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On Your Own

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On Your Own

Postby Swede » 06 30, 2020 •  [Post 1]

I did not want to pirate the "Pearls" thread, but got to wondering what hunters have learned on their own about hunting? What has experience taught you and did it come easy?
I have to admit that some of the things I have learned that were not talked about to my knowledge came hard, and were coupled with mistakes and a lot of wasted time.

#1 Wallows are totally unreliable 99% of the time, and if they have been hit hard it looks impressive, but it is over. You should have been there sooner. Coupled with drinking water and good trails nearby, these spots can still be worth watching, but the wallow is still unreliable.

#2 is that salt and bait are great in the spring and summer, but not much help by late August. The elk may still come by and lick the bait (salt) but it does not draw them in.

#3 Do not set up a decoy by your tree stand. Some critters don't mind seeing an elk there, but others run away at first sight of one. Since all were coming in on a trail or to the water, decoys run off half of the elk and add none.

#4 Do not give a return call from a tree stand or ground blind when you hear a bull bugle. Stay silent and let things play out on their own. Usually if you hear a nearby bull bugle, he is checking to see if another bull is at the water hole. If you reply, he will go away. The elk in the forest does not want to confront another bull.

#5 By setting up higher in a tree my scent is not as likely to go to the ground anywhere near my location and elk are more likely to come in. This is not foolproof, but it helps in many locations.

#6 Peeing from your tree stand does not cause a problem for game coming in. I have read that elk are frightened by the smell of human urine, but that is just not true. Actually I got to talking to another tree stand hunter and we discussed this matter, and he had come to the same conclusion on his own, so I did not discover this just myself, and he help confirm it in my mind.

#7 This is new and free to those here and I did not mention it in the tree stand book. Be careful where you stand when you call near your tree stand location before you get in. Elk out in the forest, that hear you, may come around in about an hour. They will check your location. Be very selective on your call location so that the elk needs to expose themselves to you when they come looking for the "elk". This is exactly the same as regular calling and you need to set up the same as ElkNut describes. The difference is that you are now in your stand looking down on them.

#8 Don't panic when you make an awful sound with your elk bugle. Those stupid critters are likely to come in anyway. Make the call again as you feel fit and if it too is lousy, it is ok.

#9 A mortally wounded bull will try to follow the herd, but will turn off to the side shortly before bedding down to die. You have to watch carefully for where they make that turn and not just follow the main tracks heading away. Look around a lot because if the blood trail is not clear, the bull may be watching you as you plod along following the fresh tracks of the others.

#10 When calling look behind you often, even when you hear a bull out front replying to your calls. Another bull may be slipping in on you unannounced. I would speculate every seasoned hunter has had to learn this the hard way, but if you have not had it happen, now you can out smart those of us who have messed up.

These are the main things that come to mind, right off the top of my head. What have some of you learned this way?
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Re: On Your Own

Postby lilshootergirl » 06 30, 2020 •  [Post 2]

1. Scout for a week at least if hunting out of state
2. Don't take ppl words about a area, found none of it was true!
3. Follow your gut feeling
4. Move slow, moving into a area, I spooked more deer thinking they'll not be here.
5.if you don't see any signs, pack up & move to another area, I wasted so much time hiking in further I'd see something! 7 miles in
6.have fun even if you get Skunked learn from. Your mistakes!!
Don't go hunting with just a elk tag, get a deer tag as well
If you can't find me, I'm not lost. I'm hunting!
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Swede » 06 30, 2020 •  [Post 3]

Shooter, it is good to have you back here. Your post reminds me that usually you need to see something several times, and mess up badly before you realize what is happening. I think it takes about seven years to start figuring out the elk in your area. In the meantime you just might get lucky, so hang in there.
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Re: On Your Own

Postby 7mmfan » 07 01, 2020 •  [Post 4]

Always glass the ground closest to you first, before looking further out. Can't tell you how many times I've walked to a glassing spot and pulled up my binos to look across the canyon only to have deer or elk bound off right at my feet.
I hunt therefore I am. I fish therefore I lie.
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Re: On Your Own

Postby lilshootergirl » 07 02, 2020 •  [Post 5]

You know how stupid that made me feel, busted! Sometimes I'm really close without a tag no in between!
I know soon my luck is about to change, I read a lot of your threads, really great information. Thank you!
2021 ill get my chance on a good bull ill have 3 pts in Wyoming, hoping to see the area this fall. The fire is still burning, I didn't get to hunt last yr. Really killed me. But I've managed to get out and bird & varmint hunt, my dog is so helpful and listens so well. I bought a 1987 winnemini 24ft perfect for hauling my ATV to trail head. Small enough to get around. I'm ready indiansummer! Brown is going down! I'd like to antelope hunt too, heard there tasty. Ill learn that type of hunt another time! Thanks guys
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Swede » 07 02, 2020 •  [Post 6]

After watching this thread for three days I am wondering; haven't you learned anything on you own, that isn't commonly repeated, and that you can share with others? I see other forums get filled with great threads on questions like what king of socks should I wear, or what kind of backpack should I hunt with. I think we can be more helpful especially to our younger hunters and folk that want to elk hunt.

Let me try again to see if I can jog your thinking about things you have learned through experience.

When hiking through elk ground, go slow, stop frequently, and look around. You are less likely to spook elk before you see them that way. As you go let out a cow call every now and then. It will fool at least some elk, including bulls into believing you are a cow elk feeding along. They will sometimes let you know their location be trying to call you in.
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Lefty » 07 02, 2020 •  [Post 7]

I spent a lot of my life hunting trapping and fishing in Minnesota.
I don’t think I had seen a wild elk until I was on my first elk hunt.
Most of my elk knowledge is from generalizing from observing and hunting other game. Often applying what I knew , saw and read.

Realistically I may not have learned anything on my own , I took what I read and saw and put it together
In the education world it is called scaffolding taking what you know and adding to that knowledge
What I did learn on my own
“ Elk are not whitetail “ :oops: :lol:

I was told over and over: nobody hunts at water or from a blind

I do need to give credit to Archery talk when Ifirst started elk hunting.
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Elkhunttoo » 07 02, 2020 •  [Post 8]

My first archery elk hunt. Open day 1998. 16 years old and ready for everything :D . Got to my spot and had a morning that was super quiet. Not much sign, and to response to any of my near perfect calling :lol: ... I only had the morning so on my hike back I stopped and sat down on a log and started playing with all my calls. I only had a few but I was working on my sounds. I messed around for 20-30 minutes. Stood up and grabbed my bow, I took about 10 steps and I was startled by a bull 20-25 yards from me spinning and running out of the country. As I stood with my jaw dropped I had learned my first archery lessons on my own.

Elk can come in silent
When you call set up and wait a period of time
I also learned that if I thought I was addicted before that morning, this encounter had just increased it 100 fold
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Swede » 07 03, 2020 •  [Post 9]

Great points guys.
I remember transferring to the high desert of eastern Oregon. One spring day I was riding along with another Forest Service employee when I saw a platform nailed up in a tree. I asked him to stop so I could see this odd thing that resembles a tree fort or something. He did and I got out to look it over. The driver started telling me that some bow hunters set platforms up in trees to ambush deer and elk from. Hummm? I thought this was a peculiar location right by a main road, but I was intrigued by the prospect of tree stand hunting.
I did not like the wood platform as it looked dangerous to me, but was ok until it rotted or came loose from the tree. That summer I decided to weld one up from some scrap steel I had. Then on day I saw a small herd of elk coming up from water when I was out on a closed road. I decided to set my stand there. The first morning of archery season I went and climbed into my stand. I waited there for about an hour and got bored with it. I could see nothing had come around to that location since I had bumped the herd out a few weeks before.
I hunted all weekend on the ground. Sunday late afternoon I hiked up a closed road into an area where I had heard a bull bugle the evening before the season opened. I got about 1/2 mile up the road and saw a trickle of water coming down the hillside, going along the road for a ways then crossing. I decided to see where the water came from and saw a stock watering pond just up the hill about 80 feet. Coming into the water hole was a game trail beat to dust with rub trees all along it. There were no cattle in the allotment, so I knew only elk were using that trail. After some investigating I concluded it was just one bull.
I waited at the pond until dark but nothing showed up, but then and there I realized there were good tree stand locations and there were poor ones.
The next Saturday I had my stand in a nearby tree and killed the bull that evening.

Elkhunttoo: I have done that exact same thing several times. I can be a slow learner. You are right that these are things you don't read in the magazines and have to discover on your own. :lol:
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Elkhunttoo » 07 03, 2020 •  [Post 10]

Another lesson learned was from my brother the first year he archery hunted with me.

Back story...I have uncles that have been tree stand archery hunting for around 35 years. They have taken lots of elk and have all killed some really nice bulls. They will walk around and call sometimes but mainly tree stand hunt.

My brothers first night we are together we called in a really nice bull and he miss judged the distance and shot over the bull. The next 3 days we had a blast. We hit the rut at a decent time and chased elk all three days with several close calls. We were in elk almost the entire time. At the end of the hunt we went home with tag soup. (It was still among the most fun I’ve ever had on a hunt)

My brother called me a few nights later and started discussing sitting good areas we had found vs calling. He talked about our uncles success rates and then he said this, “there is seeing elk and there is killing elk!!!”

The next 2 years with work we combined to hunt around 5 days and killed 2 bulls sitting tree stands and ground blinds. We only saw a few elk in those days hunted but the success was hard to argue with.

I still like chasing them ;)
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Swede » 07 03, 2020 •  [Post 11]

That is something I learned quick too. You see and hear a lot more elk staying on the ground and moving around. You kill more by waiting in a tree stand.
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Re: On Your Own

Postby lilshootergirl » 07 18, 2020 •  [Post 12]

Swede, I've spooked more game charging from my rig! I kick myself! I have gut feelings, but don't listen I'm going to do exactly that! I think about, wish I would have check the hill above the bedding area! Nope I think about it and kick myself! Relax, every 3 steps open a whole new field of view! I need to slow down, then I think all the advise I've been giving will help me be successful! I do have a check list that goes through my head when taking a shot, it keeps me focused on the shot.
I have a fire burning, its been too long since i've visited the woods. Thank you for all your advise!
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Swede » 07 18, 2020 •  [Post 13]

It is interesting how you describe your plan for hunting. I was talking to a neighbor a couple of hours age and asked how is is being so successful. He described exactly what you did. He hunts verrrry slow in the timber and spends most of his looking very close by.

lilshootergirl wrote: I've spooked more game charging from my rig!
I have never heard of anyone doing that. Right guys????
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Re: On Your Own

Postby Lefty » 07 19, 2020 •  [Post 14]

Swede wrote: I have never heard of anyone doing that. Right guys????
Never happened to me :lol:
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