Elk Question

Well last year I got (sort of) into the groove of how mule deer hunting works. A lot of that thanks to members here, like "for the love of it". This year I thought I would try elk and I drew my first ever elk tag. A cow tag for Nevada. Any advice on how to generally hunt elk would be great, never done it before. The season is in early October. Im guessing finding water is a good place to start?
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Water, shelter, and food. Remeber elk go low at night and high in the day (most of the time) my luck has always lookining for thick tember and hunting pretty high. If you can find good trail hit it hard and keep a ear out cows and calves talk alot so listen for the mews. Best places for me are high dark tember and saddles. Hope this helps a little bit for you and good luck o one other thing lot of scouting.
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Ok thanks for the advice. I have another question for you guys, if I go scouting in August will the elk most likely still be in the same areas come October?
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bump
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NVhunter
Me and my family have been Cow Elk hunting in Nevada for the last 5 years and we absolutely love it. The best way to do it is to go into the tree's and try and call in some elk, whether it be a herd bull and some cows or just a cow. This is very tricky because of how thick some of the tree's are. A good investment would be some trail camera's to set up on some wallow's to see when they are coming into water, if they are consistintly coming into water at the same time that would be a good place to set up. The burns are also a very good place to find some elk, the elk like to go through the burns because that is where they can find easy access to green grass. If you are hunting the burns you can either do the call's like in the tree's or you can see where they are hanging around and try to sneak up on them. You should hunt the tree's in the morning because during the rut they will be feeding at night then going back into the tree's in the morning to bed and maybe stopping at water on the way, and hunt the burns in the evening because they will be moving out of the tree's into the burn to feed for the night. Either way I hope you are good with both bull and cow elk calls because they will make or break your hunt. I hope this helps you and I wish you luck on your hunt.
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When you say hunt the trees do you mean sit in one spot, or move around slowly? Also me and my brother both have deer tags for the same area, can we hunt them in the same places?
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NVhunter
You want to slowly walk through the tree's and every once in a while give out a cow call or bugle and listen for a response, if you hear a bull answering back and coming closer you are going to want to find a place under a tree and wait for him to come by, make sure you have some shooting lanes through the tree's. And make sure you DONT use the calls to much, if a bull comes by quick give him a quick cow call and he will stay there. We have had bulls hang arounds at 15-30 yards just by giveing them a little cow call or a quick bugle. All of this goes the same with hunting the burns as well. We have never hunted deer in elk country so I dont know anything about that, We have seen deer though near where we elk hunt.
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NVhunter
Do you mind me asking which area you have the tag for.
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61, 71 for elk and 71-79 for deer. Deer is junior.
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How much do you guys use the spotting scope for elk?
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NVhunter
If you are at a very high spot and able to look over a burn that is the perfect place to use the spotting scope. So it is all about where you are at.
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If it is warm, north facing slopes will hold elk. Elk are big, noisy, and vocal, sometimes if you just walk, without trying to be too careful you can walk well within bow range. If you spook them, and they know what spooked them, they will run for miles, it not unusual, here in Oregon for them to put 5 miles on you in a heart beat. But if you are wearing camo, and they don't scent you you can bump them and actually make it work to your advantage (using a lost cow call).
An old timer once told me, 80% of elk hunting is finding them. It is true, be prepared to put on some miles to locate them, once you have, with a rifle cow tag just make sure you can hit them.

Elk have about a 6" space above the lungs and below the spine that you can shoot a high powered rifle bullet through and never see that elk hit the ground. If anything try to hit the mid to lower third and not hit high on a chest shot. They are powerful animals, I mostly hunt Roosevelts which are bigger boddied than rockies, but both species are tough to anchor down. I have seen elk with double lung blowouts jump over 9' obstacles and run through timber you can't. If you are in a steep location that can mean the difference between a 1 day paqck and a 2 day pack.

cheers and good luck. Elk is fantastic meat, my kids prefer it over beef any day.
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