When to walk and when to sit??

MITCHMO

MITCHMO

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Lake Michigan
So I have been overthinking my elk trip this October to Wyoming(first time). I decided i need a little help. I am am used to hunting the thick swamps of northern Michigan so I have been looking for thick nasty dark timber in my hunting area. Having read that some of the heavily pressured elk like this cover I am trying to figure out how to hunt it. Would anyone recommend a slow stalk vs a sit and wait? I know slow stalking a deer through thick cover is almost always a loosing battle. I'm just trying to better understand when to sit and when to keep walking. I've also heard hunting this timber up is far better odds of success.

Thanks in advance, I'm going to head off an repack my gear for the 50th time...:)
 
In Colo, we usually walk in the morning, and try to glass to see the pattern of movement. In the afternoon, we sit over the parks (meadows) or waterholes. Not sure if this helps or not.
 
For me what works is to walk, glass, walk, glass, walk, glass, walk and glass some more until you find elk. Or more likely the elk find you.

To some degree it matters where you are hunting. In western Wyo, there is a lot of open space with some timber pockets. It can be very easy to figure out where the elk spend the day because of the lack of timber. The best way to hunt that, IMO, is to glass early, find where they feed and where they enter and exit the timber and sit over that in the evenings. You may be able to get on them in the morning as well. I do not like to hunt the timber. Its low odds of success and I personally think you will more likely than not push the elk out of the area. I like to give them a place to spend the day un-harassed and wait for them to make a mistake. In the Bighorns the timber is much more extensive with smaller open areas. This may require you to still hunt the timber just to find them.

I had a college friend from Michigan come hunting with me a couple years ago. He missed a couple of bulls hunting the way I described so on the last morning he could hunt I took him to a timber patch that seems to be a safe haven for the elk. We were able to walk up on a herd and he took a spike. Given that his hunting background was Michigan and southern Missouri he was well versed in still hunting timber.
 
Laelkhunter said:
In Colo, we usually walk in the morning, and try to glass to see the pattern of movement. In the afternoon, we sit over the parks (meadows) or waterholes. Not sure if this helps or not.
Click to expand...

You expect to see elk in meadows in the afternoon? Do you ever see any?
 
This seems like sound advice. I usually sit and wait, but I had a failed moose hunt where we didn't realize sitting was a waste of time. So it seems to make sense, move enough that you can locate elk by glassing, then try to use a little strategy to get in front of them. I agree that kicking them out of an area would probably be the most damaging thing I could do.
 
I like to cover as much ground by walking/glassing until I find elk, then decide if I'm going to sit at a specific spot. Elk generally are not as spread out as deer, and they can cover ground very quickly. Once you find them, then you can decide on a spot to sit, but I'd keep moving until then.
 
Picking a few good glassing spots that allow you to see multiple meadows at one time can be an efficient way to find elk. Do this in the morning and evening until you have (hopefully) located elk. Stalking the timber during the middle of the day can be effective, but I've never really had much luck with that as it definitely gives the elk an advantage. If you do spot elk feeding in the morning, resist the urge to go into the timber after them. I've only hunted elk a few seasons and learned quickly that elk don't ask many questions when a guy in an orange vest comes stumbling into their bedroom. If left undisturbed, they will most likely feed into the same meadow that evening. Be in a spot where you can ambush them on their way out.
 
I agree about glassing and walking until you either find fresh sign, see elk, or already know likely spots that elk travel through from past hunts. If I don't plan on hunting an area again anytime soon I will definitely hunt bedding areas. It seems to me that unless you get extreme cold weather to force elk to feed in daylight, you almost have hunt bedding areas in the mid to late rifle seasons. Because the elk will be bedded up by daylight and you have to go to the timber to see elk. You will mostly just see the tail end of an elk leaving the country.
 
MITCHMO said:
Forgot to mention, hunting medicine bow with the rest of Wyoming :)
Click to expand...

Glass and cruise parks in the morning, still hunt timber in the afternoon (really still hunt it, not just hiking through it), and then sit on parks in the evening.

It's been my experience that elk don't like big meadows during the day, but I've sure found them in tiny little pocket meadows in the mid day/early afternoon.
 
ElkStalker said:
You expect to see elk in meadows in the afternoon? Do you ever see any?
Click to expand...

We sit in blinds, and wait for the Elk to come out of the timber into the meadows. We have seen quite a few as they come out to feed (I've probably killed more then than in the morning). I guess I should have said LATE afternoon or evening, not actually 12:30 or 1:00. We don't get back out until 3:30 or 4:00.
 
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The fingers of timber between the parks are the best places to still hunt or sit. The hunting pressure in the Snowies basically keeps them out of the wide open parks except over night. The smaller parks can be good but the timber is your key. Don't bust them put of their bedding area or they won't come back. Get away from the road and you'll see much more sign. It takes alot of snow to move them down so you may be up at 10,000 ft when the season opens. During the rifle season there are lots of road hunters just looking for meat, elk will be moving so finding some travel, escape routes will be productive. They will bed in the dark, thick stuff so if you venture into it still hunt very slowly. Shots may be quick in the timber but there are spots that have pretty good visibility. We'll be up this weekend for the last bow hunt of the season and I think the elk will be bugling still, not much as of yet in our area.You'll see plenty of people but hopefully plenty of elk. The Snowies have em just got to find em.
 
This info should keep the little voice in my head from always telling me I must be doing something wrong. Just be patient and let the elk sign show me the way. Sounds like heavily pressured Elk behave similar to our deer. They will skirt the edges of the food sources until the cover of night unless there is a secure feeding area. This combined with the assumption that they will always win when it comes to a battle of the sense, will help me sit still unless an extreme tactic is needed.

Is this the type of small opening you are talking about?(hopefully this pic shows up) This about 1/3 of the way from the peak and nothing but heavy timber for a mile or so.
SMALL MEDOW.jpg
 
The parks you are looking for will depend on slope aspect and weather. If snow is piling in, northerly facing meadows aren't near as appealing to elk as they were in September.
 
MITCHMO said:
This info should keep the little voice in my head from always telling me I must be doing something wrong. Just be patient and let the elk sign show me the way. Sounds like heavily pressured Elk behave similar to our deer. They will skirt the edges of the food sources until the cover of night unless there is a secure feeding area. This combined with the assumption that they will always win when it comes to a battle of the sense, will help me sit still unless an extreme tactic is needed.

Is this the type of small opening you are talking about?(hopefully this pic shows up) This about 1/3 of the way from the peak and nothing but heavy timber for a mile or so.
View attachment 61833
Click to expand...

Could be good, if you watch the wind. If there is a waterhole in that clearing, it would definitely be a spot for an evening sit.
 
November Photos 114.jpg

Walked out into a clearing in the middle of the afternoon, October 31st. Full moon. 35 degrees and hurricane winds.
 
I wouldn't sit that opening in the evening. I would go to the opening during mid-day. I would then try to find signs of elk using that spot and also where they are coming from. Assuming up is North in the photo, I would bet they are bedding to the Northwest. I would then sit that travel route for an evening. Personally, I don't thing an opening like that gets much attention from the elk, but I bet the more sparsely timber country to the East and Northeast does. Either way, good luck to you and have fun.
 
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