Mock Wallow

[XtremeHunter]

Has anyone ever made a mock wallow, if so did it produce anthing? Just wanted to hear some opionions!

 

[BRUIN4L]

I made a mock stripper pole once but I had no takers.

 

[HorseCreek]

Real wallows work a bit better.


Traditional >>>------->

 

[marvin_j]

I started this mock wallow in one of my favorite meadows in 1989. I removed maybe 2 cubic feet of dirt with my boot and hiking stick one afternoon while turkey hunting. The spot just looked great and there were always elk in the area but no wallow activity. It was a dry wallow for the first few years and I watched several elk enjoy rolling in it during the summers. I still don't know how it holds water as well as it does but the elk have dug it out much deeper and have really been using it heavily in the last five to ten years.

It was an hour or so of time twenty two years ago very well spent.

 

[marvin_j]

Some additional info for you to consider. If you are thinking of building a mock wallow for yourself to hunt over do it in a unit that you will actually have a chance of drawing someday. In an ugly twist of Karma I started this one in New Mexico unit 16D, an area I have spent many many years hunting but have never been able to draw an elk tag in. My friends and I have hunted over it several times, witnessed multiple great bulls using it and have had two very close calls but have not killed an elk over it.

I also mentioned it to a state BLM land manager one time and he said I could be liable to the Forrest Service or BLM for illegal mining activity. ???

Be careful what you might start.

 

[AntlerObsession]

>I also mentioned it to a
>state BLM land manager one
>time and he said I
>could be liable to the
>Forrest Service or BLM for
>illegal mining activity. ???
>
>Be careful what you might start.
>
As well as the fact that the elk who helped dig it for you were undocumented! They will have you thrown in jail SO fast!

On a more serious note, many outfitters are successful in increasing elk activity in peculiar places by "improving" the natural conditions conducive to elk. I've seen video tutorials on how to refresh/create a wallow, and the activity increase from dumping a bucket of water and churning up the mud was exponential. My buddy said it best: "Elk aren't dumb! If they see what looks like a wallow, and they are hot, they will wallow! They may not have done it otherwise, but now that somebody else has done it, why not?"

If you make it, they will come.

 

[abqbw]

Don't despair Marvin. I'll test your wallow out with my 300 WSM this fall.

 

[Foxskinner]

I had a friend make one up on the Manti and they have trail cam pictures of bears, cougars, and elk using the water hole/wallow.

I also know that CWMU outfitters will 'improve' certain sites that bring in and hold the elk longer so that their clients can have better hunts. So yes, mock wallows can produce.


www.biggamedrawodds.com

 

[dleonard3]

My wife's maiden name is Mock. So, yes! I have made a Mock...............wallow.

 

[mntman]

I dug out a hole and plugged the down hilled side to create a wallow a couple years ago. It worked, I got multiple bulls to come in. To be honest though there was already an established wallow in the meadow farther up about 80 yards away. So I am not sure how much that had an affect on the success of mine...

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"

 

[Stubaby]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-25-12 AT 08:38AM (MST)[p]Leanard, dude, I would love to see your wife's face if she ever read this thread and saw your post. Holy random : ).

"That's a special feeling, Lloyd"

 

[nickman]

You would have to have 15 or 20 guys to pee enough to keep it wet and smelly. Better off to just find one the elk already use.

"I could eat a bowl of Alphabet Soup and
sh!t a better argument than that!"

 

[Utah400Elk]

In NM a few years back an outfitter suggested dropping some extra water in a depression to make a wallow. My friends and I thought he was joking but we added water every few days. From the start of the hunt it was dry. Within a week we had a legitimate wallow where elk were visiting every day. Not sure that would work everwhere but it did in NM. The only problem we had is that other hunters put treestands on the homemade wallows before we could get there. There was a guy who drove around the unit and put a huge tree branch in the middle of every bit of water he found. We kept moving the branches out of the depression when we added water. He thought bulls were in the water every other day. The trail camera showed bulls showing up everyday after about the third time we added water. I learned that the bulls were already there and our wallow just attracked other hunters.