Rob,
First off, as far as learning to hunt elk, I would STRONGLY reccomend any book from Don Laubach and Mark Henckle such as Elk Talk or Elk Tactics. There is also one called Elk Tales, but it is more stories. The Zumbo books and Videos are pretty good too. Forget about learning to bugle if you are going on a late season hunt (October Rifle season) as the rut is over, though I know guides who have had good results with a cow call in this time frame. I recomend a hyper hot. All of the elk hunting I have done has been at higher altitudes (between 10,ooo feet and 14,400 feet), so I cant speak for lower elevation hunting. I will take you through an "Ideal" hunt.
The day starts around 3 a.m. and a light breakfast. after eating, head to the drop of point in a 4wd or 4 wheeler and start the treck up the mountain by 4:30 or 5:00. Keep in mind that you are hunting "up" as the thermal currents in the morning and evening bring a downward draft, and beleive me, playing the wind is CRUCIAL to success. For the nest few hours your legs tire, your body sweats (even in -10 degrees f) and your lungs burn due to oxygen starvation. Drink water to keep from becoming sick. by about 30 minutes before leagal shooting the timber begins to come alive with an erie light, and you begin to see the end of the timber and near the rocky mountain tops. By this time you have covered about 4 miles, but it feels more like forty. You manage to get above timberline with 15 minutes to spare, and catch your breath. You see the sun begining to come up in the east over the continental divide, and dont really care if you even see an elk, it is the coolest thing you have ever seen, and you are right in the middle of it. This is better (ok, as good)as sex. (ok, almost as good). The goal here is to cross as many drainages (valleys running down the mountain) in the next hour before the elk head to the timber to bed down. After not seing elk, It is going on 9:00 and you take a break for snacks and more water. Then take a nap till about 11:00. around 11, the thermal currents will shift upwards and you can begin hunting down. For the rest of the afternoon, you are stalking. each step is planned and taken deliberately. stop and look carefully every couple steps. Listen, and be perfectly silent. Even wispering is not acceptable, hand and arm signals are good. Traverse a bit, and look for the nastiest stuff you cand find. That's where the elk are. Use your nose, Elk Stink, and you can smell them. I have spelled elk in areas long after they had left. Around 5:30, you have become tired, hungry and cold, you want nothing more than to get back to camp for a 16 ounce ribeye, and you're moving less cautiously. You have concluded that you are not gonna kill an elk today when you see something move in you perifial vision. Slowly you turn to look and see a beautiful bull. Counting the points through the steam from his nostrils, you see that he is legal and put your gun to your shoulder. Brown hair fills the scope, and you se each powerful muscle ripple under his hide. Put the cross hairs on the vitals. Now is where you must be at your most patient. A bad shot could mean spending the next few days on your hands and knees looking for little drops of blood and replaying the shot in your head. This hunt is no longer that much fun at this point. After being certain with your sight picture, you squeeze the trigger, and the (insert your gun of choice here) thunders, but you dont hear the shot or feel the recoil. The elk runs off, and you here him pile up 100 yards away, but you cant see him. Wait a couple hours and let him bleed out. This is the longest 2 hours of your life to date. Guarenteed. The waiting period up, you silently walk up to him. You are in the heavy timber, and it is almost pitch black, but your eyes have adjusted and you can make out forms and shapes. you find the elk, and he is dead. You put on your lightweight halogen head lamp and examine your trophy. He is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. After congratulations from your buddy, you take a roll of pictures in every immaginable pose. Now comes the work. You are 3 miles from the nearest road. You gut the animal while your and your buddy goes for help to hoist it into the tree. You are in the wilderness by yourself and cyotes houling and strange sounds are everywhere. I dont care how "tuff" or whatever you are... You are starting to get scared. Help arives and you hoist the elk up into a tree to cool and keep it from some of the scavengers, though with human scent everywhere they should stay away. You get back to camp about midnight to find the cook has left a huge plate of food covered with tinfoil warming in the oven. Damn does that taste good! Make a note to tip the cook. You get back to your cabin about 1:00 and peel off your boots, but you cant sleep because in a few hours you'll be packing out your reward for a hard days work. Remember how you felt on christmas eve at 10 years old? Multiply that times a billion. You and 4 others walk back out to the elk, and of course, more pictures. then bone it out, and pack it in hefty sacks to be packed into backpacks. Chances are that as the successfull hunter you have the honor of carrying out the head and hide (about 100#). The pack cuts into your shoulders, and yo are soaked with sweat. well below freezing and your wearing a t-shirt with steam coming off your body. Finaly back to the truck, and you guessed it, more pictures. Kodak's scock climbed 1/2 point because of you. Ride back to the camp to find all of the other hunters tired and eating lunch, and be prepared to tell the story about 50 times for the rest of the day. Then head to town and drop it off to be butchered and frozen for the trip home, backstraps and onions for supper tonite (with heart for the appitizer, IMHO, this is the best portion of meat on an elk) Be sure to tell everyone not to make too much noise the next morning because you'll be sleeping in. Be prepared to answer a lot of questions, you are now the resident elk aficinado till someboedy else scores. spend the rest of the week doing WHATEVER the hell you want, WHENEVER the hell you want, after all your on vacation! Sorry to write a novel, hope this helps. e-mail me if you have any questions I LOVE TO TALK ELK!!!!
Best of luck,
Rutgers
P.S. As far as numbers of elk, I cant speak with cerainty as to nubers per specific region. Areas of AZ an NM seem to produce large elk, but hunting national forest, you are cometing with lots of other hunters. remember that with 4 wheelers being very common, the closer you are to trails, the more hunters you will see. use this to your advantage by getting yourself in excellent shape and being able to cover lots of ground on foot. as far as spcif information on elk numbers, The rocky mountain Elk foundation can provide you with those resourses. Be very careful of information provided to you by outfitters. While many are honest guys, most will tell you whatever it takes to get your money.
[This message has been edited by Rutgers (edited June 19, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Rutgers (edited June 19, 2000).]