Why do hunts fail?

When I first began hunting on my own on public land I had the mentality that I would scout the hardest and do whatever it took to kill a deer. In hindsight I learned that I can walk as much as I wanted to but it wasn't until I understand WHEN and WHY animals have certain patterns in a specific area I began to start seeing them while hunting. Unfortunately that only came after a few seasons of errors, and it is still something I struggle with. For me, whether or not I see the animals I want to kill is usually the determination of a successful hunt.
Example: I attempted to stalk the woods last weekend and kill a pig. Found a good size pig but couldn't get him to stop in a clear shooting lane. Didn't work out exactly the way I wanted it to but I put together a plan and it worked. That is the most rewarding part of my hunting experiences. There's some things in hunting that are out of your hands and you can't let yourself get frustrated when it comes.

I also learned that in the early phase of trials and errors, it can be very easy to get burned out. Physically but mostly mentally exhausting. My remedy for this is small game hunting. Provides a more laid back experience while still providing quality time in the woods learning an area. Not to mention great tasting meat!

Good luck this season.

I'm a midwesterner who has only hunted elk twice.

First hunt, I was wide-eyed and open to anything. More adaptable as others have said. Did day hunts from 2-3 different trailheads over 5 days. I didnt kill an elk but at least saw one on my 5th day hunting.

Second hunt, I went in more gung-ho and had a plan to carry in 5 days worth of gear and stick to a backpacking plan in an area that looked like elk heaven. Well, I hiked in with 5 days worth of gear (Probably severely over-packing at that), and went in to my first spots a couple miles. Carrying the extra gear was more strenuous obviously. But as I spent more time in this area, I wasnt seeing good elk sign and ended up bailing on the spot altogether. In this example, I used two full days and way more energy than I needed to hauling all my gear around only to find out it wasnt really a spot I wanted to pursue. What I would do differently next time is camp at the trailheads and do day hunts/hikes to check out spots. I'd still have my backpacking gear in the truck, if there was a compelling spot that I wanted to spend more time exploring. But at that, I would only bring 1-2 days of food/gear so as to not be bogged down by weight. I guess the moral is to be nimble and adaptive and not overcommit to a spot because it looks really good on a map. This is one of those "lessons learned" kind of things. Im still a rookie and haven't killed an elk, but I think for future hunts, i will be better off by not committing so fully to a spot before seeing it in person. By the way, even an "unsuccessful" elk hunt is still an adventure of a lifetime, and something you can feel super proud of doing.

Since this is on the Elk forum, I’ll anaylyze failed elk hunts.

1) Uncomfortable Camp. Whether it’s a base camp or bivy, you need to be comfortable in Camp so you can recharge your batteries.
2) low numbers or too many hunters
3) lack of confidence.
4) poor conditioning

I feel that putting in the time would be the biggest factor for someone new. You will learn so much by just putting in time with scouting and hunting. Practice makes perfect. Though this does not guarantee a shot, but the way I see it the more time you spend out there the greater your odds.

Mental strength/endurance. If you do not see game for the first two hours, or two days, it is really easy to get into a funk and stop paying attention. I bet every hunter has several stories of the animal that got away because they didn't have their rifle ready, they were snoozing, they were staring at the ground in front of them instead of watching the woods, etc.

Opportunities are usually very brief. Game animals often appear at the least expected moment. Those that are mentally prepared fill the freezer.

Buy a cow tag and you will see a 360 bull within 20 yards. Get up early like 3:00 and head up the hills until you find a nice thicket you can hide in. Sit down and shut up and listen. It is amazing what happens right at dawn. I just bow hunt and it takes being creepy and sneaky. My camp consists of the bed of my pickup and at 68 I still get it done. Have fun and let us know how you do.

The biggest barrier to success in newbies could possibly be unrealistic expectations.

I think your goal of harvesting an ungulate is perfectly reasonable. But the flaw in your logic is that hunters only "fail" because they did something wrong. Just because you do everything "right" doesn't necessarily mean you are going to kill something. It improves your odds but it isn't always that simple. Try doing everything "right" for days or weeks on end without killing something, and then revisit your ideas about success and failure. That's where the mental game comes in.

There is no small measure of chance and luck involved, especially when you consider that you aren't chasing stationary targets scattered across the landscape. The animals have their own ideas, and they have an uncanny ability to ruin your carefully thought out plan. Being determined is great, until you get so focused on your plan that you can no longer objectively view your situation and adapt to the opportunities in front of you. Yes, be determined but also be ready to throw your entire plan out the window when the situation calls for it (usually about an hour after shooting light opening morning)

3855WIN said:

Since this is on the Elk forum, I’ll anaylyze failed elk hunts.

1) Uncomfortable Camp. Whether it’s a base camp or bivy, you need to be comfortable in Camp so you can recharge your batteries.
2) low numbers or too many hunters
3) lack of confidence.
4) poor conditioning

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1. Why are you in camp instead of hunting
2. Seems like making an excuse
3. This is a huge one
4. Probably one of this biggest factors.

It took me 4 years to kill an elk because 1. I didn't know what i was doing and I was looking in the wrong spots, 2. Because I didn't put in the time needed to be successful, 3. I wasn't confident enough to go in far solo.
(I started having success in year 2, buy which I saw elk, came home feeling like I learned a ton, and took the time to enjoy the experience)

This year I was successful and I think was the only guy to pull an elk of of that trail head, during that 4 day period. I know I was the only one out of the 15 guys I saw after talking to the warden in the parking lot. The area were were all hunting was relatively small and at any given time you could see orange, so you had a sense of what everyone was doing. Every morning I would be at the top of the ridge glassing and could see the guys who had packed in on horses sitting at camp drinking coffee. They would finally get up and rolling around 7:30-8am and wouldn't be behind their glass till 9:30, mostly I think because it was 10-15 degrees in the morning before the sun crept over the mountain. The elk in the area were heavily pressured and would feed back in by 7:45 and wouldn't feed out till after dark. All of the elk I found were deep in an oak brush filled canyon and never fed out into any meadow, aspen patch, or anything that looked even remotely hospitable. The late risers would ride there horses everywhere and therefore never got into a position where they could glass up the elk because you couldn't get a horse into the oak brush.

Hiking back in for my last load after I killed my elk I encountered 6 guys on horses coming out (same guys late riser crew) and they said they hadn't seen an elk after being in for 4 days and were going to try another spot. I can't say the area was crawling with elk but I saw bulls everyday and had encounters everyday.

I think luck plays a large roll in killing a bull, lots pieces have to come together, but finding elk that is equal parts skill, knowledge, and effort. I definitely had the best luck out of the guys at that trailhead, but in someways I also made my luck by showing up early, staying late, and going where no one else wanted to go.

I think it would be very hard to necessarily list one factor as being the biggest, as that can easily depend on the situation. I think you've touched on the biggest, and it's important to recognize many of these factors you can control and, unfortunately there are plenty that are out of your control. Again, as it relates to putting meat in the freezer or horns on the wall, below is a list of things that I can think of that factored into "unsuccessful" hunts (again, purely from a harvest perspective). Note that it only takes one of these to go against you and you can come home empty-handed.

1. Physical perseverance
2. Mental perseverance
3. Hunting the wrong area (macro and micro)
4. Pressure from other hunters
5. Weather
6. Poor marksmanship
7. Lack of hunting time
8. Not recognizing an opportunity (ie, too slow to react when a shot presents itself)
9. Bumping animals even when you're not on a stalk (wind, noise, etc)
10. Poor/improper equipment
11. Passing on animals
12. Unrealistic expectations
13. Being too aggressive on a stalk
14. Being too passive on a stalk
15. Moving too fast
16. Moving too slow

These 4 things could contribute to a "failed" hunt.
1)Lack of preparation- from shooting, to exercise, to equipment, to planning, to food, camp, clothing, etc.
2)Negative attitude- "I saw other hunters in my spot and now I'm upset". Or "This weather really sucks and I had to stay in camp instead of hunt" (see #1)
3)Unrealistic expectations- Why didn't I shoot an elk?!? I thought I'd have more opportunities. I thought I'd shoot a bigger bull. I didn't see any elk in five days and I thought I would- that hunt sucked (see #1 and #2)
4)Things we can't control- a wildfire has closed down the area I planned on hunting and all my trailheads are closed, or my wife called and I need to get home asap, or the plane lost all my hunting gear and will be delayed 2 days, outfitter issues that negatively affect your hunt, etc.

The first year I went, was with an outfitter. He said the 2 biggest reason for not getting an elk were:

1)hunters were not in shape and it limited where they could go. I still get caught by this. No matter how good of shape you are in, it probably is not enough.
2) They could not shoot. Practice practice practice. Get dialed in then go out on windy days and shoot in a cross wind.

Now tht I hunt on my own in the same area every year, I have an idea where the elk ought to be. I know there are elk there because i see them in the summer. If I do not find them during rifle season then I know I am maybe not in the wrong spot, just not in the right spot and keep trying other things. But I always, always get off the trails and back into the stuff. the last two out of 3 seasons I got an elk on the last day i could hunt because i decided to try one more thing in a spot I would have never guessed they would be. And the other hunters passed over the same spot also.
Wllm 1313 is right. You can't get lazy and show up late. You need to be where you want to start hunting before first light.

September 19, 2017 I showed up as other hunters were leaving, in the pouring rain.
I got soaked and the rain turned to snow.
It dumped rain. The next day it snowed, all day. I hunted all day, I got more soaked.
That night it snowed. At 10pm a bull started bugling, he kept me up much of the night, I killed him an hour into my second full day. It kept snowing.
I wasn't enjoying the rain and snow but I was embracing it. Just keep hunting.

You'll need to "get lucky" when you're on your hunt. It's amazing how lucky you can get when you are always walkin around in the woods

Its never a guarantee on any hunt(antelope is pretty close to a guarantee), but I think not showing up prepared with a solid plan and backup plans by not doing your homework(looking at maps, talking to biologists/hunters ahead of time, etc) and not going all in(not being at your spot before daylight or leaving too early at night, not hunting and classing during the day even though movement is poor depending on the situation obviously). More than anything though is scouting if your hunt is within a reasonable distance and you have time, or learning as much as you possibly can about an area before getting there without scputing to minimize the growing pains of learning new country.

I often tell new hunter friends that you can figure out the animals, learn the landscape, get in shape, practice shooting a lot, and become adept at living in the mountains...and only need a little luck. Or you can do none of that and need a lot of it. Both might kill an elk on any given year, but the first is going to have the peace and sense of accomplishment of a truly good hunter.

Not sure you can classify a hunt as success or failure. If eating tags is a failure then I fail more often than I am successful. But if seeing game and having a great experience is success than I rarely if ever fail. There is going to be a learning curve but that is all part of the fun. You should have success filling an antelope tag. Good chance for a deer and elk will be a little more of a challenge. Good luck.

SnowyMountaineer said:

I often tell new hunter friends that you can figure out the animals, learn the landscape, get in shape, practice shooting a lot, and become adept at living in the mountains...and only need a little luck. Or you can do none of that and need a lot of it. Both might kill an elk on any given year, but the first is going to have the peace and sense of accomplishment of a truly good hunter.

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SnowyMountaineer said:

I often tell new hunter friends that you can figure out the animals, learn the landscape, get in shape, practice shooting a lot, and become adept at living in the mountains...and only need a little luck. Or you can do none of that and need a lot of it. Both might kill an elk on any given year, but the first is going to have the peace and sense of accomplishment of a truly good hunter.

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Another poster has/had a tag line that I said, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity".

I've never hunted but here is why I think everyone else fails based on elk hunting statistics online...
I've never taken the Bar Exam but here is why I think everyone else fails...
I've never ran a marathon but here is why I think everyone but the winner loses...
I've never started a business but here is why I think businesses fail...
I've never done heart surgery but here is why I think surgeons fail...

Wind starts to swirl or whips a 180*...

kmf said:

I've never hunted but here is why I think everyone else fails based on elk hunting statistics online...

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You misinterpreted what I'm trying to do here. It's not my intention to tell all of you what I think causes some hunts to fail. Obviously I am not qualified to do that. My intention is to ask you folks, who have actually hunted before, why some hunts fail. I listed what I thought were possible options based on limited research, because I figure it's more polite to do some work on my own, rather than just asking for answers outright. God helps those who help themselves, and all that.