The time to plan out your elk hunt is now! Chris Neville highlights his top five tips for planning an out-of-state elk hunt to help you be prepared and more successful
There's nothing better than checking your email and seeing that you’ve drawn an elk tag. A rush of adrenaline and excitement washes over you as if you won the lottery — because you kind of have! You tell everyone about the good news, riding high on cloud nine. Then, the excitement begins to fade, and the realization hits: "I need to get my act together." Or maybe you have your sights on one of the states that offer over-the-counter elk hunting opportunities. Either way, the time to plan out your elk hunt is now! In this article, I’ll highlight my top five tips for planning an out-of-state elk hunt to help you be more prepared and, hopefully, more successful.
If you don't yet have a tag, jump over to GOHUNT's Filtering research tool and you'll instantly have access to all the tools you need to find an over-the-counter elk hunt. And be sure to check out the Over-The-Counter & Leftover Tag article section for every leftover tag option that is released each year.
The first thing you need to do is decide on which type of elk hunting fits your needs. Do you prefer to backpack hunt or basecamp hunt? Backpack elk hunting requires you to carry everything on your back, and you usually stay in an area for an extended amount of time. Basecamp hunting, or what most people call “truck hunting,” involves setting up a dedicated camp that you return to each night, traveling to different areas during the day — usually via truck or ATV. Both styles of elk hunting have their pros and cons, and both have proven to be successful. It ultimately comes down to what you prefer and what you want your experience to be. Deciding this first will dictate the rest of your planning.
Once you’ve decided on your hunting style, it's time to dig into maps and find areas to hunt using e-scouting methods. To locate where elk could possibly be, I like to keep it simple by focusing on the three elk essentials: food, water, and bedding. I usually start by locating bedding areas, which are typically north-facing dark timber slopes. Using GOHUNT's Terrain Analysis Tool to find more areas that hold elk is great for finding bedding areas because the tool allows you to highlight all of the north-facing slopes on the map, making them very easy to identify. I like to select the slope angles from 0 to 25 degrees and Northwest, North, and Northeast-facing aspects as this will contain the most optimal bedding habitat. Next, I check if there is feed around or close to those north-facing slopes. Most of the time, feed on a map will appear as open areas that resemble meadows. You want to identify quality edge habitat when it comes to finding elk feeding areas. Using the Terrain Analysis Tool, I like to turn on all slope angles and Northwest, Northeast, and East-facing aspects. These areas are likely to hold more moisture content and offer better feed. Next, I look for water. When looking for water, I switch over to topographic maps because water sources are easily identifiable. To verify those water sources, I like to switch back to satellite view and zoom all the way in to see if there are actual bodies of water present. If an area checks all those boxes — good timbered north-facing slope close to feed and water — then there’s a decent chance that elk could be there.
E-scouting for elk could be a whole article in itself, and this is a high-level, broad overview of how I find elk. If you want more detail and explanation, I highly recommend watching the videos and checking out the articles below. You are going to learn everything you need to know about e-scouting for elk, and these are great resources to reference.
Having the proper gear can make or break your elk hunt or, at the very least, make it a more enjoyable experience. Depending on your style of hunting — backpacking or basecamp — this will help steer you in the right direction regarding the gear you might need. If you have never been on an elk hunt before and have no clue what gear you’ll need, I recommend checking out the GOHUNT gear list library. It has all of the information and gear lists to reference all the items you will need to take on various hunts. What I like to do for every hunt is make a gear list. This helps me take inventory of the gear that I currently have while also giving me a clear picture of specific items that I might need to address before the hunt. Gear lists are hands down the best reference to help prepare and track all the gear you need to bring on the hunt. It’s also important to go out and test your gear to make sure everything is running smoothly, and you’re comfortable using everything so you don’t run into any problems during your hunt.
Looking at maps can only get you so far. Putting boots on the ground is, hands down, one of the most beneficial things you can do to prepare for your upcoming hunt. Even if it's only for a day, learning the area and seeing the lay of the land is going to pay dividends once the hunt starts. One of my first objectives on a scouting trip, especially in a new area, is driving around the unit and checking accessibility on the different roads and trails. This will also give you a good opportunity to see new country and possibly find other hunting areas that you may have missed from looking at a map. Next, what I like to do is hike into areas of interest that I have marked from prior e-scouting research that I thought looked good for holding elk. Essentially, it's a verification of the spot to see if what I saw on the map holds true on the ground and deciding if it’s an area that I want to hunt or cross off. If you are able to do one or both of these two things — check access and verify spots — you're going to have a much better chance at success because you won’t be wasting that time during the actual hunt.
This is when you dig into all the nitty-gritty details of the hunt, such as travel, transportation, camping spots, meal prep, packing, meat care, etc. My best advice when it comes to hunting logistics is to make a checklist of things you need to address before the hunt and to get everything in order as soon as possible. The longer you wait and the closer you get to the hunt, the more stressful it becomes if you don't have your logistics in order. Know where you are going to start your hunt. Have all your gear bought well in advance and get everything packed a week before you leave. Know what you will be eating each day and have the food prepared. Make sure your vehicle is in good running condition, and you have all the emergency gear needed in case you break down. Know what you are going to do with all the meat once you shoot an elk. The sooner you have all of the logistics thought out, the better your hunt is going to be. Be sure to check out this great article by Mark Livesay for some expert tips on a strategic elk hunting plan.
Now, it’s time for you to put this knowledge into practice. Elk hunting season will be here before you know it, and with these tips in mind, you should be more prepared and more successful this fall.
