Caribou Gear

Elk up high

np307

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So in pondering our recent elk trip and what we learned or didn't learn, one of the things that perplexed me a little was the frequency with which we were told "they're still up high" when talking to people. The first time this happened was when we were at the base of the mountain about to drive up. Thats pretty understandable. After that though, we were camped maybe 1000' from the top of the mountain and hunting less than that from the top sometimes. We were told by everyone "they're still up high" but I really have to wonder if this is just one of those throwaway lines people say when hunting and not wanting to give out info. All the elk we saw, including the one I killed, were roughly at camp elevation and none were higher. Just curious if people were just guessing, trying not to reveal anything, or just repeating what they always say. Any input?
 
Probably depends what camp elevation was, 1000' from the top would not be that high if the mountain was 9000'.
Seem like a common line.
 
Elk are where they are, food, safety or chicks (in the bulls case) will put em there. I can think of a lot of Montana mountain ranges 9k tall that have elk at 5500 all archery and rifle season long.That’s not to say some aren’t up high, just that some aren’t. It’s the same as when I hear someone second-third week of September say “they just aren’t talking yet”. Translated to I can’t find elk.
 
Elk are where they are, food, safety or chicks (in the bulls case) will put em there. I can think of a lot of Montana mountain ranges 9k tall that have elk at 5500 all archery and rifle season long.That’s not to say some aren’t up high, just that some aren’t. It’s the same as when I hear someone second-third week of September say “they just aren’t talking yet”. Translated to I can’t find elk.
This.

The only guaranteed correct answer when you can’t find elk is they aren’t where you are looking.
 
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i'm a very green elk hunter and even i'm starting to finally realize this whole delio of "gotta go to timberline to find elk during 1st rifle" is not wrong, but definitely not right.
 
So if all these folks knew the elk were "still up high" why weren't they up there getting after them!? Just shows they had no idea but felt they needed to say something.
We stopped walking once the snow was over our gaiters but in a moment of hunger-induced gullibility I assumed that they had some sort of local knowledge that the elk lived up where only @wllm1313 goes. Thankfully we didn't base our hunting decisions on these conversations.
 
If I tell you anything, it’s a lie. My go to line no matter what is “I ain’t seen shit!”
Back home I've finally come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter whether I tell people about my deer spots because they arent willing to go back there anyway (they call me crazy for packing deer out).

But the day I tell someone where a good turkey spot is or about public land gobbles I've been hearing is the day I need to go to the old folks home because I will have clearly lost it.
 
All I know is during archery where I hunt, I keep going higher til I find them
 

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