early season tips

[NCelkhtr]

the season is getting close (we are leaving 5 weeks from wednesday). Any of you veterans have some last minute tips for us newbies on hunting early season elk?

[Indian Summer]

That's August 28th... early for sure. I'd say hunt them like deer, slow and patient. Do NOT over call. As a matter of fact I'd call very little unless the elk gave me the cue that they were in the mood to engage in some conversation.

Your windows of opportunity mornings and evenings will be short.

Id say take a note from Paul's gameplan and spend some time out and about at night trying to locate bulls when they will surely be more active and come back at first light knowing they are in the vicinity.

That early I might even take a tree stand.

Also, make sure you have the right gear and a good plan for getting meat out of the hills and the heat as fast as you can.

Best of luck to you!

[cnelk]

Zack

I will post what I emailed to you about hunting early... others may be interested....

"..... be careful about busting elk out of certain areas. Just hunt all areas really 'soft' and you should be OK.
Dont barge in and hunt, approach it like a new girlfriend, go slowly and see what you can do [and cant do] ......
Let the elk dictate your hunting style..."

[JGH]

Early season tactics appreciated here, too.

Just got back from scouting ... major concentrations of elk within < 1 mile in all directions from camp ... that's the good thing. Marked some wallows, etc. with GPS, but I'm not sure how useful this information will be -- area is quite wet. Water is not an issue for them this year.

As I was thinking about the good (lots of elk) I began to think how it'd effect my early season strategy. I'm thinking that since there a lots of elk, perhaps finding "pinch points" of travel -- perhaps combined with non-aggressive cold calling -- might be the best option.

I got done marking a calendar with data from 2 trail cameras. Although I got a lot of photos, any one morning or night might be a roll of the dice (specifically, a 1:6 chance). I'm thinking, though, that mornings/afternoons at pinch points and evenings near wallows.

[>>>---WW---->]

Early season is the best time for silent calling. But if you don't understand it or know how to use it, it is best left to those that do it right. Jim Horn has one of the best CDs on how to make it work.

You can also check out (Archived Tips) here on the Elknut forum. I did a write up on silent calling there that explains it.

[ElkNut1]

Early season, stay out of the bedding areas, you will just blow unresponsive elk out of there if you try sneaking through! Once they leave they can be gone for weeks. Hunt bedding areas once bulls start chatting it up, generally after the 12th is best.

Early season, if after any elk the silent calling or blind calling is very good if within earshot of elk. If after bulls only rely mostly on advertising yourself as a new bull in the area, be persistent in your calling/raking, this generally raises curiosity more of the bulls around that the cows. They want to know the competition in the area.

Glassing in glass-able areas is a great choice too!

ElkNut1

[Bullnuts]

In the early season I still hunt a LOT and try to see/hear the elk before they see or hear me. I work a lot of heavy timber edges where I expect elk to be after feeding or where they will come in to get food or water. I cover an awful lot of ground between sunup and 11 am and then will hunt meadow edges, wallows, or other water sources in the afternoon when the wind gets right. Unlike the others, I cow call a lot and use chirps more than mews to get animals moving my way. A lot of early elk will come in silent, but that's not always the case - -I've had them come in bugling like mad on August 23, so go with what the elk are telling you.

[Trophyhill]

I've had some success calling bulls in early the last couple years with loud estrus whines. My thoughts being that lone bulls are looking for cows in heat and I'm giving them what they are looking for.

[welka]

See the Playbook or other posts on this website and get yourself familiar with how to do "cold or blind calling set-ups". I agree with IS that you should be on the conservative side on calling and that includes on your set-ups. Early in the season, you can go Ofer on hearing bulls and you will either have to find them by sight (which can burn valuable time if you only have a week on property you can't pre-scout) or create your own action with cold calling. Good luck