Contributors to this thread:
You are in the middle of your week long hunt, day four out of seven, and you've found elk. One of those late afternoon fronts comes through, as often happens, and the wind is whipsawing in every direction.
Do you say, "screw it" and hunt anyway, or sit the evening out and hunt them in the morning?
Hoping Wild Bot will reply with the AI answer!
Is it a trick question? It's a 7 day hunt!
Most NonRes I’ve seen do just that. They are getting outta time
When in the woods, hunt, unless it's a blizzard or hurricane.
Hunt every day until the animal is down. Then sit out or go home unless there are bonus animals to get or friends to help out. That's my philosophy.
Unless the wind is so strong it is blowing animals into your camp you leave camp and hunt!
I'm in day 4 of 7 and I've found elk... last thing I want to do is spook them out of area. I take my chances for better weather and shut down for the day. Just weighing probabilities. Spooking them out makes my chances much lower.
I can sometimes beat their eyes. I can sometimes beat their ears. I will NEVER beat their nose. I’ll wait till morning when there will still be elk around to hunt.
I crawl to the highest vantage point and glass like crazy… get ready for the morning and not waste the evening AND not blow everything out of the country…
I’ve even seen NonRes blow through bedding areas in hopes to be successful before they leave for home
Nope I’d give it a pass unless a short storm. If wind is unpredictable wait tell morning. I’ve seem NR and residents ignore the wind and hunt.
Ever since I was a ranger in Idaho I learned to take my game cart everywhere and build a blind around it. That's my best Wild Bot imitation... In real life I'd wait until morning.
Yep. I just wouldn't be aggressive about it.
Wow Brad, you sure have a hate on for nonresidents.
Swirling wind is a no-go, back to camp until the wind cooperates.
I just throw on a base layer of Scentlok with my HECS suit over top and rig up my Ozonics machine to my pack with a 4 ft pole overhead, chuck a bottle of Nosejammer into the middle of the herd and walk my way in to 10 yards for a chip shot. Back at camp before lunch… rookies. ;^)
Sounds like a good time to go trout fishing.
I would hunt but would clip a scent wafer to my hat so no need to pay attention to wind.
Kidding aside, the right move is to wait. 50:50 whether I hunt or not. I'm pretty good at convincing myself I can be careful enough and back out before I blow it....and a few dozen other impatient moves that result in emptying elk out of my spot.
Not wanting to blow out the elk, I would go to my third back up site and hunt that instead. Wind might be different at the back up site, and if I blow them out, since I only have three days left, I would still have other places to hunt, including the spot where I know they are.....
" wind is whipsawing in ever direction". Bad deal. Want until the wind calms from one direction later in the PM or wait until the following day (s), I would set back a safe distance and watch until dark to see if the elk came out. That way I would know if they were still on their normal pattern of bed to feed. Slip back in the morning and kill one.
I probably hunt different….in areas that are more sheltered.
One of the best days I’ve ever had was along the continental divide in unit 76 Colorado. A storm came in with thunder and lightning, cracking all around us, pouring down rain and we had elk running everywhere screaming their heads off.
mid-week of the hunt and late afternoon....i am waiting this one out. if it persists into the next day, i am hunting.
With the wind swirling the elk don't know where the scent is coming from. Perfect. Duh! :) I'm not a robot.
I would do something similar to Paul. Often after those squalls the wind settles around sunset and we have a half hour to 45 minutes of steady direction. Enough time to quickly move in for a setup. If not, I back out and leave them until morning.
It's better to hunt elk than to hunt FOR elk.
Jaq- I agree 100%. That being said, it's so tough to "waste time" when you have limited time. I totally get it when people don't sit tight and keep pushing. Hard to have that kind of patience and discipline. Lou, it's almost like you've gotten wise due to experience... :)
Scoot, I was once sitting beside a trail leading into a basin where I knew there were elk. It was the situation I described in the OP. Three guys came upon me and one smart ass asked, "Tired already?" and laughed. I replied, "Do you see what the wind is doing?" They stopped and considered it for a few seconds, loojed at each other. Then another guy shrugged and said, "Maybe some will run by us", and carried on.
Nothing ran by them, but a big herd ran onto the big ranch below, according to the two guys I know who were hunting that ranch.
WildBot can KISS MY ASS!
I will figure something out to get a hunt in.......probably NOT in the area I want to focus on as I don't want to blow out the elk I've worked so hard to find. I'd do some scouting in secondary areas along ridges, glassing when possible, looking for pockets with some wind protection or consistency.....terrain can do alot of funny things with wind....most of them unhelpful but occassionally helpful.
I like Paul's idea....stage close enough to move in quickly if/when wind calms/dies down at sundown then scoot a boot into position hoping the elk do the same shortly thereafter.
And yes, Cnelk......I've been on my last day as an NR years prior and finally decided wtf and CREPT through some dark timber. Only once did I bust out a bedded cow doing so back in unit 25 in CO.......was behind a log on a steep timbered northwest facing hillside...could not see her until she popped up and bolted 15' away. That was prolly in 2008 or so. Now I prefer to post up close to the bedding area along main trails hoping to ambush elk as they leave to water or feed and otherwise stay out of their bedrooms.
In a perfect world, for sure hang back. The problem is most of us hunt real OTC, not private, land locked private etc. When that happens, there is a REAL possiblity of those elk getting busted out by other guys on the mountain as you sit back and watch/wait. I've seen it happen many times. Those storms you mention normally settle right before dark, and when they do, If I have time and I'm in range, I'm going in.
As far as busting timber, If I'm on my last couple days, you can bet I'm going in and working across every known bedding area that I know. Why stay out? To be nice to the next group of guys hunting?
The real question is how much time and effort we waste on OTC public land elk hunts.
We had this exact situation happen to us in 2013 on our Co elk hunt. Wow that was a wet September.
Had a bull bugling his head off the whole time the wind was swirling and had periodic rain squalls.
We waited it out until that last hour of daylight. We slipped in and made a set up when the winds settled down and the thermals started pulling down slope. The bull got to within 100 yards but in the chaos of him trying to round up 3 cows he never got any closer. We couldn’t move any closer do to open ground where the elk were at. We sat silent the whole time. In hind sight maybe we should have been more aggressive with our calling.
"Wow Brad, you sure have a hate on for nonresidents".
I can vouch for Brad being very gracious to non-residents. Met me up on a high pass, brought beer and food, and we had some great conversation last time I hunted Colorado OTC.
Then again...I like to think I don't hunt like a "typical" non-resident. Cut my teeth in the Flattops many years ago, learned how to avoid blowing out elk.
Brad is 100%....despite his grumpy demeanor.......
Jaq - I just ran your question through chat GPT... So it's not WildBot, but here is some AI for you:
If the wind is swirling unpredictably, it's usually best to sit the evening out and hunt them in the morning. Elk have a keen sense of smell and can detect your presence even if you’re being stealthy. A consistent wind is crucial for effective hunting, as it helps you stay downwind of the elk and avoid detection.
By waiting until the morning, you give yourself a better chance of having a steady wind, which improves your chances of getting close to the elk without alerting them. Plus, you can use the evening to scout for signs, plan your approach, and be ready to make the most of a more favorable wind direction the next day.
I’m not giving up on the evening hunt, I’m backing off and hunting the fringe of where they want to go. Try to find a consistent wind if possible. I’m definitely not dropping into their sanctuary though, mess with them there and they won’t be back for a while. You get busted on fringes and they pull back to their safe place, less of an impact.
Might hang out close enough to make a move at sunset, if possible. Might move onto plan C or D and check them out, knowing it could take luck. Day 4 of 7 not yet crunch time.
Use the time to try to Glass another herd.
But, many times bad winds can last for days.
Day four out of seven and you’ve found elk.
Don’t push them. Push the text via cell phone.
“ Hey guys. I’m out here and got caught in some crazy wind. Looks like there’s a good chance I might be stuck for an extra five days or so. I appreciate you handling things at work. I’ll let you know what’s up if I get back into cell service again.”
I would be more concerned about following a blood trail if it rains hard like those afternoon storms that blow in and washout any blood sign.
Good luck, Robb
I go hunt plan b or c and save the area. I am not sitting it out, but I am also not wanting to blow out a possible sure thing.
Now if this spot is where someone else is likely to blow it up, I might be going in anyways.
Might as well be me that blows it up and maybe gets a shot.
If the winds crazy, I’ll do recon in another area from a safe distance. There just isn’t any reason to push them out of their bedroom. Sometimes I stumble onto something special.
I’m not an elk hunter, but if the wind ain’t right, I don’t hunt. Situation is a little different though if you are limited to seven days. However, looks like to me you would run the risk of blowing the elk out and over the mountain with the wind “whipsawing in every direction”.
