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First day vs. Last

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First day vs. Last

Postby Swede » 11 21, 2019 •  [Post 1]

What changes do you see in your hunting on your last day of hunting?

For me some changes are weather related. If it is raining I will wait where multiple trails come together. When it is warm and dry I like to be over water. The length of the days is shorter at the end, so I have a couple of less hours out in late September. By the end of the season the rut in going, so I may cow call a little near my stand before I climb in. Early I may rake and bugle a little before I get into the stand. It does not often work, but it does at times. Elk don't come in running. They usually take their sweet time and try my patience.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Indian Summer » 11 22, 2019 •  [Post 2]

By the end I lower my standards from 6 point bull to any branch antlered elk. I keep giving myself motivational speeches and pat myself on the back for being persistent. Other than that it’s business as usual.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Tigger » 11 22, 2019 •  [Post 3]

Similar to Joe, I change what I am willing to shoot. As the hunt goes on, I might go from a big bull at the beginning to a branch antlered bull to a cow. then late the last afternoon, it may skyrocket back up to only a big bull if we are getting close on time (We may not want to take the time to deal with a cow or small bull if it means us staying past our scheduled departure time and missing another unplanned day of work).
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby saddlesore » 11 22, 2019 •  [Post 4]

I don't change much. I will shoot something the first day that I would the last. I hunt the same area through out the season. If there are no elk there on day one,they may be there on day three or even day 9.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Swede » 11 22, 2019 •  [Post 5]

saddlesore wrote:I hunt the same area through out the season. If there are no elk there on day one,they may be there on day three or even day 9.


It would be good for hunters if more of them understood what Saddlesore just wrote. Many elk herds move around a lot and have a circuit. Just because they are not in one place the first day out does not mean they will not be there the next. Where I am hunting they show up about every 7 days.
I took my son to "his" stand opening morning. He thought it was going to be a place to read and catch up on his rest. He had no hope of getting an elk as there was no fresh sign there. He hung his bow on the hanger without nocking an arrow and started taking a nap. Within a few minutes elk were all around him and he ended up shooting a small bull early opening morning. He only had three days to hunt so he was not going to be fussy about getting a big one. His buddy went to his stand location and saw no fresh sign so he very soon went back to camp. We were all in the same area.
Sometimes the sign an area gets use is different than just fresh tracks. There are no cattle and few deer in the area, but the game trails are well worn. It had rained a few days earlier and knowing the area some was huge.
It had been three days since I had hung the stand where my son hunted opening morning. When we got there and saw no fresh sign, I said "good, they have not arrived yet" or something like that. My son scoffed at the idea, but I knew if the elk had been there, we were too late.
This I feel confident in saying: Saddlesore does not panic if he does not see an elk the first couple of days. They will show up. Chasing all over the country, only demonstrates you are unfamiliar with that area.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Tigger » 11 22, 2019 •  [Post 6]

Yet I can name 3 groups that went out and hunted an area for their entire hunt....and never saw an elk. They should have moved as waiting was a fools mission in their case. I think the important thing is learning an area and where the elk are likely to go when pressure hits. that may be a circuit and you need to stay put or it may mean a different drainage and you have to move, but you better figure it out if you want to see elk.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Swede » 11 22, 2019 •  [Post 7]

I agree Tigger. There are areas that likely have not seen elk since the ice age, and there are areas that see elk daily. As you said, a person needs to know their area. Sometimes moving around makes since. Sometimes staying put is the right answer. Know your area and the habits of the elk that frequent it. The area we hunted this last couple of years has mostly cows and small bulls. The area we plan to hunt some in 2020 has more large bulls. They are not that far apart. The big bull area takes more work to get in and out of. Hunting by myself, I will stick with the area that is close in. I do not plan to pack my animal for miles by myself.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby saddlesore » 11 22, 2019 •  [Post 8]

Knowing the area is the prime requirement.I know the area I hunt very well.If someone hunts the entire season without seeing an elk, most likely elk do not frequent the area or the hunter hasn't done his/her homework.Personally,I feel cheated out of hunting time if I tag out opening day, but sometimes I do like the easy ones. I have killed far more elk on day 3-4 or even thru the end of the season than opening day.

Some hunters think walking miles upon miles will yield more elk. Far from the truth. If you are moving and the elk are moving there is a slim chance both of you are moving in the same local at the same time.. Elk may move thru the area you are hunting the first day, the 3rd day or the end of the season.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Trophyhill » 11 23, 2019 •  [Post 9]

From a mental standpoint, The last day compared to the first can be very hard if you let it. If you are going to kill on the last day, you have to put what's happened, or not, behind you and approach it "expecting" to make a kill at any moment now. Once the negative thoughts enter your thought process, you're pretty much done and may as well pack up camp and head to the casita.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Lefty » 11 23, 2019 •  [Post 10]

Every year is different
However each year my size from a mature bull to any elk is one thing
I’ve learned Ed where other hunters are not going
This year we didn’t see sign of the big grizzlies so we were leaving earlier in the am
A second thought generally isn’t in our Ming when we’ve been out all day, then dive down another 1200 feet knowing we won’t be out till wat-too-tired-thirty
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Indian Summer » 11 23, 2019 •  [Post 11]

Tigger wrote:Yet I can name 3 groups that went out and hunted an area for their entire hunt....and never saw an elk


There’s a difference between an area and a spot. There are ALWAYS elk in my area. If there weren’t it wouldn’t be “my area”. On a map that’s about 3 square miles as the raven flies. If I sat at one spot for a day I might not see them. But I can see far so there’s no chance of sitting anywhere for 3 days without seeing elk. If I don’t see elk on a particular morning or evening it’s up to me based on my knowledge of the area.... and my animal instincts to go find them. If I hunted an area for a week and didn’t see elk I would NEVER go back. Ever!!!
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby saddlesore » 11 23, 2019 •  [Post 12]

Indian Summer wrote: If I hunted an area for a week and didn’t see elk I would NEVER go back. Ever!!!


It is a lot different in Colorado Joe.With the number of hunters, the elk move around a lot more. Here, it is more the ability to figure out what the elk are doing because of those hunters than how they are behaving with less pressure.The area one hunts may have had hunters push thru it a few days earlier. They bump those elk and the elk go elsewhere.Then those same elk may get bumped by another group of hunters.This may happen 2-3 times and eventually they get bumped back into the area one is hunting.

As you have stated many times,different parts of the country require different elk hunting techniques
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby Swede » 11 23, 2019 •  [Post 13]

The elk where I hunt also have a much larger area than 3 square miles home range. I know that because I have multiple stands set up with hunters sitting in them waiting. Many days no one sees any elk and we are over a mile apart. There are roads surrounding the area and other hunters also have stands and they are seeing nothing most days either. As posted above, when there is no fresh sign anywhere, that is good. The elk are about due to arrive again. I would estimate the range of the elk where I hunt is more like 50 square miles, but that too is a general guess. It appears the elk I hunt are traveling over 3 miles every day.
The elk that frequent my home neighborhood here in western Oregon have a much larger than a 3 square mile range.
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Re: First day vs. Last

Postby saddlesore » 11 23, 2019 •  [Post 14]

I remember one hunt years ago. It was one of those warm elkless weeks that some times you think you are only hiking with a gun in your hand.

Last day of the season,I was sitting in a dense stand of aspen. Everyone except me and my brother had left and gone home. About 10 AM a raghorn came thru. I had few shots at it with my 1886 45-70, but I am sure I only killed trees. I sat there about 30 minutes and started to think "Darn that was the only elk I saw all week".
I peeled off the long johns, got down to Tee shirt and blue jeans and took off trailing him. No snow, but every once in awhile I could see where the duff was messed up. After about a 1/2 mile (all uphill) I entered some thick nasty blown down. I sat down against a tree and took out one of those old Cow Talk plastic calls and gave a cow call.

That bull jumped up not 15 yards from me behind some fallen logs. I was able to thread a 400gr bullet between two horizontal logs right down his brisket and killed that bull.

Earlier in the season, I would not have given a thought to trail that bull, let alone expect him to respond to a call.
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