Distances Elk will Travel to Bed

[BOEHuntingEdition]

Have a cow tag for mid October. How far will Elk travel from feed to bed? Found a spot that i would like to try but looks like the food source on private is about 2-2.5 miles away from timber.

Also, will they typically use drainages as a travel route As opposed to traveling in the wide open?

Trying to build a gameplan on how to intercept them from feeding to bedding, but wandering if I am thinking too much like a Whitetail hunter?

I’m assuming its best to find A spot down low to be able to glass up the mountain for early morning Setup?

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

It's hard to say without actually seeing the area/maps. There's a lot of variables. Elk can travel a lot in one day. Plus they don't need timber to bed.

North faces with any kind of shade, or cover suits them fine. They're not opposed to just bedding in open fields (usually also on north faces/drainages). Especially if there's no pressure.

If there's food, water, and no people there will probably be elk.

Edit: 2 miles is nothing to elk, and they'll walk up some rough stuff in seconds that can take humans a long time to get up.

 

[Wapiti1]

2 miles wouldn't be out of line. I've seen them go farther. That said, if the private is quiet and safe, they will take up residence there on occasion.

Pay close attention to the terrain in between the food and the timber. If any is broken ground, they may bed there in the rocks, or sage. Particularly if there is water not too far off.

They will use the wide open before light and at first lite. If no one has ever shot at them on the flat, then they don't see it as a bad thing. They'll be in a big single file march straight toward the nearest good cover.

Two ambush strategies. Morning, you want to be high. They will more than likely travel well before shooting light giving you nothing if you are low. Glass them up coming down to the field the evening before, so you get an idea of the route and be just below timber line the next morning. They will slow down and meander into the timber if they feel safe, and it should be right about shooting light when they get to timber.

Or glass them and get their pattern, then figure the ambush for the evening. You'll probably still have to be high just below the timber, and they will mingle at treeline until just before dark, then make for the groceries.

Last way to do it is if there is soft snow, track them to their bed and shoot one. This is my preference, but you need to know how to do it. Its an aggressive tactic if they are your only known elk. The wind has to be perfect, the snow has to be quiet, and you have to use the holy hell out of your glass and just creep through the timber. My dad and I shot many cows in their beds doing this and it is very fun hunting.

Jeremy

 

[GotDraw?]

You want to be as high as possible so you don't have to climb to chase them. Keep in mind that you'll probably have downslope winds in the morning until 9-10am. Downdrafts will bust you, plan your approach with that in mind.

Be as high as possible, but just below or even with the elk if possible and enough in front of them that they won't hit your scent cone before your broadhead connects.

Good luck.

JL

 

[Wrench]

You need to see where the bedding will be. Think prevailing wind, thermal advantage and perspective. Usually going to be. 5-2.0 miles and typically on a ridge or just on the far side of a ridge with respect to wind direction to catch the swirls. Herd size matters as does water availability.

 

[Customweld]

There is an ag field that I watch, it's 2.5-3 miles from timber. The elk will start their migration back up a main ridge about an hour before sunrise. You can almost set a clock to it. They travel the same ridge, down the same fenceline.

 

[WCB]

There is an ag field that I watch, it's 2.5-3 miles from timber. The elk will start their migration back up a main ridge about an hour before sunrise. You can almost set a clock to it. They travel the same ridge, down the same fenceline.

I'll echo above...

Guided a place were the elk easily traveled 3.25 miles (as the crow flies) from the fields in the bottom across open pasture and up the side of the mountain. the 3.25 was minimum depending on where they actual bedded once in the timber.

 

[spike camp]

Seems like you’re getting good advice, but my first thought was that you kinda are coming at it from a Whitetail hunters perspective.

Maybe elk that feed in an AG field are super predictable, and they certainly can be somewhat predictable...but elk also go wherever, whenever they want.

I wouldn’t pigeon hole yourself into a set thought process. Be open and adaptable to whatever you find.
It’s often said, elk are where they are...and it’s pretty accurate.

 

[Poser]

My first thought was also that you are thinking too much like a whitetail hunter. Ag areas can be more predictable, but the mountain elk I watch seldom do the same thing twice in any pattern-able manner. Obvious food sources can be skipped entirely in favor of less obvious food sources. All you can do it check it out.

 

[mtnwrunner]

It just really varies on the country and terrain. I know of one location where they go about 4 to 5 miles every day to an alfalfa field and then back to the top of a mountain where they bed and they can literally see everything.

Randy

 

[BOEHuntingEdition]

Really appreciate all the advice. Brand new to elk hunting. Wasn’t planning on elk hunting this year but didn’t get my antelope tag so put in for a cow tag and got one as well as access to a HMA in Wyoming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cnelk]

I dont hunt elk in ag areas, but Ive seen elk go UP to bed and Ive seen them go DOWN to bed.
Sometimes a few hundred yards, to over 3 miles
All depends on where youre hunting

 

[Dos Perros]

Sometimes those damn elk will park their butts on that private all damn day.

 

[hobbes]

They'll travel that easily if necessary, but are you sure that is where they are feeding? I'd confirm that before I tried to determine where to cut them off. Is it their preferred feeding area or just somewhere they end up after pressure? If it's the latter, they'll probably park their butts on private all day.

 

[MichaelO]

I’ll admit first I’m no expert but a couple years ago on a training mission in Northern California we could barely hear some elk bugling up in a distant mountain. Sounded like when a guy does a whistle bugle. At least a couple miles straight line distance. Anyway I got up for my watch shift in the middle in the night and almost got run over by a defensive herd bull 10 yards from our tent.

my limited experience told me they were willing to walk farther for chow than I was lol