New Elk Hunter- Best time to burn my two weeks

[Jesse Jaymes]

General thoughts on elk hunting- I know NOTHING. Hunted big game my whole life at 50+. Never had a hard on for elk. I hunt solo almost 90% of the time and have for decades. Taken lots of bears, mulies, and WT. Handful of legit backcountry hunts. I simply decided that:

1. The few elk hunts I ever pissed around with....seemed like a poor use of my vacation time. Big Time waterfowler, and with deer and bears....I never put elk on my Bingo card.

2. Never been on a good one that I was in elk and got "the bug". It was generally a Misery Fest with little to no elk seen. So I never got switched on.

I have central Idaho A tag. Elevation ranges 8400ft to 4400ft. And I've seen elk everywhere in between.

Spikes are legal. I would really like to take a dink bull vs tip a cow. But this is all before the struggle starts.

Question is: Race to get out the first two weeks of the season and try to beat the rush and use the Holiday as a free day?

Or play it cool and let things heat up and hit the last two weeks of the season 15-30?

Do I look at the moon? Does it matter? Does temp matter?

I was racked out in SW MT at 7000ft two weeks ago and had 4+ bulls bugling around me at 0500 hrs. I've seen elk on the side of the county roads in NE WA banging cows at 95 degrees end of August.

Any thoughts from Pros....

 

[Gerbdog]

This question comes up a bunch and some folks swear they have it all figured out, moon phase, rut times, etc. etc. etc.

Far as i can tell with real life experience... just take whatever two weeks work best for your own schedule.

Ive seen bugle rut fests opening weekend, ive seen bugle rut fests no matter the moon phase, ive seen bugle rut fests every week in september.

Then on top of that... it all changes drainage to drainage.... One drainage is full of elk having a rut fest and the drainage over is full of quiet elk

Its completely unpredictable:
cant control: Weather, other hunters, the elk

The only thing i do nowadays is try and not put a lot of stock in that opening holiday weekend. Its just packed with hikers, bikers, mushroom pickers, and hunters..... One weekend later and like 75% of the crowds are gone

 

[IdahoElk]

Where I hunt in Idaho the elevation is between 8-9k', Typically the first week or so the temps are too hot for me to get an Elk out and not worry about losing meat, By the 18th the heard bulls are gathering cows, I really like hunting hard from the 10th to the end and usually by the last week we get weather, some years there has been too much snow to get into the backcountry but for the most part it's just cold. To answer your question, I like the second half of the season, the big guys are bugling and active..

 

[Pafarm]

Just like the whitetail woods “the rut” doesn’t have a hard start and stop. I had bulls literally screaming 24/7 last year in Idaho third week of October. I also have heard them go ballistic the first week of September. There is no major week or two it’s a sure thing. Everyone wants a screaming bull myself included but sometimes it doesn’t go that way. Find the best two weeks that works for you and get out there. Just remember it only takes one. Hunt hard and have fun!

 

[Idahunt97]

Central Idaho in my experience elk start bugling a lot and getting real fired up anywhere from the 10th to around the 20th and on. I don’t like chasing silent elk so I personally would prefer to be out there middle 2 weeks or later. Hard to have to leave when you can still hunt and are hearing elk. I think they are the most kill-able in the first couple days that they start the rut. They don’t have as large of a cow harem at that point but are looking to add cows. Just two cents from a far from professional elk chaser. (Sep 13-28 would be my choice in your situation)


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[elkguide]

Third week of September is always my favorite.

 

[shootnrun]

Depends on the hunt you want. I love being in the woods sept 15-25th. That seems to be when I get the most crazy bugling rutfest scenarios. But I've never archery killed an elk after sept 14th.. 7 on the 14th or earlier. The rut fests are fun and the action can be intense. But they also attract other hunters when they are making all that noise, and, plainly, they dont really seem to care about the calls you're making either. Hard to grab anyones attention when everyone is screaming. Earlier season bulls are easier to kill, IMO. Before they are all really herded up. And the satellites come in to cow calls fairly easy. If you're looking at any bull and have 2 weeks, I'd shoot for the 5th-ish to the 20th.

 

[Fullfan]

I get to spend 3 Weeks in Idaho every Sept, this year it will be the entire month. As mentioned, you never know what or when it will happen. The warm early season can be a tough go, but bulls are very receptive to calls. I would rather just try and beat one nose and one set of eyes, than 30 noses and 60 eyes.

 

[bz_711]

Personally I would always lean on going later in Sept vs. earlier.

Good Luck!

 

[Indian Summer]

Why only the first 2 or the last 2? I’d go with the middle 2. 7th to the 27th.

 

[Harvey_NW]

For archery I prefer as early as possible, you can usually at least coax a satellite bull in if you know how to use a diaphragm or reed like an EZ-Estrus from Phelps Game Calls to sound sleezy. I also like to bugle and interact, most of the time early mornings you can get a response to a locate bugle to let you know if there's any bulls in a drainage.

Rifle I would definitely go middle or later season when they're really cranking and the bigger bulls have their harems established, they're usually easier to locate during that time and give away their location a lot.

Have a plan for the packout, there's obviously a significant size and work load difference.

Give it 110% and take a second to enjoy the small things. There's no place I'd rather be than in the elk woods in September.

Good luck!

 

[Jason Snyder]

Aren’t you retired? If so, hunt the entire season.

 

[taskswap]

It's an art more than a science. There are guys who swear by rut hunts, and guys who like Rifle 1 as being "just post rut enough to have stragglers but you usually aren't hip-deep in snow yet". I have a buddy who is a wildlife biologist who swears up and down by 3rd/4th season cow hunts, and he's taken 7 elk in 7 years so...

The elk are out there. So are other hunters. There's no silver bullet here and what works for another hunter may leave you eating tag soup. You won't know it til you get out there and give it a go. Best advice is probably to focus on a time frame that works best for you and has the type of weather you'd enjoy, then study and reflect over the next 2-3 years repeating that process as you dial in your strategies.

When you're elk hunting you need to be VERY realistic about your objectives. I don't know the Idaho stats, but the last time I checked, here in Colorado (which has the largest elk herd in the world) for "all seasons, all manners of take" the average is like 22%. That means if you're an average hunter (and while you've hunted other things, you haven't hunted elk yet, so...) you should hope to take 1 elk every 5 years. There are some hunters who take (or claim to take - these guys fish too ) an animal every year but if you start with that as your goal it can be a frustrating ride.

IMNSHO the single best thing you can do is to treat an elk hunt like a backpacking trip through some of the most beautiful country in the world, with the bonus of being able to shoot and eat some of the best game meat money can't buy, if you get lucky and work hard.

Put another way: it doesn't matter. Embrace the suck and get after 'em. They're up there. You just need to get up there too.

 

[Marble]

I have my preferred times to hunt in September, but besides those preferred dates, when weather comes in, it seems to make the elk get all worked up and want to die. So I'll choose the dates that work with my schedule and my desires, but if I see a weather shift coming in, I'll do what I can to be there.

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[TradLife406]

For archery? I always like the first two weeks.
The big herd bulls are still rolling solo. It may be a little slower but it's always been easier to call bulls in.

Most people wasn't crazy rut fests. But it's harder to call bulls in with that much chaos.