Missed this thread so my info is kind of old. I hunted 9/1-9/7, first time ever archery elk hunting in a place I had never stepped foot in (Central Idaho). Found sign, but it was HOT and struggled to find elk; only had a couple of distant bugle responses at last light. Temps were pushing 90, and what was crazy is that the higher elevations (8600 ft) stayed 15 deg warmer at night than the bottom of the valley (assuming all the cold air sinks down there).
Rain came on 9/6, cooled things down a ton and I got into bulls morning of 9/7 (last Saturday). Had a really big 5x5 respond to a locator at 250 yards. I moved in, challenged him, he got fired up, and came in head-on to under 30 yards with some raking. I blew it as I was switching from calling to shooting; solo hunting is hard.
1.5 hr and a half mile later and I got a response from another bull. He came to 60-ish and spotted me while I was looking for a place to setup and finish calling him in. He was a NICE 6x6. He continued to respond with chuckles and grunts after he spooked, but I ran out of time. I'll get him next week when I come back.
Both were good bulls. Same elevation and terrain features that I had been hunting all week unsuccessfully, so I think the cooler weather flipped the switch. They were both very grumpy but not super vocal. Neither responded to bugles until I was within 200/300 yards. They only called 2 or 3 times but then came STRAIGHT towards me. There was no back-and-forth bugle action or long approach to setup on a long-off bugle; from the time the bulls responded to when they were one me was minutes. Did not see any bulls or cows together.
So that was fun but, I have no idea what they are doing this week though. Guessing they're probably now gathering cows, asserting dominance, and doing other elky things.
