Late Season Archery

[BrentLaBere]

What is the rutting activity like in the first part of October? I'm sure it mainly depends on the area but I am looking for general outlook on my next trip.[/size]Had good success finding elk and getting into elk on the first trip. Should the same terrain hold elk as it did the first two weeks of the season? Pressure could push them off.....travel deeper into the Forrest land or look into lower elevation pockets to find elk? What have been some calling techniques used from other hunters that have tried this late in the season with their bow?Give you a run down of my plan so far. Getting to the trail head and hiking in a good distance to gain elevation. Reaching familiar territory and looking for elk in the two saddles they used in the first part of the month. No elk? No vocalizing? I will start location bugles down into known bedding areas, again early September experience. Making a large loop covering many miles trying to find vocal elk. I am putting a lot of confidence in this area because it held a lot of elk. My concern is what should my plan B consist of. That's where I need to decide to switch trail heads and type of country. Or venture in further where the elk could have moved from pressure. One area is roughly the same terrain and like I said further back in. The next area switching trail heads would be more recently logged areas with pretty easy access from logging roads. You can venture in pretty far and we did see elk in this country through the glass. My worry is the easy trails. I have from Wednesday to Sunday....Longer if packing out. Looking for opinions to pass the time until I leave.


Posted this on another forum with no replies. Hoping the elk 101 site can help me out.

 

[BrentLaBere]

alright......Leaving after work today, any chance someone can give me a heads up? Looks like snow is still in the forecast and temps are dropping.

 

[Montana_BackCountry]

Here in Western MT they are still rutting pretty good in the smaller broken up groups.  Saw a herd yesterday with a 5x5 and a 6x6 with about 50 cows.  I also found where that group had been earlier in the day and the bulls had been tearing up alders and busting up saplings.  I'd say they're going strong still here (especially with the arrival of colder weather)

 

[ribo451]

Here is my take on elk rutting. I'm no biologist but it makes sense to me.

Elk rut somewhere around the middle of September. If it's hot out there will be less rutting activity during daylight hours but they still do most of there breeding at the same time every year so the birth of there calves coincides with snow melt and new plant growth in the Spring.

If the rutting activity is limited during the main September rut due to hunting pressure, weather, or anything else not all cows will get bred and unbred cows should come into a second estrus cycle 28 days later. Which would be early to mid October.

I think this explains why you sometimes see a lot of rutting activity later than you might think normal.

As for where you should hunt I would go back to the same areas you found elk before first but have an open mind as to other areas.

If you aren't finding vocal elk that doesn't mean they aren't in the area. They may not talk but they will still leave sign. As for calling I don't do it after the rut. I carry a cow call and I only use it if I make a loud noise and want anything listening to think I aman elk. If you happen to find vocal elk then I guess you would have to use your judgement for your own calling but if there is a vocal bull that seems to be rutting hard he may be making all the noise for one estrus cow and if pushed may push her where he wants her to go and leave the rest of them behind. Not quite typical rutting behavior.

Also from what I have seen the bigger bulls will have done there breeding and have left the herds for a quieter area so the bulls trying to breed cows after the main rut seem to be satelites.

All of this is my take on what I have seen and like you said it will be different from one area to the next. I wouldn't pass up an area with abundant elk sign just because you aren't getting responses to bugles.

 

[BrentLaBere]

Thanks for the post guys. Very true about the vocal elk part. Ended up finding a lot of elk but only one that was feeling up to challenging. Never did see him but we were both closing in. Glassed a lot of bulls of different sizes mixed in together with cows.....looked like post rut activity to me. But like what was posted, it only takes one more to go back into a estrus.


Overall I could have explained my self better. I was wondering what these storms would do to the elk. I found that the heavy snow pushed the elk into lower elevations. Simply to areas where there wasn't much snow and easy foraging. There was a good foot of snow where I had found them before and now only finding 3 sets of tracks it was time to move on.
Elk were all over the drainage we went to and decided to wait till morning to head in........we woke up to this. Tag soup for lunch today....

 

[malik378]

All of this is my take on what I have seen and like you said it will be different from one area to the next. I wouldn't pass up an area with abundant elk sign just because you aren't getting responses to bugles.

 

[Glennhood]

Excellent Post.I have a learn new thinks from your post.