Short answer: elk avoid hunters by smelling them on the wind, bedding where hunters do not look, drinking at water that is not on the map, reading every call, letting the cows watch for movement, moving away from hunting pressure, and waiting for the one moment a hunter stands up. These are the seven elk rules in Elk vs. Hunter: When the Boots Come Back, a hunting story and coloring book for young hunters 7 and up, told by the elk.
Each rule below is the elk's side first, then what a young hunter should actually do. Read one with a kid, color the matching scene, then go try it outside.
The seven elk rules
Wind and Thermals: "The wind tells you everything"
Old Rack's first rule: the wind tells an elk everything, and the hunter forgets it every single time.
- Elk smell better than you see. If the wind blows from you to them, they are already gone.
- Morning: cold air slides downhill. Hunt from below the elk at dawn so your scent falls away behind you.
- Mid-morning: the sun warms the slopes and the air turns around and rises. Now your scent goes up. Get above them or stay out.
Bedding and Feeding: "Where we sleep is not where we eat"
Elk eat in one place and sleep in another, and a hunter who mixes them up spends the day in the wrong spot.
- Elk feed in open meadows at night and at first light. Be at the meadow edge before the sun, not after breakfast.
- By mid-morning they are bedded in thick timber on shady slopes, usually high, usually where they can see and smell you coming.
- Glass the meadows from far away in the evening to learn where they eat, then plan where to be in the morning.
Water and Cameras: "Never drink where they think you drink"
The pond on the map is the pond every hunter knows, and the elk know that too.
- In a dry September water is everything, but elk use the water hunters do not know about.
- Look for seeps and springs: green willows in a dry draw, muddy ground with tracks, a spot that stays wet. Walk the ground; do not trust the map.
- A trail camera tells you what came by, not what is there now. Check it rarely, because every visit leaves your scent.
Calling: "Know who is talking"
A bull who hears a bugle has to go look. An old bull does not answer. He circles to get the wind and checks from the side whether it is a real bull or a hunter with a tube.
- Calling brings elk to you, but it also tells every elk exactly where you are. Call less than you want to.
- A soft cow call is safer than a bugle. A bugle can scare off a herd bull who does not want a fight.
- Set up before you call, with the wind in your face, and stay still for a long time. Old bulls come in slow and silent from the side.
Eyes and Stillness: "The hunter is looking at me. Everyone else is looking at him."
Hunters stare at the bull. The cows are the ones staring at the hunter, and the lead cow decides when the herd leaves.
- Do not stare at the bull. Count the cows, find every set of eyes, and know where each one is looking.
- Elk see movement far better than shape. A hunter who does not move is a stump. A hunter who scratches his nose is a hunter.
- When a cow stares at you, freeze. If she barks, the hunt in that spot is over. Do not chase.
Pressure: "The more boots, the farther we go"
Opening weekend fills the trailheads, and the elk go somewhere steep and ugly that hunters do not want to walk into.
- Where everyone else parks is where elk are not. Look for steep, roadless country at least a mile from any trail.
- Never cross onto private land without permission. Find where elk cross back to public ground to feed or water.
- The elk know you miss home. Most hunters quit after two or three hard mornings. Be the one who stays one more day.
The Last Morning: "When you finally see them, do not stand up"
The hunter in the last chapter does almost everything right, and then stands up for one second to look.
- Check the wind every few minutes. Morning air falls, midday air rises.
- Go where other hunters will not: steep, far, dark, early.
- When you finally see them, do not stand up. Not even for a second.
How to teach these to a kid
- One rule a night. Each chapter of the book is short enough to read aloud in a few minutes.
- Color the scene. Every rule has a full-page coloring picture with a hunter hidden in it. Finding the hunter is the lesson: what gave him away?
- Take it outside. Check the wind with a pinch of dust or a milkweed seed. Glass a meadow at dusk. Find a wet spot in a dry draw. Sit still for five minutes and count what moves.
- Start real hunting the right way. These rules teach how elk think, not how to use a bow or a rifle. Real hunting starts with a hunter education course and a grown-up who knows the way.
Questions
How do elk know a hunter is coming?
Mostly by smell. Elk keep their noses into the wind, and morning air flows downhill while midday air rises, so a hunter on the wrong side of the wind is smelled long before he is seen. Cow elk also spot movement from far away.
What time of day do elk move?
Elk usually feed in open meadows at night and at first light, then move into thick timber on shady slopes to bed by mid-morning. They come back out to feed in the evening.
Why do elk bark?
A cow elk barks when she is sure she sees danger. It is an alarm that tells the whole herd to leave.
Where do elk go when hunting pressure starts?
Away from roads and trailheads, into steep, roadless country at least a mile from a trail, or onto private land where they are not hunted.
Is there a kids' book that teaches elk behavior?
Elk vs. Hunter: When the Boots Come Back by Buck Nicholson teaches these seven elk rules through a story told by a young elk named Sprig, with 17 coloring scenes and seven Hunter's Field Notes. It is for young hunters 7 and up and is sold on Amazon.
All seven rules, the full story and 17 coloring scenes
Sold on Amazon.com.