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Elk Huntin’ Ain’t Deer Huntin’
Excerpt from Elk Hunting 101, A Pocketbook Guide to Elk Hunting
Growing up in the South, I had the opportunity to hunt everything from bobwhite quail to raccoons and Whitetail deer. I’ve hunted in nearly every Southern state, and you can take my word for it; until the recent elk transplantation efforts of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, there were no elk in the South, at least none that were not already hanging over someone else’s fireplace. How is this relevant you may ask? The relevancy is this. Hunting Whitetail deer whether in the South, the Midwest, the Northeast, or anywhere else for that matter is a far stretch from elk hunting. Elk huntin’ ain’t deer huntin’. For some perspective let’s take a look at some of the differences.
Whitetail deer habitat typically ranges from lowland farm country and wood lots to open prairie. Hardwoods like oak, hickory, and maple are common browse for Whitetail deer. With few exceptions, Whitetails are found at elevations from sea level to about 4,000 feet. Elk on the other hand can be found in open pasture at 5,000 feet, but primarily inhabit much higher and more rugged mountain terrain, covered in a variety of pines and firs as well as aspen, ranging from 8,000 feet to well above timberline and altitudes of 12,000 and greater.
Whitetail deer are primarily browsers, meaning they prefer to eat from the tree or brush as opposed to the ground. Elk, like cattle, prefer to graze on grass, succulents, and other feed found on or very near the ground. Granted, either will shift their feeding preferences depending upon what is available, but their preferences remain the same.
Where deer are far more solitary critters traveling mostly as singles or in smaller groups, elk are herd animals, opting for living and traveling in groups ranging from a few animals to hundreds, Granted, I’ve seen many elk traveling as singles, but these have been few and far between.
One summer a few years ago, I was invited along on a summer pack trip in the Flat Tops Wilderness area of Colorado, so I decided to combine this opportunity with a little scouting. My hosts were Randy and Jeanne Horne owners of Bar-H Outfitters (www.barhoutfitters.com) in Meeker, CO. It was early July, so the bulls and cows were mostly split up at this time. The ride in took maybe three hours, but in the course of perhaps one of those hours on horseback, we saw and filmed what we reasonably estimated at between 600 and 700 head of elk, all traveling in large groups of 50-300. This is not to say that one can expect to see groups of this size regularly. It is to reinforce my point that elk travel primarily in groups. I wish I could tell you how many times I’ve heard some hunter say, “There ain’t no elk around here.” Well, maybe there are and maybe there are not. Any given area may hold a quantity of elk, but if a hunter doesn’t know how to maximize his chances of locating these elk, he is likely to respond similarly. So how can a hunter “maximize his opportunity of seeing elk?”
Tip #8: The key is to cover as much ground as possible.
Try to picture this. You are hunting an area that is approximately 2 miles square, I.e. 2 miles by 2 miles and is known to hold 100 animals. Granted this is a rather small area but for purposes of this example, just bear with me. Conventional deer hunting strategy says look for game trails, signs, or areas that would provide a source of food or water, and set up a stand. Your stand might be a tree stand, a ground blind, or just hiding behind a tree. Either way, you have done your homework and now you have staked out a point of ambush, right? Well maybe, but probably not. Why? As I mentioned earlier, deer travel in singles and small groups so the probability of one of those hundred deer inhabiting the two square mile area walking somewhere close to your stand are fairly good, but lets consider the travel patterns of elk. Remember, elk travel in herds. Here I will be conservative and assume that the same 100 animals (elk) are moving about in the same two mile square area. If the same hunter sets himself up in the same stationary blind, what do you think his chances are of seeing these elk that may all be traveling together or in a few family groups. Let’s say that the stand is over a wallow on the edge of a small meadow that is 500 yards long and 500 yards wide, which is fairly large as some go. All it takes is for the elk herd to pass you in the dark timber by a few yards. Believe me, you would be surprised how quiet a herd of elk can be tip toeing through the woods and causing you to miss the entire event. If you are honest, you’ll admit that a hunter’s chances of locating the elk from a stationary stand are significantly less than his chances would have been for locating deer. So how do I hunt elk? I’ll talk about that more in the chapter on methods of elk hunting.
Six Reasons Elk Hunters Go Home Empty Handed
Excerpt from Elk Hunting 201, Big Bulls...Essentials for a Successful Hunt
A few years back, a good friend and in my opinion world-class hunter Steve Chapman wrote a fine book entitled What a Hunter Brings Home. In this volume like so many of his before it, Steve captures the joy of the hunt and demonstrates how God uses the solitude of the woods to reveal His eternal truths. Not too long ago, I was talking with a mutual friend of mine and Steve’s, Lindsey Williams of Really Big Bison Productions of Nashville, when Lindz shared with me the story of the day he brought home his copy of Steve’s book.
According to Lindz, he walked into the house and rather innocently said to his wife Susan “Honey, look what Steve gave me, a copy of his book, What a Hunter Brings Home.” Now I imagine that to get the total effect of this heart rending moment, we would have had to be there, but I bet most of us can get the picture. Being the faithful and loving wife of such a devoted husband and die-hard hunter, Susan merely replied, “Yeah...nuthin’!”
I don’t know about the rest of you folks, but for me and a lot of folks I know this response is probably far more accurate than most of us want to admit. As elk hunters we spend countless days and a fair portion of the family budget in pursuit of game, only to return home bone-tired, smelly, cold, and worst of all, empty-handed. So let’s spend a few minutes looking at six reasons why elk hunters go home with empty coolers.
Reason #1...Lack of A Good Plan or Not Following the Plan
Some things are worth repeating. In Elk Hunting 101 I talked about doing your homework. This means that if you want to be more successful in your elk hunting endeavors, then you need to do a moderate amount of research into such things as: Where are the elk? How is your hunting party going to attack the problem of covering every inch of that area? And how are you going to manage the tags within your group? As you know, I love to tell stories that make a point. Here’s one such story.
A few years ago my hunting partner and I took a whole bunch of guys with us elk hunting. No you don’t want to know how many. Just take my word for it. It was a real gaggle. Our original thinking at the time was the more the merrier. Hindsight being 20/20, it is perfectly clear now that our ElkCamp for that year probably resembled more of a goat rope with an awful lot of effort going on, but little in the way of results coming from it. As in most camps old hunting friends chose to pair up and take to the woods in teams. I have no problem with such strategies. I do it myself. One of the most rewarding aspects of elk hunting is the hours of camaraderie spent with good friends in pursuit of a wild and worthy adversary.
In this particular camp our number of bull tags and cow tags were about equal. So far so good, right? Well yes and no. One would think that having a fair number of either type tag would be an overall smart plan. I agree it was. However, as our hunters partnered up each day to head out, guess how those tags were distributed? Let me tell you. About three-quarters of our hunters disregarded the type of tag their hunting partner had and we ended up with a bunch of cow tags going one way and a bunch of bull tags heading another. You can see this coming, can’t you? Yep. The guys with bull tags ran into cows and the hunters with cow tags ran into bulls with neither having a legal opportunity to take a shot. On the next to the last morning of our hunt, two of our cow tag hunters walked up on two very nice shooter bulls. One was a large 6x6 and the other a very respectable 5x5. The 5x5 was broadside in the open at about sixty yards and the 6x6 was around 200 yards. Although these two hunters came back to camp with a great story and life-long memory of the hunt, such stories are not quite as tasty as elk tenderloin, which might have been the case if at least one of the hunters had a bull tag.
Whether you are part of a college football team, an armored cavalry unit, or a just a bunch of guys going elk hunting, if you want to defeat your adversary, if you want to survive, if you want to be successful, you have to have a plan to succeed and you must work that plan. Otherwise what may happen is chaos and you end up going home often enough empty handed.
Reason #2…Poor Physical Condition
I am going to hazard a guess that many who read this are parents. If you’re not in this category, then try to remember back to when you were a child. As a parent, how many times did you have to tell your child “no” after he or she continued to repeat the same infraction over and over. Reason leads one to believe that once should be enough. However, reality tells us that this just isn’t the case. Some kids…some folks just need to hear it more than once.
Elk hunting is hard work. Let me say this again. Elk hunting is hard work! Some of those factors that come into play in the course of a day of hunting such as weather or terrain are finite. By this I mean that there is not much that you can do to change these. The mountains are always going to be brutal on your lungs and your knees. The wind and the cold are forever going to be obstacles that we have to deal with. These are all a part of what we sign on for as elk hunters. There are factors that can become obstacles only if we allow them to become so.
To enjoy the adventure of elk hunting one does not have to become the equivalent of an Olympic athlete. One does however need to be in reasonably good physical shape. This means that whether you are thirty or fifty, you should make a reasonable attempt to be prepared to hike from five to as much as fifteen miles a day with all of your gear. It means that if you want to get into elk, you have to be able and willing to do more than walk a quarter mile from the truck and sit down and hope an elk stumbles by you. If you want to be successful at elk hunting you have to be able to go where the elk are, so take the time before your hunt to get into shape.
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