Late roosevelt archery

[hibernation]

Helped my wife fill her first archery tag in September but couldn't manage to fill my own, so I've got a late archery cow hunt coming up on the Oregon coast. It's extremely low success rates and the elk will be pretty thoroughly spooked after 3 months of hunting pressure, but I'm still looking forward to getting out and trying. Got a few herds scouted and know the area reasonably well, if rifle season doesn't change everything up too much. Mostly going to rely on spot-and-stalk in young clearcuts and maybe setting up a ground blind along some heavily used areas.

Anyone have any luck calling cows this late in the year, or experience with this tag in general? Roosevelts in this area don't really migrate and herd up for the winter like Rocky mt elk, it's usually a lot of small groups in the timber between scattered clearcuts. I'm hoping that gives me more opportunities than just looking for one massive winter herd.

 

[roosiebull]

it's tough hunting, and the further you get into that tag, the better... they do calm back down. it's been awhile for me, but i used to really enjoy and look forward to that hunt. it's not impossible, don't get discouraged early.

i always pack a cow call, but have never tried calling cows in, but i'll use a cow call (any elk season) to calm them down if i bump them with noise or visual... some light cow calls can lessen the impact.

as far as tactics, i think the best way to get on highly pressured elk is "spot and ambush" it's hard to stalk all the way into bow range of 30 nervous wound up cows.... watch them, see where they are going, and set up in an ambush spot so you have a controlled shot opportunity, then you don't have to force anything to get a shot.

 

[AaronMColeman]

it's tough hunting, and the further you get into that tag, the better... they do calm back down. it's been awhile for me, but i used to really enjoy and look forward to that hunt. it's not impossible, don't get discouraged early.

i always pack a cow call, but have never tried calling cows in, but i'll use a cow call (any elk season) to calm them down if i bump them with noise or visual... some light cow calls can lessen the impact.

as far as tactics, i think the best way to get on highly pressured elk is "spot and ambush" it's hard to stalk all the way into bow range of 30 nervous wound up cows.... watch them, see where they are going, and set up in an ambush spot so you have a controlled shot opportunity, then you don't have to force anything to get a shot.

I'll second that. I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about, but I think cutting them off is the best tactic. Spot the elk, see where they are going (where you think they're going), and try to get there ahead of them. It's not as hard as it seem to get in front of a group of elk. Can't ever be sure where exactly they will go but at least half the time they end up where you think they will. That's the only modification I'd make the "spot and ambush"...I like "spot and get ahead of them" when they're on the move.

 

[Elkangle]

You might not call them in but you may locate them, which is dang useful....id even pack a bugle tube

 

[hibernation]

That's all great to hear, thanks for the advice. Spot and ambush / get ahead of them sounds like the best plan for this tag, especially if they calm down after rifle season and feed in the open during daylight longer.

I'll definitely cow call in timber to try to get a response, hadn't considered bugling that time of year, that's interesting. I actually heard a bugle while I was watching a small herd this last weekend.

 

[Elkangle]

Use the bugle tube to cow call

If you can manage in the moment and loud high pitch spike type bugle can stop elk pretty good if you bust them...but they gotta hear ya

 

[hibernation]

Gotcha. I'm an ok caller at best, so nailing a spike bugle in the moment when they're busting away probably isn't happening. I'll think about bringing the tube to project cow calls better though.

 

[Elkangle]

Only the Dos Equis man does well in the moment, there's alot of back ground noise going on so its not crazy important to be perfect

Good luck

 

[roosiebull]

I'll second that. I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about, but I think cutting them off is the best tactic. Spot the elk, see where they are going (where you think they're going), and try to get there ahead of them. It's not as hard as it seem to get in front of a group of elk. Can't ever be sure where exactly they will go but at least half the time they end up where you think they will. That's the only modification I'd make the "spot and ambush"...I like "spot and get ahead of them" when they're on the move.

same exact thing... ambush=putting yourself where they will be... generally, when you are wrong, and miss their route, you don't blow the whole thing up and those elk are still in play. stalk all the way to failure, especially late season cows, they are gonna be tough to hunt, and likely tough to find.

i probably wouldn't do any calling, they are so paranoid after getting ran around by 1000's of people for 2 weeks, i would try to just stay incognito... for one, around here, they aren't going to hear you/you hear them far enough away for it to be effective. if you are close enough to hear cows answer you in the timber, you will be seeing sign all over, which means you already have them located... they are pretty close.

late season cows run a pretty tight ship, they don't travel far if they aren't being bothered, so if you find fresh sign, you have found the elk.... in roosie country, generally if you are hearing cows talking, you can hear them popping branches too... especially late season, they aren't mewing very loud, especially right after rifle season.

 

[Zane503]

Helped my wife fill her first archery tag in September but couldn't manage to fill my own, so I've got a late archery cow hunt coming up on the Oregon coast. It's extremely low success rates and the elk will be pretty thoroughly spooked after 3 months of hunting pressure, but I'm still looking forward to getting out and trying. Got a few herds scouted and know the area reasonably well, if rifle season doesn't change everything up too much. Mostly going to rely on spot-and-stalk in young clearcuts and maybe setting up a ground blind along some heavily used areas.

Anyone have any luck calling cows this late in the year, or experience with this tag in general? Roosevelts in this area don't really migrate and herd up for the winter like Rocky mt elk, it's usually a lot of small groups in the timber between scattered clearcuts. I'm hoping that gives me more opportunities than just looking for one massive winter herd.

What are the season dates? How do you go about turning your unfilled archery tag into a cow tag? Ive never seen this in the synopsis

 

[hibernation]

Nov. 28 - Dec 13, it coincides with part of the late blacktail season. It's a controlled tag but not a hard draw at all. Check pg 52 of the 2020 regulations, the archery controlled 200 series hunts. There's a handful of controlled archery tags that are all valid for both the general archery elk and their respective controlled seasons. It's an additional opportunity not an additional elk, so if you fill it in September that's it. Success rates seem to range from 0 to about 5% so there's a reason it doesn't take any points to draw.

 

[Zane503]

Nov. 28 - Dec 13, it coincides with part of the late blacktail season. It's a controlled tag but not a hard draw at all. Check pg 52 of the 2020 regulations, the archery controlled 200 series hunts. There's a handful of controlled archery tags that are all valid for both the general archery elk and their respective controlled seasons. It's an additional opportunity not an additional elk, so if you fill it in September that's it. Success rates seem to range from 0 to about 5% so there's a reason it doesn't take any points to draw.

Thank you for the info, I’ll check it out. Any additional hunting opportunity is awesome.

 

[JoeDirt]

Spot and stalk. Rosie's do not go far. If you know some are in the area watch the clear cuts they will feed out eventually. Cow calling will work if there is no pressure. I doubt you will call any cows in but they will respond to a cow/calf call.