old tactics, new elk

[ElkNut1]

BRTeedogs, there are times & places I do sit quietly with no calling such as at specific active trails & water sources. On other occasions I will call from those exact areas! All depends on the elk for that day! Reading A situation is key here!

Aaron, agreed, it can be used anytime! I like bedding areas best because the elk have no intention of leaving for hours!

ElkNut

 

[Read1t48]

Paul -
I’ve had your app for several years. Aside from time spent in the woods with boots on the ground, I can’t think of many things that have been more helpful than your app, seminars, and enthusiasm for the sport! Your wife was spot on when she called you an elk nut! Being able to practice my calling and have it recorded to play back allows me to really perfect my calls. Understanding the nuances of every type of different call is even better. I’m fully convinced an average or even poor caller would get responses if they actually understood the elk vocalizations and how they should respond. Poor callers can still grunt and whine and make little noises in a tube that really set themselves apart from the perfect bugle on the mountain. Opening morning of my season this year was a slow play sequence. Almost exactly 45 minutes later (I’ve learned the hard way to wait that long) I watched a small bull crest the ridge and come at a dead run to 26 yards. Within 4 minutes there were 3 additional bulls that walked straight up the drainage to me. I was the new kid on the block. “Who is this guy? Why does he have cows, maybe even a hot cow? I’m supposed to be the king of this drainage and I’m still hanging with my buddies and I have no cows!” I didn’t fill my tag on that particular morning but it was one more example of tactics I’ve learned from you and others that work! For the record, I hunt Roosevelt’s. I used to think and have been told that Roosevelt’s are different. Paul’s tactics only work on Rockies. That’s not true. They work on elk. Because of the territorial nature of Roosevelt’s and their smaller home range, I think these tactics work extremely well. My time in the woods has proven It.

 

[cnelk]

So this is a serious question.
Can you elaborate?

Not sure i believe that you just sit in the woods silent.?

No I don’t sit and be silent.
There are some particular details about the area Scott (OP bnsafe) hunts (as I’ve hunted there too) that aren’t conducive to some of the advice Elknut is giving

I’m butchering and canning my WT buck today. I’ll elaborate later.

 

[Coveyleader]

Nothing is certain in the elk woods, but Paul’s tactics are solid. Do I use them? Hardly, but that doesn’t mean his results don’t speak for themselves. Paul has helped 1000’s of people getting elk on the ground. One could even say he has “helped too much”

Giving credit where credit is due pains some guys. Paul, I have no doubt you’d kill elk all over CO. You guys are way too successful year in, year out not to.

Some guys kill elk, some have excuses. Paul and his son from what I can see are way too driven to not have success, and being driven is 90% of the battle.

 

[cnelk]

On second thought, Im not going to elaborate.

Elknut really should consider hunting a popular, high pressured OTC unit in Colorado.

Id even tell him where Scott (bnsafe) was hunting so he can experience it firsthand.

It may even make good fodder for an Elknut Podcast!

Like Covey said above, Elknut as experienced as he is, could kill elk all over Colorado. Why not start there? Even use the tactics he stated in this thread…. Grin!

 

[AaronMColeman]

Nothing is certain in the elk woods, but Paul’s tactics are solid. Do I use them? Hardly, but that doesn’t mean his results don’t speak for themselves. Paul has helped 1000’s of people getting elk on the ground. One could even say he has “helped too much”

Giving credit where credit is due pains some guys. Paul, I have no doubt you’d kill elk all over CO. You guys are way too successful year in, year out not to.

Some guys kill elk, some have excuses. Paul and his son from what I can see are way too driven to not have success, and being driven is 90% of the battle.

elk are elk. I look at "tendencies" but they sure seem to break the rules all the time too. I've seen them bed on a south slope, I've seen them mid-day in open country...but more often they bed on north slopes and aren't in the open mid-day. Tendencies are not laws...the elk police are very lax on enforcement.

 

[Coveyleader]

On second thought, Im not going to elaborate.

Wise choice. Nothing good will come from it. A lot has been said on the internet, but I’m going to pump the brakes as some of the behavior I saw in the field this year was downright absurd!


Free lunch no more.

 

[ElkNut1]

Scott, we're here to help. If there's things about the unit or the area you hunt please be more specific, we may be able to assist you better.

It may be as simple as moving to a better part of the unit or even consider a different unit. If you're hunting in a highly pressured area feel free to explore different spots to find more secluded country. Every year I hunt Zones with at least 6,000 OTC elk tags in it yet I still locate areas with few hunters & most areas are under 1.5 miles from roads. Many are inside a mile. I stay away from most Trails & Gated roads or anywhere with easy access, this in itself knocks hunting pressure way down, maybe you can consider this too?

This means taking an evening & drive the roads to see where camps are & get an idea of where hunting pressure is coming from, it's basically getting a lay of all camps & the land. I then look at my 1-24,000 usgs topo maps of the area; (these are specifically designed for ground navigation) as well as my Iphone with a mapping App of the area. I can now locate areas away from most hunting pressure where elk feel safe, it's areas they are pushed too. They aren't hard to find once you look closely. It will be areas that are more difficult to get to & no roads or trails going into them. Don't worry about North,South, East or West, you want country with fewer hunters.

This is where to start & now certain Tactics can easily apply with little or no hunter interruption! Separate yourself from others & good things can happen! All this is in the ElkNut Mobile App for reference. Thanks!

ElkNut

 

[AaronMColeman]

Terrain on a map can tell you the whole story. One thing I've done is quit facebook (highly recommended) and replaced my goof off time with scouting maps on my phone. I think it's helped a lot (and quitting facebook has also been amazing...but that's another story).

 

[cnelk]

Scott [bnsafe]
Take Covey's advice and dont give out too many specific things about the area on the WWW.
No matter who's asking

 

[5MilesBack]

Early on I studied Paul's methodologies as well as Chris Roe's, and eventually just came up with my own that matched more with my personality and attitude. I've found elk to be very curious in all types of units around Colorado, and I'm quite sure that every technique is not effective in every situation. But there are some very basic fundamentals about elk that most hunters still haven't figured out even after years of hunting them. And understanding those is a game-changer. And I'm also quite sure that Paul fully understands those.

 

[BRTreedogs]

I've used a mix a Paul's techniques very successfully. Sometimes.
I think Oregon is way more high pressure then people give it credit.
It works really well when it works.
But the elk i find it will work on are few and far between.
Thats why I'm always trying to round myself out.

I'm an absolutely horrible stalker so I've always chalked up the elk it doesn't work on as ones I don't have the skillset to get a shot on anyways and just keep looking.