S
SpotNStalk
Guest
Have any of you archery elk hunters have ever assembled a group of 7 or 8 of your closest archery elk hunting buddies and tried using "elk drives" as your method of hunting?? I'll try not to turn this into a b%!ch session because I really want to know if people have actually been successful using elk drives for ARCHERY hunting. I know it is fairly common practice for modern firearm deer and elk hunts in different areas of the country but what about archery hunting?
The reason I ask is because I have been hunting elk with a bow now for about 5 years and feel that I have a really good spot for late season bowhunts. As with nearly all areas, crowds can sometimes be a problem and it continues to get worse every year. Three of the past 5 years now my brother and I have come accross a group of 6-10 hunters hunting the same canyon we hunt. Their "method" of hunting is to get guys in their party on all sides, top and bottom of this nice big canyon that invariably holds elk as soon as the snow starts to fly. Well, to make a really long story less lenghty, there were 8 guys that came through the canyon about two hours after sunrise using this method, all with portable radios, pushing elk all over gods creation, spooking everything in sight. There were over 200 head of elk in this canyon this morning and these guys were using their radios to coordinate with each other to surround this herd of elk, pushing them back and forth to each other but none of them were getting within 150 yards. Keep in mind this is a fairly open canyon with pockets of trees but mostly sage brush. When my brother and I (and maybe a couple of other hunters not from this group) have this canyon to ourselves we can usually get pretty close and at least feel like we are "hunting" because its possible to attempt a stalk when the animals aren't so nervous. Does anyone think elk drives are a viable hunting method for archery hunters?
The reason I ask is because I have been hunting elk with a bow now for about 5 years and feel that I have a really good spot for late season bowhunts. As with nearly all areas, crowds can sometimes be a problem and it continues to get worse every year. Three of the past 5 years now my brother and I have come accross a group of 6-10 hunters hunting the same canyon we hunt. Their "method" of hunting is to get guys in their party on all sides, top and bottom of this nice big canyon that invariably holds elk as soon as the snow starts to fly. Well, to make a really long story less lenghty, there were 8 guys that came through the canyon about two hours after sunrise using this method, all with portable radios, pushing elk all over gods creation, spooking everything in sight. There were over 200 head of elk in this canyon this morning and these guys were using their radios to coordinate with each other to surround this herd of elk, pushing them back and forth to each other but none of them were getting within 150 yards. Keep in mind this is a fairly open canyon with pockets of trees but mostly sage brush. When my brother and I (and maybe a couple of other hunters not from this group) have this canyon to ourselves we can usually get pretty close and at least feel like we are "hunting" because its possible to attempt a stalk when the animals aren't so nervous. Does anyone think elk drives are a viable hunting method for archery hunters?