For the last three seasons, I’ve hunted elk in northern Idaho during the archery season. Because of work and family commitments, I don’t get a chance to scout in the summer, so when the season comes I scout as I hunt. I was used to hunting elk in the more open terrain of Utah, so moving to thick, forested Idaho was a bit of a change. Even though this started out as a new area for me I was able to find elk right from the start. I even harvested an elk the first morning I hunted in Idaho (probably due to dumb luck).
You can find elk using a simple (but not necessarily easy), two-step process. First, identify several areas of good elk habitat using Google Earth or another mapping service. Second, go visit those areas, and while there call and look for elk and fresh elk sign. It’s a simple process that works. You may have to put in some time to find which area the elk are using, but if you put in the effort you’ll find elk.
Finding Elk Habitat
Before you can find elk you have to find the areas the elk are likely to be. This is simultaneously the easiest, hardest, and most uncertain part of elk hunting. It’s easy because you can do a lot of preliminary work on a computer and find plenty of good looking areas. It’s hard and uncertain because even though areas may appear to have identical habitat some will hold elk and some will not.
I start by looking for likely habitat on Google Earth. The three most important aspects of elk habitat are food, bedding cover, and water. For an area to consistently hold elk it needs to have those three things in close proximity.
Food
In thick, forested country elk take advantage of many food sources including regrowth in clear cuts and burns, grass in meadows, willows and other plants along streams, and agricultural fields.
To find areas where elk may feed I look for breaks in the vegetation type. For example, much of northern Idaho is covered by conifer forests. These forests are usually pretty thick and don’t let much light penetrate. As a result, not many plants grow on the forest floor. Anywhere the forest is disturbed it allows light to hit the ground, and that’s where you’ll find grasses and other plant species that are good elk forage.
There’s a lot of logging in northern Idaho, so timber harvests often open areas for forage to grow. Elk are often associated with clear cuts. You can also find good forage in natural meadows and recent burns that are about one to seven (or so) years old. Stands of aspen are also a good indicator of quality elk forage. In many areas, elk will travel to feed in agricultural fields at night and move back into the forest to bed during the day.
Features of feeding areas are usually easy to identify from satellite imagery. You’re basically looking for the ‘light green’ vegetation. Just remember that satellite images are a snapshot in time, they represent the landscape at the time of the image. The landscape can change quite quickly so images that are a couple of years old may not show recent burns, harvests, or regrowth. Agricultural fields that grew alfalfa one year could hold less desirable forage the next, or be left fallow.
Bedding Cover
Elk spend the majority of daylight hours bedded down. They prefer to bed in shaded areas, on slopes that aren’t too steep. For early to mid-season hunts (August – October), the most likely bedding areas are benches on forested, north-facing slopes. During this time of year, the thick cover provides safety from the prying eyes of hunters, and the cooler temperatures offer relief from the midday heat. Water is often more abundant on north-facing slopes, also.
Benches are a key place to start when locating elk bedding areas. A bench is any flat area on a hillside. Benches can be on finger ridges that come out partway down a main ridge. They may occur in depressions, where a steep slope levels out. Larger benches can be seen on topographic maps where the space between contour lines gets wider midway up a ridge. However, I’ve found that many of the pockets elk bed in are quite small and won’t show up on topo maps.
Don’t discount areas that fall outside the north-facing bench profile. I’ve found plenty of elk beds on south, west, and east-facing slopes, even in the early season. Think about why elk bed where they do. They need a safe, comfortable place to rest. If you’re hunting thick, forested areas there’s likely shade everywhere, even on south slopes. If a north-facing slope was logged, then the south-facing slope is often the obvious bedding place for elk in the area (if it’s forested). This is especially true if elk can access water at the bottom of a canyon without leaving the cover of trees.
Bedding locations may change slightly in the late season (November – January). In the winter bedding locations are more variable. Elk may bed on the open on south-facing slopes to get more warmth, but could still bed in cover on north-facing slopes. There are fewer hunts during the late season and cooler north slopes could be less comfortable on cold days, so elk seem less particular about where they bed at this time of year.
Water
In some areas, water is the limiting factor for elk habitat. Not in northern Idaho, and many other heavily forested landscapes will be the same. There is water all over the landscape. Many areas will have water in every draw and springs on every hillside, but there could be the odd area that doesn’t hold elk because it’s not close enough to a reliable water source.
Water sources can be difficult to pinpoint from aerial images in thick country because the overhead forest prevents you from seeing the ground for large patches of forest. If water availability is a concern, you’ll probably need to get boots on the ground to identify the water sources.
Finding the Elk
Once you’ve located some potentially good areas it’s time to go see if elk are actually using those areas. I typically do this during hunting season. Idaho’s archery season runs for an entire month, so I usually spend my first weekend going to as many areas as possible. I’ll spend the morning in one location and the evening in another location.
The areas I locate usually consist of an area I think elk are feeding and an adjacent area where I think they are bedding. To determine if elk are using an area it’s best to see actual elk. Depending on the terrain I use a combination of calling, still hunting and glassing to find elk. Of course, even if elk are in the area you may not always see them, so I also rely heavily on the sign I observe.
Glassing for Elk
If I’m able to find a good vantage point that overlooks a likely feeding area I’ll set up there before first light and hope to catch the elk feeding in the open. Then I’ll watch the direction they head and try to estimate where they are bedding. In heavily forested areas, this method is going to be the exception. Even in areas where there are large openings and clear-cuts, it seems that most of the vantage points are covered in trees so you can never get a very good view of an opposing hillslope. Occasionally you’ll find a good area to glass, but I usually glass more opportunistically.
Calling to Locate Elk
Calling can be a very effective way to locate elk, especially during the September and early October. In northern Idaho this is my go-to method. I try to get on a ridge where I can bugle to likely bedding or feeding areas on each side, and work down finger ridges. As I work along the ridge top I’ll let out a locator bugle or two every couple of hundred yards. I’ll work a little way down each finger ridge and bugle off each side. After each bugle I’ll listen for a minute or two in hopes of a response. When you get a response to a bugle, you know there’s at least one elk in the area.
I like to hunt this way because it allows me to cover lots of country quickly. Even if I don’t hear any bugles, I’ll often find rubs, scat, and trails that let me know elk are in the area, or have used it recently. Sometimes I don’t see any sign and can then determine that I don’t need to revisit an area.
When moving between bugling locations I usually cow call occasionally as well. I don’t try to hike slowly or quietly. Elk are big and noisy when they walk through the forest, especially when they’re in herds. There have been many times I’ve walked right up on elk. My guess is they heard me coming but assumed I was just another elk.
Still Hunting
Still hunting is when you move very slowly and quietly through and area where you expect elk to be. You need to move slowly and quietly enough that the elk don’t know you’re there so that you can slip into shooting range.
Still hunting can be very effective for elk, but I use it sparingly. Northern Idaho supports a healthy population of elk, but that doesn’t mean they’re hiding behind every tree. I often have to cover three or four miles to find a pocket elk are in, and the next day they can be two or three miles away, but still in the same area. It would take too much time to cover that much distance slowly, and you’d likely miss out on the elk altogether.
I’ve found still hunting to be most effective when I’ve located elk by glassing and can observe the direction they’re moving when they pass out of sight. Then, I’ll work out a plan to intercept them. Initially, I’ll hurry to get as close to the elk as possible. Then I’ll slow down and move slowly, mixing in some cow calls. I’ve had pretty good success with this and have actually had a couple of elk come into shooting range. It’s a method I use when the conditions are right.
Elk Sign
The next best thing to seeing elk is seeing elk sign. There are three things I’m always on the lookout for: scat, rubs, and trails/tracks.
When you get into an area the elk are using frequently you will know. There will be well-worn trails, rubs, and fresh scat. Even when I don’t actually find elk in these areas I’ve had success coming back another day.
Make sure the sign is fresh. If it’s old, it’s probably not worth coming back to (unless you actually see elk there). You could be in an area that elk use in the winter, or in the early season when there isn’t any hunting pressure.
Just this year, I spent a morning checking out a new area. I didn’t see any elk, but there was a lot of fresh sign. I went back a day or two later and got into two bulls bugling it out. I intercepted one five-point with his herd of cows and was one pesky branch away from releasing an arrow.
Conclusion
Thick, forested country is a great place to hunt elk, and you can often get away from other hunters a little bit. However, the thick forests and terrain can be difficult for hunters that are used to spotting elk in more open country. Using the ideas and techniques I’ve presented here will help you find the areas the elk area using. Spend enough time in those areas and you’re bound to see elk and get a shot. Good luck and happy hunting!