getting into elk hunting
12-12-2004, 11:26 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Yorkton Sask canada
Posts: 35
getting into elk hunting
i'm to get into elk hunting. but i don't know the first thing about hunting elk. i've bought my rifle for it which is a 300 win mag. i'm looking into calls right at mount. so please help ME
12-12-2004, 03:25 PM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Kerrville, Tx. USA
Posts: 2,722
RE: getting into elk hunting
Do yourself a favor and get Bugling bulls and beyond from elknut: http://www.elknut.com/ Goes into calling and several calls that work well.
12-12-2004, 03:56 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location:
Posts: 2,555
RE: getting into elk hunting
You might want to buy a bow, as well! 
IMHO I feel I have a better chance at harvesting any elk, be it cow or big bull in an early september general archery season over a mid to late rifle season. Also it would help if you could be more specific about what you need to learn. To start off first you need know, or have access to knowledge, of a location with a healthy huntable elk herd. After you have a population of elk located in a general area you need to spend a lot of time scouting and learning their day to day habits, as well as learning the lay of the land. For instance where do they like to feed, where are the boggs/wallows, where is their bedding area which is where they spend the majority of the day in the early season. And on and on. As far as calling goes there are some excellent videos on the how to's by both Carlton, and Primos calls. There are also countless books and magazine articles on this subject as well. A fellow board member here that goes by elknut1 takes this info a step further and breaks it down to a play by play with the calls. Teaching his fellow hunters, what does an elk mean with the different sounds they make and what should we say back to them. But before you can do that, first you have to sound like an elk. The good thing is that you have time until next season, be it archery or rifle, to practice and learn to sound like an elk. Keep in mind, you will not master it over night. It takes time, patience and dedication to be a do-it-yourselfer. I myself have grew up in elk country and hunted elk since I was 12. I'am 30 now and feel very lucky and forntunate to have 11 elk under my belt. Half with rifle, half with archery. Now with my success in past hunts, in no way do I consider myself an elk expert! Fact is there are very few true elk experts that could hunt them with all weapons, in all seasons (different times of the year) and all differnt conditions and terain and be successful 100% of the time. There is a reason that the general sucess rates are only 10 to 15% at best. An example,, I am best at a hunting them in the early bow season. On a mid to late season hunt my chances arn't neer as good. I haven't put in the time and efforts to learn their winter range, and habits for that time of year. I compare learning to elk hunt is like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hydrant and not spill any water. You are going to spill water make mistakes but for most of us, that is half the fun of it. Of course you can hire a good outfitter and it will jump start you elk hunting career. Not my personal style, I am a do-it-yourselfer, but for some they are the best choice. Only you can answer that and we are sure here to help you out along the way! idahoelkinstructor
IMHO I feel I have a better chance at harvesting any elk, be it cow or big bull in an early september general archery season over a mid to late rifle season. Also it would help if you could be more specific about what you need to learn. To start off first you need know, or have access to knowledge, of a location with a healthy huntable elk herd. After you have a population of elk located in a general area you need to spend a lot of time scouting and learning their day to day habits, as well as learning the lay of the land. For instance where do they like to feed, where are the boggs/wallows, where is their bedding area which is where they spend the majority of the day in the early season. And on and on. As far as calling goes there are some excellent videos on the how to's by both Carlton, and Primos calls. There are also countless books and magazine articles on this subject as well. A fellow board member here that goes by elknut1 takes this info a step further and breaks it down to a play by play with the calls. Teaching his fellow hunters, what does an elk mean with the different sounds they make and what should we say back to them. But before you can do that, first you have to sound like an elk. The good thing is that you have time until next season, be it archery or rifle, to practice and learn to sound like an elk. Keep in mind, you will not master it over night. It takes time, patience and dedication to be a do-it-yourselfer. I myself have grew up in elk country and hunted elk since I was 12. I'am 30 now and feel very lucky and forntunate to have 11 elk under my belt. Half with rifle, half with archery. Now with my success in past hunts, in no way do I consider myself an elk expert! Fact is there are very few true elk experts that could hunt them with all weapons, in all seasons (different times of the year) and all differnt conditions and terain and be successful 100% of the time. There is a reason that the general sucess rates are only 10 to 15% at best. An example,, I am best at a hunting them in the early bow season. On a mid to late season hunt my chances arn't neer as good. I haven't put in the time and efforts to learn their winter range, and habits for that time of year. I compare learning to elk hunt is like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hydrant and not spill any water. You are going to spill water make mistakes but for most of us, that is half the fun of it. Of course you can hire a good outfitter and it will jump start you elk hunting career. Not my personal style, I am a do-it-yourselfer, but for some they are the best choice. Only you can answer that and we are sure here to help you out along the way! idahoelkinstructor
12-16-2004, 05:36 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Yorkton Sask canada
Posts: 35
RE: getting into elk hunting
thanks for the info idahoelkinstructor. by the way the i do have a bow i just thought that hunting elk with a rifle would be alittle easier at first then to hunt them with a bow. thanks for all your help. I would like to know which call would be the easiest to start off with.
12-21-2004, 01:09 PM
#6
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location:
Posts: 815
RE: getting into elk hunting
One good place to start is w/ primos hoochie mama call and the rest of their diaphragm calls, their video "mastering the art" is also very good to get started. Everyone I've heard from agrees that elknuts video is good, not one complaint, although I haven't personally seen it.
12-21-2004, 03:47 PM
#7
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 6,921
RE: getting into elk hunting
BTW, Regular season(OTC) Elk hunting in Saskatchewan has a archery season that begins the 3rd week of august which is 2 weeks long, (1 week break), then a 2 week rifle season follows in sept. (2nd and 3rd week) and finally followed by another archery week. The primary rut phase I have seen it as early as the end of August and this year as late as I ever recall some areas not starting until the first of October. According to the biologists it falls around the 10th of Sept in the eastern portion of the province.
CE, in my experience hunting elk with the rifle is no easier than the bow, especially when you consider the number of hunters who flock to certain areas come rifle season. Do you have any idea where you want to /will hunt elk? Will you be hunting with any seasoned elk hunters? If so, ask them for some info, etc. This also can be a key in determining when the best time to go and best approach to use for hunting them! I would suggest learn all you can by way of research of internet, books, videos, etc but also start asking questions at your hunting shop and the SWF in Yorkton. As I am sure your aware your part of the province is the most popular place to hunt elk, so I am sure their are many seasoned elk hunters in the Yorkton area who may be able to give you little pointers or even might need a addition to their party. Calls are great but when they aren't responding (like this fall) you must have knowledge of their habits and try to change the outcome by being in the right places.
As far as calls to use, start off with the cow and calf sounds then work up to the bugles. I would suggest a reed blow cow/calf call and a palate diaphram (I personally like the primos brands). The squeeze calls are also good but very limited so make sure you have additional calls available for tone and sound variations. Once you have these you can look to bull sounds by way of a diaphram call/grunt tube or a reed type bugle. I am still working on all the sounds of a bull with a diaphram call but their is no doubt it produces the best results and give you way more options in terms of calls produced. That said a number of guys in our party use the Primo Terminator Bugle and it seems to work pretty well. I have a Power Lip Bugle by Elk inc, which works equally well. My suggestion is stay away from the roaring bugles instead stick with the immature bull calls and cow calls till you know what the elk are saying. Elknut videos are a great resource in this regard.
You can't learn everything in one off season, so try to pick out certain things that make sense to where you'll be hunting and then keep re-tooling. Like deer or any other game animal you have hunted every year is different, so it is very much a work in progress, be patient and become a sponge take as much as you can then go back eager for more.
CE, in my experience hunting elk with the rifle is no easier than the bow, especially when you consider the number of hunters who flock to certain areas come rifle season. Do you have any idea where you want to /will hunt elk? Will you be hunting with any seasoned elk hunters? If so, ask them for some info, etc. This also can be a key in determining when the best time to go and best approach to use for hunting them! I would suggest learn all you can by way of research of internet, books, videos, etc but also start asking questions at your hunting shop and the SWF in Yorkton. As I am sure your aware your part of the province is the most popular place to hunt elk, so I am sure their are many seasoned elk hunters in the Yorkton area who may be able to give you little pointers or even might need a addition to their party. Calls are great but when they aren't responding (like this fall) you must have knowledge of their habits and try to change the outcome by being in the right places.
As far as calls to use, start off with the cow and calf sounds then work up to the bugles. I would suggest a reed blow cow/calf call and a palate diaphram (I personally like the primos brands). The squeeze calls are also good but very limited so make sure you have additional calls available for tone and sound variations. Once you have these you can look to bull sounds by way of a diaphram call/grunt tube or a reed type bugle. I am still working on all the sounds of a bull with a diaphram call but their is no doubt it produces the best results and give you way more options in terms of calls produced. That said a number of guys in our party use the Primo Terminator Bugle and it seems to work pretty well. I have a Power Lip Bugle by Elk inc, which works equally well. My suggestion is stay away from the roaring bugles instead stick with the immature bull calls and cow calls till you know what the elk are saying. Elknut videos are a great resource in this regard.
You can't learn everything in one off season, so try to pick out certain things that make sense to where you'll be hunting and then keep re-tooling. Like deer or any other game animal you have hunted every year is different, so it is very much a work in progress, be patient and become a sponge take as much as you can then go back eager for more.
12-24-2004, 04:56 PM
#8
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Yorkton Sask canada
Posts: 35
RE: getting into elk hunting
thanks for all the info skeeter 7mm. i have talk to alot of farmers in the area i want to hunt and they, ve given me alot of info on where the elk come from and where they go to feed and where there major water holes are. i will be hunting the edge of the forest line. they is no season elk hunters in the group we are a young group of guys that want to start a tradional trip. we all very big in to the outdoors.
12-24-2004, 11:37 PM
#9
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Los Angeles CA
Posts: 14
RE: getting into elk hunting
One good place to start is w/ primos hoochie mama call and the rest of their diaphragm calls, their video "mastering the art" is also very good to get started. Everyone I've heard from agrees that elknuts video is good, not one complaint, although I haven't personally seen it.