Arizona Hunting Club & Outdoor Adventure Group

Learn How to Profile Deer and Elk Based on Their Watering, Feeding and Bedding Habitats

If you have never hunted before, the first step is to read some books about the big game animal you are planning to hunt. It is very important for you to understand what types of food they like to eat, what times of the day they like to water, what type of areas they like to bed down and the most predictable times of the day they will be traveling from one area to another.

It is also important to learn about their breeding cycle. Hunting deer and elk during the rut can be a very exciting experience. Learning to speak their language and reproducing other sounds they make during the rut is very, very important.

Please take a minute to review these big game animal profiles:

• Coues White-Tailed Deer Profile
• Mule White-Tailed Deer Profile
• Rocky Mountain Elk Profile

If you have a limited amount of money, buy Mapping Trophy Bucks. It is simply the best hunting resource for teaching anyone the step-by-step process of using topographic maps and aerial maps to locate deer and elk, predict their travel patterns and select the best chokepoints to ambush them.

If you want to be a good hunter, buy all of these books. They will teach you everything you need to know to become a successful hunter. We will cover many of the basics of these books, but reading the actual resources we used to build this workshop will make you a much better hunter.

Great Wildlife Management Book:

• Wildlife Habitat Relationships in Forested Ecosystems by David Patton - This book is written by a professor at Northern Arizona University (NAU). It won't teach you how to hunt, but it gives you great insight on why finding the energy in the forest is important to locating the animals. It has some great information about how a deer or elk looks at the forest to find its food and water. And it covers what type of tree canopies they like to use during the summer and winter to conserve energy and stay out of the wind. Since the book was written at NAU, the books examples, charts and graphs are based on Arizona hunting units.

Great Deer Hunting Books:

• Mapping Trophy Bucks by Brad Herndon - This book is is by far the best resource that I have ever read on how to hunt with topographic maps. If you can only afford one book, buy this one. While it is written about white-tailed deer, all the principles can be applied to elk hunting as well.
• Whitetail Addict's Manual, by T.R. Michels - To learn how deer think, talk and communicate with body language and scents, buy this excellent resource. It also has a great chapter on rubs/scrapes and linking them to big bucks' travel patterns.

Great Elk Hunting Books:

• The Complete of Elk Hunting by Sam Curtis - This book was written by Sam Curtis and blessed by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. It has a lot of great information on how to find elk at different times of the season and how to estimate the elevations where hunters should start looking before their hunt. It also has some great chapters on finding the favorite hiding spots that bull elk like to use.
• Elk Addict's Manual, by T.R. Michels - This book provides good insight on how elk think, talk and communicate with body language and scents. It also has a great chapter on rubs/scrapes and linking them to big bulls' travel patterns.

When combined, our seasoned hunting club members can account for more than 2,000 years of hunting knowledge and experience that we would be more than happy to pass onto to you.

If you have any questions regarding the content or strategies outlined on this page, please post them so that we can further explain complex topics that need additional clarification.

In the hunting world, there is no such thing as a dumb question.