Be Successful This Season

[Swede]

I am sure you all know this, but it a good time for a reminder. To be successful you need to maximize your time out on the hunt. Many other things can and are important like having a good elk place to hunt and good hunting techniques, but nothing beats staying with it, unless you have something like a high fence hunt. And how are you going to refine those techniques you have read and heard about except by staying out and testing them. I know of no trick or technique that works even most of the time. It is only as we stick with it that we can learn how to apply what we have learned.

I have learned things from others that are or were here. Some of these tricks were a big disappointment at first. It was only after I watched elk that I could refine the technique until it became a main part of my routine. An example is calling near my stand. It certainly did not start off as a howling success, but it works if done right. Tree stand height took a while to figure out. How high do I need to go at different locations. Experience will show a person a lot, but experience come from hours, days and weeks in different stands.
At this point in my hunting life, I have put in thousands of hours in a tree stand waiting for a stupid elk to come my way. Still there are no guarantees, but this I know; I must stay out there putting in my time if I want to succeed.

I hope you are all successful this season. What can we share that will help others of us who make WT our go to place, while we are waiting for the season to open again?

[Indian Summer]

I have some trees picked out for you in Wyoming. Just saying

[Swede]

I was just down in the Jedadiah Smith State Park looking over some monster tree stand locations similar to the one you have pictured.

[Lefty]

Swede Swede Swede,,, What are we going to do with you!!

Me being closer to death than to birth, a bit of experience I look at things a bit differently than way back when ever.
First I dont need more meat in the freezer to be successful and maximizing time often gets cut short for a nap


I will agree staying with it,,, breathing above ground is helpful

[Swede]

This was intended to be a serious thread, but it seems to have gone silly. We can always parse words about what success is. Certainly, some people have different ideas on the matter, but most people who pay over $1,000 to go elk hunting want to hang that $800 tag on a critter. If I really did not care because I have too much meat, I would just take my camera out and enjoy the outdoor adventure, whatever that amounts to. I have killed 30 elk just from my tree stand but I will not consider tag soup a success.
I guess what I am saying is that it would be in good form for WT's experienced hunters to help others who are still trying to fill their cooler for the first time with elk meat. I would like again to invite anyone that has anything helpful to share their ideas.

[WapitiTalk1]

It’s been a good handful of years since I’ve hunted 100% solo and packed out an elk w/o a partner assist. It’s shaping up to be just that this year (partner of many years may not be able to hunt with me this year). It can be done and has been done many, many times over the years. What am I saying? Do not forgo your 2023 elk hunt because you don’t have a partner to hunt with. Get out there, kill an elk, and take your time (weather permitting) get those chunks on ice over the course of a few days, and get em home or to a wild game butcher as soon as you can. Wapiti hunting happens but once a year, get out there and get it done!

[Lefty]

This was intended to be a serious thread, but it seems to have gone silly. We can always parse words about what success is. Certainly, some people have different ideas on the matter, but most people who pay over $1,000 to go elk hunting want to hang that $800 tag on a critter. If I really did not care because I have too much meat, I would just take my camera out and enjoy the outdoor adventure, whatever that amounts to. I have killed 30 elk just from my tree stand but I will not consider tag soup a success.
I guess what I am saying is that it would be in good form for WT's experienced hunters to help others who are still trying to fill their cooler for the first time with elk meat. I would like again to invite anyone that has anything helpful to share their ideas.

Swede I just wanted to make my seriousness a bit more lighthearted.
And yes a guy forking out that kind of money and a short timetable will pursue elk with a different mindset. I use to only have September Saturdays and Labor Day to hunt elk.

Super Success will happen the day my daughter puts a nice bull on her wall, or be the guide when my granddaughter takes her first big game animal.


Ill share how I went through my elk success.

Get as good as possible in the different aspects of hunting.
And adjust to what you cant do. So for many e-scouting is important. Get a paper map of where your hunting too.
I was a scoutmaster for 25 years in 4 different troops in 3 states. Live the scout motto. "Be prepared" for everything you can imagine
Walk in the woods with confidence.

Spend some time in camps with the guys that are killers.
What can truly be learned in minutes could take years otherwise. (Maybe a guided hunt)
One thing Ive always tried to do was learn from those that are good,,. With your own previous outdoor experience apply that to what you can learn from others Listen to those pod cas5s, watch the You tubes, ask questions on forums( I think that how I ended up on here )
Spend time watching elk,,, even if they are at the zoo or game farm.

Dont just make do with what you have, do the best with what you have.

[Elkhunttoo]

You can’t wait to go, you’re excited when you get to camp! Excitement burns out a little as you climb the first mountain. You have highs, and lows. But then if you are lucky and that moment comes. You need to be ready for it. I’ve missed my fair share unfortunately. Practice judging distance all the time because you might not be able to use your range finder. I carry and old arrow with a field point on it and shoot it in the dirt once or twice a day just for practice. Prepare for “the shot”

[Swede]

Thanks, guys, for getting a little more serious.
No problem Lefty with what you said. I just wanted to turn the thread in a different direction. It looked like it was heading south in a hurry. It looks like it is headed in the intended direction now.
Again, Thanks.

[Pop-r]

We can share Elknuts material and all of the podcast that are out there that are very informative and can and will cut years off of someones elk hunting learning curve.

[Lefty]

You need to be ready for it. I’ve missed my fair share, unfortunately.
Prepare for “the shot”

Like amost things ...The more time spent doing something the better you will get

Part of elk hunting is learning..... I wont even say from your mistakes or bad judgment. Maybe in my situation, it was a whole judgment mistakes. When it came down to crunch time,,, did I fail?
Ive been told Ive had more great missed opportunities than I deserve.
But I don't do woulda-coulda- shoulda very well. I'm out there having incredible experiences.

I have a friend that use to say believe your range finder. Well my Rangefinder had gone wacko and needed to be reset. That bull was at 19 yards, not 45
Or maybe the rifle scope lense fails,, that bull was killed 20 minutes later and scored 357 green.
Or the bull I missed three times as he walked from 33,27 to 21 yards,,, I messed up because I had measured all the landmarks 31 yards further back and used those pins.
or piece of sage jumping up and grabbing an arrow,
or a single quackie branch in the way of the perfect 5x5
Or not having a shooting hole in the blind on the downwind side when two over 350 bulls walk 14 yards away.
Or using the wrong pin on a bull that measured 360 ( other elk were at 13 yards
Or miss ranging and sending the arrow off a glunking 6x6 11 yards in front sending an arrow off of a G-4( and not having a shooting hole on that side of the blind either
Or stepping out of the blind, 2 minutes too soon
Or the little 6x6 . My range (bad shoulder) was 22 yards. the bull stopped at 23, then walked out of my life.
Or every bull was getting a bass because I was set on one particular bull ( did I do that kind of agin last year?
Or giving up on the bulls and killing a cow,,, last minutes of my season
I did get some photo ops

When I first started hunting elk I did what so many elk hunters said to not do. Elk are not Whitetail,,,,And it took a while to really understand what that meant
These two were closer, I put my pack down to dig out my camera. I passed them spotting the cows, then stalking in on the cows then this trip,,, I had just gutted the cow I killed

2010-09-11 14-03-08.jpg (18.97 KiB) Viewed 437 times

Some misjudgments you can somewhat eliminate. Like shooting technique. I shoot a shotgun and rifle,,,"lefty", but a bow right-handed. I learned to shoot instinctively,,, when I was 13..... With a perfect frontal on a 5x5 I couldn't open my right eye to see through the peep,, Once I had my eye working the shot would have been precise.

You can know there should be wallows in this drainage by looking at maps

Develop that woods sense,,, so you won't get in trouble.
Be smart believe the weatherman, or keep informed
Have a plan B, plan C a plan D

Where I hunted in the desert 450,000 acres burned... Unlike a timbered mountain area ,,, nothing was left,, and it will be nothing for years.

Learn different methods and styles of hunting. Some day Ill likely spend my whole season in a blind, and I think tree stand hunting is out,,,But Sweded methods still have pelnty to offer.
My methodology of running and gunning was either slower than advertised. Or Im great at the slow play.

[Swede]

Part of elk hunting is learning..... I wont even say from your mistakes or bad judgment. Maybe in my situation, it was a whole judgment mistakes. When it came down to crunch time,,, did I fail?
Ive been told Ive had more great missed opportunities than I deserve.
But I don't do woulda-coulda- shoulda very well. I'm out there having incredible experiences.

Lefty makes a great point here. How do you know if your one elk kill reflects anything more than good luck? I knew a hunter that thought stopping in a western Oregon clear-cut and whistling was a good deer hunting tactic. It worked once for him. He was about to leave a spot and started whistling when a good buck got up. I suspect he was going to try to escape, but he concluded whistling was the Majic sauce to use on big bucks. That was what he was doing when the buck got up and looked his way. His conclusion: Apparently, deer enjoy music???
Maybe instead of having an elk call we should bring out our favorite music?

Try tactics you read and hear about. Give them a good chance to work as none will work most of the time. Once you have found something that works, continue to refine it to work even better. So, when do you know if it is time to dump a tactic and move on? When you find a better one that does work. You are not limited to being a one-dimensional hunter.
Tip: When you come upon a successful hunter in the field; do not ask how or where they got their critter. If they volunteer that information just smile and move on. Most of the time they are not telling the truth. Hunters on the forum are much more believable as they are not giving away their hunting location and do not need to be concerned with you being in competition with them. I still read things with a jaundiced eye.