Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Best Elk hunting advice?

Double Yup. Even if you cook in your sleeping tent or spray yourself with the best as advertised scent eliminator.

Thanks!

I have several more stories just like that with elk. Last year I didn't see a cow until the last afternoon. Saw several bulls but had another cow tag. And I mmmmmmissed. didn't think it possible to miss an elk.......

Out of a dozen or so elk I've managed to kill, Thursday has been good to me. My skill set is strong on persistence, a little low on the skill side - I need 7-8-9 days <G>

I killed this bull on the last day of a ten day hunt in the nastiest blow down I was ever in and it was the only elk I saw all season. He came past me about 10 AM, sneaking thru aspen so thick I could not shoot. I trailed him it about 1/2mile and went into blow down. I sat down and cow called. He jumped up from the bed.I threaded 405 gr 45 -70 slug under two fallen trees and killed him at about 15 yards. Where there are elk today there may be a lot of tracks and sign, but they probably will not be there tomorrow, next week, or next month.Where there are no elk, there may be elk tomorrow in 2 weeks or a month. Trust you gut.

Bwinters said it the best: "NEVER QUIT" I would have added some !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the best advice given in this thread. My elk hunting partner is a little bit older than me and I've learned a little from him, but the best education is given by the elk, if you are smart enough to take note of what you did wrong. Every year you are going to F up. That happens, but you better learn from your mistakes. If not, you won't be much of an elk hunter. Making the shot is the easy part, choosing the bullet is the easy part, but finding them is the tough task. My elk hunting partner always said, "elk hunting separates the boys from the men". And he was 100% right. When you learn that, you will be on to something..

I have also found I have killed my elk on the last day of hunting elk, because I usually quit elk hunting once I got one...

Always find what you're looking for in the last place you look...

I. Thou shalt be in shape, for elk dwelleth not in the flatlands, nor where there is oxygen.
II. If thine ass resembleth 20 pounds of chewed bubble gum, bitter shall be thy lot.
I
II.Thou shalt not whine that the pace is too swift, or that thou cannot get thy breath, or that thou seeest stars, for thy guide shall care not, and mercy shall not be yours.
IV. Thou shalt not stuff thy pack with all manner of goods. Thou needst it not, and it shall do naught but rob thee of thy breath and turn thy knees to Jello.
V. Thou shalt not slam truck doors, nor speak above a whisper, nor tramp through the forests like the hosts of Gilead, for thou art in the backyard of thy foe the elk, and sharp are his senses, and he shall flee from thee.
VI. Thou shalt practice thy offhand shooting, for that may be the only shot that thou receivest.
VII. Thou shalt learn to shoot as swiftly as the hawk flieth, and thou shalt not fiddle-f*** with thy gear, nor adjust thy scope, nor set up thy bipod, for thou hast not time.
VIII. While the elk yet moveth, thou must shoot, for blessed is he who endeth the life quickly, and accursed is he who letteth an animal suffer for the sake of a one-shot kill.
IX. Strong must be thy bullet; all else is but the dung of horses.
X. The worst day thou shalt have hunting elk is better than the best day of whatever else thou doest.

How did that bullet perform? Obviously it worked but I am curious how it held together.

Thanks

It was a dead on front top of the brisket shot. It probably ended up it the guts as I never found it. The next year, I shot another elk with the same bullet. ..About the same distance, but a double lung shot. It went all the way thru,out the other side. The elk was a little up hill from me. Folks won't believe me, but it turned, staggered down towards me and fell about 6 feet in front of me .

The rifle was a 1886 Browning reproduction.Powder was 3031.I quit carrying it after that. 13 pounds fully loaded ,too heavy to lug around and it kept my saddle shifted off to one side,unless I hung a full canteen off the other side

Hunt Colorado.

The threat of a ranch sale has sent me scrambling in a search for opportunities - just for a cow hunt. Booking agents have been helpful and honest. Ever increasing tag costs confirm that states are monitizing their resource - understandable. While this is not a new trend, Wyoming has reduced their 2023 NR allocation for the "big 5" down to 90/10.While this does not include elk, the wife is actively searching for housing options in WY and MT. However my 21 points for a bighorn sheep tag may be a moot point. 18 sheep tags for 11,000 point holders are not good odds. I have read that WY officials are preparing for a spate of class action lawsuits. Thankfully the ranch sale has been rescinded!

Expect some big changes in Colorado for the 2025-2029 big game structure. Especially archery seasons, preference point usage, and tag allocation.Then read the summary of the wolf introduction plan submitted to the CPW commission this week. There is going to be be a lot of unhappy hunters and land owners.

You can bet that the liberals in state the legislature will approve any recommendation from CPW that will not cut their funding. Resident hunters are about to take it in the shorts again.

Better use those big number points soon.

Speaking of being in the dark, and lost, this gives me a chance for a story. At the time I couldn’t think of a better thing to do but sit down, haul out a Babe Ruth and have a snack.

We were in the Flattops of northwester Co., and while my friend decided to stay in camp, I headed out for an evening hunt, hiking across a large meadow, through some timber, across another long winding meadow, and hunt a small canyon we had crossed a couple days earlier. It was probably two miles from camp.

As the sun was setting I watched a small herd filter up towards the top on the opposite side of the canyon, maybe at two hundred fifty yards or so. It was too dark for a shot but I watched in the dim light noting there were two legal bulls in the group. Finally it was too dark to see.

I had noted my compass as I left camp and figured I was some distance southwest of camp but as I turned my headlamp on and struck out on a northeasterly tract, everything looked strangely different and new. Irrationally, I started on a more easterly direction, thinking it had to be right but after an hour I was in timber so thick, my light penetrated no more than ten feet — it felt like I was in a small room. It was blacker than black that night.

Thankfully it was fairly warm with a heavy cloud cover and no wind. I was lost and thought if I built a small fire it wouldn’t be a terrible ordeal. Surely I would break out of the timber in the morning and hit that large meadow. That’s when the Babe Ruth came out and gave me some time to think. Our friend from Buena Vista ran dogs and so had given me and my hunting bud a radio and a dog collar which I had completely forgotten about as this was about the third or fourth day of our hunt. At least I could call him and let them know I was at a standstill.

When I got him on the radio and explained, he told me to fish the dog collar out of my pack and hit the switch. As we talked he told me to start moving straight ahead So he could get a fix on his analog receiver. After about fifty yards, he corrected my path to a more northwesterly one. By my compass this put me on about a 280* route. Then about every half hour, he’d call and correct or confirm my path. Still, it took an hour to break out of that timber with the deadfall’s and all. Then it was aspens and in another hour I came into the huge meadow we were camped in. Finally I saw the camp lights maybe a little short of a half mile away. It was about 9 pm. Supper was cold but very, very good.

Thinking about, and looking at a map afterwards, I had walked a path making very nearly an equilateral triangle with each leg being about two and a half miles or.

My advice is Believe your compass! This event was pre-GPS units. Believe your GPS. Carry a compass, GPS, and a map if you venture out on your own at all. It’s a good idea anyway.

One last thing: don't go cheap on boots, socks, or anything else that will keep you warm. Cold can be an ugly enemy - from hypothermia to losing digits, and when you're far from camp, staying warm and having an energy bar can mean a LOT!

Get comfortable being uncomfortable.

More specifically to the OP. If I were you I'd look towards opportunities rather than "trophy" potential. Even maybe cow tags....gets you out there

I don’t like what I’ve been seeing from CWP commission meetings either. Just look at the commission members’ bio’s… bunch of liberals at best. Non -Residents won’t even get a reach-around after 2025.

hunt up David Petzal's commandments for elk hunting.

Addiction can be very costly!

How many addicts have stated, it’s only “pot” and I’m only gonna try it once! You figure out what is your best decision using that as my advice! memtb

If you do hunt Colorado, be sure to follow some best practices; best if you don't want stand out as an out-of-state newbie. Make sure you pickup is lifted and has oversized 22" rims with low profile tires. Bring at least one ATV per person, might be good to pack an extra too. Absolutely be sure to have a big box store generator, one of those 8000watt ones on wheels. Elk are totally used to hearing it and you need a way to charge your onxmaps gps at the end of the day. Consider 10,000w just to be sure. Carry and use repeatedly the Hoochie Mama and four different bull calls - can't be using the same voice when talking to them. Make sure to carry shooting sticks and spotting scope - elk can only be found on far far away hillsides. Some guys report having luck with climbing tree stands, so throw one of those in the trailer too. Don't worry about elevation and being fit, a 6.5 Needmore 13lb sniper rifle and ATV can make up for any lack of athleticism. When hunting with your buddies, line up at the edge of the woods and stand guard, just like watching a midwest corn field, elk are just big deer. If you hear a real elk in the woods, chase it and call incessantly. You can sneak up on them, pretty easily actually, and if they spook they won't go far, hunt the same spot the next day. Most importantly, don't be drinking Pabst, Shine, Whiskey, Gin, at the end of the day. Real elk hunters prefer heart-healthy red wine and it's OK if you and your friends can't finish a bottle, just re-cork it.

WOW, now that was Good To GO! Laughed my butt off!