Thoughts…

[Hunter3006]

So I have been hunting an area for the past three years that have proven to be a decent deer spot. I have been fortunate to take a decent buck for the past three years. This year I placed a cam to see what has been walking around. To my surprise I caught a cow elk on camera 3 weeks ago. Over the past two weeks, I now have two legal bulls, not monsters and one very young bull as well as a very young cow. With these guys on the cam, I picked up a general elk tag in case. This past weekend while out deer hunting I seen a dozen does and a couple small bucks. I thought it would be super neat of an elk walked out but figured they may have moved on. When I looked at my cam today, I had a bull come through late last night.

Being new to elk, I am wondering a few things.
1) Do elk and deer normally hang around the same area?
2) I thought since I have never called in elk, maybe trying the cow elk estress smoke sticks? They will either help bring them in or tell them to stay miles away lol. I haven’t seen them in the daylight yet anyway so not much of a loss
there.
My fear with that idea is that if I light these sticks, I may not see any bucks that frequent this area either.
Thoughts….

[Curtsyneil]

You have a tag for a deer or an elk in your pocket !!! Light the stick and hunt brother !!

[Stinky Buffalo]

One of the things that I have found that can limit success in a hunt, is when you head out with the intent to hunt different species. That's just my personal experience.

That being said, it's a bit different when tree stand hunting - Anything can happen. So, if you are using a tree stand, then being prepared for either is the way I would go. I would just call less, if at all.

Like Curtsyneil says:

Originally Posted by Curtsyneil

You have a tag for a deer or an elk in your pocket !!! Light the stick and hunt brother !!

I don't think the stick will cause issues with the deer. You'll be surprised how curious they are, especially if they have no idea you're there.