First time Elk ML hunter

[JDWellman]

I drew a cow tag and a spike bull tag in Nevada for this year. I intend to use a 'late lancaster' 36" conned barrel, iron mounted .54 flintlock modern reproduction.
This for the regular rifle season. How important is it to get the 'no smell' type stuff? A stand at a water hole, or glassing and stalking from just below ridge lines? Traditional pre1840, a mix, or all modern camo? Moccasins, or boots, or? What binoculars might be pre1840 that would be useful? What strategy to deal with center fire snipers? Thanks, Apaws

 

[Greenmtnboy]

Learn to call, cow in heat is a must!!first season elk the first of Octoberish the elk will be screaming and bulls will push cows into your lap. Go Native(period correct)its what I do and love it.
you may have to wear blaze orange over your garb.
check out my elk hunting topics for some ideas.
:hatsoff:

 

[longcruise]

If the wind favors the elk they Will smell you. Can't hide human stink from an elk. Water hole watching kinda iffy. Spot and stalk kinda depends on terrain and cover.

Listen to GM boy about calling! Bugle call; use sparingly if at all.

 

[BrownBear]

Yup, he's da man.

I've found it real important to study the terrain, then "stalk" likely locations for the elk to be hiding out. For a big animal in a herd, they're sure good at using the terrain to keep themselves out of the way of hunters. I'll look over an area and decide on the most likely places for them to hole up, then stalk the spots, as though the herd is there. I don't often see elk out in the open, but sure manage to stumble across lots of them in nooks and crannies when I'm quiet and slow getting there, always from downwind. Calling helps draw them out of that cover, but first you have to get close enough to do something about it, without spooking them from the cover.

Reminds me of a favorite elk experience there in the Rockies. I wasn't hunting at the time, rather moving through a popular hunting area to gather the last cattle we had missed a few days before.

Season had been open a few days, and there were huge camps with RVs ringed like wagon trains, 4-wheelers zooming everywhere, and lots of trucks slow cruising down the roads.

There was this sage flat pretty close to a section in size (a mile on a side), and out in the middle of it was this scatter of boulders with lots of pinon and juniper, all raised 20-30' higher than the surrounding sage. Maybe two acres total.

Looked like a perfect place for a couple dozen cows to hang out, so I rode over that way, coincidentally going right into the wind.

Got close and heard brush popping. Thought "Aha, there those old girls are hiding!"

Hiding was right, but a herd of about 3 dozen elk came blasting out of the grove, ran all the way across the sage flat and continued on through the timber to drop over the side of the mesa.

Not a soul saw them!!!! No shots fired, no yelling and hollering and chasing. Just a bunch of guys sitting in their camps and more in trucks and farting around on 4-wheelers.

Amazing animals those elk.

And yeah, my cows were in the grove, too. Coupla guys gave me manure for driving cattle through "their" elk hunt. I bet those elk would have stayed there all day without stirring a hair if I hadn't bothered to move half a mile off the road looking for bovines.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

And yeah, my cows were in the grove, too. Coupla guys gave me manure for driving cattle through "their" elk hunt. I bet those elk would have stayed there all day without stirring a hair if I hadn't bothered to move half a mile off the road looking for bovines.

I was watching a long valley when a heard of about 20 cattle started down the trail just below me. On a whim I ghosted along behind them. Stopped when they stopped, tried to set foot in pace with one of them.

Never saw elk but walked to within bow range of doe & yearling, two doe, fork buck (and I think a doe with him). Saw more well within rifle range. None paid me any mind until I walked past and they winded me :wink: For a day with no shots & a heck of a long walk back out.....That was a fun day hunting. The two doe I could of spit on & they never looked up :grin: I can see them even now when I got up wind, absolute :shocked2: shock. Man that nose on a deer, when they got my sent looked RIGHT at me, not at the cattle or down wind or anything.

 

[BigBoreBLR]

How easy are these tags to get.

IF using a muzzleloader, you will obsiously need to be in closer than the other guys.

Some expert assistance may be a good idea if these tags are few an far between.

If they're in the rut, calling them in will get you close enough.

If they're not in the rut, it's going to be much more difficult.

Garb is up to you. I have traditional clothes I wear from time to time.

However, If I am in an area where opportunities are few and far between, I'd use modern camo. If a tag is a once in a decade affair, I will do anything reasonable to be successful. I have a disadvantage to my local deer, no biggie. I can go out next weekend and be assured I will get multiple tags next year.

Check closely with the state regs. They get fishy with muzzleloaders. Even the type of sight you use. They typically say no to scopes and other modern advents. But, check into it anyway. If you gun has a peep sight, they may not like that.

Far as smell goes, Use you own nose as a guide. If your wife complains of the smell in the house, then use something else.

Also, when you call an animal, they tend to come straight at you. When they get closer, call a bit softer and use your hand or point the call so it sounds like she animal is a bit to the side of you. Easier to get a broadside shot.

Even though your using a 54, elk is a ton of muscle. Learn your vital zones well. Find a good chart and look at it every few days for a few weeks.

I highly suggest making a plywood shilouette to practice shooting with.

Also, look into what is a decent shot with a bow versus a powerful modern rifle. Get a blend between good and bad.

You wound an elk it makes a deer look like a slug. they will go to the next county.

Find out well what scouting strategies to use. Possibly even ask a hunting guide if he can spend an afternoon with you scouting a bit in the summer if you're nearby.

Start getting in shape, find good boots and get them broken in, your hunting in mountains, so learn drift in the wind well. Learn to use the local brush as a tell tail of wind.

since your only shooting 100 yards, work on those offhand and kneeling shots good.

Maybe purchase a lead hardness tester. I can imagine too soft a roundball can be bad for deep penetration.

Also, human scent can vary wildly. You will be a mountain athlete going after these critters. Find a blend of clothing to keep you warn and dry, but not too warm when climbing. A combination of layers. Also, find a backpack that keep you back aired out. You can get real sweaty with a non ventilated backpack. I personally use a smaller frame pack. Like the cabelas Alaskan outfitter.

Although your traditional, if spending a long time looking through binoculars, cheap ones give you a headache. I find birdwatchers to be the best experts for binoculars. High power is good for counting horns for trophies. But a 7 or 8 power is much better for finding a needle in a haystack so to speak.

You'll be spending a ton of time on foot. Most traditional muzzleloaders are not slinged. I'd buy a sling for yours.

Have a good game plan for packing out meat. I use the frame pack. Put the animal on a tarp,something that big I debone, then put tons of pepper on the meat to scare away the flies.

Be prepared to expect a big bear eating dinner on your harvested game when you come back.

If these tags are hard to come by and your not in the rut, then I would consider bring something than can produce good results beyond 100 yard or so.

Also, real open areas can be even tougher to judge distances. Especially if you're not used to see animals that big in the woods. When scouting practice judging distances when walking from one spot to the next.

 

[BigBoreBLR]

Also, if there pressured they can travel far. They may be in thick brush. If you smell a foul smell, that's probably elk very close to you.

Maybe have 2 or 3 spots planned incase you feel one spot it too crowded.

If these tags are hard to come by and you can't easily scout the area well, consider a guide.

If you got a 3 day season, get there 2 or 3 days ahead of time to scout.

From what I have read, elk are more nocturnal animals. A few very successful elk hunters I know scout at night, then usually take their shots towards the morning or early evening. Mid-day, they rest. Usually take a nap against a tree.

 

[Patocazador]

If you're hunting during the rut and calling, have someone come along who can work a cow call. Position him 70-100 yards behind you and slightly to the left. This will take the bull's attention away from you and he could pass by on your left (if you're right-handed). This little tactic is invaluable.

 

[longcruise]

If you're hunting during the rut and calling, have someone come along who can work a cow call. Position him 70-100 yards behind you and slightly to the left.

This is a pretty good calling tactic, but wind direction should be the overiding factor in choosing where to set up in front of the caller. Elk may not be alarmed by noise you make if it's natural to the evironment such as a limb breaking, etc. They may not be overly alarmed if they see you move or if you don't look just right. But, they always believe their nose!

An elk may come directly to you, but will more likely work around putting the the call location upwind to try to get a scent of the cow. The bull is often being less cautious and more curious as to the receptiveness of the cow. His nose will tell him.

If you don't have a partner and you know a bull is responding and probably coming in, blow your last few calls from a given point and then move to a position with the wind favoring you and treat your last calling location like it is the cow the bull seeks. He knows exactly where the last call came from, EXACTLY! By being 50 yards or a bit more downwind of your last calling location, the bull is going to come right into your lap or between you and the calling location.

All this is in a perfect world, of course. It would not be hunting if things did not go wrong most of the time! :wink:

 

[Idaho Ron]

I can't add much to the answers. I will add, don't waist money on scent lock. If they are down wind of you they are going to smell you no matter what. But I will add that you can beat their eyes. I like water holes if they are good ones. I also like the Sceery cow calls. Spike elk are the easiest elk to kill. Especially in September. The big bulls will evict them in most cases. They will be roaming in singles and doubles. The singles are easy to call in with a cow call. Get a poster of a cow elk head and glue it to a thick piece of cardboard. Spot and stalk is the method, and when your close use the call and cow head decoy. Ron

 

[Sean Gadhar]

So scent, wind, wind, scent....and IMHO spot & scout until you find elk. Then hunt. Elk are NOT where you think they should be. That is to say, I spent my 1st 3-4 years hunting spots that were just perfect elk country. The fact that the elk weren't there didn't stop me from spending days hunting it :slap: There's about a million perfect elk spots. Now I scout and spot until I see elk, or smell them, then I hunt the spot where there's elk.

 

[Zonie]

If you see something that looks like this, your getting close.

 

[Wes/Tex]

http://www.outdooroddities.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/funny_elk_with_grass_on_its_head.jpg

Stella!

 

[Vaino]

During the elk MLer season in Colorado, what has worked while moving is to use cow calls {carried 3 w/ different tones} and once in awhile crack some brush. Elk are tightly herding animals and if you don't move, the chances of encountering them is minimal. Of course, some sit by wallows or water holes, but we never had much of that.

I usually worked wooded slopes in the AM, but not before there was an updraft which happened usually around 8 AM.

Noise isn't disturbing to elk....they're very noisy animals unlike whitetails, but if they get wind of you, they're gone.

When one encounters a smell of cows, it's more than likely a herd of elk....the smell's the same.

Recall one instance of smelling elk, but didn't go after them. The next day skirted the area and still smelled them and started cow calling and after 10 mins or so, heard a crash and 9 cows were being pushed by a 6X6 bull and they ended up to my right. Didn't have a bull tag, but the lead cow presented herself at a little over 100 yds and the .54 PRB did it's job.
Travelled 40 yds and went down.

I think there's a "mysticism" in hunting elk...unlike deer hunting. When one sees a shootable deer, it's shot because usually you're sitting as opposed to moving when elk hunting....Fred

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Noise isn't disturbing to elk....they're very noisy animals unlike whitetails, but if they get wind of you, they're gone.

When one encounters a smell of cows, it's more than likely a herd of elk....the smell's the same.

Yep elk make noise, and aren't much bothered by "elky" noise or movement. I would add though, if you clank, clink, or talk the jig is up...and so is the head of every elk around. Movement is the same if you are seen moving how you were moving will often dictate how the elk react. The silly things I have done to look like another herbivore :redface:

the smell's the same.

:hmm: Well they are similar, but living here in Colorado I don't ever remember mixing them up. That said, if your new to elk flehto is right. In elk country if you smell a cattle smell, slow down (I would stop & "glass" all around me while I tried to get a direction on the smell) , walk slowly into the wind, be ready (rifle in hand, cow call in your mouth).

Anyone that hunts elk will tell you about elk just appearing :shocked2: Just about all of us have been caught flat footed Rifle on our backs, cow call inside your coat pocket, sandwich in your mouth when 10,000 pounds of elk just appear! Stand still JUST long enough that you could have had a shot had you been ready. Then they take off as you drop your sandwich & kneel on a cactus :rotf:

 

[BrownBear]

Anyone that hunts elk will tell you about elk just appearing....

Yeah. Once upon a time my wife and I were sitting quietly by the firepit in our yard eating dinner. A string of 7 cows with several calves stepped out of the brush not 50 feet from us. We didn't hear or see them coming, but suddenly they were there.

They never looked our way and just kept walking, looking uphill away from us and we quickly saw why. A big old mountain lion tom was paralleling them through the scattered brush.

Always makes me speculate about how (or if) two hunters could work together to distract them into shooting range. But of course they run like heck at the sight of a human, even as they were content simply to keep an eye on that cat about 100 feet above them.

 

[JDWellman]

Wow, what a great set of advice.

So, I went and ordered the 'Elknuts' calling video and 4 different mouth diaphragm cow calls. I was successful calling coyote and fox as a kid, but the calling video's on YT for Elk look a little different. Some tell me that most of the Elk you hear are really two leggeds?

A friend has offered to take me to the area in late August to do some scouting. He is familiar with area, and has a spot he says offers a morning ridge shot as the Elk move into their feeding areas at 50 yards. Sounds like the ticket if it works. The seasons for both the cow and the spike bull are over-laping in mid October, and the two zones share a common border. I think the season is 10 days.

I am thinking that I will need two tarps/plastic about 10'x10', and at least 4 bags for the meat. I am considering carrying two poles to make a human travois. My friend says if I want he can give me phone numbers of people in a nearby town who will help pack out the meat for some of the meat. Not sure how that would work, but he told me you just give them your gps coordinate and they meet you in the field!

I am thinking of making a bullet block for pre patched round balls. I am thinking of using a 110 grain FF bp charge for the .54 caliber. What do others think of those ideas?

I have mini sized biconulars, something like a 5x8 I think. Sounds like if I can't pick them out with that, I don't have a chance of getting close enough for a shot.

Thanks,

Apaws

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Some tell me that most of the Elk you hear are really two leggeds?

They were hunting to close to the road, hike in 3-5 more miles & it will be elk you hear.

A friend has offered to take me to the area in late August to do some scouting. He is familiar with area,

:thumbsup:

I am thinking that I will need two tarps/plastic about 10'x10', and at least 4 bags for the meat. I am considering carrying two poles to make a human travois.

I think I had the ribs & tenderloins in the bag & hide below it.

I use large canvas bags (2 1/2'x3 1/2' ) I have 4 but never carry more then 2 in my pack. Once in the bag I use a "hump strap" (20 feet of 2 inch Cotton Strapping) to carry the quarters on my back. So strap & 2 bags in my pack :hmm: 5 LBS maybe. Most guys use a pack frame (also good). Human travois? Elk may not die on the flat, & a travois on a Mountain trail sounds like at best an elk quarter plunging down the slope. At worst you will use the poles to splint the leg you broke when you went off the edge with the meat

I have mini sized biconulars, something like a 5x8 I think. Sounds like if I can't pick them out with that, I don't have a chance of getting close enough for a shot.

Binoculars, :nono: use the best you can lay hands on. If it is like here you will be spending much of your time looking for tan butts across miles & miles of grass & trees. cheep o is fine to watch a bird with. When you have 3 elk you know are bedded....somewhere on that 400 acre wooded slope... Optics matter.

 

[Elkeater]

It's not so much the speed of the ball but the placement is most important.

Always assume the call you hear is from an elk.

When you stop kneel or sit. Being low is great camoflauge.

Train yourself to shower in cold water.

 

[longcruise]

For cripes sake! Now we gotta start bathing in cold water too. Think I'll just be happy to stink!😃