Tactics for Post Rut Elk Hunting

By: Chase Galley
Everyone has their own way of hunting elk at different times of the year. When it is
late October and the bulls are in their little sanctuaries, I found that a lot of my recent success stems from past experience and e-scouting on google earth. A lot of guys just pound timber and cover country, which can be effective. There is a reason people still hunt the thick timber or track, it can be effective. It seems like there are more limitations with that strategy. I still call a lot all through October, but my preferred method of finding bulls is to let my optics do the work for me. 
While using google earth, I scout places throughout summer that I plan to hunt in September. I find myself paying for attention to terrain features, when I am looking for a location to rifle hunt. However, when I am looking at spots to bow hunt, I’m looking water, feed and thick timber. In preparing for rifle season, I look for isolated, steep areas that provide significant levels of feed and decent cover for elk. 
I believe that if bulls are unbothered and comfortable, they don’t tend to worry about cover as much and will lay down in fairly open timber. The last thing I look for on google earth and if this one thing isn’t in that spot it may not be my first choice to hunt, that is a good glassing location! If you can find an isolated area with little to no pressure, it is often steep and ugly, but with feed and water there will be a bull in that location. 
Typically, the steepness of these areas will provide glassing location. To be able to see a good portion of land, to be able to glass a south facing slope of that location. South slopes, late in the year, seem to have the least amount of snow and therefore provide the best feed. Lastly, I found that beyond the types of locations mentioned above, you should not discount areas close to or easily accessed by roads. Last year I found a steep area within half a mile of a road that held multiple bulls. Even if a steep an ugly area is close to a road there is a good chance there will not be anyone there, because there are easier places to hunt. It often doesn’t matter how close you are to a road. If a bull has everything he needs, is not pressured, he will be there. I recommend that hunters check out any spot that is within a half of a mile from a road. You never know, when you walk into a hell hole it may turn into a honey hole. ​