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HOW to elk hunt???

So, I'm an absolute beginner. I've never even seen an elk.

How do you elk hunt? I mean specifically.

I have a StartMyHunt map coming. Now what?

Do I approach from downwind calling like a cow? Bugling like a bull? Do I find a good spot and just glass?

I know how to hunt deer: Find obvious funnels or travel paths, setup a treestand and wait.

I know how to hunt turkey: Set up in a good spot and wait. Or walk along, calling every once in a while. Set up when one answers.

I know how to hunt moose: Find a good spot. Call a bit, shoot them if they come in. Or glass the hillsides. When you see one, go kill him.

Will any of those techniques work for elk?

Take your turkey and moose hunting skills and go kill an elk, leave your whitetail skills at home. Depending on where your going I would focus on killing non vocal elk. Find them and figure out how to get amongst them. If you get lucky and find vocal elk, call them in or use their chatter to keep tabs on them as you close in silently. Here's a good link.

They will all work it all just depends on where you are at, what the elk and other hunters are doing.

I like to run and gun. Cover lots of ground until I find elk. Then I figure out the best approach. I always just cover tons of miles, then when I find them hone in on them and slowly work my way in with the wind etc. Realize a bumped elk may run 500 yards or 5 miles. Once they are bumped out of a spot they will seldom return anytime soon.

Glassing helps when they have not been pushed into the deep timber, sitting a water hole can work when water is rare or when you have the perfect spot, but more time than not my success comes from hunting hard, hunting fast but silent and simply covering ground.

Always watch for those special places that others over look. I hate to say it but, I have never killed and elk more than 2 miles from a road... The deeper you get the better, but I have had great luck in those areas that everyone fly by in the dark to get up higher, further deeper....

Sounds like you already know how to hunt them, just need to fine tune now which only comes with time...

Let your eyes do the walking when possible. Glass and glass. Don't be afraid to be agressive in the right situations. Elk do not have great vision but they have fantastic noses. Keep the wind in your face and you can get away with some stuff. Sneak in close and challenge the bull with bugles. You'll figure it out, every situation is different. Just remember the wind, always the wind. You want to avoid blowing them out with your scent at all costs.

Many of your techniques will work. I'm predominantly a whitetail hunter and have killed elk using blinds and even a treestand! So have others in our hunting party.

First, find the elk. Depending on the time of your hunt as it relates to the rut, the state you're hunting in, public vs private, hunting pressure, weather, etc.; all these things can and should influence how you hunt.

I have killed elk by stumbling into them when my partner & I were headed to filter water, a treestand near a likely movement spot and spotting a bull, then stalking as a partner called.

I am predominantly a whitetail hunter. I have employed whitetail skills to kill elk. I killed one from a treestand near a likely meadow, one that was spotted, stalked and a partner called it closer; and a third by stumbling into a small herd as we were headed to filter water (muzzleloader). Other hunting party members have employed similar techniques with success.

I have tried hiking & calling - early season in CO on public land - without much success. I found elk, but in timbered areas, I heard them as they thundered off! One of the hiking days, however though, we spooked a herd feeding in willows near a creek. This discovery led to the best area we have ever found, by a huge margin, so don't discount wearing out boot leather.

Some people fish bass with a pig & jig real slow, others drive 50 MPH and cast using crankbaits and spinner baits, still others anchor and use live bait. To each their own. Same with elk hunting. All techniques have their "days" when the GODS shine down and success is granted. The tough part is knowing which technique or tool to get a bull into that critical distance.

What tool you use should be guided by some of these - rut status, weather conditions, hunting pressure, public vs private land, familiarity with the area hunted, etc.

Good Luck - you'll love it and be hooked!

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Knowledge of the species is important as is how they are utilizing the country. I agree with the 'cover ground' guys as you can be in the best habitat but the elk have been pushed out.

Read as many of the old threads you can.

Bugling to locate is good but DONT bugle on your way in to them- it just tells them you are coming.

Buy the Elknut stuff it will shorten your learning curve

How many books on elk hunting have you read? There are several out there that will give you a few different tactics to start with so you can adapt to the conditions you find on the ground.

If you just wander around the woods with a bow in your hand, the odds of killing an elk are lower than if you approach a given situation with a plan, whether you be on top of elk that moment or not.

Unless you stumble on to them or get one to come in cold-calling or hunt over water/wallow, hunting elk goes something like this:

1) Find the elk.

2) Form a plan on how and when to hunt those elk.

3) Move in on those elk.

4) Revise your plan to fit what's going on once you're close enough.

Within those parameters, there's a million different ways to hunt elk.

Here's a new one I just read on my flight up to work in Mike Mitten's great book. He calls it "bedding bulls." Find the elk beds and determine which one is the bull's by its position (you'll have to read the book to get the tip). Then wait in his bed for him to come home and shoot him.

Many guys go to the woods and walk around all day blowing locators until they get a response and then storm the elk, blowing challenges or cow calls from down wind. It works sometimes, but in heavily pressured areas, like CO OTC, the elk have seen this before so when out of nowhere there's now suddenly a hot cow or challenger downwind and just out of sight, they just walk off quietly.

You see this on RS every now and then. The thread goes something like, "I do everything you're supposed to do: I work out all year, do push-ups while I sleep, eat food fit for a hamster, hike into CO OTC wilderness, do 20 miles a day, get in on elk, blow the hell out of my calls, and I never seem to connect. I've been doing this for six years now and have never killed an elk..."

Sometimes ambushing the elk is the right way to go.

Sometimes sneaking in silently on elk is the right way to go.

Sometimes calling is the right way to go.

Sometimes having the elk pushed past you by other hunters is the right way to go.

Etc etc.

Calling in elk can be difficult because, not only do you have to be good at calling, but you have to know the language and say the right thing at the right time.

In short, to answer your question, "How do you hunt elk, specifically?" That's what you're going to go find out this September. Hunting every species is about learning what that species will let you get away with so that you can outwit them and/or which of their weaknesses or behaviors can you exploit in order to have an opportunity to slip an arrow into them.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of info even on this thread, but read some books as well. And go have fun in the elk woods.

stay mobile....do not commit to any area on foot without knowing there are elk there. as others have said....let your eyes do the looking.

Only hunt where the sign is literally steaming and you can smell the bull pi$$. Scout, find elk, then hunt.

First off, do your homework and hunt places that have elk. Can't kill 'em if they ain't there! ;-)

Elk require three things: food, water, security (cover). Not all three have to be in the immediate area, but when you do find an area(s) that does, time to slow WAY down and pay attention. If the area has fresh sign, you've found yourself a potential goldmine. BTW, the security part of the equation doesn't necessarily mean 5mi from the nearest road.

Calling may or may not work the way you would like. This includes mews, as well as bugles, grunts, raking, etc. Some prefer bugling, some prefer cow/calf calls, most prefer a combination of them all. Find what you prefer and go from there. Just try to sound as realistic as possible and pay attention to what responses you get. Elk will normally tell you what they want to hear. It's not rocket science, and what works today may, or may not, work tomorrow.

Be flexible. Glassing, spot and stalk, ambush, etc, are all techniques that have been the demise of many an elk. As was mentioned earlier, treestands can be absolutely deadly when located in a prime spot. Fact is, I've used a treestand, in the same tree, in the evenings for the past 12yrs or so.

Idle wrote: "How many books on elk hunting have you read?"

My answer: just one, lots of bowsite threads.

What few books would you recommend first?

I don't want to derail, so I'll PM you.

Although I don't have it, I hear that Public Land Elk Hunting by Matt Dworak is good. Dirty D is his handle if I recall. I don't think this is much of a derailment.

You can get Matts book on Amazon for $10.95 or the Kindle version $6.95

I have read it, good stuff

Lots of good advice here Tim, take advantage of the info already offered and go have a great fall in the elk woods. Have real expectations as the average success rate of a CO otc elk hunt is only like 8-10%. Every day of the hunt is a learning experience just as valuable as any book you can read. Be equipped with multiple plans of attack and don't be discouraged when one plan flops. Endurance pays off.

Listen to Big Dan's interview here on the bowsite.

Buy Elknuts play book and dvds.

I'm not going to say anything different as there is some real good advice being given....I will just reinforce what has been said 1). Most important is move until you find them... Either see or hear them.... Don't start hunting until you find them. 2). Get in close as you can... They are not as spooky as a whitetail. On e you get close you will have to decide on ambush vs. Calling 3). Set a goal,,, not a goal to kill an elk but a goal to hunt hard from the time you get there till the time you leave... Get up early and don't start heading back to camp before dark. DONT CUT YOUR HUNT SHORT. The mountains can be tough but hang in there. You may go two days without seeing an elk and then you get into a bunch of them, 4). Have fun

Mike TN

A great source to learn about elk is "North American Elk Ecology and Management" The more you learn about elk the better your odds of killing. Once you know the who what when why and where elk are doing, you start unlocking the elk code. Knowing the 4 things that make up elk habitat is instrumental as well. Food, water, cover and space. it's all in the book. Elknut has great information and has helped a lot of new elkhunters become elk killers faster than they otherwise would have.

Pretty much agree with link! You have to find them first is the biggest hurdle to cross!

Like I said, I have a startmyhunt map. It is very helpful. While exploring that site today, I found a great link that describes a possible day hunting elk.

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