Podcast 49 – Hunting Pressured Elk with Ben Guttormson

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If you have access to a 5,000-acre private ranch for elk hunting, this episode is not for you. However, if you’re one of the many people who will be hunting public land this Fall, (if you haven’t already) you’ll quickly realize finding and killing elk is no easy task. My guest today is Ben Guttormson and he is the absolute man when it comes to locating and killing big bulls on highly pressured public land.

During the episode, we cover Ben’s scouting strategy, what he is doing differently than everyone else, and how he finds new spots with less pressure well before the season begins. Ben also walks us through certain terrain features to look for that hold elk even after the hunting pressure hits and how to set up accordingly. We cover a ton of useful tactics, strategies, and stories from Ben’s past hunts and how he is able to kill bulls on a consistent basis with a bow. This is an episode you don’t want to miss!

Topics Covered In This Episode Include:

What Ben is doing now before the season starts for scouting and how he utilizes trail cameras to find good bulls on public land
Ben’s background, where he’s from, what he does for a career, and where he lives currently
Working in the outdoor industry and balancing a work/play lifestyle with a full-time job and a family
How Ben consistently gets it done, year after year, and what he is doing differently than a lot of other hunters
Why Ben is always looking for new locations to hunt and how he finds new areas
Digital scouting via OnXmaps and Google Earth locate new honey holes
Terrain features Ben looks when trying to find lower pressured locations on public land and how he thinks outside of the box
Developing skills and broadening your range of hunting style to maximize success on killing elk
Not using the same playbook as everyone else when it comes to calling elk and hunting the same areas
Early season elk hunting strategy versus the peak rut during late September
Full moon hunting and how Ben thinks it affects elk movement and the rut
Becoming a successful elk hunter and how it takes years of experience to reach a high level of success