How to approach first September in Montana?

[Thomasj1107]

I’ve been able to get in the woods a few times but not until rifle season and only for a few short days in Montana over the past couple years. This year I’ll have a tag and the entire month of September and part of October to hunt. My question is, with that much time, and this being the first time I’ll get to be out there for archery season, how should I approach it? That time of year, how long should I spend in one place before moving? I have no “spots” yet, so I’m hoping to gain a ton of boots on the ground knowledge, but just want to make the most of this opportunity.

 

[CMF]

If you don't see em, smell em, or hear em, keep moving....

 

[Thomasj1107]

That time of year, is getting up and glassing still something you want to do or should it mainly be moving and calling?

 

[Elkhntr08]

I would be doing some serious e-scouting. There’s plenty of videos on YouTube to help you there. Get a plan A,B, C and so on.
When you hit the timber, glass and listen. If you don’t hear or see elk in area A, move on. Give it a fair shake, don’t be moving every hour, blowing a bugle every 5 minutes.
If you’ve done any amount of homework, it shouldn’t take long to find elk. Then you have to figure out how to hunt them!
Just remember, elk hunting is supposed to be fun, enjoy the time.

 

[PaBone]

The first week of archery in Montana is usually hot and smokey. Last year was horrible with a fire near us, so it was ash covered tents and bloody black boogers. But there's no bad time to be in the woods if you have the time off.

 

[Fullfan]

We rifle hunted elk for years, switched to archery due to over crowding. We found the elk were not in the same places in Sept as they were in Oct. Heat might slow them down, but does not shut them down. Killed a good bull 2 years ago on 9/12 at 1400 when it was 82 deg.

 

[Wapiti1]

That time of year, is getting up and glassing still something you want to do or should it mainly be moving and calling?

Glassing is always worthwhile. Assuming the country allows it.

Moving and calling is also a good tactic, even first week. Bugles, IMO, will be better than cow calls for locating bulls since they will be sizing each other up and setting the pecking order. Cow calls will work as well if they are close, but the response will probably be muted compared to third week. Expect a bull that responds to a bugle to come in silently or only bugle back very little. A good tactic is to locate a bull with a bugle, move forward fifty to a hundred yards, then park and wait to intercept him if he comes in. No more calling. Give it some time and see. Wallows are good this time of year in drier areas, and worth a sit mid-day if it's getting hit regularly.

Calling will be hit or miss, and I don't call much early season. Second week it will start to get better. Expect many bugles to be hunters, sorry to say and pay attention to where they come from. Above you, probably elk. Below you, probably a guy on the road. Not always, though.

Elk could be at any level of the mountain in MT. Food is key for the cows, and for you too. Find the food, find the cows, and the bulls will be with them, or higher in the same drainage staging for the rut.

If you haven't, get the Elknut app, or sign up for Chris Roe's course. Learn the calls.

Jeremy

 

[jimh406]

Give yourself lots of options, be flexible, and prioritize the good days. If you are like most people, you won't be able to hunt "every day", so make sure the days you hunt are the ones with the weather you like. For instance, the wind may blow really hard, but probably won't every day. Similarly, with rain/snow or extremely hot days.

 

[Thomasj1107]

Glassing is always worthwhile. Assuming the country allows it.

Moving and calling is also a good tactic, even first week. Bugles, IMO, will be better than cow calls for locating bulls since they will be sizing each other up and setting the pecking order. Cow calls will work as well if they are close, but the response will probably be muted compared to third week. Expect a bull that responds to a bugle to come in silently or only bugle back very little. A good tactic is to locate a bull with a bugle, move forward fifty to a hundred yards, then park and wait to intercept him if he comes in. No more calling. Give it some time and see. Wallows are good this time of year in drier areas, and worth a sit mid-day if it's getting hit regularly.

Calling will be hit or miss, and I don't call much early season. Second week it will start to get better. Expect many bugles to be hunters, sorry to say and pay attention to where they come from. Above you, probably elk. Below you, probably a guy on the road. Not always, though.

Elk could be at any level of the mountain in MT. Food is key for the cows, and for you too. Find the food, find the cows, and the bulls will be with them, or higher in the same drainage staging for the rut.

If you haven't, get the Elknut app, or sign up for Chris Roe's course. Learn the calls.

Jeremy

Is the elk nut stuff super beginner oriented basic stuff or does it have more “advanced” information?

 

[Wapiti1]

Is the elk nut stuff super beginner oriented basic stuff or does it have more “advanced” information?

Both Chris Roe and Elknut go from beginner to advanced. It's, here are the different calls elk make, here is what they mean, and then here is how to put together a calling sequence or strategy. Time of year to use a strategy, etc. What you will find is that knowing the calls is great, but reading the elk you are communicating with is where the rubber meets the road. It takes some encounters to get to, "Oh, the bull/cow said this, I need to respond like this". Often, no response is the better option.

I prefer the course Chris Roe has put together, but Elknut gets you there as well.

Jeremy

 

[ElkNut1]

I've hunted or called for others in 8 states. Early Season I've not found any Tactic that beats the Advertising/Display Sequence when hunting Semi open country to dark timber country. It's simply unbeatable when presented in a believable manner. Results do not lie.

I've shared this Tactic on the ElkNut Mobile App in video form, it's been responsible for 100's of bulls taken on OTC DIY elk hunts!

I would guess Wapiti1 (Thank You for the mention) most likely has our Original version of the App but doesn't have the Pro Version yet? Like any App you want to have updates that shares new info & keeps things fresh, this Pro Version knocks it out of the park!

For a free version of the Original ElkNut App I'll share how to get it on your phone & check it out for yourself. I'll start a new thread for that. Thanks!

ElkNut

 

[Pony Soldier]

It will depend entirely on the weather. A cool, moist August and the search will be on the summer range. A scorching August and September and you better be looking for cool basin with green grass. I have seen mid Sept. with 2 ft of snow. Be prepared!!

 

[CMF]

Glassing totally worth it if the terrain is right, especially if they ain't talking.
Elknut app totally worth it.

 

[Thomasj1107]

Glassing totally worth it if the terrain is right, especially if they ain't talking.
Elknut app totally worth it.

Any of y’all just not good callers and approach it differently because of that?

 

[CMF]

Any of y’all just not good callers and approach it differently because of that?

I approach it like I'm a good caller, lol. I don't have much supporting evidence tho. My lack of patience got me in MT and several times I had a bull bugle from the spot I had just called from. We spent Sep. just bouncing units and areas until we finally found them, but it was late in the month and we never sealed the deal with archery. If you're local, I wouldn't give up when Sep is over. We hunted sep, then left MT ~Oct. 1 for a hunt in NM and made it back on the day before the last day of archery(~16th), I went out the last day and got 135yds from 3 bulls, stalked within 30yds of 2 other bulls, but shot a limb and glassed a few more that were too far to get to before dark. Never saw a bull after the rifle opened tho.... ended up leaving with a cow, and my wife passed on a cow while we were still bull hunting. Looking forward to going back to MT in a few years...

 

[Wapiti1]

I've hunted or called for others in 8 states. Early Season I've not found any Tactic that beats the Advertising/Display Sequence when hunting Semi open country to dark timber country. It's simply unbeatable when presented in a believable manner. Results do not lie.

I've shared this Tactic on the ElkNut Mobile App in video form, it's been responsible for 100's of bulls taken on OTC DIY elk hunts!

I would guess Wapiti1 (Thank You for the mention) most likely has our Original version of the App but doesn't have the Pro Version yet? Like any App you want to have updates that shares new info & keeps things fresh, this Pro Version knocks it out of the park!

For a free version of the Original ElkNut App I'll share how to get it on your phone & check it out for yourself. I'll start a new thread for that. Thanks!

ElkNut

Yep, old app and I think my playbook is approaching drinking age.

I'll have to snag the updated app.

Jeremy

 

[Wapiti1]

Any of y’all just not good callers and approach it differently because of that?

There are places that I've hunted where they don't call or get super call shy because of the constant calling of hunters.

Spot and stalk, patterning for an ambush, sitting water/wallows, etc. All good tactics. Sneaking on a bugling bull works. If he is with his cows, and they bed, you can get the wind right, sneak in until you get close to a cow and wait. He'll be around to check on her at some point. That is tough unless the wind is super steady, but works.

And you should expect to use those even if you are the best caller. Do what it takes to get it done. Boring or not.

Then again, an open reed cow call and mouthpiece bugle aren't hard to get the hang of. Perfect calling isn't required since elk have different voices too.

Jeremy

 

[Silveroddo]

I was in the same position last fall, didn't get it done but learned alot. 2nd time hunting elk, first time archery.
I scouted some spots in July to get the lay of the land and ended up throwing my main 2 out the window due to hunting pressure when I came back in September. I took a flyer and stumbled into a pretty decent spot before I made it further down the list, a spot I hadn't scouted previously. It took about 4 days of going up and down the mountain and getting the lay of the land, finding good sign, etc. before things finally started coming together.
The time I spent on the mountain the days prior to things coming together really helped develop an awareness of how the elk were using the mountain and coming up with ideas on how to do something about it.
Doing it solo and green is tough but I think it can be done.
Temps were warm and the rut was subdued, bulls weren't super aggressive.
I hunted with some guys for a few days and they were calling but really couldn't get anything to work, had a bull at 100 yards and couldn't get him to respond to calling.
After they left and I was on my own I was pretty passive just trying to figure it out and I think that helped me in the long run. I worked that area for almost a week and had pretty consistent action for the last half of it. Had I been bugling and trying to make it happen I think I would of blown the area out.
Towards the end I was putting things together and was able to do some raking and got a bull to respond to that and come in to 80 yards. Seeing how that played out was priceless and filled in some blanks and was pretty encouraging.
Nothing beats boots on the ground and just getting out there. I screwed up alot, but I wouldn't change any of it.