Fool Me Once, or Maybe Twice

[GambelOak]

How fast do elk learn to avoid an area and more importantly, how quickly do they forget?. I'm the new guy learning the ropes. General elk archery tag hunting spikes and cows. I locate elk sign, maybe see elk, or I hear them chirping. I look for a good ambush site either along the game trail or near water and wait. I'm not good enough to creep up on an elk without snapping some sort of stick that will give my position away, so I wait ambush style. If I do blow my opportunity (which I did), how likely are those elk to come back to that same game trail out of habit. It is a well used game trail with elk moving from nasty thick timber with downed trees everywhere to areas that have better feed. Next to zero hunting pressure, I didn't see a single hunter other than approach roads throughout the opening weekend. This is my second year locating them in the area, first year hunting them. My gut feeling is this is a little microcosm where they stay until the rut starts up. They don't need to leave, there is plenty of food, water, and shelter in a few different drainages with winter range just down the valley. This got me wondering with little hunting pressure, too thick for rifle, too steep and thick with downed timber for many bowhunters, how fast do elk learn to avoid an area, how quickly do they forget? What is your experiences?

 

[Weldor]

I can only answer for where I am, If I blow them out of a drainage that I regularly hunt it takes about 4 to 7 days for them to return. If we kill in that drainage and pack out maybe a couple of days more. We try to to be as careful as possible but they have your scent for sure, takes awhile to dissipate.

 

[Gerbdog]

Same as above, if i spook them out with their sight or hearing... maybe a couple days... may even be back there that evening... also probably didnt spook very far either.
If i blow them out because the wind screwed me could be a week or more.... but they use those rut locations year after year.... theyll be back eventually

 

[Dos Perros]

I've chased a herd of elk around a 400 acre patch of timber for several days in a row before, sometimes bumping them more than once in a day. They just wanted to be in there so badly.

I've also blown the elk out of the county with one shitty squeak on a Primos Hyper-Lip.

Just depends, there is a lot of variation across elk, in my experience.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Don't be afraid to break a couple sticks moving in on elk. They do it too.
But do avoid unnatural noises like scrapping your pack.

 

[Laramie]

Just depends on the elk, the area, and how bad you spooked them. I have one area I hunt where you get one chance at them and then they are gone. Other areas they seem to come back fairly quickly (1-4 days). I think herd size has some to do with it. If one elk in a herd of 50 spooks, good chance the herd stays around. If one in a herd of 5 spooks, good chance they relocate.

 

[87TT]

Here’s my thought, learn to call. Elknut app has a feature where you can listen then record yourself and listen back. Plus great instructions.

 

[Deadfall]

Depends on how you spooked them. Standard rule of thumb for determining that:
See you 3 times
hear you 2 times
only smell you 1 time

 

[GambelOak]

I'm going to say one time they saw me and the next day it was likely that they smelled me and didn't come around. We were struggling with wind throughout the second day. I'm going to hit up new drainage tomorrow and give the original place a rest. All the elk I find are in small groups, either cows 2-10, or bulls 1-4. ElkNut app downloaded.

Don't be afraid to break a couple sticks moving in on elk. They do it too.
But do avoid unnatural noises like scrapping your pack.

I love learning all these little details. Prefect example is above. When I pulled out my rangefinder, there was the tiniest of scrapes. I knew what made the sound but at the time I didn't key in the fact that it was the unnatural sound that they heard, I just thought, they heard me, "don't move". It took reading others experiences to put two and two together. The elk hunting process is like a hard puzzle that you only get so many tries per year and then you can look at the puzzle, sort pieces, make plans but you don't really get to put the pieces together until the next year.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I'm going to say one time they saw me and the next day it was likely that they smelled me and didn't come around. We were struggling with wind throughout the second day. I'm going to hit up new drainage tomorrow and give the original place a rest. All the elk I find are in small groups, either cows 2-10, or bulls 1-4. ElkNut app downloaded.

I love learning all these little details. Prefect example is above. When I pulled out my rangefinder, there was the tiniest of scrapes. I knew what made the sound but at the time I didn't key in the fact that it was the unnatural sound that they heard, I just thought, they heard me, "don't move". It took reading others experiences to put two and two together. The elk hunting process is like a hard puzzle that you only get so many tries per year and then you can look at the puzzle, sort pieces, make plans but you don't really get to put the pieces together until the next year.

Some people will cow call and walk loudly straight at them.

 

[tttoadman]

Some people will cow call and walk loudly straight at them.

I can vouch for this. If its messy, toot on a cow call and push through the brush. You can almost be in plain sight and they still get a little confused. Just buys you a few minutes because the smart cow with the nose up will figure you out shortly.

 

[tkhuntsman]

A lot will depend on surrounding hunting pressure and how bad you bumped em. If you gave em a good start they may go a ways into another drainage or even 2 and if they get bumped there by other people they may go for the whole season. If they are mildly moved they might avoid that particular trail or patch of timber for a few days but stay in their core area. Even at that they are kinda funny during the rut not like whitetails and they may use different trails to the same general area with no rhyme or reason at all. There's always other bulls that cruise through looking for cows and scent checking bedding and wallows. They can be crazy nomadic and it will drive you nuts. As far as worrying about making noise don't be so concerned with being silent they are herd animals and are big learn to move and sound like elk in places where elk are supposed to be. You'd be really surprised at how tolerant they are when they think your supposed to be there.