How To Get Close to Bulls on Public Land

As an outfitter and guide for the last 30-plus years in the state with the largest elk herd in the country, one of the most common questions I get revolves around one basic premise: What do I have to do to get an elk on public land?

At the risk of sounding depressing, the first thing you have to realize is that if you look at the percentage of success out West on public land, the numbers  are discouraging.

Success rates range from 14-18 percent in most western states, and that includes all manners of take: archery, muzzleloader, rifle and handgun. That doesn’t seem too bad until you realize that the statistics released for most game departments in the West don’t break out public land. You may be thinking, “Whoa there, Fred, are you saying that those success rate percentages include high-dollar guided hunts, limited-draw hunts and private-land hunts?”

Yup, and when you look at those success rates, in your mind you are thinking hunters are 14-18 percent successful on bulls, because when hunters think of elk we usually think of 6x6 bulls! Unfortunately, those stats include cows, calves, spikes, and rag horns as well.

Think I am exaggerating? Here are the statistics from Colorado Parks & Wildlife from 2022. In 2022, the state showed a 20-percent success rate on elk. A total of 206,496 people went elk hunting and 40,425 elk were taken. Out of that, 17,298 were cows or calves. Only 23,125 were bulls and that includes spikes and rag horns. More than 166,000 hunters didn’t get an elk, so don’t feel bad if you have gone elk hunting and come back empty-handed. The odds of taking a bull on a do-it-yourself (DIY) public land hunt, I think we can agree, are fairly low.

A Positive Spin

Numbers and percentages are a funny thing and can be looked at several ways. Here is my take on low elk-success rates out West on public land and the positive way I look at those numbers.

First off, I would bet you have heard the expression that 10 percent of the hunters take 90 percent of the animals. Well, I think that’s true. I worked in an archery shop when I was younger and the same guys killed elk every year while others struggled. It’s like anything really; it seems the more you know about something and the harder you work at it, the better you do.

I have managed to beat the odds that were stacked against me on public land elk hunts on both over-the-counter (OTC) areas and draw areas. I have been fortunate to have taken elk in three western states on DIY OTC tags with a recurve bow. In fact, the first elk I ever took was on public land and the most recent elk I killed this last fall was also on public land.

This past year I drew a public land elk tag in Wyoming. Despite being a limited draw, there were people all over the place. Almost every trailhead had a tent or camper and I was running into people while hunting. I was pretty depressed talking to a lot of them as they all complained of hardly seeing any elk and not hearing very much in terms of bugles. These were both local and non-resident elk hunters. I ended up taking a beautiful 6x6 bull with my recurve, and when I researched the odds of success in the area, they were very low—in that 20 percent range. That included guided hunts and private lands, so I felt like I had beaten the odds again.

Over the next few pages, I list a few things that I feel are key to making it happen on public land. I am not trying to discourage public land hunters. I am actually encouraging people to go out and try public land because there are some great opportunities for those willing to do a little more work, a little more hiking and try multiple tactics that will help increase the odds. I want to be in that low percentage of hunters who harvest elk and I’m sure you do as well. Let the others who don’t read this article stay in that vast majority that come back empty-handed.

Practice is Key

First off, and this sounds super simple, practice a lot with your equipment and get in shape. One thing the statistics I quoted don’t show is how many people missed their shot or physically couldn’t get to where the elk were. Every year I see clients woefully underprepared for elk hunting. They don’t know their ammunition ballistics very well, and I am often shocked when I ask what their bullet drop is at 400 yards, for example, and they have no idea.

I like Hornady ammunition because it lists on the box the feet-per-second velocity, as well as a good guide for what your bullet drop will be close to based on a 200-yard zero. My advice is to learn your trajectory at all ranges close and far. Although I don’t condone shots out of someone’s effective range, knowing your trajectory can often help you make a second, follow-up shot if needed. It’s just very obvious when I see clients or hunters who have not spent enough range time with their weapon to be able to pull off an accurate and quick first shot, something often required when hunting elk.

It’s the same with any weapon, including bows. You need to shoot your equipment enough so that drawing and shooting comes naturally and not slow and strained. So many bowhunters miss elk because they have not practiced enough or they don’t know their above-line-of-sight trajectory enough to understand if their arrow or bullet will hit a limb that’s not in their line of sight. Every year I see people hit branches that don’t seem in the way because they didn’t understand their chosen weapon’s bullet or arrow trajectory.

Boots on the Ground

A good piece of advice is to stop blindly trusting some of the mapping apps. First, they are not always accurate. I have seen people look totally surprised that the game warden is writing them a ticket for trespassing when they kept saying, “But the app says it’s public.”

There is no substitute for doing research and wearing out some boot leather. Things like onX and HuntStand are great, but scout the areas and see if 50 other people are hunting those areas that look good to everyone on the mapping app. If I see lots of fire rings or signs of people, then I know I need to push in farther or go to a different area.

Thanks to some of the apps there are hardly any secret spots or hidden waterholes these days. Thus, knowledge and working hard are going to win most of the time.
Along those lines, and this is something a lot of hunters don’t seem to get, is that if the elk aren’t there you need to move. Change locations—it’s as simple as that. If you aren’t finding fresh sign like moist scat and tracks, then keep looking until you find some. You can be the best hunter, caller and shot west of the Mississippi, but if the elk aren’t there it’s awfully hard to get one.

Know Your Gear

Equipment is something I harp on because every year I witness equipment breakdowns that impact hunters’ time afield, which also impacts their odds of success. Just last month while at a fellowship of the outdoors meeting in Texas, one of the founders told me he had been on an elk hunt in Colorado just a few years ago and the weather turned ugly when an early snow hit the mountains. He was on a guided hunt and he had a summer sleeping bag and boots that weren’t what he needed for the conditions.

He had to pull out and cancel the last few days of the hunt because he was so miserable.

It still haunts him! I have seen weather changes, gear malfunctions and lack of appropriate gear cause a lot of people to miss time afield and ruin their chances for success. Do your research, make sure you have what you need and ensure that it’s tried and tested and won’t let you down.

Fake It Until You Make It

Strategy is important all the time when hunting, but even more important on public land hunts. You are trying to not only outsmart the elk but also the other hunters. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but that’s the truth. You want to be where the elk are and other hunters aren’t. So, to be in that small group of successful hunters you need to outsmart the other hunters, out-call the other hunters or use strategies that the other hunters aren’t using to outsmart the elk they are trying to outsmart as well. If that sounds tough to do on public land, it is!

Some strategies that work great because most people don’t try them include decoying and rattling for elk. I have had great success with both of these on elk that were hard-hunted.

I like a Montana elk decoy because it’s lightweight and folds up so I have the ability to just stick it in my pack if I’m not using it. The great thing about decoys is that they can decrease the odds of an elk circling and catching your wind if it spots a decoy. I also like to get the decoy a little bit away from me for safety. You can position the decoy so when the elk approaches it gives you a good shot angle. It’s great for getting elk up close with a bow, and for a rifle hunter it can be used as a confidence booster in a meadow to help draw elk out of dark timber before shooting light is over. DO NOT use decoys on public grounds unless you are sure you are some distance from other hunters.

Rattling is another great method to use. I use shed elk antlers, and this rarely used strategy has helped me and some of my clients take elk. There are also a couple misconceptions I want to clear up—one is that rattling and decoying are only for bowhunters and the other is that rattling and decoying only work in the rut. This is just not true. In fact, from what I have witnessed, elk do the largest part of their fighting and sparring either just as the first few cows come into estrus when the rut is just getting started or after the peak of the rut all the way into December. Why? Well, it’s simple really.

In the peak of the rut cows are popping up in estrus all over and bulls are running all over trying to breed them all. Sure, there is fighting, but there are a lot of cows ready to breed running around and bulls are spread out chasing them. But any cows that didn’t take come back into estrus about a month later at the end of October (commonly called the secondary rut). More bulls are together at this time competing for less cows, so there’s more fighting. Then about a month later there are even less cows that weren’t bred that come back into estrus and even more bulls are there to breed those few, so there’s more fighting. Rattling and decoying can work from September right through December.

Tone It Down

Cow calling is one of my favorite vocalizations to use, especially on public land, because every Tom, Dick and Harry is blowing a bugle and most bulls on the public will come in wary and circling to confirm what they hear, if they come in at all. The exception, of course, is if you are way back where the bulls don’t hear a bugling hunter every hour. My apologies if your name is Tom, Dick or Harry and you bugle all day—I respectfully request you tone it down.

I also think cow calling is way overdone. I prefer to make only 2-4 soft cow calls when hunting pressured elk and wait a good 30 minutes before calling again softly or moving.

Last fall in Wyoming, I managed to call in six different bulls using this method and the one I killed was sneaking in to check me out. I will not go into detail about the mistakes that kept me from getting the others, but let’s just say backpacks on the ground can get in the way of a recurve bow limb and so can tiny limbs that older eyes can’t see.

Although I will bugle occasionally, I tend to do so sparingly and I prefer to sound like a young bull when I do, since I want to bring in all bulls so I can perhaps shoot one. As we have seen, the odds of success are low enough, so I figure why would I want to sound like the baddest bull on the mountain and decrease the number of bulls that may come in. It goes without saying that when using any of these methods you should always think about safety and don’t put yourself in a situation where someone could mistake you for an elk.

Lastly, although I know it can be a pain to carry even the lightest of treestands or the even lighter saddle harness, it’s worth it at times. Most of us get busted by elk whether we are rifle hunting or bowhunting because the elk see us or smell us before we can get a shot. There is a huge advantage in areas where you can climb and gain the opportunity to spot the elk before it or they see you.

If you come up with a way to not get winded, please let me know. Good luck this season!

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