smokepoler63
Active Member
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- 371
I just began bow hunting elk seriously last year. I tried to hunt elk with archery gear when I was younger, but was never successful. I had plenty of close calls, a few near misses, but something always blew the opportunity. I have always been more into mule deer hunting with firearms, (rifle, muzzleloader, and handgun).
Now that I'm 50+ in age, I decided to try some different tactics last year. I bought several trail cameras and set them up in June over some areas that I thought would be good to get photos of elk. There was a lot of trial and error at first and I made many rookie mistakes in my camera placement. I eventually got my cameras set up on springs, seeps, and wallows.
I got many photos of cow and calf moose, and small buck, doe and fawn deer initially. Then in late July I started getting a few photos of elk. I was very excited. As it got closer to archery season, I was getting more and more photos of elk. My nephew and I hung some tree stands over the more active wallows, and by the beginning of archery season, I had 25-30 recognizable bull elk hitting the wallows.
The bulls were inconsistent and could not be patterned in any way. They were coming in at all hours of the day, so I didn't dare not be in the stand during daylight hours while hunting. I knew if we sat the tree stands long enough, we would get shots. We had a very successful season. My nephew shot his bull at 10:30 opening morning, August 30th. It took me longer, but on the sixth day I sat the stand, September 11, I shot my bull.
I was thrilled with last season's success, and have looked forward to this season since the day my hunt ended last year. I put my cameras out in early June because I was so excited to start seeing elk on my cameras again. I didn't get photos of elk the first two weeks. I got photos of four bulls in the next three weeks, including one mature 6 point.
We waited three more weeks before checking the cameras again. I was excited and full of anticipation, knowing that it was time for elk to start showing up at the springs and wallows. When we started swapping out the memory cards, I was blown away by the results! I had over 5000 photos on the six cameras that were set to photo mode.
As we looked through all of the photos, we were amazed by all of the mature bulls, rag horns, spikes, cows, and calves. I got photos of very few cows and only one spike bull all last year. In this three week period, we had 51 different bulls, not counting any of the spike bulls that looked alike, and cows and calves.
Now, here is my dilemma. Should I choose option A, B, or C?
Option A - Shoot the first decent branch antlered bull that presents a shot, considering that I have only ever shot one bull elk with archery gear.
Option B - Hold out for a six point, possibly risking not getting an elk.
Option C - Hold out for one of the five or six really big bulls in this area?
This is a public land, over-the-counter tag area that receives a lot of pressure. A bull scoring close to 300" is a great bull here. These bulls won't measure up to the huge bulls taken in limited entry areas of Utah, Arizona, or New Mexico, but I think they are pretty good bulls for this type of area. Here are some of the better bulls, what are your recommendations?
Now that I'm 50+ in age, I decided to try some different tactics last year. I bought several trail cameras and set them up in June over some areas that I thought would be good to get photos of elk. There was a lot of trial and error at first and I made many rookie mistakes in my camera placement. I eventually got my cameras set up on springs, seeps, and wallows.
I got many photos of cow and calf moose, and small buck, doe and fawn deer initially. Then in late July I started getting a few photos of elk. I was very excited. As it got closer to archery season, I was getting more and more photos of elk. My nephew and I hung some tree stands over the more active wallows, and by the beginning of archery season, I had 25-30 recognizable bull elk hitting the wallows.
The bulls were inconsistent and could not be patterned in any way. They were coming in at all hours of the day, so I didn't dare not be in the stand during daylight hours while hunting. I knew if we sat the tree stands long enough, we would get shots. We had a very successful season. My nephew shot his bull at 10:30 opening morning, August 30th. It took me longer, but on the sixth day I sat the stand, September 11, I shot my bull.
I was thrilled with last season's success, and have looked forward to this season since the day my hunt ended last year. I put my cameras out in early June because I was so excited to start seeing elk on my cameras again. I didn't get photos of elk the first two weeks. I got photos of four bulls in the next three weeks, including one mature 6 point.
We waited three more weeks before checking the cameras again. I was excited and full of anticipation, knowing that it was time for elk to start showing up at the springs and wallows. When we started swapping out the memory cards, I was blown away by the results! I had over 5000 photos on the six cameras that were set to photo mode.
As we looked through all of the photos, we were amazed by all of the mature bulls, rag horns, spikes, cows, and calves. I got photos of very few cows and only one spike bull all last year. In this three week period, we had 51 different bulls, not counting any of the spike bulls that looked alike, and cows and calves.
Now, here is my dilemma. Should I choose option A, B, or C?
Option A - Shoot the first decent branch antlered bull that presents a shot, considering that I have only ever shot one bull elk with archery gear.
Option B - Hold out for a six point, possibly risking not getting an elk.
Option C - Hold out for one of the five or six really big bulls in this area?
This is a public land, over-the-counter tag area that receives a lot of pressure. A bull scoring close to 300" is a great bull here. These bulls won't measure up to the huge bulls taken in limited entry areas of Utah, Arizona, or New Mexico, but I think they are pretty good bulls for this type of area. Here are some of the better bulls, what are your recommendations?