Elk Hunting

Nothing can be an amazingly big game like hunting an Elk. Elk is one of the largest mammals with native habitat in North America and Eastern Asia.

For the best quality and the safest hunting of Elk, you must know how to do it flawlessly. If you are an expert then it might be easier for you. However, if you are novice and didn’t hunt any giant animal ever before then properly grasp these useful aspects of Elk hunting.

For archery to rifle hunt of Elk, you must be accompanied by skilled professionals for safe, legal and humane hunting. Elk hunting is quite a popular and thrilling sport across the globe. People love earning pleasure by taking part in this one of the most exciting hunting competitions. Moreover, in United States, many individuals prefer spending their leisure time in hunting preferably Elk because of its tasty and quality meat with relatively low fat.

Another reason hunters go after Elk is that it is one of the most challenging hunt they can ever had in their lives.

Major Attributes You Must Know:

Hunting appears to be a plain job with hi-tech firearms and good expertise. However, if you talk about Elk, it is one of the toughest hunt in which hunters are required to walk for miles on rough tracks and bad conditions. From the Rocky Mountain Elk to the coastal giant Roosevelt Elk of the Pacific Northwest, you can have immense number of opportunities to hunt down your favorite specie in United States.

There is lot more involved in accurate and the safest Elk hunting. Let’s probe what you need to discern and understand for hunting an elk.

• Where you can find Elk’s subspecies of your choice?

Elk in form of herds usually live in high altitude areas or you can say high mountainous terrains like Bob Marshall wilderness in lush and timbered Swan Range, rain forests of Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, subalpine forests, and in some ranges of Western North America.

For the case of point, you can find the smallest subspecies among all the North American elks named ‘Tule elk’ only in the state of California. Rocky Mountain elks as name suggests are commonly found in the Rocky Mountains and the neighboring ranges of Western North America.

During winter you can easily find elks in open forests and in low-elevated areas while in summer they usually migrate to alpine basins and subalpine forests.

• How to locate, chase and get close to the Elk?

With help of footprints, and other tracking signs in winters especially, you can easily find elk’s whereabouts. Rut calls of an elk will also help you in chasing it.

Elks appear to be talkative and very much communicative. The way these incredibly vocal animals call upon or talk to each other actually helps the hunters to locate, chase and get elk closer to their shooting point.

• What is the good time and season for Elk hunting?

From novice to seasoned hunters, knowing the best suitable time of elk hunting is the must thing. Fall and spring are considered the most favorable seasons for Elk hunting. But, some people think that no other season is best suitable as the hot temperature of the Oregon Coast for elk hunt.

• What hunting equipment and accessories you should take along?

Depending on your choice and hunting expertise, you can go for bow hunting or rifle hunting. Accordingly, you will take the hunting equipment along with you. Compound hunting bows are the optimal choice for archery hunt of the Elk.

On the other hand, for the backcountry elk hunting, you need finely accurate and typically lightweight rifle with a good rifle scope mounted on it. Binoculars will help you in finding the elk.

• How to prepare and plan for the Elk hunting?

To aim for Elk is the major part of the hunting game. You have to prepare yourself, your hunting gears and plan ahead before starting your elk shooting venture. Learn about elk and elk hunting terminologies, and get yourself trained in how to call, target and shoot an elk.

Guided or unguided hunting, in both scenarios you must realize what you are up to. Plan smartly and cover all essentials of do-it-yourself elk hunting. You can earn great success if you setup your strategy vigilantly. From selecting hunting location to scouting in pre-season and making yourself physically strong and fit enough to set out for elk hunting.

• Educate yourself on local hunting regulations.

Prior to all, you should know hunting laws and regulations. Every state has its own rules and permissible timings and seasons for elk hunting. You can consult the concerned department to collect all important information in this regard.

Commonly Used Tactics for Elk Hunting:

Presently, there are three most preferable ways to bring down the elks. These include:

1. Spot-and-stalk

Use high quality optics like spotting scopes to search the landscape for elks. Dawn and dusk hours are prime times to spot elk. After reaching the spotting point, you have to wait for the first light with your ears all open because you can easily locate elks by hearing their bugling sounds before dawn. As soon as daylight arrives, set your binoculars to mark elk’s location. Once spotted, you can execute your planned stalk.

2. Calling Elk

Out of two basic types including mouth calls and reed calls, you can choose the most suitable one and get your job half done. Elk in the nearby area will surely respond to your calling.

You can use different sounds made by elks to get advantage while hunting. Learning these sounds means now you can distract the elks and get them to your desired place. You can also use man-made devices in order to imitate the elk vocalizations.

You can make bugle sound to locate elk. It is a bull elk call which these animals commonly make during pre/post rut. When close to the herd, you can use excited ‘Cow elk Call’ in order to lure elk towards your shooting spot. You can also use Alarm bark sound anytime for stopping the spooked elk long enough to get a perfect shot.

3. Ambushing Elk

You can trap elks using ambush from tree stands or ground blinds. Carefully setup your ambush for the premium results. Ambushing elk is commonly setup around waterholes for hunting elk during the drought periods. Ambushing elk is a good backup in case you get tired of all other tactics.

Tips for Flawless Elk Hunting:

Elk hunting might be a tough endeavor when you want to do it on public lands. But, it is not impossible at all. Practice and knowing all significant aspects of elk hunting will certainly assist you in immaculate shooting and killing the found elk down. Following the below listed tips will help you greatly in elk hunting:

• Study your Prey and learn about elk like its habitat preferences and diet.
• Select right hunting rifle or bow and do not forget taking accessories along with scopes, and binoculars.
• Shot placement is the most important thing to be practiced extensively. Your outclass weapon will be of no use if you are unable to take perfect elk hunt shot.
• For proper and humanely shooting of the elk, you should learn about the state’s currently enforced laws in defined areas of elk hunting.
• It is essential to cover your scent when locating the elk for the hunt. For, this you can use commercial scent eliminator.
• Make appropriate use of elk calls to bring elk close to the location wherein you are all set for hunting. Learn and practice different calls to bring in male or female elk. Bugle call is designed for male elk while for the female elk, cow call works greatly.
• Explore the areas before the actual hunt begins because Mother Nature is fast enough to alter the landscape of any area.
• Always do scouting in your selected hunting area no matter how many times you have been there to kill elk.
• Know the elk movement time and get to hunting location before them. Or else, elks already in the area will be startled and surely run off to the safest hide.
• Remember, Elks are more active in twilight. You can observe their maximum movement during first few hours after dawn and the few hours before dusk.
• For the perfect bringing down of an elk, your shot must be placed properly. If your shot missed the expected mark, you will only have a wounded elk that can be more dangerous.
• If you have not done elk hunting before then the best thing is to start out deer hunting and then proceed to hunt elks.

Do elk hunting yourself only if you are expert enough of hunting large land mammals. Or else, hire professional guide and this will help minimizing the odds of elk hunt and coming home with one.

Keep all the useful tools and tactics in your arsenal.

Bear Hunting

Besides pleasure, meat and fur are the most tempting factors for hunters to go after bears. From grizzly to black bears, bear hunting is a common activity since the prehistoric times. Today, it is one of the legally accepted hunts worldwide including United States.

Throughout the northern hemisphere, different bear species are widely spread appearing in varying habitats. Across the globe, bear is one of the most privileged big game animals. In areas where bear hunting is done quite frequently, they turn out to be purely nocturnal.

If you want to go for bear hunting, you must take appropriate measures and make proper arrangements. Moreover, you should have suitably developed skills and all understanding about safety tactics because bear hunting can become intense. Predatory bears are fully capable of fighting back the hunter when startled and can be extremely dangerous.

What to Ensure Before Hunting:

Make sure that you are fully equipped with the knowledge, skills and firearms prior to set out for bear hunt. But, the most important thing to be considered is that how much you are familiar with bear species, their habitats, population quotient, regional variations, food etc. In addition, you must know what season is the most suitable for bear hunting.

General habitats of bears are located in Northern America. You can also find large densities of black bears in the heavily timbered forests situated near agricultural lands.

Depending on local hunting regulations, you can hunt bears during spring or autumn seasons. In contrast, black bear hunting is allowed in about half of the fifty states including south, Midwest and the east coast areas. However, in most of the eastern states, black bear hunting is prohibited but opens sometimes for the limited seasons.

This is the reason, it is always recommended to go with the flow and always consult the hunting authorities of the state you want to hunt bear. Otherwise, you may be caught and penalized for illegal hunting during the off season

Spring and fall are the most favored times of the year when you will be legally permitted to hunt black bears. Fall is the most typical and general season when the most bears are hunted.

If you setup your hunt based on following ideas, you will definitely earn an unforgettable life experience.

• Learn about bear and their habitat
• Educate yourself on bear hunting basics
• Know and practice scouting techniques
• Learn and practice stalking techniques
• Choice your firearm wisely with complete accessories

Covering up these key aspects will actually assist in making your hunting endeavor great

• To know about bear populated areas, you can use topographical maps or can look into public records usually maintained by wildlife agencies.
• You may need special permits from local authorities looking after legal and benevolent bear hunting activities in the state.
• Knowing the bear hunting basics means how much you are aware of the safety measures and hunting jurisdictions in your selected area.
• Ensure that you have right optics and weapons for spotting, stalking and targeting the bear.
• Practicing all significant scouting and stalking techniques is the must-to-do thing if you really want to take pleasure in impeccable bear hunting.

What to Do During Hunting:

All you need during bear hunting is exactly following the carefully planned strategies. This planning is all dependent on the tactic you choose for bringing the bear down.

It is critical to bring into play different tactics to hunt bears. As soon as you make an educated decision to opt for the most appropriate tactic for particular hunting situation, chances will be higher for the premium outcomes.

Four Essential Bear Hunting Tactics:

Hunters often use below listed four shooting tactics to take on bear’s life. An incredible bear hunt is only possible if you recognize and employ the best suitable method all the way through your hunting venture.

1. Spot-and-Stalk Bear Hunting

Spotting and stalking method is popularly practiced in western areas wherein hunters can see at longer distances because of the mixed vegetation and open lands. In Alaska, hunters prefer using this tactic from boats and after spotting the bear, they find out a proper place to go ashore for stalking.

First, locate yourself at vantage point providing a clear view of the surroundings and then scan the entire area using hi-tech binoculars or spotting scopes. Now spot your desired bear and wait for the shooting opportunity. Execute the stalk right at the moment it comes in your shooting range.

Spot-and-Stalk method is preferable over others because it offers great efficiency leading you to cover large area with little effort. It offers you ease of selecting and hunting the bear of your choice because you have enough time to evaluate them.

It also helps you in avoiding undesirable situations as you do not have to walk through hunting area. Hence, leaving no scent behind and there will also be no noise to spook bears out of the area.

2. ‘Baiting the Bears’ Hunting:

If you want to observe the bears behavior or you want to select the bear of your choice to hunt then bait hunting is the best option. Using this tactic, you will surely delight in the high-percentage shots with confidence because you will be situated at manageable and close point.  Hunters using close range weapons or bow and arrow for bear hunting prefer this mode.

All you need is to set out bait preferably meats for attracting bears at your preferably selected spot. You can easily ambush the bears using tree stand already set at 20-30 yards of distance from the bait. After setting up the trap, just wait for the bear to be lured by bait and then shoot it. This method is legally accepted in few states while totally banned in some other.

3. Hunting Bears with Hounds

You can also use dogs for bear hunting though it is outlawed in many states of the country. This is the method most of the hunters might not be able to experience yet. Hunters are not required to walk for long, instead they go for road drive with hounds in their trucks back.

The moment dogs smell bear scent they start barking and hunters get alert. Chase begins after hunters mark the real trials of bears. Hounds take the hunters to the exact place of the bears.  

4. ‘Calling the Bears’ Hunting:

Wounded game calls along with many other types of calls are often used by hunters to draw the bears into their selected area for perfect shooting. You can use this method in combination with spot and stalk method for outclass results. Always keep the backup when using this method because bears come close to you as fast as they can and often looking for the fight.

Knowledge and skills are everything to come up with the most successful undertakings. Same holds for bear hunting and you have to know all essential attributes to avail yourself for this venture. You must not forget that having and using right hunting equipment is not only important but a vital thing-to-do for effective and safe bear hunting.