by Bob Robb

Mistakes made when hunting elk fall into
two categories – skills, and attitudes. 

To avoid the second five mistakes, think about what attitudes need adjusting.

Just who do you think you are? It matters – and can mean the difference between success and failure on an elk hunt.

Here’s the result of hunting elk with the best in both skills
and attitude. (Photo by Bob Robb)

1. You Think You’re Plenty Tough: A guide I hunted with two years ago said it all. “A lot of the clients can only hike around for a day or two, then they’re shot,” he said. “So when we get a bull bugling, I try and assess whether or not they can physically go get that elk without scaring him off. A lot of the time that answer is ‘nope,’ so we don’t even try. Or I won’t take them into a place where I know they can’t handle it. Or when the wind is swirling, if they can’t move quickly so we can keep it right, we won’t try it.” To give yourself the best possible chance, start getting in shape months before your hunt. Being in better shape than you think you need to be will pay big dividends.

2. You Think You’re Robin Hood: When the heavens smile and present a shot opportunity, you have to take advantage of it. And that usually isn’t a broadside bull standing in the middle of a meadow at close range waiting for you to get it together. The bulls are often moving through the thick stuff and you may have only a few precious seconds to make it happen. Bowhunters dream of calling a big bull to within spitting distance, where it turns broadside and there is no brush in the way. That rarely happens. Often the elk is out there 40 or 50 yards with just a small shot window through thick brush and tree limbs, often at a steep downhill angle, and you don’t have time to use the rangefinder. Stay within your own personal limitations, but prior to the season spend a lot of time pushing those limits to become a better shot at distance. You’ll never regret it.

It’s getting dark, and he’s walking away. Did you wait too long to make your move? (Photo by Steve Sorensen)

3. You Can’t Take Enough Time: A quick elk hunt doesn’t exist. Elk live in big country, and it can take days just to find a bull to hunt. Once you find a bull, the things that can go wrong are endless. If you have to travel any distance to hunt elk, taking less than a full week makes no sense. Ten days is better, and if you can pull it off, allowing two weeks is primo. Bottom line: when your goal is a mature bull elk, factor in plenty of time.

4. You’re Afraid to Spook Them: Too many people hunt elk too passively. That is, when they finally locate a good bull, they spend too much time trying to figure out what to do, then watch as the bull walks off. The best way to get it done is find a bull, assess the situation – wind direction and speed, terrain, the number of other elk (and deer) in the immediate area, the elk’s attitude, their speed and direction of travel – and when you see a window of opportunity, go for it! When I locate a bull, I try and close the gap as quickly as possible, wait for an opening, then aggressively make my move while continuing to monitor the external variables, adjusting accordingly. Sure, I’ve blown it. But I’ve blown it more often by not making a move.

5. You’re A Trophy Hunter: Watch the videos and TV shows and read the hunting magazines, and you’ll think that a bull that’s not a huge 5×5 or big 6×6 is a dink, not worthy of a serious elk hunter’s broadhead. Horse poop! In the real world of elk hunting, there’s no such thing as a bad bull elk. Heck, even a cow elk can be tough to tag at times. If you’re a public land hunter and want to hold out for a bull with lots of bone on his head, that’s great – just be prepared to eat some tag soup.

If you never arrow an elk, there’s a good chance these ten reasons, or some combination of them, will play a major role in failure. But now that you know them, I’m betting on you.

 ***

About Bob Robb

For over two decades, Bob’s articles and photographs have appeared in most major outdoor magazines. Currently he is editor of Whitetail Journal and Predator Xtreme magazines. Bob was founding editor of Petersen’s Bowhunting magazines, and the author of many books, including The Field & Stream Bowhunting Handbook, and The Ultimate Guide to Elk Hunting.  Bob sees the value of super-sharp, lightweight Havalon knives.

For more articles by Bob Robb, click here.
And for the best elk skinning knife, click here. 

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by Bob Robb

Mistakes made when hunting elk fall into
two categories – skills, and attitudes.

To avoid the first five mistakes, you need to improve your skills.

No critter I have bowhunted has been more humbling than hunting wilderness elk on my own. I am not talking about places where elk are thick and killing one is more a matter of being a competent archer than a skilled woodsman – high-dollar private ranch hunts in places like New Mexico, for example, or one of the many game ranches that are springing up like weeds these days. I’m talking about elk that live wild and free across the mountains and badlands, where steep terrain and high elevation strain even a young man’s body, the winds are always squirrely, and the brush thick as the summer air over L.A.

I mean, look at the statistics. Even on a guided hunt with an honest outfit staffed with skilled guides, success rates on wilderness fair chase elk hunts are rarely more than 40 percent on any bull. State statistics show that archery elk hunters rarely punch 20 percent of their tags. Despite what you read in the magazines and see on hunting videos and TV shows, taking a mature bull on a fair chase do-it-yourself elk hunt is about as easy as finding a truthful politician in an election year.

Most articles you read on elk hunting tell you how to get a shot. That’s great. Here, however, are the reasons why most people will never arrow an elk.

1. You Don’t Have A Plan: The best way to hunt elk is to begin with a game plan built around basic hunting strategy designed around the terrain, season, current weather conditions, and prevalent hunting pressure, then be ready to adapt to the activity patterns of the elk themselves. Staying flexible is critical – but the key is to do your homework and research the area months in advance. You won’t succeed if you just wander around the woods willy-nilly, hoping to find some elk.

Don’t let a shot from an awkward position make you forget about what the wind is doing. (Photo by Bob Robb)

2. You’re Not A Wind-Doping Fanatic: You can take this to the bank – elk have incredible noses, and the smell of humans will send them into a panic, every time. When the wind is wrong, do whatever it takes to make it right before moving closer. In mountain country, the wind is almost always swirling or blowing crossways, not perfectly from the elk to you. Heck, if you waited for a perfect wind, you’d never move closer! You must be constantly monitoring the wind, making your move when it lets you and backing the heck out of there when it is wrong.

3. Ants in Your Pants: Elk have incredible eyesight. When you are calling a bull in, they will know the exact tree or bush you’ve just called from, and they’ll be looking for you. Sometimes they come in slow, but if you get impatient and move you can be sure the bull is right there and will see you. When he does, it’s adios, amigo. That’s why having two hunters working together, one calling and the other set up out front 50 yards or so, is so deadly. The bull comes in looking for the caller, hangs up 50-100 yards away when he can’t find that other elk, and whack!

4. You Call Just Fine: If you are going to call elk, you have to become the very best bugler and cow caller you can be, proficient with as many types of calls as you can. The time to learn is before your hunt, not when you get to camp. Most callers need to improve. Most likely, you’re one of them.

Shooting ability is another skill that needs constant polishing. (Photo by Bob Robb)

5. You Call Too Much: Many experienced bowhunters have learned that calling at mature bulls is a great way to ruin everything. Instead, they call rarely, if at all. Often the very best technique of all is to locate the elk, get in front of the herd as it moves to and from bedding areas and food sources, and set up a silent ambush, or set a tree stand over a wallow or water hole.

If elk are on your agenda, get busy and improve your skills – planning, reading the wind, patience, calling and more. But that’s not all – next time we’ll have a friendly talk about your attitude.

***

About Bob Robb

For over two decades, Bob’s articles and photographs have appeared in most major outdoor magazines. Currently he is editor of Whitetail Journal and Predator Xtreme magazines. Bob was founding editor of Petersen’s Bowhunting magazines, and the author of many books, including The Field & Stream Bowhunting Handbook, and The Ultimate Guide to Elk Hunting. Bob sees the value of super-sharp, lightweight Havalon knives.

For more articles by Bob Robb, click here.
And click here for the best elk skinning knife.

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