Midday Hunting

[Swede]

Many archery hunters have longs days in the field. Often those long days in the high country on steep slopes bring on fatigue and the need for more rest than you get in your sleeping bag. Tired hunters find the middle of the day, when elk are bedded, to be a good time to catch up on some much needed rest. For one reason or another I usually want to just keep on hunting. Thinking about this got we to wondering how others who hunt all day spend their time in the midday? If you rest, do you just snooze lightly and listen? If you are up and completely alert, what do you do?

I often either get back early into my tree stand, or I will set up near a bedding area, not near my tree stand, and mimic a bull thrashing a small tree, then I sound off with one mid level, one second long two note bugle. Right after that I move a short way from my call location, setup and wait to see if something comes in. If after waiting about a half hour I will go back to the same spot where I first called from and give off a two second long whiney bugle. Then I go back and wait another half hour. If I have the time I may do a couple of these setups in the afternoon. What are you doing?

 

[RosinBag]

Midday I generally am working on a game plan for evening, stalking a bedded deer or moving to a new basin to hunt. If I nap it will be near a final spot waiting on animal movement to start for the evening.

 

[ridgefire]

i usually have the best luck getting into hot bulls between ten and two so i usually do not have much time to nap. i will sit down and eat and glass for a couple hours from two on if not much action. tend to hunt from sun up to sun down though.

 

[mattstanton]

other than a quick lunch and some spotting, I keep hunting toward my evening destination, focusing on likely bedding areas. I like to blind call near bedding areas. If I get a response, WHAMMO!!!! Game on!!!!

 

[AlpineAthlete]

I think a lot of different tactics can lead to a successful midday hunt. Sitting on a water hole or wallow always has the possibility of producing elk. Something I tried last year was just doing several calling set ups on a north facing slope that holds elk. I would call on and off for about half an hour close to bedding areas. Working up in excitement and intensity for about half an hour, and then cutting the noise and staying alert for 30 minutes afterward. After that, I'd move 1/2 a mile to another location. I also had luck traveling along a ridge used for bedding and letting out 2 or 3 location bugles, hanging around for a few minutes afterward for a response.

Be careful!!! Some 350 bulls balls don't drop and can sound like a raghorn! Found this out after moving in and spooking him at 50 yards

Tyler

 

[thebugler]

Depending on what the morning had been like will determine my mid-day plan. If the bulls are screaming all morning, I will keep running and gunning covering lots of ground looking for vocal bulls. If the calling has been slow, but I've marked a bull or two, I will move within striking distance to determine if the wind and bull's location is ideal for a mid-day approach. If the conditions aren't right, I will back out a little and wait till evening. Now if I haven't really heard any bugling at all, then I will spend mid-day covering ground looking for fresh sign where I will set up for some cold calling.

The main thing to focus on is increasing your time hunting will increase your odds of tagging a bull

 

[les welch]

I'm with Dirk. Kind of read each day and see how it looks. I typically hunt areas which have multiple "fingers" to hunt and it will also depend on the area I am in.

 

[Above Timber]

Hunt sun up to sun down most days. I might find some dark timber eat something and sit and call or listen and move on from time to time. I am there to hunt not to sleep.

 

[Chris Roe]

Dirk and I would hunt WELL together!!! The only thing is that where I hunt mostly, the mid-day winds are a NIGHTMARE - whether you're in a tree or not - and 90% of the time your scent will screw you up. ...I heard a gentleman say once that if we hunted with the wind in our face, we'd end up hunting within a 10' circle! He was RIGHT!!!

When the wind is good, I'm out ALL day. If not, I bail out of there, and either "scout" new areas, or nap, eat, re-coup, and prep for the evening hunt.

Chris