away with murder in a tree-stand when hunting elk. Especially if you're used to deer hunting out of them.

There are alot of similarities hunting elk and WT out of tree-stands. Same concepts, same do's and don't's.

In dry areas, sitting water is an elk's downfall. Not much different hunting over a bait pile. Saddles are deadly as well, and can be better when you get those August rains.

"Are Elk less likely to look up for danger then deer?"

I've never hunted deer out of a treestand, so I'm not qualified to make a comparison. However, what I will say is in all the years I've been in a tree for elk, I've had exactly 2 look up. As long as my movements were relatively slow and deliberate, I've never had any issues with not being able to reposition, if necessary, draw my bow, and shoot.

I have not had but very few, if any really look up either. They will see you if they come in from your level or above, unless you have cover of some kind. I think their peripheral vision is pretty good, so you can get busted by any movement, even if you are only slightly above. I have observed that a few elk seemed nervous, seeing me in my stand, even though they could not identify what was wrong. Don't try to get away with a squeaky bow or other unnatural sounds. Sometimes you can get away with some sound. Other times elk seem to be spring loaded and ready to bust out of the area with almost no reason, especially at a water hole. I had a bull run off, before getting to the water hole, when a squirrel started chattering at him. I know I am going on beyond the original question, but another thing I have observed is, do not use a decoy around a water hole. Some elk pay no attention to one. A few are curious and will even look it over, and sniff at it. Others turn away immediately on sight and leave. Since they all were coming to the water, I think I reduced my chances at times, by at least 50%, setting up a decoy. Generally I don't call from a tree stand. It will bring in one once in awhile, but I have turned others away. If the elk are coming to water, let them believe they have the whole place to themselves. If you are sure the elk are just passing by, it will sometimes help to cow call, and you have nothing to lose then.

Although I've never tried this, I have a friend that hunts from a tree stand almost exclusively and shoots elk (mostly cows) every year. One of the things he says is the same as CO said, they seem more active at water in the evening. My friend also says that he never touches a call in the stand - the elk he sees at the wallow might be herd talking as they approach, but as soon as they are committed and coming to the water hole, they go silent and stay that way until they leave again. I always thought that was interesting.

Good points Sage. I have been thinking about your friend killing mostly cows. My son and I have about ten trail cameras. What I observe is that some water holes get mostly cows and small bulls. Some spots get mostly, or all bulls. This can change over time. In August and early September a place may be visited by just bulls, then later by both. Sometimes where two water holes are in close proximity one is used by cows and calves, and the other is bulls only. As a general observation, I would say, stick to small isolated water holes and wallows for bulls.

Treestand or ground blind hunting certain areas fall into the "location" category as how to handle them with best odds in favor of the hunter! Should I call or not call? Too, are wallows my best bet? Are there other alternatives to up my odds of success?

Location of a wallow is everything, in areas where the wallow is in the middle of a flat meadow it's tough to have favorable wind for hours at a time. Too, calling from such spots is not the best decision because of the open terrain. This means elk can come to these openings where timber meets meadow & see nothing, this can cause suspicion & turn them back.

If elk wind you while sitting it, it can be a couple of weeks before they return so make sure wind is in your favor the whole time or do not sit there!

When sitting isn't possible consider sitting a stand on the trail where wind is favorable well before the entrance or exit from the wallow/waterhole!

Pick sitting a wallow/waterhole at the right time, some are closest to feeding areas in the a.m. & some are closer to bedding areas in the p.m. Know your feeding areas from the bedding areas & it will be easier to choose which one to sit morning or evening.

Calling from these areas can prove productive especially from areas with tight cover where elk must be in your range before they can see source of calling.

Your best odds are sitting trails on benches going left or right that head from bedding to feeding, these trails can be traveled daily especially with a high density of elk where as wallows are a crap shoot! Elk visit wallows at random, a trail camera can be very useful as to times of use to see if it's worth sitting.

The nice thing about sitting these trails away from destination spots is it's easier to find spots where wind is favorable during ones sit because of uphill or downhill elevations, it's better than sitting flat ground setups for hours where wind can swirl at anytime & give you up!

When this happens elk may not return to these areas for weeks! Avoid this!

ElkNut1

The nice thing about sitting these trails away from destination spots is it's easier to find spots where wind is favorable during ones sit because of uphill or downhill elevations, it's better than sitting flat ground setups for hours where wind can swirl at anytime & give you up!

When this happens elk may not return to these areas for weeks! Avoid this!

All of your points were good Paul, but this part was excellent. If you drop the ball here, you will likely have a long an futile hunt, and usually won't know what really happened. It was not just timing or bad luck that caused the elk to quit coming to that feeding area. It was you.

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