Nooner

[Deertick]

You take a break from your September bowhunt at noon to enjoy lunch and hear a bugle in the dark spruce across a meadow. You figure he\'s probably about 500 yards away. The wind is light and steady.

Next move?

Do you hunt him mid-day, on the theory that bedded bulls are vulnerable to challenge? If so, what\'s your plan?

Or ... Do you \"mark\" the spot, and plan to hunt him in the evening? If so, how do you know where to set up, and what\'s your strategy?

 

[cnelk]

Im going in.
Get your bow if you want to come along.

 

[otcWill]

I hunt at or near treeline. The wind is absolutely horrible throughout the day. There are only two options here: 1) Get lucky and have the wind hold long enough to kill him 2) Wait until later in the day when the wind is more predictable.

Choice 1 has blown more opps than all other mistakes combined (for me). Choice 2 has led to many a bloody arrow. Unless I\'m pressed for time I\'m waiting for a better situation/wind.

If I was in Brad\'s area, I\'d trust him and grab my bow

 

[Jaquomo]

I can\'t answer that because like Will, I\'ve never hunted anywhere where the wind held for more than a couple minutes during mid-day.

But I\'d sure be set up about 300 yards away and ready to make a move as soon as the sun drops and the evening thermal kicks-in. Probably half my elk have been killed exactly like that - hear the bugles mid-day, get the shot at sunset.

 

[Deertick]

Thanks for the replies ... that\'s why I stipulated that the winds were steady, because -- of course -- if they aren\'t, it\'s a no-go.

The question really deals more with this: Do you, if wind conditions are adequate, hunt them in their bedding area, and you know where they are?

 

[Jaquomo]

I wouldn\'t hunt them IN their bedding areas with a bow, mostly because a herd often spreads out to bed and their eyes are pointed in every direction at about knee-height. I\'ve seen it too many times when one old outlier cow spots a guy slipping between trees, she gets up, and everybody blows out. They have nothing else to do all day but watch the gaps between the trees. But in the unlikely event that I had steady wind during that time, I\'d get just inside the bedding timber on the downwind side of a trail and work a calling setup. After 30 minutes I\'d move 150 yards and do it again. We\'ve called many bulls in that way in the mornings before our winds go haywire.

Then again, if I ever found steady wind in high mountain basins during mid-day, I\'d hunt rainbow unicorns. If you have found such a magical spot so close to where I live and you take cnelk there, you should kill him before he gets back because I will torture the location out of him.. :twisted:

 

[Zpd307]

I found my best action was during the mid day in bedding areas. but I was hunting a group of satellite bulls who all bedded on the same bench. disclaimer..... I had never had this happen before in Colorado so I was learning from trial by fire. I have been recounting each event since then and with the helpful info from here, have come up with a couple redos that I would like to have back. but, I would rather have an encounter an screw it up than have no encounter at all what I am saying is that it could be done....

 

[Deertick]

OK, Lou, I get your point. The wind might be \"ok kinda\" but more than likely it\'ll be shifty, sketchy, and just plain bad.

So ... let me put the question another way:

NOONER:

You take out your lunch at noon to enjoy a view and get some rest and hear a bull bugling across a meadow, bedded in the thick spruce. THE WIND IS SHIFTY, AS USUAL, AND YOU DECIDE YOU CAN\'T HUNT HIM NOW.

What\'s your next move?

That bull might go any of 360 degrees when he gets up. How do you get your arrow between you and him?

 

[cnelk]

Lets make a couple assumptions that you [we] are familiar with the area.
This helps alot in the \'next move\' decision.

we can sit back, monitor the bugles, position ourselves accordinly with the wind and make the move when appropriate.
In the meantime, the discussion will be...
Where did they come from?
Where will they go?
How will we execute?
Who is shooting? Who is calling?

Best to have these topics all settle BEFORE enter the \'game\'

 

[Jaquomo]

I\'m right there with Brad on the tactics. But it seems like I\'m wrong most of the time about where they\'ll go. Satellite bulls cover a lot of ground during the rut. Not uncommon to hear them bugling out of timber mid-day and never see them again, or hear them marching along at noon, even through camp, bugling their heads off.

Now, if it\'s a herd, I\'ll hopefully have some handle on where that herd will go to feed, and if they don\'t go there I can usually get the bull answer with locator bugles as the herd is traveling to wherever they\'re going to feed that evening.

Knowing my evening opportunity will happen in the last 45 minutes of shooting light after the thermal is settling, I\'ll cover ground in a hurry and try to work in for a setup below wherever they\'re going. I might call if the bull\'s mood is right, or I might shut up and try for an ambush shot on the edge of the herd. Or I might show the elk hat and/or decoy with some calls and try to bring him over.

Either way, I\'d rather take my chances with shadowing him until the evening thermal sets-up than risk blowing him into another state with a wind I can\'t trust. Everybody has a story about the bull they called in and killed at noon. It sure can happen if the wind stays steady for awhile. But like most flukes, at least in N.CO, it\'s the random exception to the rule. I feel more comfortable playing the odds than trying for the exception.