rookelkhunter

Here' s my dilemma. A fella put me onto a PRIMO spot elk spot where he has taken some mongo' s in the past. His main reasoning for shelling out this info was that he has an old treestand just off of this meadow, and he knows I grew up in treestands. This meadow is down in a hole, and probably 4 miles from the gate (road closed), so to say there shouldn' t be any competition is an understatement.

Facts: meadow is about 300 yards long x 150, a burn (understand I am just learning the mountain lingo) area several years ago, so there is very little foliage on the trees. It' s flat and timbered for 50 yards around this bowl before it starts the climb in elevation. Two wallows 20 yards apart in one corner of the meadow, and a rock embankment just off that corner leading to the top of this hole. Several very small streams (not sure what you call them out here..more like a trickle). A TON of bedding down at the bottom, just off the wallows, all in the timber. Tracks everywhere.

I went over there this past weekend to get a feel for the area, and for the life of me could not find this old stand. How do I handle this?

Do I hunt my way in opening morning and then hope to find his stand that afternoon, sitting on it that evening?

Do I not chance it and bring an extra stand to set-up if I can' t find it?

Should I make another trip over to find the stand before the season, or at this point would I be doing more harm than good so close to the season? I can' t do it a day or two prior to opening.

Being this seems like a bedding area, should I not hunt this in the morning for fear of bumping them?

How about ground blinds? The only problem from what I can tell is that they are coming in here from all directions with the obvious exception of the NE/E corner of rocks, and setting up there daily (I assume) would mean bad wind on occasion?

Thanks in advance.

ELKampMaster

Archery Hunt (September?)
or
Rifle Hunt (October, November?)

Makes a difference in how critical the tree stand is.

In either case I would revisit the area and know exactly what my plan (find stand/build stand/do without stand) is before I' m walking through the forest in the dark the opening day of the season.

Go back to he who gave you the tip, explain what you saw and see if he can " zero you in" a bit. He may be endeared that you at least took the effort to go and look and attempt to find it. Explore the possibility that perhaps the stand came down. Perhaps the spot has been productive for him because the stand is hard to see. Be sure there are no assumptions between him and yourself as to what a " stand" is -- have him draw you a picture including how high up of the ground.

EKM

rather_be_huntin

Wether you' re using a bow or a rifle does make a difference but not a lot in my opinion. I know you treestanders feel like you can' t live without them but maybe try building a ground blind. Go in a few weeks early and use whatever tree branches there are around to build it. The elk will have enough time to get used to it and you just may like the fact that you are much more mobile.

Oregon Archer

just point this place out on a map and ill go look for you

like suggested id go back and talk with your informant first. maybe sit down and draw out a little map of the area of what you saw and he can varify your findings with his own and you can get a better feel of what he was talking about. i wouldnt worry to much about the foilage on the trees. elk arent whitetails. they arent accustomed to looking up in a tree for danger. long as the wind is favorable youd be fine 20ft up. ground blind isnt a bad idea either. id try and find what area they are accessing the meadow from and set up just off of that to one side. stay out of the bedding areas. sounds like you have a good spot to hunt. good luck with it.

elknut1

First I' d like to say, great scouting job. Doesn' t sound like you accidentally came up on them and spooked them. Second of all, because of location of beds in this basin and near wallows and all, I' m pretty confident you' re not in their bedroom. This is an area that elk feed water and wallow in like mid Aug. to anytime in Sept.
Elk will frequent these areas midday and evening. once there in the evening they' ll usually hang out there all night, feeding watering and resting, hence the beds. Come daylight or soon after they head off to their bedding areas normally higher in elevation in dark cool timbered areas. If lots of insects out they may seek out benchy areas in the burn on windy points to keep the bothersome insects away. All the trails coming into this basin you mentioned are obviously coming from their actual bedding areas to feed and water.
Your buddy sounds like a smart feller, a ground blind or treestand near the wallows or where these trails intersect into the meadow is a wise choice. You' d do best if bowhunting, which I believe you are, to sit this stand from 11:00 to 3:00 and the last 2-1/2 hrs of daylight. This should be the most active time in the meadow.--- If you decide to hunt these elk at first daylight you will catch them in the meadow somewhere, so be alert, this could be a great time for your favorite sexy cow call.

P.S. Those are excellent questions. hope this helps and Good Luck! elknut1

rookelkhunter

How ' bout this.

Just above this pretty serious incline is a bench, then it is a much easier incline for the remainder. Even if I could find the stand, it sounds like it might be a better idea to sneak on that bench early in the a.m., possibly get a little action as they head up, and if not, I will have a better idea of which of these major travel lanes is the most heavily used. Then do some straight up ground hunting ' till midday and sit it out ' till dark. Yes? Is it even worth it to take a break and head elsewhere in mid-afternoon, or would I be better served to sit tight all afternoon/night?

BUT what about getting down there in the afternoon? I kid you not, there are elk trails all over, and I am bound to cross and stink up a few due to the severity of the slope. Do I try a drag? Obviously I practice serious scent control, but when it' s 85 and the sun is beating down on me, this kid tends to do some serious sweating!!!

How close would a guy set-up off these wallows? There is a good sized rock about 20 yards from it, but with very little surrounding cover. This rock is the starting point of the treeline (very sparse trees...hence the afore mentioned burn) and also the starting point of this seriously rocky portion that makes most of the eastern side of this meadow inaccessible. Would I be better served to be by a tree or this rock? I always carry one of those little blinds to cover my front side, and with some small downed trees, etc., I should be ok...just wondering how close is too close? I think it goes w/o saying it depends on my range, but it also goes without saying that if I can get 5 or 10 yards closer with a bow, my room for error is increased, which is not a bad thing if I am lucky enough to have a 5 x 5 slobbering on me.

Is there a pecking order with elk when using a wallow? Does the bull hit it first in most cases? Lead cow? Whoever gets there first? How does the rest of the herd act while one or more are using it? Do they act like a kid waiting in line at the refreshment stand, are they eating, lying down licking themselves, or all of the above? Just curious as I would like to know what to expect in most cases.

Thanks in advance.

elknut1

Whoa there big guy! Most of the questions you' ve just asked have already been answered. You need to slow down some and really focus on 1 or 2 things at most.
First of all you describe a great area that elk are using as we speak. Focus on that, like I mentioned before, most activity is first thing in the morning, midday, and evening. The elk are most likely not bedded there in the daytime.
That being said form a strategy that fits into when elk are using the area. Don' t make anymore out of it than that. If you decide to sit on a wallow, make sure it' s an active one, if it' s a trail, so be it. Of course when setting up, being in bowrange is crucial, so don' t setup farther away than you can shoot comftorably.
If you have further questions, please limit them and you' ll recieve better response. There' s some very good elk hunters on this site. elknut1

rookelkhunter

I apologize if I ask too many questions...although most were grouped and could be responded to in one or two sentences.

How ' bout this.

Do bulls use the wallow first?

Are drags an effective tool when elk hunting?

That was pretty much it. I was just thinking outloud, which I will refrain from doing in future posts.

Oregon Archer

there is no set order as to which elk use the wallow. its basically a first come first served basis. now if a small bull is using the wallow and a bigger bull comes in hell vacate the wallow.

now as far as using a drag rag i dont think it would hurt your setup if you were going to be sitting a stand. having scent out there is a good thing. i usually just put it on my boots. i prefer using the gel type scents. they dont evaporate quite as quickly and the best thing is that they dont attract the amount of flies like the liquid does.

noway

Oregon Archer,
Don' t over complicate it.
Go back to elknuts first response and follow that advice, it is right on.
The elk will already be in the meadow at dawn and you don' t want to mess it up by going in there then, this is where patience pays off. The bulls tend to wander in and then back out mid day to hit the wallow and will be returning to the meadow with the cows from their daytime bedding areas right at dark.

Pay attention to which way the wind is blowing you need to set up so the wind is not blowing your scent to the main trail the elk appear to be using.
Get in there a couple weeks early and set up a couple ground blinds, one on each side so you will have a setup no matter which way the wind is blowing. Also check out possible ambush sights along these main trails as you may need to use them as a contingency plan if your first plan does not work.
A good scent lock suit or scent control spray might be in order here if in fact the elk are coming into the meadow from all directions.