One year a buddy and me hiked 4 miles in, and 3.9 miles back.. Last day of the hunt and the sun was setting. Once we saw the truck, we put our packs (and muzzleloaders) down to get a drink of "water". We figured nothing would be near the truck. After the first sip, a small 4×4 bull walked out from the trees, stopped and looked at us about 60 yards out. Neither one of us had a rifle in hand. We both scrambled but there was no chance. The bull ran off into the trees, and we were dumbfounded. We both wanted to cry. Moral of the story: NEVER stop hunting. 😂
@@rollyboily5513 Murphy's law I guess... Same thing just happened to us last year! Elk, not moose though. Fresh bull tracks right over the tire tracks behind the truck! 😆
Thanks for the video it made a lot of sense to me. Im from Texas and have been in Wyoming for 9 years now hunting elk by myself. I think my 2 biggest problems we're you're # 1 and 5. Thank you very much.
My biggest mistake, and I’ve done it more than once, is neglecting to get in shape for the hunt. It’s a mistake that can easily be corrected if you just take the time to do it.
I am a Blacktail hunter in thick forest with no visibility. I also moved way too slow for elk hunting. You have to cover ground to find where that are at, and its astounding how far and fast they can travel when bumped...I am still a Rookie at chasing elk, but I love every minute of it.
Like you, my first error was to translate my white tail hunting skills to hunting elk. My second was and is to some extent moving too slowly. My third was and is glassing. I don't glass enough while moving. I don't glass enough while looking for bedded elk. I don't glass properly for the two. But I am learning. My fourth is my age. I really almost need but mostly want to get an elk near where I can drive up to it. So, that limits the area where I hunt but that turns out to be a good thing. I hunt the same area year after year. I know where I can find an elk in the 10 days of the hunt. Many others don't even consider this area so the hunting pressure is low. And number 5 - After 8 years of elk hunting I finally used the gutless method. No more wasted time gutting the elk before getting the quarters off. No more big mess near the carcass. Getting the meat in a game bag and hanging it up faster in the early season is very important. The gutless method helps with that goal. I love your videos. Thanks for all the free advice and taking me along with you on the hunts.
Randy I actually got a copy of the elk ecology book off of ebay for $75 a few months ago. That's probably the best deal I'll get on anything in my life. I'm about half way through it and have already found so many gold nuggets of information. Keep up the good work man.
Hey Randy. Thanks for sharing your 5 top mistakes elk hunting. I think, having pursued elk for almost 4 decades, that my biggest mistake was chasing the bugle. To your point of reading about the habits and necessities of elk, my advice is to find where elk want to be, and be there before they get there. Your opening video of laying in the shade with your shoes off is a prime example. A hunter can be like Corey Jacobsen and run, run, run after and MAYBE catch a few, but the odds are not in your favor. But, if you know where they want to go, and are there waiting for them, they will come to you.
I agree the fear of the unknown is what keeps a lot of people from going anywhere and doing anything. I've ran my own gun shop for 9yrs and for other places for 20ish and people talk about doing but just never commit to it!! Thankfully I decided over a decade ago to just go for it and like you said learn by screwing up but at least trying.... love the content keep up the fine job sir!!
Great part about trying to hunt elk like a whitetail. Here in the northeast, I had fished for winter flounder (blackbacks) for most of my life and only got into fishing for summer flounder (fluke) about 20 years ago. For a long time I fished for fluke like they were a bigger version of blackbacks, and while I caught some, I never did great. Then I did some actual research and reading and it was like ripping a mask off - the fluke weren't just a big blackback, they were their own fish with their own habits. Bingo. Started catching them consistently. Keep up the instructional videos, they are very useful.
1) Wind 2) Wind 3) Wind 4) Wind 5) Wind The freaking W has gotten me so many times. Especially if a storm is coming or going. The swirling winds in the mountains suck!
Great video. Thank you for these pointers. 🙌🏽 I have a hunt coming up next month. It’s been 20 years since my last elk bow. This one is Bull Riffle. Excited to get back out there.
After 40 plus years chasing elk with bow, muzzle, and rifle, the biggest thing is to be where the elk are going to be before they get there. Early season or late. That means leaving the truck two or three HOURS before daylight sometimes. Maybe in -10 or -15 below zero. It’s all about how badly you want to kill a bull. I will be looking for number 36 perhaps this fall .👍👍😀
My biggest challenge is actually locating elk. I have been hunting an area in ID for the last 25+ years where we could usually find elk pretty easily in September fairly close to logging roads where we camped. Hunting pressure has remained fairly constant. Over the last 4 years or so, the elk seem to no longer be where we have always found them. I know the area is good for elk because we scout during spring bear season and have found where the bachelor groups of bulls summer within a few miles of where we hunt in september. We routinely see 14+ bulls in an evening of spring bear hunting May-June. But we can't figure out where they are in September. There have been some big burns in the area over the years and the area has also matured from previous logging operations. I am wondering if the shift in habitat due to fires and maturing has shifted where the elk are. I know they are there because I see them in the spring. Just not sure how to better locate them in the fall. Any ideas?
Well thats me I'm 55 and have been guided elk cow hunts and decided that I want to hunt more elk especially archery. So I moved to Colorado and been here 6 months and everything you said you did was the way I was going to approach it 😂. I've got people at work giving me some pointers which is great there all pretty successful. So anything you put out i will definitely be watching thank you
Mistake: Not being to your spot early enough and not staying late enough. Elk are early and late movers most of the time. You can’t be rolling out of camp late or back into camp too early. Be comfortable moving in the dark.
Thanks for giving us a heads up and a chance to learn! I’ve always made the mistake of staying to long in an area. Perhaps you can give us a tip on how long we should be in an unproductive spot?
First serious year trying for a Bull Elk. I've watched hundreds of hours of Elk 101, this channel and others. A year driving my wife crazy with practicing elk calls, last hunting season & this summer scouting and hours reading local biologist reports. Called a big 6x7 into 70yds ON SEPT.19TH. Took aim off a knee with my brand new 7PRC rifle (should have used my good old 30-06). Two shots missed, went over the rifle and found my action screws were so loose that the action was twisting in the stock. 4 days later I found the same Bull feeding near where I missed him, I had my elderly Dad with me and he spooked him trying to get a look while I was setting up to shoot. It's the 29th of September my last day off is tomorrow until the 10th of October and the Bulls have disappeared, hunting pressure has exploded and the animals have gone fully nocturnal. What do you do if the Bulls have left the cows and the cow herds have split into small groups? I had patterned my area, that normally retains numbers of cows has shrunk to a single Calf and Cow. The other area herd I'm monitoring split to several small groups as well.
My mistakes in 2 seasons so far is hunting slow like I'm hunting whitetails, not changing up my plan/ area sooner when the former plan was not working out. Not putting more strategic thought into where i set up to call or ambush. Cow calling to a bull who then turned, pin pointed my location from 90yds away and walked right to me (up to 20yds away) without going behind a tree or obstruction and staring at me the entire time. Possibly another mistake was remaining frozen in that incident and not trying SOMETHING...the bull got spooked, spun around and walked away.
Question still chasing my first bull hopefully next year I can get him but my question is can I use sents with the wind? Like been told here in Iowa I can soak a pine branch in water the. Put it in a bag with all my gear then I'll smell like pine. What can I do in Colorado for sent?
For me it’s hunt elk where they are. For years it was hunting where I thought they would be. Not where they are. My grandfather said the secret is being there when they are there. It took a long time to really understand what that means.
I have never hunted elk (yet). Just wondering. Since elk move miles at a time. It seems reasonable to say I should get to a destination spot or a travel lane and sit and wait. Wait for days if needed.
Never really thought of too slow, most whitetail hunts are stands or slow pushes or faster drives were i am. And your right too with the packing meat out i had to laugh ive had to cut deer in half to get them out but it was never super far, when i was hunting Wyoming i never thought of it either and i had 2 mile drags in hot weather but i never thought to bone or quarter the meat i just pulled them out gutted lol. Even if you know how to do it unless you've done it before or told about it you just dont think to do it,but had it been an elk i would have done it but deer and pronghorn are small so just didnt even think to.😂
I’d say my biggest mistake is being afraid to get too far from the road. I hunt with a group but we all split up to “maximize” our opportunities. When it gets close to the end of the day we head back to camp. My other biggest mistake is not playing the wind.
Not putting enough time into learning the lay of the land. As an out of state hunter it's crucial to use the resources you do have available. Adjust accordingly when you get boots on the ground.
My biggest mistake that I continue to make is not being aggressive enough. Particularly when calling there have been many times when I should have moved in when I sat still.
My biggest mistake was having a plastic call in my mouth to stop the elk and it worked perfectly tell my bow string caught the call that had a string holding it around my neck and when I released it just about ripped my head off, and it also made me miss because it pulled me way left
My two biggest ones are: NEVER get fit before the hunt and out of shape during the hunt. And....Hesitant to cover new/unfamiliar ground miles away from the truck or spike camp on afternoon hunts. I guess a third is carrying too much stuff around.
The biggest mistake is not being where the elk are going to be before they get there. If it means leaving the trunk two or three hours before dawn, in -10 or twenty below zero, it boils down to how badly you want a bull. Forty years plus, and 35 elk , maybe number 36 this fall. ??
Thank you Randy and keep up the good work as long as you can! I am old enough to be your father, but still try to hunt as much as I can. I agree with everything you said in the video. Effort is 9/10ths of success! I elk hunted when I was a kid in CO, but my dad moved us out of state (shame on him). One thing you didn't mention was not taking advantage of technology available today.
Here's a good one for all of you to laugh at. Talk about a whitetail hunter from the east. My first time elk hunting (20 years ago) I set up a tree-stand a half a mile from the dirt road 2nd season of Colorado rifle. LMAO
One year a buddy and me hiked 4 miles in, and 3.9 miles back.. Last day of the hunt and the sun was setting. Once we saw the truck, we put our packs (and muzzleloaders) down to get a drink of "water". We figured nothing would be near the truck. After the first sip, a small 4×4 bull walked out from the trees, stopped and looked at us about 60 yards out. Neither one of us had a rifle in hand. We both scrambled but there was no chance. The bull ran off into the trees, and we were dumbfounded. We both wanted to cry. Moral of the story: NEVER stop hunting. 😂
Friend of mine taught me once… “ you hunt until you touch the bumper of your truck”
Even when driving from one spot to the other a rifle better be at the legal ready
Walk away from truck in bush to look for
moose tracks. Walk for hours come back to truck to find fresh tracks right by the truck!
@@rollyboily5513 Murphy's law I guess... Same thing just happened to us last year! Elk, not moose though. Fresh bull tracks right over the tire tracks behind the truck! 😆
Thanks for the video it made a lot of sense to me. Im from Texas and have been in Wyoming for 9 years now hunting elk by myself. I think my 2 biggest problems we're you're # 1 and 5. Thank you very much.
My biggest mistake, and I’ve done it more than once, is neglecting to get in shape for the hunt. It’s a mistake that can easily be corrected if you just take the time to do it.
I am a Blacktail hunter in thick forest with no visibility. I also moved way too slow for elk hunting. You have to cover ground to find where that are at, and its astounding how far and fast they can travel when bumped...I am still a Rookie at chasing elk, but I love every minute of it.
I have only made one elk hunting mistake. Not going elk hunting when my health was good and now it is too late for me.
Same for me but I decided to go no matter what. Too many hunters tell of stories like finally killing their elk near the truck.
Like you, my first error was to translate my white tail hunting skills to hunting elk. My second was and is to some extent moving too slowly. My third was and is glassing. I don't glass enough while moving. I don't glass enough while looking for bedded elk. I don't glass properly for the two. But I am learning. My fourth is my age. I really almost need but mostly want to get an elk near where I can drive up to it. So, that limits the area where I hunt but that turns out to be a good thing. I hunt the same area year after year. I know where I can find an elk in the 10 days of the hunt. Many others don't even consider this area so the hunting pressure is low. And number 5 - After 8 years of elk hunting I finally used the gutless method. No more wasted time gutting the elk before getting the quarters off. No more big mess near the carcass. Getting the meat in a game bag and hanging it up faster in the early season is very important. The gutless method helps with that goal. I love your videos. Thanks for all the free advice and taking me along with you on the hunts.
Randy I actually got a copy of the elk ecology book off of ebay for $75 a few months ago. That's probably the best deal I'll get on anything in my life. I'm about half way through it and have already found so many gold nuggets of information. Keep up the good work man.
Is there any way I could rent it from you? Or I could pay you some money for a copy somehow?
Hey Randy. Thanks for sharing your 5 top mistakes elk hunting. I think, having pursued elk for almost 4 decades, that my biggest mistake was chasing the bugle. To your point of reading about the habits and necessities of elk, my advice is to find where elk want to be, and be there before they get there. Your opening video of laying in the shade with your shoes off is a prime example. A hunter can be like Corey Jacobsen and run, run, run after and MAYBE catch a few, but the odds are not in your favor. But, if you know where they want to go, and are there waiting for them, they will come to you.
Most the time the wind will not allow for this if your bow hunting at close range.
I agree the fear of the unknown is what keeps a lot of people from going anywhere and doing anything. I've ran my own gun shop for 9yrs and for other places for 20ish and people talk about doing but just never commit to it!! Thankfully I decided over a decade ago to just go for it and like you said learn by screwing up but at least trying.... love the content keep up the fine job sir!!
Great part about trying to hunt elk like a whitetail. Here in the northeast, I had fished for winter flounder (blackbacks) for most of my life and only got into fishing for summer flounder (fluke) about 20 years ago. For a long time I fished for fluke like they were a bigger version of blackbacks, and while I caught some, I never did great. Then I did some actual research and reading and it was like ripping a mask off - the fluke weren't just a big blackback, they were their own fish with their own habits. Bingo. Started catching them consistently.
Keep up the instructional videos, they are very useful.
1) Wind
2) Wind
3) Wind
4) Wind
5) Wind
The freaking W has gotten me so many times. Especially if a storm is coming or going. The swirling winds in the mountains suck!
Great video. Thank you for these pointers. 🙌🏽 I have a hunt coming up next month. It’s been 20 years since my last elk bow. This one is Bull Riffle. Excited to get back out there.
I biggest mistake is not elk hunting in my younger years 😊
Thank you for the information Randy, it's always good to get more pointers.
After 40 plus years chasing elk with bow, muzzle, and rifle, the biggest thing is to be where the elk are going to be before they get there. Early season or late. That means leaving the truck two or three HOURS before daylight sometimes. Maybe in -10 or -15 below zero. It’s all about how badly you want to kill a bull. I will be looking for number 36 perhaps this fall .👍👍😀
Thank you Randy great information God's Blessings on all your adventures
Thanks Randy and team, youre the best.
My biggest challenge is actually locating elk. I have been hunting an area in ID for the last 25+ years where we could usually find elk pretty easily in September fairly close to logging roads where we camped. Hunting pressure has remained fairly constant. Over the last 4 years or so, the elk seem to no longer be where we have always found them. I know the area is good for elk because we scout during spring bear season and have found where the bachelor groups of bulls summer within a few miles of where we hunt in september. We routinely see 14+ bulls in an evening of spring bear hunting May-June. But we can't figure out where they are in September. There have been some big burns in the area over the years and the area has also matured from previous logging operations. I am wondering if the shift in habitat due to fires and maturing has shifted where the elk are. I know they are there because I see them in the spring. Just not sure how to better locate them in the fall. Any ideas?
Well thats me I'm 55 and have been guided elk cow hunts and decided that I want to hunt more elk especially archery. So I moved to Colorado and been here 6 months and everything you said you did was the way I was going to approach it 😂. I've got people at work giving me some pointers which is great there all pretty successful. So anything you put out i will definitely be watching thank you
Oh I'm a whitetail hunter from Massachusetts
Mistake: Not being to your spot early enough and not staying late enough.
Elk are early and late movers most of the time. You can’t be rolling out of camp late or back into camp too early. Be comfortable moving in the dark.
Thanks for giving us a heads up and a chance to learn! I’ve always made the mistake of staying to long in an area. Perhaps you can give us a tip on how long we should be in an unproductive spot?
It's a swirling wind that gets me again and again...be patient & then move in fast and get it done!
First serious year trying for a Bull Elk. I've watched hundreds of hours of Elk 101, this channel and others. A year driving my wife crazy with practicing elk calls, last hunting season & this summer scouting and hours reading local biologist reports. Called a big 6x7 into 70yds ON SEPT.19TH. Took aim off a knee with my brand new 7PRC rifle (should have used my good old 30-06). Two shots missed, went over the rifle and found my action screws were so loose that the action was twisting in the stock. 4 days later I found the same Bull feeding near where I missed him, I had my elderly Dad with me and he spooked him trying to get a look while I was setting up to shoot. It's the 29th of September my last day off is tomorrow until the 10th of October and the Bulls have disappeared, hunting pressure has exploded and the animals have gone fully nocturnal. What do you do if the Bulls have left the cows and the cow herds have split into small groups? I had patterned my area, that normally retains numbers of cows has shrunk to a single Calf and Cow. The other area herd I'm monitoring split to several small groups as well.
My mistakes in 2 seasons so far is hunting slow like I'm hunting whitetails, not changing up my plan/ area sooner when the former plan was not working out. Not putting more strategic thought into where i set up to call or ambush. Cow calling to a bull who then turned, pin pointed my location from 90yds away and walked right to me (up to 20yds away) without going behind a tree or obstruction and staring at me the entire time. Possibly another mistake was remaining frozen in that incident and not trying SOMETHING...the bull got spooked, spun around and walked away.
Question still chasing my first bull hopefully next year I can get him but my question is can I use sents with the wind? Like been told here in Iowa I can soak a pine branch in water the. Put it in a bag with all my gear then I'll smell like pine. What can I do in Colorado for sent?
It won't work. They will smell you. You must play the wind properly.
@Fresh_Tracks thanks for the response huge fan of you!! How's the best way to play the wind?
@@Fresh_TracksAnd happy thanksgiving
That elk book... well book about ungulates is the very best book ever written!
For me it’s hunt elk where they are. For years it was hunting where I thought they would be. Not where they are. My grandfather said the secret is being there when they are there. It took a long time to really understand what that means.
Mr. Newberg thank you for sharing your wisdom with all us dummies 🤣
I have never hunted elk (yet). Just wondering. Since elk move miles at a time. It seems reasonable to say I should get to a destination spot or a travel lane and sit and wait. Wait for days if needed.
Never really thought of too slow, most whitetail hunts are stands or slow pushes or faster drives were i am. And your right too with the packing meat out i had to laugh ive had to cut deer in half to get them out but it was never super far, when i was hunting Wyoming i never thought of it either and i had 2 mile drags in hot weather but i never thought to bone or quarter the meat i just pulled them out gutted lol. Even if you know how to do it unless you've done it before or told about it you just dont think to do it,but had it been an elk i would have done it but deer and pronghorn are small so just didnt even think to.😂
I’d say my biggest mistake is being afraid to get too far from the road. I hunt with a group but we all split up to “maximize” our opportunities. When it gets close to the end of the day we head back to camp. My other biggest mistake is not playing the wind.
Thanks Randy, nice to know it’s not just me!Lol😂
Not putting enough time into learning the lay of the land. As an out of state hunter it's crucial to use the resources you do have available. Adjust accordingly when you get boots on the ground.
Great video.
a great book is Mike Lapinsky;s Radical elk stragities , in my opinion
Same exact book with earlier print date "Elk of North America Ecology and Management "
Title slightly changed and different dust cover
Great tips.
My biggest mistake that I continue to make is not being aggressive enough. Particularly when calling there have been many times when I should have moved in when I sat still.
My biggest mistake was having a plastic call in my mouth to stop the elk and it worked perfectly tell my bow string caught the call that had a string holding it around my neck and when I released it just about ripped my head off, and it also made me miss because it pulled me way left
Damn it I guess I’ll throw away my unicorn elk blow gun 😂 I spent a fortune on it too.😂😂😂😂
Taking a seasonal position at a wild game Processor during general season.
My two biggest ones are: NEVER get fit before the hunt and out of shape during the hunt. And....Hesitant to cover new/unfamiliar ground miles away from the truck or spike camp on afternoon hunts. I guess a third is carrying too much stuff around.
We have had elk come into camp before realizing that they were in danger. It is always too quick to get a shot when it happens.
A funny misconception is that the 65 Creedmoor is fast. It’s actually pretty slow. It typically goes around 26-ish.
The most over rated cartridge of our lifetime. Barely better then a 243 and way behind the 270 😮
@mikecollins8241 Its fine for targets and with a good bullet its good for whitetail. But I agree it is nothing special
The biggest mistake is not being where the elk are going to be before they get there. If it means leaving the trunk two or three hours before dawn, in -10 or twenty below zero, it boils down to how badly you want a bull. Forty years plus, and 35 elk , maybe number 36 this fall. ??
Thank you Randy and keep up the good work as long as you can! I am old enough to be your father, but still try to hunt as much as I can. I agree with everything you said in the video. Effort is 9/10ths of success! I elk hunted when I was a kid in CO, but my dad moved us out of state (shame on him). One thing you didn't mention was not taking advantage of technology available today.
Failure to prepare, prepare to fail, as a flatlander get fit, where Elk live isn't the easiest place to hunt!
My biggest mistake is not getting drawn to hunt on the kings land.
Only five mistakes?oh big mistakes 😂done that in one day... but once in a while the critter makes one too.
My #1 Biggest Mistake: Waiting too late in life to get into Elk Hunting!
Where were you 45 years ago!!
Here's a good one for all of you to laugh at. Talk about a whitetail hunter from the east. My first time elk hunting (20 years ago) I set up a tree-stand a half a mile from the dirt road 2nd season of Colorado rifle. LMAO
eating 5 alarm chili before a hunt a mistake? lol
Oh yes, that was a shitty idea.
@@Fresh_Tracks literally 🤣
Serving last year’s meat at your hunting camp.
#5 rings a bell all too loud
Hunting the wrong elevation