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Hunting Styles

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Hunting Styles

Postby Swede » 03 24, 2019 •  [Post 1]

Here are some of the strengths and weaknesses of different hunting styles and where I think they are best used. Please feel free to agree or disagree or add what you think is important.

Calling: You see and hear more elk this way than any other style of elk hunting, during the general archery season. You move around and should never be bored. If you are not into elk, you can move on. You can see a lot of country hunting this way. The weakness is that seeing or hearing elk is not the same as shooting them. Many areas are hard to work effectively due to hunting pressure and predators like wolves which make them hard to call. The key here is to know your area and how to effectively call and set up for them. This is mostly an archery season tactic.

Spot and stalk, and still hunting: You can watch over the higher use areas and see elk a long way off. You can plan ahead on your stalk and ambush location. You will know what you are going after. The disadvantage is that the winds can be tricky when you are most likely to see elk moving to or from bedding areas. They can see everything and there are more eyes looking for you than you have looking for them. I like this method best in rifle season.

Tree stand/ground blind: You pick the spot where you will ambush the elk based on quality on the ground scouting. The elk never know you are around if you are reasonably careful until it is too late for them. If you have a good location the elk will neither see or smell you. You do not need to be in great physical condition to hunt this way. You can get cold sitting for hours and days. You will not see or hear a lot of elk, but you will get a shot at many of the ones you do see. If you do not have a book or something with you , it can get boring. Use mostly in archery season except in unusual situations.
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby Indian Summer » 03 26, 2019 •  [Post 2]

I see some inaccuracies in the original post. While a caller may hear more elk than a spot and stalk hunter I don’t think they see more. If a spot and stalk hunter is wise enough to be in country suitable for glassing he will see more elk than hunters locating elk by any other method.

Still hunters work timber or some type of cover. Those two styles of hunting are completely different.

In spot and stalk you know where the elk are. Therefore you can choose which direction you approach from giving a hunter a huge advantage when it comes to wind. A still hunter can keep the wind in his face making that a good tactic as well. A stand hunter is at the mercy of the wind if the elk approach from downwind. He really has no control over that. A caller has to deal with the fact that a bull has heard his location and may circle downwind to smell what he is moving toward.

Funny how we can get tunnel vision when looking at our method versus ones we don’t use. I will always take seeing my elk before they have a chance to see or smell me.
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby Swede » 03 26, 2019 •  [Post 3]

Joe, You have a lot more experience is spot and stalk hunting than I do. When I have tried it I saw the elk out feeding or on the move. By the time I could get to them, the winds were always swirling and I got busted. If the wind did not shift, one cow with 20-20+ vision and phenomenal hearing informed the whole gaggle of elk it was time to leave. Swede was just left pooped and disappointed. Do you just get in front of the elk and turn spot and stalk into an ambush situation or do you have some other technique?
When I say winds are not a big factor from my tree stand it is because seldom does a down draft take my scent down to where nearby elk will pick it up. It has happened, but I have sat and watched deer and bears for hours and there was no problem. I go up high and set in a tree that is going to be down wind from my ambush spot.

Indian Summer wrote:Funny how we can get tunnel vision when looking at our method versus ones we don’t use.


That is a good point and one we would all do well to consider. My perspective is mostly based on my experiences. I usually don't write much about a matter until I have personally experimented with it at least.
I got in trouble comparing Elknut to the Sham Wow idiot. The Sham Wow idiot claimed his tack rag was the panacea for removing dust and smears. Paul is an unabashed enthusiast for calling elk. It works for him where he hunts. It does not work well where I have been hunting.
I just posted a response on another forum to someone's question about using a decoy. Everyone that had posted concurred it was a good idea to take a decoy with you. The fellow that asked the question did not say how, when or where he was hunting. Do you not think it would be a good idea to know that information?
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby Lefty » 03 26, 2019 •  [Post 4]

I think it is in some ways it is very difficult to compare. Some methods are a blends of multiple methods. different weapons, , different habitat,... different conditions.

Rifle spot and stalk isnt anything the same as archery. The region I hunt it is generally too thick to spot and stalkThe area I hunt, still hunting( a form of spot and stalk? ) is the method most archers use. I locate bugle then try to work the elk. And if Swede showed up he would be sitting over water. :lol: :lol: I earn my virtue of patience while goose hunting. I don't do it during elk season generally. 8-)

I ran across a fellow from Utah that calling is his method. And from his description he doesn't use "other" bull sounds such as raking. He stated last year he put 25 , yes twenty five bull elk that he himself called in and were killed in front of him by family and friends in four states. ( he said he doesn't guide just hunts full time :mrgreen: )
You wont do that sitting in any stands. Maybe fortunately there are very few that are that good.

Each of those areas can be blended also. I was talking with,...ooops she was telling to me :lol: trying to [i]selling[/i] me on Wayne Carlton Butthead decoy and their style of using a decoy hunting.
I bought 7 rifle tags before I archery hunted. My first bull I killed sitting watching a huge meadow. a cow was spot and stalk. Another bull was still hunting after unsuccessfully waiting on the field elk had been nn for the previous month.
My first month archery elk hunting in the desert I saw more elk, more huge bulls than I had seen during seven previous years of rifle hunts.

Other things come into play. I have a tough time sitting in a stand. I had no problem spending three days in a blind during hard rains
Hopefully Ill grow old enough where that will be my method.
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby Swede » 03 26, 2019 •  [Post 5]

Lefty wrote:He stated last year he put 25 , yes twenty five bull elk that he himself called in and were killed in front of him by family and friends in four states. ( he said he doesn't guide just hunts full time ) You wont do that sitting in any stands.


Huh? I have shot and killed 24 elk from a tree stand since 1993, plus there have probably that many more been killed from my stands set up or on locations I scouted out. I like water in Dry Areas, but that is not the key to success. Setting up in the right spot where elk are going to be is. Wallows are not much of a prize either for the tree stand hunter.
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby >>>---WW----> » 03 26, 2019 •  [Post 6]

I thought about hunting for elk from a tree stand once until someone pointed out that tree stand hunters were the original tree huggers. :o :lol:
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby Indian Summer » 03 26, 2019 •  [Post 7]

Swede wrote:Joe, You have a lot more experience is spot and stalk hunting than I do. When I have tried it I saw the elk out feeding or on the move. By the time I could get to them, the winds were always swirling and I got busted. If the wind did not shift, one cow with 20-20+ vision and phenomenal hearing informed the whole gaggle of elk it was time to leave. Swede was just left pooped and disappointed. Do you just get in front of the elk and turn spot and stalk into an ambush situation or do you have some other technique?
When I say winds are not a big factor from my tree stand it is because seldom does a down draft take my scent down to where nearby elk will pick it up. It has happened, but I have sat and watched deer and bears for hours and there was no problem. I go up high and set in a tree that is going to be down wind from my ambush spot.

Indian Summer wrote:Funny how we can get tunnel vision when looking at our method versus ones we don’t use.


That is a good point and one we would all do well to consider. My perspective is mostly based on my experiences. I usually don't write much about a matter until I have personally experimented with it at least.
I got in trouble comparing Elknut to the Sham Wow idiot. The Sham Wow idiot claimed his tack rag was the panacea for removing dust and smears. Paul is an unabashed enthusiast for calling elk. It works for him where he hunts. It does not work well where I have been hunting.
I just posted a response on another forum to someone's question about using a decoy. Everyone that had posted concurred it was a good idea to take a decoy with you. The fellow that asked the question did not say how, when or where he was hunting. Do you not think it would be a good idea to know that information?


Lots of good questions. Maybe I’ll do a thread on my thoughts and tactics when spot and stalk hunting.
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby Lefty » 03 27, 2019 •  [Post 8]

Swede wrote:
Lefty wrote:He stated last year he put 25 , yes twenty five bull elk that he himself called in and were killed in front of him by family and friends in four states. ( he said he doesn't guide just hunts full time ) You wont do that sitting in any stands.


Huh? I have shot and killed 24 elk from a tree stand since 1993, plus there have probably that many more been killed from my stands set up or on locations I scouted out. I like water in Dry Areas, but that is not the key to success. Setting up in the right spot where elk are going to be is. Wallows are not much of a prize either for the tree stand hunter.


ooopps Just the 2018 season.

what I found interesting and tried to find out more He called in a bull in Novermber 11th( my dads birthday) He said he will pull bulls from thick timber bedding areas after the rut.
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Re: Hunting Styles

Postby Swede » 03 27, 2019 •  [Post 9]

Wow! I misread what you said. I thought the old guy had just scored on his 25th elk in 2018. That is really good in itself, but to call in for the kill 25 in one year is phenomenal. Are you sure he wasn't just dreaming and then woke up and they were all gone? I would have permanent cramps just from helping pack out the critters. Did this guy tell you where he is hunting per chance? Is it too late to apply for a tag there?
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