I can't wait to go hunting for elk, i already put in for my tag and I know that it is a hard unit to hunt but I am hunting area 37. I was able to print off topo maps, my question is what am i looking for on these topo maps. I will be hunting in the first 9 days in october. If you can't tell me can i get some ideas on what to read. I am only hunting cows because i couldn't afford a bull tag and everything else that comes with elk hunting. Thanks for any advice given
Wyoming ELK hunt
- Thread starter smccrory
- Start date
Mthuntinfool
Member
Never hunted Wy, but look for saddles and bedding areas, and if its another dry year, find the water sources. good luck
Topgun 30-06
Active member
Travel corridors, usually lower than the areas they are going to and from, and they connect one area to another like where the animals are using regularly to go from bedding to feeding areas and back, etc.
MinnesotaHunter
Well-known member
You should google the elk hunting university on the CO Department of Wildlife website. It will have a bunch of the basic/general info on elk behavior, you need to get started.
I did some research into area 37 a couple of years ago, and in some conversations with a G&F Biologist, the forest service Bio and the warden; I got the impression that the non wilderness portion of 37 is primarily a travel corridor for the elk. They will rut up in the wilderness and move off the mountain/NF down onto the private, and once they start moving they don't hang in that non-wilderness much. This is obviously a generalization and there are certainly elk in the area during the season, but it may change how they behave in there.
The biggest benefit I see is that you will be up there all by yourself. The rest of the rifle seasons start on the 15th. The catch-22 here is that elk may have moved off the wilderness yet; in which case they are off limits to you.
If I were in your shoes, I would be trying to figure out the elks travel corridors and try and set up on those to catch them moving through. You definitely should contact the warden and Bios and see which properties the elk concentrate on as wintering grounds and when the elk seem to make their move. Also look at where the creek drainages come off the face, the east slope of the Bighorns can be pretty sheer on spots. These might give you some clues as to where the elk might funnel through.
Good luck!
I did some research into area 37 a couple of years ago, and in some conversations with a G&F Biologist, the forest service Bio and the warden; I got the impression that the non wilderness portion of 37 is primarily a travel corridor for the elk. They will rut up in the wilderness and move off the mountain/NF down onto the private, and once they start moving they don't hang in that non-wilderness much. This is obviously a generalization and there are certainly elk in the area during the season, but it may change how they behave in there.
The biggest benefit I see is that you will be up there all by yourself. The rest of the rifle seasons start on the 15th. The catch-22 here is that elk may have moved off the wilderness yet; in which case they are off limits to you.
If I were in your shoes, I would be trying to figure out the elks travel corridors and try and set up on those to catch them moving through. You definitely should contact the warden and Bios and see which properties the elk concentrate on as wintering grounds and when the elk seem to make their move. Also look at where the creek drainages come off the face, the east slope of the Bighorns can be pretty sheer on spots. These might give you some clues as to where the elk might funnel through.
Good luck!
If there is a chance you can get there before the season starts, boots on the ground scouting will definitely help. You may not see elk, but it will at least give you a lay of the land and you can find places you want to check out during the season. During that part of October there is definitely the possibility of the bulls still bugling and that will certainly help. I'd try to help you out on where to find them but in reality elk are where you find them! Get yourself a good pair of binocs and maybe a spotting scope and look. My first years hunting elk I exhausted myself by hiking miles and miles. I had some success but it seemed like more blind luck than anything. It can help to be patient and pick apart the landscape with your optics. Get in shape and research like crazy before the season.
belly-deep
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2009
- Messages
- 3,459
A few general elk rules I go by:
1) If you don't see fresh sign, go somewhere else.
2) If you do see fresh sign, there's probably 5X as many elk in the area than you are seeing sign of.
3) Evenings are as good or better than mornings. Don't go in early.
1) If you don't see fresh sign, go somewhere else.
2) If you do see fresh sign, there's probably 5X as many elk in the area than you are seeing sign of.
3) Evenings are as good or better than mornings. Don't go in early.
