Rules For Hunting Elk - Outdoors - Hunting

For those of you who have ever hunted elk before, you will understand how smart and difficult elk can be to hunt. It took me 5 years of very hard hunting before I was able to put down my first elk. It was 5 years of frustration, anger, depression and one of the best learning experiences for elk hunting that I have ever had. I came to respect elk more than any other big game animal I have ever hunted. And because of that respect I learned to never underestimate them and learned what I needed to do if I wanted to harvest an elk each and every year.

1. Learn their patterns: I can't emphasize this enough. Elk are like us in that they love certain places. They have their favorite watering holes, beds, feeding areas, scrapes and just areas to hang out at. I've watched the same herd of elk for 7 days straight come out onto the same exact hill every morning to feed and go back to the exact beds after they were finished feeding. And if they were not in that spot than I knew exactly where to look to find them.

2. Plan on hunting hard: When elk sniff any kind of pressure at all they head for the deepest, darkest, thickest, nastiest stuff on the mountain they can find. It still shocks me to find these types of places that they head to when there's hunting pressure. If you want to harvest any kind of elk whether it's a spike or a nice 370 bull plan on hiking your feet off or you'll be sorely disappointed. Elk are famous for being elusive for a reason. The only time you'll get lucky and they'll be easier to hunt is during their rut.

3. Be in shape: If you live in the Rockies where most of the elk are then being in shape is a requirement. If you're not in decent to good shape hunting elk will not be fun. It will be more challenging than you can possibly imagine. I've hiked 6 miles in one day through some of the most rugged country you can think of just to have a shot at an elk and then spent all night getting them out. It still amazes how I did that...two different times as a matter of fact! It must have been the adrenaline rush helping me out. I'm not saying this to brag but to let you know how difficult elk hunting can be.

4. Know your equipment: Elk almost never give you an easy shot. You need to be able to take a quick 30 yard shot all the way up to a 500 plus yard shot sometimes. When you see elk it's usually only a quick glimpse or they're off in the distance. Either way you need to be prepared for both kinds of shots. Elk are not known to hang out in the open for very long. And elk almost never turn and look back to see what's chasing them unlike their cousins the mule deer.

5. Know the area you're hunting well: I can't stress this enough. If you know the area well that you're hunting not only will you already have an advantage but your success rate will be much higher than going to a new area you know nothing about. I'm speaking from experience. Anytime I try and hunt a new area for elk I always get skunked. However if I stick with the areas that I know I'm almost always successful whether it's on the first day of the hunt or the last day of the hunt. Just be consistent in the areas you hunt. If you know there's elk in the area than stick with that area and never give up.

I could write a whole book on elk hunting and it wouldn't be long enough. I just wanted to touch base with some very important tips that will greatly help your success rate hunting elk.

Be safe and good hunting my friends.

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Hunting Opportunities for Rocky Mountain Elk - Sports

I've been an elk hunter, elk hunt outfitter and elk hunting guide for over 30 years and I've seen lots of changes over those years. The good news is that elk populations throughout much of the American and Canadian West have increased dramatically and in many areas, the hunting we enjoy today is far better than what we had 20 or 30 years ago.

However, not all areas have improved and due to a variety of factors, some areas have seen a dramatic decline. Many of the wilderness areas of northwest Wyoming, western Montana, central and northern Idaho have been hard hit by wolf and grizzly predation, and some of these traditionally great elk areas have really suffered. Unfortunately, an elk hunt in some of these areas today can turn into nothing more than a scenic horseback ride and most of our clients want to actually harvest an elk! On the flip side of that coin, areas in central and southern Wyoming - where there might not have been very many elk 30 years ago - now support very strong populations and excellent trophy quality. The same holds true for much of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. The Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta can be another viable option, especially if you are looking for an old-fashioned, traditional horseback elk hunt, in a remote wilderness area. However, the sta te of Utah currently offers the very best trophy elk hunting - hands down, no competition - but some of these hunts can be quite pricey.

As professional Hunting Consultants, the staff here at Cabela's Outdoor Adventures usually look at the following options when a client wants to book an elk hunt:Guaranteed Tags

Some form of guaranteed (no drawing) landowner or tribal elk tags in the states of Utah, Colorado or New Mexico, and a good ranch or reservation to hunt on. We are NOT talking about high fence, captive elk here! These are fair-chase hunts, for free-ranging, wild elk. These are some of our most popular hunts, as success rates are very high and depending on the hunt, trophy quality can be exceptional. It is not uncommon for these hunts to produce close to 100% success, with prices ranging from about $5,000 to $20,000+. Prices are almost entirely driven by trophy quality, as we require all of our outfitters to provide experienced guides, adequate accommodations, good food service and the appropriate equipment. We have excellent elk hunts with very high success in the $5,000 range, but these hunts will typically produce younger age class bulls. Hunts in the $9,000 - $10,000 range produce very high success on bulls averaging in the 300 class and the most expensive hunts, say in the $15,000+ range, will produce our very biggest elk, with some bulls exceeding the magical 400 mark.Wilderness Elk

Wilderness elk hunts in BC or Alberta. These hunts present the opportunity to do a traditional, wilderness elk hunt, while still maintaining good success and trophy quality. Basically, you're getting a similar hunt to what you might have enjoyed many years ago in Montana, Idaho or northwestern Wyoming. Many of these areas are restricted to harvesting 6-point or better bulls, so trophy quality is good, with bulls averaging about 300. Success rates won't be quite as high as the private ranch hunts, but the better ones will still produce 80%+ success, which is excellent for wilderness hunting. Prices for these hunts will range from about $6,000 to $9,000 and if you're looking for an old-fashioned, traditional elk hunt, they're perfect.Limited Quota Tag

Drawing a limited quota tag. If you're looking for a high quality, trophy elk hunt, but not the price tag that normally goes with it, drawing a special tag may be the best way to go. The states of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and New Mexico all offer some excellent elk hunting - if you can draw the right tag. Our license application service, TAGS, can handle all of this for you. They will put you into the best areas; handle all of the application process; and even float the money for license and application fees. If you draw the right tag, you just might be able to get a hunt that could sell for $10,000+, at just a fraction of that price. Once you draw the tag, we can then book you with the best outfitter in the unit, or you may be able to do an unguided hunt. Call Eric Pawlak, manager of TAGS, for all of the details on these hunts at 1-800-755-TAGS. Click here to visit Cabela's TAGS website.

Lastly, please try to take advantage of some of the great elk hunting that we have today. It's the best it's ever been and everything tends to cycle. Get in on a great elk hunt while we're at the peak of that cycle!

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Finding the Right Location for Your Elk Hunting Trips - Sports

It's the stuff a hunter's dreams are made of. All the time spent practicing, preparing, and hiking over hill and valley pays off with the shot of a lifetime on a monster bull elk with an enormous 6 x 6 rack. You place your sight on the big bull's vitals, control your breathing and get ready to take that shot you've dreamed about your whole life.

For most, the opportunity to go on elk hunting trips doesn't come along every year. For one thing, it can take years to even draw a tag in a desirable hunting area. Most states which allow elk hunting trips use a lottery system of one sort or another to determine who gets the opportunity to stalk the great wapiti. Even if you hit the jackpot and draw a tag in a good area, you're faced with the need to find and scout the area, often from across state lines.

The fact is that most hunting trips are unsuccessful. But yours doesn't need to be. Here's the thing, though: If you really want to take a big elk, the best way to do it is to hunt on anhunting preserve.

For starters, booking unting trips on an elk hunting preserve allows you to bypass state licensing requirements. This is because the hunting license requirements are different for an hunting preserve than for an individual hoping to hunt on public (or even private) land. In most cases, your outfitter will take care of the details for you.

Another reason unting trips tend to be more successful on an elk hunting preserve is that they are generally guided by experienced elk hunters who eat, sleep and breathe elk hunting all year long. Very few hunters really have the time to do what it takes to pattern trophy elk.

Even if a hunter has the time, it takes years of experience to really know what you're looking for when scouting and hunting elk, especially if you want to take a record book quality bull. Having an experienced outfitter and guide improves your chances of success on trophy hunting trips dramatically by simple virtue of the fact that they spend all year paying attention to the elk and their habits.

Take some time and do your homework before booking a hunt. The best guides will be happy to show you plenty of examples of successful hunting trips. Ask for references and actually call and speak with them. Make sure your potential outfitter isn't just giving out the names and numbers of his friends and family but of actual hunters who they've helped to take quality elk. Elk hunting trips can be the stuff of hunting legend. Make sure your outfitter knows what it takes to help you get that once in a lifetime shot at a trophy elk.

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Why Hunt in South Carolina? - Hobbies

South Carolina is one of the most popular places in North America to go hunting, and the reasons why South Carolina is a great place to hunt are many. For one thing, South Carolina is a rather diversified state in terms of its natural habitats for game and wildlife. Within its borders there are more than 31,000 square miles of land that includes mountainous areas, wooded flatlands, swamps, and marshy coastal regions. Native animals and birds include bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, deer, boar, turkey, duck, goose, quail, dove, and grouse.

Plus the climate in the Palmetto State is mild, with short winters and long growing seasons. That means that the wildlife in the state of South Carolina has a longer window of opportunity for feeding, which makes for a healthier and more populated selection of wild game. You can even hunt for more exotic prey such as rattlesnake, crocodile, and alligator while in South Carolina. Alligators as long as 13 feet have been found within the South Carolina swamps, and a 6-foot crocodile washed up in the surf along the coast of South Carolina not too long ago - after what wildlife experts believe was the crocodile's migration up the coast from Florida.

Hunters who are interested in tracking deer in South Carolina find many happy hunting grounds, both for sportsmen who prefer firearms as well as for those who hunt with a bow and arrow or a crossbow. Within the rice fields and other watery areas of South Carolina farmland it is possible to hunt for waterfowl, alligator, various kinds of birds, and the rather vicious and formidable South Carolina wild boar.

Or you can head toward drier woodlands like those farther inland where much of the state's cotton, corn, and tobacco crops are grown. There you will find many hunters and guides who prefer to stalk coveys of quail, doves, rabbits, and other prey common to those areas where there are dry meadows skirted by piney woods. There are also many ponds in those same places where ducks and geese can be hunted during duck hunting season, and many hunters prefer to go hunting for that kind of winged game by boat. Of course if you like to fish you can use the same boat to fish for bass and other delicious fish, and South Carolina offers some of the best fresh water and saltwater fishing in the country.

To learn more about what kinds of hunting the state of South Carolina offers - or where to find experienced local hunting guides or tracts of land that are available for sport hunting - just contact the South Carolina Wildlife Commission or state tourism department. With so many reasons to go hunting in South Carolina, hunting has become a major pastime for tourists and visitors to the Palmetto State as well as for local residents and natives of S.C. Plan a trip to South Carolina when hunting season is in full swing and you are sure to be rewarded with lots of great hunting for whatever kind of animals, birds, and other prey the state offers that you enjoy tracking and hunting.

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Car Accidents Involving Wild Animals - Real Estate - International Property

Car accidents involving wild animals are common in France, so what are your insurance rights if it happens to you?

Last year there were 23,000 vehicle accidents in France involving a wild animal.

According to the environmental specialists the Office de gnie cologique (OGE), this is six times more than occurred during the 1980s.

The growth in traffic offers one explanation for this increase, but wild animal numbers have also risen, with wild boar in particular having quintupled in the last 20 years.

Nearly 70% of all accidents are caused by a collision with deer and 24% with a wild boar. The distances travelled by these animals during Spring and Autumn means that in many areas they are frequently seen crossing country roads and lanes.

In contrast to accidents involving a domestic pet, in a collision with a wild animal no-one can be held responsible.

What then is the position in relation to an insurance claim if you are involved in a collision with a wild animal?

Insurance Claim

The first step is to contact your insurer, who should then be in a position of making a claim to a statutory insurance fund called the Fonds de garantie des assurances obligatoires de dommages (FGAO).

This insurance fund also acts in relation to 'hit and run' accidents, or an accident caused by an uninsured motorist.

The FGAO will consider the claim provided the collision took place on a public road, and that no person could be held responsible.

Thus, if the accident was caused by conduct involving an animal breeder or a hunter, then no claim is possible. That said, the fact that a hunt might have been taking place in the area at the time would not necessarily invalidate the claim.

All Risks Insurance

If you have all risks (tous risques) car insurance in France then any claims arising from the collision will be taken on by your insurance company. These costs would include not only repairs to the vehicle, but also any medical costs arising from the accident or compensation for incapacity.

If there is an excess clause in your policy, then this clause does not operate in relation to collisions involving wild animals, as the excess will be paid by the FGAO, whatever the amount of the excess.

If your all risks policy does not cover the driver (or passengers), then again the FGAO will cover the insurance costs of any claim involving the occupants of the vehicle.

Third Party Insurance

If you only have a third party (responsabilit civile) insurance cover, the FGAO will cover any damage to your vehicle or personal injury, although the process may well be a more protracted one, due to the greater need in such cases to weed out fraudlent claims.

You will need to provide proof of the accident, including any photographs taken at the scene, although proof is not required where the accident has caused at least a 10% permanent incapacity, hospitalisation for at least seven days, or in the event of a fatality.

In order to process the claim, your insurer will appoint an expert to determine the cause of the accident. Their report will then be passed to the FGAO to consider the claim.No Claims Bonus

In either case, whether your no-claims bonus would be affected would depend on the terms of your policy. Different insurers apply different rules. If there was a warning sign in the area alerting you to the presence of wild animals, your no-claims bonus could well be reduced.

Learn more in /news/french_life/wild_animal_driving_accidents/

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Hog Hunting: Option or Obsession? - Outdoors

Hog hunting is one of the fastest growing sports in America. In places like Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, wild boar hunting has been the answer to the overpopulation of hogs in the southern United States.

While certain regions may be densely populated with hogs -- also known as feral pigs -- there are still some important rules to follow in order to properly and successful hunt the animal. The following are some tips to make your hog hunting adventures more enjoyable and triumphant:

* Go after smaller hogs. Not only are large hogs more difficult to kill, but the undersized hogs have a more tender, succulent meat for dining purposes.* Hogs will try and avoid the sun at all costs. If you are setting up traps, be sure to place them in shaded areas under trees and in dense brush. * Feral pigs have a superior sense of smell. For this reason, hunters should approach the hog from a distance. Although their sight is rather lackluster, hogs will be able to smell you coming from a far distance.* Set up your hunting camp in an area that hogs will travel through naturally. Hogs will not go out of their way to find food, so baiting the animals into certain areas will generally lead you nowhere.

Another facet of hog hunting is using dogs to track the pig. Wild boar hunting with dogs requires highly trained canines that know when, where, and how to stop a hog dead in his tracks. Since boars have an acute sense of smell, they will know a dog is in the area well before the canine takes off after it. For this reason, a hunting dog must be extremely fast. Additionally, the dog must know how to tackle and keep a tight clasp on a hog without hurting it or puncturing its skin.

Even if you plan on ultimately killing the animal, it is crucial to slay the hog as quick and painless as possible and in a humane fashion. This same rule should be applied when hog hunting with dogs. While the canine's job is to stabilize the hog, the dog should by no means cause harm upon the pig. As mentioned earlier, hog hunting is one of the fasting growing sports in America. That being said, it is important to follow this principal to preserve the dignity of the sport.

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Boxer Dogs As Hunting Dogs - Family - Pets

A lot of people know boxer dogs to be one of the most versatile breeds around, having the capability of adapting to any role, such as that of a guard dog, a police dog, a seeing-eye dog for the blind, a family pet or a working dog.

What few know is that the boxer dog actually originates from a breed that was primarily trained and used for hunting purposes, the Belgian Brabanter Bullenbeisser. In order to understand how hunting boxer dogs can be made efficient, we first need to go back a few hundred years and take a short look at the Brabanter Bullenbeisser.

The Brabanter Bullenbeisser was the hunting dog of choice in 19th century Belgium and later on Germany. It was a strong, agile, intelligent breed that could take on almost any hunt, whether it was for game, wild boar, bears and so forth.

The Bullenbeisser's build closely resembles that of today's boxer, however their head was pointier and their ears longer. Because the dogs would often get ear injuries in their fast paced chases through the woods, most owners would crop their ears since they were puppies. This is also a common practice used on hunting boxer dogs, although a boxer's ears are not as large as those of the Brabanter Bullenbeisser.Eventually, the hunting boxer dog took the Bullenbeisser's place, mostly because of the fact that boxers were a lot easier to train. They also excel in several other characteristics, such as having a great intuition, being extremely fearless and obedient, all of these qualities recommending hunting boxer dogs as one of the best breed to be used for such a purpose.Their physical qualities are also worth mentioning here, an adult hunting boxer dog reaching around 22 inches in height (calculated at the dog's shoulder) and at roughly 65 pounds. Despite having such a stron g constitution, the boxer remains a very agile dog, his speed and reactions proving crucial in fast paced hunts.In a hunt, the cooperation between the dogs and the hunters as well as among the dogs themselves is oftentimes of extreme importance. For this reason, hunting boxer dogs are preferred to many breeds, because they can adapt to "teamwork" and they're extremely obedient and loyal towards their owners (if trained right, obviously).If a pack of hunting boxer dogs is trained together since their early years, they'll learn to cooperate and help each other out in the chase, as well as in fights. Another great asset that hunting boxer dogs possess is that they can also "work" with other breeds of hunting dogs. They do need a bit more accommodation to the other dogs, since boxers are rather suspicious at first, but once they get accustomed to their hunting companions this suspicion fades out.So if you're thinking about getting a hunting dog to help you out in your runs, a bo xer is one of the best choices you could make. Their physical prowess and dominant personalities will give you a huge helping hand, regardless if you're hunting fast, smart or strong game.

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