Antlerless Unit 7E - Late Season Strategy tips please

[HaYen]

Drew a Dec 5th cow tag in 7E. My cousin and buddy scouted for me Thursday afternoon, while I got there Thursday night ready for opening day. We hunted from the Pinyon and Junipers to the thick pines; from the top of the unit to the bottom. We hunted hard from Safelight to Safelight. Our closest encounter was off of Cedar Ranch Rd (NF-417). Friday and Saturday mornings we got glimpses of white patches in the early morning

 

We started each day walking in on a ridge off of 9010K road. We would stand there and glass for two hours before walking around the for another couple of hours in the Pinyons and Junipers. Again we knew they were in there because we got glimpses and saw lots of fresh scat. I seemed as if we were playing "hide and go seek around the tree".

 

Where did I go wrong? Should I have continued to sit and glass from the ridge until I got a longer look? Was this late season hunt just as hard for everyone?

 

Also, what is the pattern of Elk during foggy nights? Days?

 

Thanks in advance

 

HaYen

[DUG]

Did you play the wind right? If you are seeing them running ahead of you either you are working too fast or the wind changed and they smelled you. Sounds like you still had fun hunting! Over in 7W on the last day of the bull hunt the elk were feeding back to their bedding area in the rain. They bedded down about 10 A.M.

[lancetkenyon]

For that hunt, I would find a hill out in the flats north of San Fran Peaks in the pinions and glass until I found them, watch them bed or wait for them to get back up and put one to permanent sleep.

[SwampMafia]

For that hunt, PRAY you even see an elk g and f is decimating the elk in 7e

[6ANut]

Just got done helping my buddies with the 7e late bull hunt and all I can say is Good Luck, I have never glassed so much country and only glassed up around 15 cows. Never saw one elk in the back of a truck or one elk hanging in a camp. Super tuff hunt and sounds like you made the most out of it. It also seemed all the elk were pretty much nocturnal, watering at night and just a quick glimpse of them at first light heading into the thick stuff.

[lancetkenyon]

My bet is a lot of the elk were still high on the peaks for the hunt this year. My daughter got her 7W bull pretty high on Sitgreaves Mtn. on Nov. 30th. Weather was in the mid-60s during the days.

[6ANut]

From what we saw and were told most of the elk had already been pressured off the mtn due to the amount of hunts in the unit. We hunted around Bismark Lake and also on the North side of the Mtn in the high pines and didn't see nearly as much fresh sign as we did when we got into the thick transition areas around a water source.

[HaYen]

Thanks folks. While we were on the hill, we had the wind in our face, BUT after 2 hours of glassing we walked and I sure that is when they busted us. If I get drawn next year, I'll spend all day glassing. Even if they are bedded during the day, I'll just have to have more patience.

[hawkens]

Was a full moon didnt help much we filleds 2 out of 3 tags over around indian flats we walked into the thickest stuff in the flats bustin them outa there beds at 7 - 8 am was a tough hunt

[HaYen]

Thank you Hawkens. Hearing someone else say it was a tough hunt takes away some of the sting.

[roninflag]

there are other units with higher hunt success and/or more elk? right?