help with elk dilemma

[gspn]

Are elk generally hesitant to jump fences? I ask because after doing a bunch of high country hiking, we found a really nice bull down low.

it's been hanging out in a friends pasture, but now the past two days it's been on a neighboring piece of ground that we don't have access to.

yesterday morning, and again this morning, that big bull walked right up to the 4 foot property line fence...then decided not to jump it.

so now I'm babysitting...he's in his bed 1,000 yards from me and I'm wondering if he'll ever jump that small fence and come back into out ground.

I'm new to elk hunting, and I'll be sitting here til nightfall watching him. he's huge, and very much worth the wait. I'd appreciate and advice from those of you who are experienced in elk hunting.


we threw some cow calls at him yesterday, and he totally ignored them.

 

[X-Rap]

He still may be visiting your property but it's likely during the dark. I've seen elk have an uncanny sense of location during hunting season and the pressure they perceive.
Not all elk will react to calling due to time, pressure or hierarchy. If you are cow calling try it predawn and from cover that would allow concealment of elk but with the rut waning he probably won't respond unless he is actively keeping cows.
Not seeing your exact layout it's hard to give very precise advise.

 

[jmr40]

Elk CAN jump a 4' fence, but like anyone will usually take the easier route. One tactic that I've personally witnessed in Colorado is for ranches to lay down long sections of barbed wire during elk migrations to lower elevations in the fall. This encourages them to move from public land onto their private ranches where they have paid clients who hunt them. After the migration the fences go back up to encourage them to stay on the private property and not wander back onto public land. Of course in the spring they don't have any trouble getting back over the fences when they migrate to higher elevation.

As long as it is done right it is legal, but a little under handed in my opinion. There have been some fines given out when ranchers used tactics to herd the elk onto the ranches and in some cases using hired hands to ride the fence line on ATV's in order to encourage the elk not to leave.

 

[gspn]

this ground is big steep mountains that drop to a few foothills, then about a mile of rolling plains that are 150 feet above some agricultural fields.

what's making this setup work is there's a guy who has penned elk nearby. the pen runs up to to start of these plains.

there's a big mature elk that keeps nosing around those pens. he can't get in there...but he is intrigued by it.

so I'm 500 yards on one side of the elk farm, and he's 500 on the other. eventually he's going to figure out that he can't get to them and he'll leave.

it's post rut here.

 

[X-Rap]

Laydown fence is utilized often in elk country, I don't know about the above posters claimed motives but having built fence for private and state agency's as well as our own there is a financial motive beyond keeping them corralled which takes a far higher fence than 48".
Elk in small groups will clear fence quite easily but later in the year (winter) when they may number in the hundreds they tend to mass at fences and when they decide to cross the early ones jump but as they scrunch they will eventually push the fence from the posts and either stretch or break the wire, either of which will greatly shorten the life of expensive fencing. There is no doubt a profitable market for private land trespass but here in CO a land owner attempting to drive and contain wildlife to their property will quickly be confronted by hunters as well as CDOW. There are pretty strict penalties for such violations.

 

[gspn]

to make sure I'm clear, the penned elk are inside a high fence operation. it's a small pasture with 40 elk penned by a 12 foot fence.

the elk I'm hunting is a will elk that's checking that pen every day. but he won't jump the smaller fence that lines one of the property boundaries.

I hope I'm not making this too confusing. I'd post a pic but I'm in the field and have no way to easily do so.

 

[X-Rap]

I'm clear and that elk, unless he's wounded will have no problem with your 4' fence. If he has crossed over before and won't now I suspect he senses danger there and has adjusted his schedule to cross to feed when the danger is less. I base this on there being a reason to cross the fence in the first place, if it doesn't offer food or water that he can already get he may not cross at all but under no circumstances can't or won't a healthy elk cross a normal field fence if they wish.

 

[Don McDowell]

Elk don't have much trouble with fences. If they decide to cross one they will, and they'll either jump it or take it out like a bull dozer. The dirty buggers cost me hundreds of dollars in fence repair material when they get gathered up around here. If they establish a regular crossing point, I generally try and leave the fence just loose enough to keep the cows in, but not so tight as to make it hard for them to cross. They will use gates if you can leave one open.

 

[wankerjake]

They can be very silly about fences, they much prefer a downed fence and will walk/run a fence line until they find a spot they like. When they want to, they clear them easily, I don't know why they make such a fuss.

 

[rondog]

Saw a large herd crossing I70 just west of Denver once, they obviously had no trouble with the 6' fence alongside the highway that was "supposed" to keep them out.

 

[gspn]

I've watched him all day. This is clearly a post rut bull. He spent the entire day bedded down in a small island of sage brush in an otherwise wide open riollimg plain that's surrounded by 7 to 10 thousand foot peaks.

he only got up 3 times all day. He'd ove 10 yards, eating as he went, then lay down for a few more hours.
he's on his feet and feeding now. nothing else on his mind.

I laugh thinking about how we spent so much effort climbing ridges earlier when this trophy bull is hiding out down low.