MT Elk Report

[rileybassman]

In SW Montana, Tuesday and Wednesday were okay days for bugling and action, but the last two days have been dead. All the elk we see down on private land show no signs of the rut. Just large herds of cows with a raghorn leading them around. It’s bizarre for the big boys to not have herded up the cows by now.

I've seen similar... I shot a 4/3 that had 15 cows with him this week and he was quiet.. cousin and his dad shot a 6x6 and a 7x6... both were quiet coming in.

 

[TheCougar]

I've seen similar... I shot a 4/3 that had 15 cows with him this week and he was quiet.. cousin and his dad shot a 6x6 and a 7x6... both were quiet coming in.

Were they cold calling with cow calls?

 

[406unltd]

Mostly hunted nw mt and opening weekend had a bull crankin. Just got back from a two day trip to sw mt and it was dead. Stopped by w central on the way home and it was dead there too. Any time now it should kick off pretty good I’m guessing

 

[rileybassman]

Were they cold calling with cow calls?

No... Blind hunting.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[hobbes]

Had one half hearted response on Saturday.

Walked up on a raghorn Sunday evening that was with a few cows but no bugling.

Saw two young bulls butting antlers together on Tuesday evening.

Had a bull bugling and coming to cow calls Wednesday evening (I thought he was going to do it) but he held up at about 80 yards or so before back to a few cows. He responded some Thursday morning but never headed my direction and I lost track of him.

Had a bull wake me in my tent middle of Wednesday night then just about the time I decided I'd been dreaming, he ripped one off about 50 yards from my tent. Pretty sure he winded me immediately afterwards.

Heard one distant bugle both Thursday evening and this morning.

 

[wind gypsy]

Very quiet in the big hole for us until yesterday 9/19 when we got surrounded by 10+ screaming bulls.

 

[Cockeye]

Is it possible that rut hasn’t started yet we had five cows come in on us yesterday that didn’t have a bull with them. I would have thought rut would be in full swing by now but since last Saturday bugles have been minimal. Central Montana

 

[beauhunter]

A friend and I hunted northwest Montana 9/11 - 9/17 and only heard 2 distant bugles. The elk we saw were silent. Heading back out 9/22 - 9/24 and hoping things pick up.

 

[hobbes]

Is it possible that rut hasn’t started yet we had five cows come in on us yesterday that didn’t have a bull with them. I would have thought rut would be in full swing by now but since last Saturday bugles have been minimal. Central Montana

Their biological calendar pretty much requires rutting now, so that next season's calves are big enough to survive the following winter. The intensity, however, is affected by multiple factors of which I'm incapable of predicting.

 

[bojangles808]

Have a friend hunting near Bighorn and he said they started firing up this morning

 

[Wapiti1]

I was in central MT from 9/11 to 9/20. They were cranking in two gulches that we hunted from 9/11 to 9/14 when the Sitka clad weekend masses shut them down. Fat guys in Sitka crack me up. The elk went daytime quiet, but bugled sporadically at night until 9/17, then started to slowly get moving again. You could tell which areas had a hot cow and which were still waiting.

One issue we ran into was the amount of good food. It was everywhere, and the elk were spread out more than usual making for low competition among the bulls. Even little guys had a couple of cows, so there were few satellite bulls dogging herds.

Still a fun hunt, and we filled tags.

Jeremy

 

[DWBMontana]

I was in central MT from 9/11 to 9/20. They were cranking in two gulches that we hunted from 9/11 to 9/14 when the Sitka clad weekend masses shut them down. Fat guys in Sitka crack me up. The elk went daytime quiet, but bugled sporadically at night until 9/17, then started to slowly get moving again. You could tell which areas had a hot cow and which were still waiting.

One issue we ran into was the amount of good food. It was everywhere, and the elk were spread out more than usual making for low competition among the bulls. Even little guys had a couple of cows, so there were few satellite bulls dogging herds.

Still a fun hunt, and we filled tags.

Jeremy

Awesome, let us see some pictures...

 

[pjww805]

Spent Weds-Sun last week in the LBMs. Found a few cows that were without a bull. Had two satellite bulls come in dead silent. Herd Bulls would fire up before sunrise and then become silent during the day. Our last night we had a few bulls starting to talk but were too distance before we ran out of day light. Sounds like we missed it by a week this year. Good luck to the rest of the guys out on the mountain this week.

 

[Wapiti1]

Awesome, let us see some pictures...

One good bull, and one big ol' freezer filler. We are equal opportunity around here. I know you can see the background on these photos. Hope I didn't give away my secret spots.



Jeremy

 

[darcytribe]

We’ve been out for three days so far in west central big timber. Called one in Sunday evening after locating him mid afternoon in his bed but couldn’t seal the deal. Got on one this morning but the wind wasn’t going to work so we backed out and will try to get back on him in the same area tomorrow morning. Wind was really kickin’ Last night through today, would be hard to even hear a bugle beyond 100 yards. Hopefully it will die down for tomorrow and be a little more consistent. Haven’t seen a single cow yet.

 

[DWBMontana]

What? Your not in the photo, what gives? You chastise others, then hide...come on man....

 

[Fritz]

I just got back on the 22nd from central MT, they had just started talking a little. A lot more broke up in small bunches than the previous 6 years I have been.

 

[Elk97]

Hunted SW from 9/7 - 9/16. Pretty quiet but near the end there were more bugles, especially at night and right at dawn. Called in 4 bulls but never got a shot at any. Two came in silent, the other two were all riled up, raking trees, but we couldn't coax them into range. Saw a few cows, not with bulls.

 

[Shootinsurveyor]

Was up in the little belts and elkhorns this week and heard some bugling in the evenings but pretty dead from what people said to expect this week. Had some calling action on some block management near Helena, but they stayed on private land. Saw some groups of cows out near white sulphur springs. The wind is blowing so hard probably going to call it a week today.

 

[Wapiti1]

What? Your not in the photo, what gives? You chastise others, then hide...come on man....

I was there, but wasn't the shooter on either, so I don't get to be in the photos. Since they are not my animals, I also didn't want to post my bud's mugs in them. That is their honor should they choose to do so. I just did the calling, provided meat hauling and helped them get their freezers full.

Who did I chastise?

Jeremy