The Elk Thread

[Texans42]

Has any body hunted unit 45 new mexico

Killed out in it last year....no draw this year

[old killer]

Our last 16 elk have come from water. I have four spots I made using rocks and wood to make small dams and digging out enough dirt to hold water. We use stands and blinds. Here is one I made, in September I will have a stand at 12 yards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UcKluFBczw

[westtexducks]

Yeah we found out real quick that hiking up a mountain will kill any scent control you try to do. We spray down after but I don't really think it does much good.

Twice last year while sitting water I had cow elk come in behind me downwind after I had sprayed down with Scentkiller. I also had rubbed sage all over myself for a cover scent. When they got to my scent stream they turned themselves inside out bolting out of there. IMO if they come in downwind you will get busted covered ground blind or not.

We usually make two blind locations on a spot to cover shifting winds.....sometimes it will change hourly up there. Lots of swirling.

Thanks for the info. Are you swapping blinds every time the wind changes directions? I had thought about doing this last year but was worried about getting caught moving as well as spreading my stink all over the area while moving.

Our last 16 elk have come from water. I have four spots I made using rocks and wood to make small dams and digging out enough dirt to hold water. We use stands and blinds. Here is one I made, in September I will have a stand at 12 yards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UcKluFBczw

I hadn't thought about doing that with the dams. That would be easy to do and i can think of at least 3 spots off the top of my head where these could work. Thanks for the info guys. Going to be helpful come September.


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[simek]

Our last 16 elk have come from water. I have four spots I made using rocks and wood to make small dams and digging out enough dirt to hold water. We use stands and blinds. Here is one I made, in September I will have a stand at 12 yards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UcKluFBczw

bad azz

[old killer]

I try to determine the direction the elk will come from the most and set up for that. hopefully you can use one spot for up and down sloping wind. One spot is only 5 yards from a trail and 12 yards from the wallow.
I get high enough that the wind will be beyond the trail before it gets to their elevation.
I have had over 600 minutes of trail camera video in the last 3 years and figured out they almost never come to water before 9:00am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nveO2T2eWmM

[old killer]

I try to determine the direction the elk will come from the most and set up for that. hopefully you can use one spot for up and down sloping wind. One spot is only 5 yards from a trail and 12 yards from the wallow.
I get high enough that the wind will be beyond the trail before it gets to their elevation.
I have had over 600 minutes of trail camera video in the last 3 years and figured out they almost never come to water before 9:00am.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nveO2T2eWmM

My stand is 19 yards up the mountain, We have taken 4 bulls, 3 were over 300 inches.

[unclefish]

Thanks for the info. Are you swapping blinds every time the wind changes directions? I had thought about doing this last year but was worried about getting caught moving as well as spreading my stink all over the area while moving.
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I play it ear...i try to figure out if it's a real wind shift or a temporary swirl.

I hear you on getting caught...last year after sitting on stand for about 7 hours seeing nothing...I finally get up to pee. Just as I turn around to go to the blind there are two cow elk staring at me from across the pond. Talk about bad timing.

[unclefish]

Our last 16 elk have come from water. I have four spots I made using rocks and wood to make small dams and digging out enough dirt to hold water. We use stands and blinds. Here is one I made, in September I will have a stand at 12 yards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UcKluFBczw

Love all your videos George!

My stand is 19 yards up the mountain, We have taken 4 bulls, 3 were over 300 inches.

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[westtexducks]

I try to determine the direction the elk will come from the most and set up for that. hopefully you can use one spot for up and down sloping wind. One spot is only 5 yards from a trail and 12 yards from the wallow.
I get high enough that the wind will be beyond the trail before it gets to their elevation.
I have had over 600 minutes of trail camera video in the last 3 years and figured out they almost never come to water before 9:00am.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nveO2T2eWmM

I don't have the vid proof but did notice with pics that their is a pattern for sure to when they are hitting the water holes during the day. Had a group of 2 bulls last year that were consistently hitting water between 8-8:30 and then after that it was sporadic throughout the day with most coming in late afternoon.

And I will be looking at trees etc next time I get a chance to go down to scout and see if I can find the "sweet spot" where all wind directions are covered.

I play it ear...i try to figure out if it's a real wind shift or a temporary swirl.

I hear you on getting caught...last year after sitting on stand for about 7 hours seeing nothing...I finally get up to pee. Just as I turn around to go to the blind there are two cow elk staring at me from across the pond. Talk about bad timing.

Thanks for the info. Good to know how you folks are killing them consistently. Guess I will just have to try out a few of yalls different methods and see which works best for me and then go from there.

[old killer]

Many thanks unclefish.
The cameras tell me the best times are from 9 till noon. And again late. It seems they will hit water on their way to bedding. As the sun moves they may move and go get a drink.
I have seen bulls stay in the water as long as an hour.

[Whirlwind]

Our primos blind worked pretty well over water.


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[westtexducks]

Our primos blind worked pretty well over water.


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Thats an awesome pic. How long had that blind been sitting there to get them accustomed to it?

[Whirlwind]

Thats an awesome pic. How long had that blind been sitting there to get them accustomed to it?

Once I had it up they were in there the next day. No pressure and they didn't seem to care it was there. I'll have to look and see if I can find my other pictures as I have some with mountain lions and some other critters with the blind.

[TGoody]

Anybody hunted NM Unit 17!? Need all the help I can get on this one!!! First archery so they may not be talking yet, which will make locating them even harder

[Texans42]

Anybody hunted NM Unit 17!? Need all the help I can get on this one!!! First archery so they may not be talking yet, which will make locating them even harder

That's a good tag!!!! And they mostly will be talking. A buddy hunted last season only to backstrap a 340bull and they where talking. He drew Mulie tag also and found a hammer, ended up giving up and found and called that bull in the last two days.

I'll see what he will let loose. I've scouted it several years ago and found elk pretty quickly but that was in July. I was on the northern edge south of Magdelena hugging private. Carry a GPS with map card. Few outfitters kind think they are land owners.