Big Game Hunting - Elk Stands
By T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors
A stand is where you choose to hunt, any location where you wait for the animals. It could be near a tree, rock, or hilltop, or it could be a treestand, tripod or ground blind. The main purpose of a stand is to allow you to see the animal and get a shot before it detects you. A stand site should afford some means of protection from the animal seeing, smelling or hearing you while letting you see it. Your method of hunting dictates where you place your stand. If you are rifle or muzzleloader hunting, your stand can be farther away from where you expect game than if you are shotgun, handgun, archery or crossbow hunting. Distance alone is enough to avoid detection. The shorter the effective range of you and your weapon, the more concealment from sight, the distance and elimination of sound and of scent, and the wind direction dictate where you can place your stand.
If you intend to wait for the animals, or use techniques to attract them at distances closer than 100 yards, place your stand out of the direct line of sight of the animal, and be downwind or crosswind from its approach. A tree stand can be placed near high use areas but still be out of normal visual range because of height. Although treestands are not used much for elk and mule deer hunting, they can be very effective near feeding, watering and crossing areas. Using a hilltop or ridge near these areas works just as well. Height also helps to disperse scent and sound. Ground stands can be effective as long as adequate concealment or camouflage is used, and precautions are taken so the animal doesn't smell you. There are numerous hunting blinds that conceal movement, muffle sound, and because you are out of the wind, fewer odors escape.
Because elk travel so much, most hunting is done from the ground. The biggest advantages of ground stand hunting are mobility and comfort. By sitting on my Back Seat portable stool I can easily pick up and move if the area is unproductive. I don't have to worry about finding a comfortable place to sit, or being confined to an unproductive location. I simply get up and move to a better spot, taking my seat with me. This is especially helpful if there is a wind change. While I am sitting on my Back Seat I don't present the upright human form, and the animals don't perceive me as a danger. I have been hunting from ground stands for years and have had more "close encounters" with animals, and shooting opportunities, than I have had when hunting from a tree stand.
An understanding of game behavior and travel patterns helps in choosing a hunting or glassing site. Because elk and deer feed primarily during low light conditions they have two primary rest periods, late at night and during midday. Generally they leave their daytime bedding areas, in heavy cover, late in the afternoon, and move toward night food sources. They intermittently feed, travel and rest during the night in open areas before returning to their daytime bedding areas. Because the amount of light is a security factor, elk and deer in mountainous, forested areas (where there is shade) get up and begin to feed and move a couple of hours before sundown. As the amount of light becomes less they move into more open areas of low brush or sparse forest to feed, moving toward open areas.
While I was doing my elk research I noticed that during the September and October rut, the bulls get extremely agitated and active about an hour before sunset. They often rise from their beds, roar, bugle or chuckle; thrash and rub trees and brush; and scrape and wallow. If it is hot the bulls may wallow in a spring, wet meadow, pond or at the edge of a stream or river. Bulls wallow during hot weather because they put on a lot of fat prior to the rut and they need to cool off. About sundown they move into the shadows at the edges of openings before going into open meadows or agricultural fields, where they feel secure and feed during darkness. If you see cow and calf elk in a meadow, but no bulls, wait as long as you can. I often see bull elk come out of the forest 15 to 30 minutes after the cows come out to feed in open meadows. The bulls may not move into the open until after the sun goes down.
In the early morning this pattern is reversed. As the sky begins to get lighter the elk move from the open areas back into heavier cover, before going into their bedding areas after the sun is up. Bull elk without cows generally head back to their beds about a half-hour earlier in the morning than the cows, but they may stay later in search of estrous cows during the rut. Bulls with cows usually follow the cows as they move, and they may herd them and push them faster if it is getting too light.
At sunrise elk can often be found feeding in open or semi-open area, where you should already be waiting for them, especially if you know they were using the area the night before. In the late morning and early afternoon hours elk move primarily in heavy cover or forested areas, where you can stalk or still-hunt. In the late afternoon elk move from forest to open areas, and your stand should be placed along the travel lanes in cover near (but not too close to) bedding areas. At sundown your stand can be along the travel corridors leading to the edge of the forest, or in aspen groves or other "staging areas" near open feeding sites.
