Locating elk quickly: behavior, sign, and strategy

“Locating elk is easy, closing the distance is what’s hard”.  While I generally agree with that timeless statement, I’m always surprised by the number of people that never even see an elk on their hunting trips.  Here’s my take on how to find elk quickly so you can focus on what matters.

Before we dive in, I’m assuming you chose a great unit in Colorado (or Idaho) and you read about how to pick the best elk hunting spots (eScouting Guide) .  If you’re not in the right general area, it’s going to be hard to find the elk indeed.

Assuming that you have a good spot, let’s walk through how you can find the elk in the fastest way possible.  This post will talk about basic elk behavior, what to look for (included detailed pictures of elk sign), tactics for locating elk. and wrap up with tips for what to do if you aren’t seeing elk. 

General elk behavior for locating elk

Create a rule for elk hunting and it’s bound to be broken.  That said, there are general principles of how elk behave during the day that are important to understand before you try to locate them.  I’ll walk through a few before we dive into the tactics themselves:

The wind is everything

An elk’s eyesight isn’t that great and sound isn’t as important since they tend to make a racket.  So how do they stay safe?  Answer: their nose.  It’s impossible to underrate the importance of the wind to elk behavior.  It controls where they’ll be during the day, the paths they use, and when they decided to move.

That means two things for hunters.  First, you need to look in the right areas at the right time since elk move during different times of the day based on the wind.  Second, you can never, ever be upwind of the elk.  Elk can smell you from far beyond where you can see them in most locations. The biggest mistake when locating elk is spooking them all before you even begin.

Uphill in the morning, downhill in the evening

Wind is so important it actually governs where elk go during the day.  As a general rule, mountain winds flow downhill as the air cools and becomes more dense (nighttime and morning).  Then in the afternoon, the air warms up and begins to rise uphill as it expands.

The elk will always travel into the wind so they can sense danger ahead of them.  That means that in most areas they walk downhill to water/meadows in the evening as the wind rises.  They feed down low at night and then head back uphill in the morning with the wind in their face yet again.  During midday, they bed up high where the swirling winds give them a sense of security.

Beware the bedding area

One of the most underrated times to hunt elk is midday. They’re easier to hunt since they tend to stay in one location and are more comfortable coming into calls.  However, that comes with a big warning: elk intentionally bed down in areas with swirling winds.  That way predators (like you) have a difficult time sneaking in on them while they rest.

If you’re looking for elk midday, know that they won’t be down in the meadows or creek beds. Make sure to stay far away from them unless you’re certain the wind is steady and predictable.

Water and feed are mandatory

As I mentioned in the eScouting article, your average elk needs an astounding 10 gallons of water and 15-25 pounds of green grass a day!  That means that any area with those two things should be covered in elk sign if they’re in the area. Make sure to check them out as you make your rounds.

Also, as I mentioned in when to go elk hunting, elk are actually more active midday when it’s not a full moon.  Regardless of moon phase, you’ll notice they often bed near a water source during the day.  They simply take in so much water they can’t afford to be without it for more than a few hours.

How to locate elk quickly (Run the loop)

At the risk of referring to the scouting article too many times, you should have multiple waypoints marked in an area to go investigate before you even begin. That way you can hit likely looking spots (water, meadows, trails, etc) quickly instead of spending an extra day or two wandering around an area to find them.

I tend to map out a “loop” of the waypoints I’ve marked in an area so that I can check all the key areas within a day or so.  That way you know if it’s worth investing time or moving to somewhere with higher odds. So how do you know if elk are in the area? Well that’s what the next section is about.

What to look for

When I say finding elk, I don’t necessarily mean seeing them with your eyes.  There are actually three ways to be sure elk are in the immediate vicinity: sight, sound, and sign.  Here’s a breakdown of what to look for with each:

Locating elk by sight

Elk are very easy animals to spot since they’re large and bright colored.  You really don’t need powerful optics either: you can usually spot elk up to a mile away with the naked eye and up to 3-5 miles away with stabilized 8x binoculars.  Cows tend to have darker bodies and lighter necks while bulls have light colored bodies and dark necks.

To find elk by sight, you need to get up high.  The amount of country you can see is more important than anything else.  Elk tend to bed in thick stands of trees, and it’s hard to spot them unless they’re moving, so midday is not a good bet for visually locating elk.  Your best bet is to look in the morning or the evening as they transition from bedding to feeding zones.  Don’t worry, it’s easy to drop down on them or move to where they are going.

Locating elk by sound

Everyone wants to hear roaring elk bugles and sometimes you do get lucky.  However, elk make far more soft noises (even bugles) than you realize.  It’s important to stop every 5-10 minutes as you walk around the woods to listen since you won’t hear 90% of noises unless you’re standing still.  Trust me, this is how I found elk #1 and #2!

Even loud elk bugles don’t travel forever, so being up high is also good to hear the elk.  Just make sure to be “line of sight” to where you expect elk to be since it’s rare bugles are strong enough to go over something like a ridge.  Do be careful about bugling: while it will help you locate active elk, you’re also warning inactive elk someone is around if you don’t do a good job.

Finally, elk are extremely vocal at night.  A surefire way to find out if an area holds elk is to bugle at 2-3am.  Yes, that’s a pain, but you’ll be amazed at how many responses you’ll get when the elk feel secure.

Locating elk by sign

This is probably the best way to locate elk since their sign stays around for days (and it doesn’t spook and run away).  You’re basically looking for five things: poop, prints, wallows, trails, and rubs.  It’s really important to know that all of those can last for weeks (if not years) so you need to be able to determine just how fresh they are.

Elk poop is like a timer that tells you when elk were in the area.  How it ages depends on the immediate environment: for example, if it’s near a creek it might stay fresher longer since there is moisture in the air.  Regardless, there are general rules for how old it is:

• Green/light brown, glistening/shiny, and maybe steaming
  • If you see this, knock an arrow since it’s probably less than 30 minutes old!  Elk are very close to you indeed.
• Brown, slightly damp exterior
  • Likely anywhere from 45 mins to a few hours old.  Elk are around, so tread carefully.
• Dark brown/black exterior, dry appearance, but soft/mushy center
  • Anywhere from a few hours to a day or two old.  Elk are probably in the general area, so it’s worth investigating further.
• Black exterior, “fibery” dry exterior, somewhat soft
  • Several days old.  They might be here, they might not
• Light gray, fibrous, hard as a rock, lightweight
  • Might be several weeks old.  Ignore.

Tracks are a bit harder to age compared to elk scat.  The wetter the dirt, the longer the track will last, so even old tracks can look fresh in muddy ground.  Here are some good ways to tell how old a track is:

• Look at the edges
  • Sharp, well defined edges are the sign of a fresh track.  If possible, compare the edges of tracks you know are older for a baseline.
• Look inside the track
  • If grass and leaves inside the track are still pushed into the ground, it’s fresh.  If things have begun to collect in the track, it’s probably old.
• Blow on it
  • If you blow on a track and it rapidly disappears, it’s really fresh since the wind would do the same.  The opposite is also true:  if you blow on a track and nothing changes, it might be pretty old.

Wallows can be deceptive since they always contain wet mud, which makes tracks look much fresher than they are.  Here’s what to look for in a wallow:

• Water clarity
  • If water in a wallow is clear, it hasn’t been used in at least a day.  Fresh wallows always have muddy, churned up water (unless a creek is running through them).
• Hair prints
  • Elk often lay down or roll in wallows.  If you can see the hair pattern, one has been there within a day or two.
• Muddy chunks
  • Elk often throw chunks of mud out of the wallow as they rake it with paws or horns.  If those are still soft and wet, you know they’re fresh.

Trails can last for years in sensitive alpine environments, so it’s easy to get confused.  I’ll keep this one simple:  you’re looking for trails with LOTS of fresh tracks on them.  Elk have four feet and leave tracks every time they use a trail, so they won’t leave you doubting if a trail is fresh.

Rubs are probably the hardest sign to age if you don’t know how.  The good news is that even if they’re a few years old, that’s a good sign that elk visit your general area during the rut.  Here’s how to evaluate a rub:

• Color
  • Take a pocket knife and remove some bark of the tree that has the rub.  The closer the colors are to each other, the fresher the rub is.  Yellow-white rubs tend to be fresh while older ones are brown or gray.
• Sap
  • Fresh rubs have clearer, stickier sap while old rubs have dark, hard sap in them.

I don’t include smell in this guide because smell can be misleading: I’ve found elk wallows that stink even though I know elk haven’t been there in weeks.  As a general rule, the fresher, the smellier, but it’s hard to put an age on something with that alone.  If you do get a “barnyard wiff” while you’re walking, make sure to freeze since that’s one of the best signs you’re really close to a herd.

Finally, if you find one sign, you’ll usually find another.  Use all five together to tell if an elk has been in that location within the last day or two.  If so, you’ve found the elk!

What to do if you can’t find the elk

Move!  Keep covering your pre-marked spots on your GPS until you find fresh sign. My general rule of thumb is to spend at least 24 hours (one evening and one morning) in a general area looking for elk.  I can usually run a 5-10 mile loop during that timeframe (not to mention glassing in the evening and occasional location bugles). If I don’t locate multiple elk in that timeframe, I’m confident that this isn’t a great place to hunt.

It’s time to head to that plan B, C, D, etc backup spot that you eScouted earlier (also, moving quickly is why I recommend car camping AND backpacking at the same time).  The worst mistake you can make is remaining in the area, hoping something will pop up.  Even if there are a few stragglers around, you’ll have far better odds in an area that’s loaded with elk.  Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it!

Summary: Locating elk

Elk are relatively easy to locate if you know their general behavior and what to look for.  Prepare ahead of time and “run the loop” between the waypoints you scouted so you can find elk quickly. Keep a sharp eye out for fresh poop, prints, wallows, trails, and rubs.  Find good glassing locations for camp (more on that next week) and make sure to pause every 5-10 minutes to listen for elk noises. 

Finally, have the confidence to leave an area in a day or two if you aren’t seeing much sign.  You’ll be far more successful if you find an area with lots of elk instead of spending for time in an area with only a few.

Have questions or feedback?  Drop me a line via email or in the comments below.