I drew my very first elk tag. A bull elk tag in nevada. early rifle tag unit 16/17. I plan on hunting the table mountain. my buddy and I hiked the south end of the table a couple weekends ago. Didn't see very much. I was kind of under the impression that I'd be able to see 2 to 300 elk a day.. but I only saw 2 or 3 cows. granted it was a quick overnight trip but I was a tad discouraged. I'm planning on going back up this Friday after work and backpack from the east this time. any suggestions for locating this time of year? Should I stay up high and glass down, or vicaversa? water and cover right now is the need for elk? or should I expect for them to be a bit vocal? thank you all
need some help
- Thread starter jasont
- Start date
Hobbs
Active member
Get on YouTube and watch Randy Newberg's series on E-scouting. It will help you out a ton, he has tons of great information, there are several videos but I would saw watch them all!!
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As someone who's cow hunted there before, I can attest to the extremely high quality bulls on Table Mountain. If you have the true early season peak rut rifle tag, glass water sources that are actually running up around the aspen and you shouldn't have too much trouble finding what you're looking for. In a couple weeks I would expect them to start becoming more vocal and they should stay vocal through your entire season. It's a big area, you're going to have cover a lot of ground and get far away from trailheads. In general, the east side is the more challenging terrain to get around. What a first tag to have, I'm truly jealous.
just got back from table mountain, we definitely found what we were looking for approx 100 cows with a few bulls but we found bulls in small groups away from the cows. also spotted some bulls all by their lonesome. those were the bigger ones by far. am I correct to assume they will be with the cows come.mid September?
rednechuntr
Member
By mid September those loner bulls will most likely be with the cows and trying to gather and keep as many as possible for themselves. They just haven't gotten the urge to get crazy yet. I saw a couple bulls on the Montana opener for archery a few days ago by themselves and completely unresponsive to cow calls. Meanwhile there was a good bull that was already with a herd of 20-25 cows/calves and he bugled most of the day. So it just depends, but like the other guys have mentioned, Randy says in the videos that if you can find where the cows want to be during the rut, you'll find a bull with them. The cows always are looking for food/water/safety. You have already found the cows and where they want to be so it sounds like you're doing a good job so far. Good luck!
Yellowstoner
Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2015
- Messages
- 167
Well that's a good way to get ruined on hunting the rest of your life. Good luck! Hope you don't get too picky with your first elk tag - it's a good problem to have.
