Posted on: August 28th, 2009 It’s Time!
Corey JacobsenThe truck is packed and ready to go! I’m taking my 2 year old son, Sam, up with me tonight to get our base camp set up. I’ll bring him back in and meet my wife tomorrow afternoon, then meet Donnie and make final preparations for the elk season! We’ll be hunting Monday and Tuesday and reporting back on our trip Wednesday. Good luck to everyone heading up for the opener! Be safe and shoot straight!
Good hunting,
Corey
Corey JacobsenMany of you followed along as Donnie and I tortured ourselves with 2 Triathlons in a 36 hour period a couple weeks ago. It was rough, but surprisingly, the second triathlon on Saturday was not as rough as I would have thought it might be. By Monday I was already feeling like I needed to cut back on ice cream and pizza again and start working out! Two days ago I met up with a group of friends for a 20 mile road bike ride. Coming off back-to-back triathlons, I feel like I’m probably in about the best shape of my life. Although I haven’t worked out nearly as hard the past two weeks, I still feel like I’m in pretty good shape. I was questioning that subject for an hour straight during the bike ride. They absolutely made me look silly. My legs were jello, my lungs were on fire, sweat was blurring my vision…there’s a lot of room left for improvement. Which brings me to Elk101.com’s Elk Hunting Tip #1. Get in shape.
The finish line...
Halfway there...
Read the rest of this entry »
Corey JacobsenSend us a picture of your 2009 public land bulls and we’ll choose a winner based on the size of the bull. The winner will receive a prize package consisting of a Raging Bull elk diaphragm, an Extreme Bulls 5 DVD, and a 4-pack of Alaska Game Bags. Photo’s must be submitted by e-mail to corey@elk101.com before 5PM MST on November 1, 2009.
Corey JacobsenSend us your elk hunting story from 2009’s elk season. As always, the more support pictures you have, the better the story. The chosen winner will receive a prize package consisting of an Elk101.com “E-Scent-tial” Wind Checker, a Raging Bull elk diaphragm, an Extreme Bulls 3 DVD, and a 4-pack of Alaska Game Bags. Stories must be submitted by e-mail to corey@elk101.com by November 1, 2009 at 5PM MST.
Corey JacobsenGet your video cameras charged up and ready for elk season. If you capture your 2009 elk hunt on video, we want to see it! E-mail us at corey@elk101.com and we’ll figure out the best, easiest, and safest way to get your footage to us. If we get enough video submissions, we’ll compile and edit the footage and put it together on a DVD for everyone to check out! The winner will receive a prize package consisting of an Elk101.com “E-Scent-tial” Wind Checker, a Bully Bull Grunt Tube, a Raging Bull elk diaphragm, an Extreme Bulls DVD 3-pack (EB3, EB4, and EB5), and a 4-pack of Alaska Game Bags. Videos must be submitted by November 1, 2009 at 5PM MST.
Corey JacobsenIf you followed along on Tip #3, you have located a bull and approached him in silence. You are now at the most critical point of the sequence. Your set-up. Think back to every time you have been busted by an elk. Or, try to remember everything that has ever gone wrong when you’re elk hunting. For me, I can attribute a very high percentage of our ”un-successes” to our set-ups. Our set-ups aren’t always controllable, however. The wind can switch in an instant. The bull can stop behind a tree offering no shot. Our arrow can fall off the rest. The batteries in our rangefinder die. I could fill up all of this page and space in David Claycomb’s next article with the excuses and reasons why we didn’t get the bull. But when it comes right down to it, most of these reasons could fall under the generic classification of failures with our set-up. Read the rest of this entry »
Tony MuddAs Corey said in Tip #5 “An 18 yard, quartering-away shot on a bull that has no idea you are there is something we dream about.” Let’s turn that day dream into a real-life, action-packed elk hunting situation! In the mid-nineties, I attended one of Randy Ulmer’s seminars on elk hunting. One of many great ideas that stuck with me all these years was “there have been times when I will run right to them while they are raking”. In 2004 on the second day of the Nevada elk season Randy’s words came rushing through all the cob webs in my head as I watched a nice 6×6 start raking, whipping, or just plain trashing a pinion pine. I quickly set up the video camera on a tri-pod and started filming. I then grabbed my bow and took off down the canyon, circled around a small ridge, and worked my way to within 20 yards of the bull. The bull never looked up. As a matter of fact it was at this point that I noticed each time the bull brought his head down into the tree he would close his eyes. I can’t speak for all bulls, but this one did each time he lowered his head into the tree. Read the rest of this entry »
Corey JacobsenAs I alluded to yesterday, today’s tip would focus on locating and getting into position to set-up on a bull. This is a critical step and our approach is likely different than what a lot of hunters actually do once they get a bull to bugle. I explained the 3 primary calls we use for elk yesterday: the location bugle, the simple cow call, and the challenge bugle. We use the location bugle to, well, locate elk. I like to hike along ridgetops bugling into the adjacent drainage’s to locate a bull. Being on a ridgetop allows me the maximum mobility, providing me with the greatest opportunity to cover a lot of country in search of elk.
Ridgetop in Elk Country
Read the rest of this entry »
Corey JacobsenTip #4 covers a broad spectrum of advice when it comes to elk hunting. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering, I often find myself looking for ways to increase efficiency…getting maximum output with the minimum amount of input. Typically, this is best achieved by simply keeping it simple. This is especially true when it comes to calling elk. In my opinion, many hunters try too hard, trying to define every breath, bark, bugle, and burp an elk makes. To complicate matters even more, they then try to figure out what grunt, growl, gurgle, or glunk to respond with. Elk are simple-minded animals. A simple-minded approach as a hunter is actually more effective than you might think. Read the rest of this entry »
David ClaycombI report back to you a somewhat thinner man. I’m not skinny like my friend Jim the “recreational marathoner“, but then again everyone hates Jim anyway. Well I do at least.
He’s so freaking smug about everything. It’s always,…
“Hey Dave, did I tell you I jog to work even though I live in a different county than my office?”
or
“Hey Dave, I sold my boat and now I just swim around the lake with a fishing rod in my mouth when I want to troll“.
The point of course, is that sometimes you can be TOO fit. I’m not there yet, but I must remain vigilant against it. I digress however. Read the rest of this entry »
Corey JacobsenWe’ll start with #5 and work up through #1. These are tips and tactics we’ve found to be effective at getting close to big bulls on public land, do-it-yourself hunts here in the West. These aren’t guaranteed tactics. They aren’t going to work every time. They are simply another option for elk hunters to add to their repertoire of tactics to help them become more successful! Read the rest of this entry »
Corey JacobsenWatch the website next week (Aug. 17-21) for Daily Elk Hunting Tip’s from Elk101.com. We’ll be sharing the Top 5 tips that we feel contribute most to getting close to big bulls on public land, Do-It-Yourself hunts! Also, check back often for exciting contests and announcements in the days to come. Only 18 days until ELK SEASON!!!!
Are you ready?
Donnie DrakeFor those of you that haven’t already done so, now is the time to throw your elk calls into your truck and start practicing during your commute. Last thing you want to do is show up on the mountain having prepared all your other elk hunting skills (shooting your bow, physical conditioning, scouting and mentally preparing yourself) and pick up your reed and not be tuned up to challenge the elk. Practice making those high notes and using your voice to make that growl. Pick up a CD if you can and start making that beautiful bugle.
Corey JacobsenIt’s all about finding motivation. The ultimate goal of training for a triathlon was to be in better shape for elk season. To be able to go farther and hunt harder. Part way into my training I realized that my diet was becoming more of a hindrance than a help, so I decided to take the ultimate plunge and eliminate ice cream completely…at least until after the triathlons.
Donnie, Dave Perry, and I braved the thunder, lightning, wind, and rain on Thursday night for the Y-Not-Tri Triathlon in downtown Boise. Conditions were completely opposite from last year where we faced 101 degree temps and a 6:30PM start time. This year, the intermediate/advanced group was moved to an 8:00PM start time and the temperature was hovering around 55 degrees. Fortunately the water was much warmer than the air and once we came out of the swim portion we were warmed up enough that the 55 degree air felt somewhat refreshing. Read the rest of this entry »
Corey JacobsenThe team from Elk101.com will be back at the Boise Cabela’s on Saturday, August 22, from 11AM-12Noon for a free elk hunting seminar. Round up your hunting partners and buddies and come down for an hour of fun. We will be going over some tips and tactics you can add to your bag of tricks to help you get close to that big bull! The seminar will focus on approach, set-up, and calling strategies that can improve your confidence and success in the field. We’ll be sure to leave 15-20 minutes at the end for questions and answers, and Bob Weeks (Cabela’s) will be holding an elk hunting seminar right after us at 12 Noon. We hope to see everyone there!
