What is the best strategy for where on the mountain you should be early in the morning while waiting on the sun to come up? I know early the thermals will be going down until the sun starts to come up which will switch the thermals to run up the mountain. With elk feeding lower in the morning and working their way up the mountain to bed where on the mountain should you place yourself before sunrise so that your thermals wont mess up the hunt? Looking for a rifle strategy so I know where to place myself if I am planning on being on the mountain about an hour before sunrise. Thanks
Morning Hunt Strategy Rifle
- Thread starter Troy R
- Start date
WyoDoug
Well-known member
There is no one size fits all strategy. You need to plan a strategy that fits your particular situations. Thermals are terrain dependent along with other factors. It also depends on pressure. If a lot of orange hats are in the field, there is not much you can do strategy wise except just hunt. In general though, you want to be about the same elevation, start low and work your way up staying downwind and roughly same elevation as they move. Thermals get squirly when the temperature starts to change so your strategy has to be change to fit the situation at hand. When it starts to warm that is when you want to start heading up the mountain. But then again, every situation is going to need it's own strategy.
BuzzH
Well-known member
The ONLY strategy is to keep the wind in your face and hunt accordingly. You can get away with movement and making noise, but you're done if elk wind you.
Hunt smart, if that means not hunting an area due to the wrong wind direction, or having to come into an area from a different way, do it. Take a chance, you blow them out of the country and have to relocate them.
I had a bull bugling several years back on the rifle opener but the wind was an absolute mess. The bull was in the timber and if I would have rushed in there that evening, I doubt I had a 10% chance of killing him. Waited until the next morning, he bugled once and I edged into where I thought I was close and waited for shooting light. Wind was perfect and once it was light enough, chambered a round and started edging through the timber. About 20 yards later...dead bull, 35 yard shot.
Pay attention to local winds, where I killed that bull, there is almost always a downslope wind out of the due East in the morning and almost always out of the West in the Evening. Topography can impact winds and how the thermals work.
Details matter and the only way you learn is to win some, lose some, and spend time on the hill. Nothing to worry about, only takes a couple decades to nail it all down...after that it gets easier.
Hunt smart, if that means not hunting an area due to the wrong wind direction, or having to come into an area from a different way, do it. Take a chance, you blow them out of the country and have to relocate them.
I had a bull bugling several years back on the rifle opener but the wind was an absolute mess. The bull was in the timber and if I would have rushed in there that evening, I doubt I had a 10% chance of killing him. Waited until the next morning, he bugled once and I edged into where I thought I was close and waited for shooting light. Wind was perfect and once it was light enough, chambered a round and started edging through the timber. About 20 yards later...dead bull, 35 yard shot.
Pay attention to local winds, where I killed that bull, there is almost always a downslope wind out of the due East in the morning and almost always out of the West in the Evening. Topography can impact winds and how the thermals work.
Details matter and the only way you learn is to win some, lose some, and spend time on the hill. Nothing to worry about, only takes a couple decades to nail it all down...after that it gets easier.
OntarioHunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,997
Too many times I have busted elk going up the mountain in the dark. I gave up on that. Never started up till shooting hours opened. The best way to climb early is stay on the crest of ridges. You can often see both sides and thermal winds tend to peter out up there with both sides meeting. Worst place to be early in the morning is half way up the side of gully or valley, especially on south or east facing slope. Move over to north facing if you have to. It will stay colder longer on that side. But be aware brush will be thicker over there. Also, elk will get in the early sun on south or west slope to warm up. Look for them in openings on that side at sunup. If you can't see the south/west slope from north facing, move towards the bottom till you can. Again, stay where it's coldest longest on your way up. When there was snow, I'd get to someplace where I could watch dryer more open slopes for movement till maybe 10:30 and then go looking for tracks where the food will be: south or west facing slopes.
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JEL
Well-known member
This. I was watching about 70 head of elk Thursday eve. The wind was good until it shifted the tiniest bit. Not enough to hit them full on but the head cow knew something was up.
Thanks for all the advice. This will be my second year elk hunting. I have been hunting for over 35 years in the midwest for Whitetail, but elk hunting out west has proved to be a lot more challenging. I will be there first rifle so even though its draw I am sure I will see plenty of other hunters. I've spent a lot of time e-scouting and trying to find a hard to reach area in my set of units to try and get away from others, but there are a lot of roads.
I'm going to make a trip out Oct 1st to do some scouting. I have found a few steeper areas with heavy timber and north facing slopes so I think that is where I'll be opening morning just trying to figure out where to position myself on the mountain before shooting light. I will definitely be looking for feeding areas on the south and west slopes, alternate ways to go up the mountain for wind direction, and different terrain features that can influence wind direction based off all your advice. Again I appreciate it!
I'm going to make a trip out Oct 1st to do some scouting. I have found a few steeper areas with heavy timber and north facing slopes so I think that is where I'll be opening morning just trying to figure out where to position myself on the mountain before shooting light. I will definitely be looking for feeding areas on the south and west slopes, alternate ways to go up the mountain for wind direction, and different terrain features that can influence wind direction based off all your advice. Again I appreciate it!
Sitkahoyt95
Member
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- Sep 3, 2021
- Messages
- 49
Great info thank you
mdcrossbow
Well-known member
My question ,why do western hunters never talk about cover scent ? I prefer natural , cedar, wild onions to mask my scent. Do you think there is a significant difference in there sencors ?
Because cover scents won't cover up the smell of sweat after hiking in to hunt somewhere. It's a lot more realistic to eliminate scent when you walk in and spray down and at your deer stand and sit for 4 hours than it is to go hike around for 4 hours and be constantly spraying down.
3855WIN
Well-known member
Cover scents don’t work no matter where you are.
mdcrossbow
Well-known member
Spraying down works only if you carry you clothing in. Sorts and t-shirts . A good thin weight rain suit over them will mask & scent. Use of cedar and wild onions plus spray is a big help.
600 + white tail 500 with a bow at an avg. of 7 yards attest to a good bow kill rate of eastern whitetail. .
I've never hunted elk. But friends who have that have used eastern skills and woodsman skills have taken some nice elks.
600 + white tail 500 with a bow at an avg. of 7 yards attest to a good bow kill rate of eastern whitetail. .
I've never hunted elk. But friends who have that have used eastern skills and woodsman skills have taken some nice elks.
I grew up in NH whitetail hunting, and now elk hunt, it's night and day. My last 2 elk hunts went like this:
- drive 20 minutes in the truck to trailhead
- Unload ATV and drive that 6 miles on dusty trails
- Get off the ATV, strap on pack and hike 1 mile
- start hunting - which means hiking, climbing, sweating, calling, hiking hiking, hiking
Very different from whitetail stand hunting where I rarely had to walk 1/2 mile to a stand where I then sat there for hours
I came to the conclusion a long time ago if an elks down wind they just smell cover scent on top of a human scent so it does no good. I think the scent elimination stuff might buy you a little more time (seconds )possibly but you still stink like a human. So I personally don’t mess with any of the eliminator or cover scents and just know I have to keep my wind right or it’s game over
