Percent of Elk Killed - mornings or afternoon?

[Jason Snyder]

I don't keep any notes, but I would hazard a guess I am about 60/40. Of my two biggest bulls, one was 800 AM and the other was 230 PM.

 

[njdoxie]

Good thread...Very strange....I hunt morning and evening hard and less during mid-day and all my elk have been killed in the evening, mostly within 15 minutes of dark.....not a single one in the morning, as a consequence, I've started sleeping in some mornings especially after a hard day. Until this year, I've never even seen a bull in the am. I used to hunt archery and 1st rifle CO, now I mostly hunt 2nd rifle. I would DEFINITELY prefer a morning kill so I have daylight to process it, but never seems to happen.

Would like to see this broken out by weapon/season also to see if there are any trends amongst archers or gun hunters or seasons.

 

[Frito]

I've only killed 2 elk.
First one was at first light. Second was about 3:30 in the afternoon.
I hunt the hardest in the morning and evening.

 

[Osprey]

I used to hunt 1st rifle CO, now I mostly hunt 2nd rifle.

Would like to see this broken out by weapon/season also to see if there are any trends amongst archers or gun hunters or seasons.

I used to hunt 1st in CO and now hunt 3rd my experience in evenings has been great I haven't archery hunted though. I would also be interested in seeing season breakdown. I imagine a lot of the 90%+ morning ones are calling Elk in Archery.

 

[avluey]

Rifle--mornings. Archery--noon to 4pm.

Same experience for me in Wyoming over 6 seasons.

My father in law and the other old timers I hunt with only rifle hunt and are usually heading back in to camp about an hour before last shooting light...it frustrates me as that's when I've had the best results in my far smaller sample size. I started going after them with the bow the last two seasons and got my first chance at a nice 6x6 this year with about 10 minutes of shooting light left (punched the trigger and hit him in the back straps unfortunately). For the elk I've killed (all with rifle): 1 bull with 20 minutes of light left, 1 bull around 10am, 1 cow around noon-1pm. I've also missed a rifle shot on a bull around 4pm, and had three close encounters with bulls where I didn't get a shot with the bow two between 9-11 am and one around 4pm. I've heard roughly the same amount of bugling in the mornings and evenings and started focusing more on them in the evenings as my general plan has been to locate through bugling and then try to get set up on them and challenge call them out of the timber before I run out of light. I think to be more effective I'll need to have more confidence moving on them quickly after locating in the mornings.

 

[Josh Kuntz]

I have killed 10 elk and unfortunately wounded a few others I did not recover. I am at about 80-90% in the morning, one in the mid afternoon and one about an hour before dark. Of the morning kills, about 50% of those were within the first hour of daylight.

For reference, about 75% of my results are archery hunting , 25% rifle hunting.

 

[belly-deep]

I'm about 50/50 on post-rut elk in AM vs PM.

I prefer the PM, as it seems easier to intercept elk then. Of course, the downside is you run out of daylight. But it seems to me like elk come out much earlier in the afternoon than mule deer do. I've onmoly killed one mule deer in the evening.

 

[Bar]

I don't want to be skinning and hauling out in the dark. I never hunt past 1pm. So, i'm 100% early kills.

 

[DEHusker]

This is an interesting thread to me. I love hunting in the morning if for the simple fact that I would theoretically be able skin/quarter/start hauling out in the light of day. However, for some reason, I have only shot elk in the last hour of daylight (all archery). I think it has something to do with knowing where they are and being able to get close to them without spooking them as they come out from their bedding areas. I agree that the thermals in the morning are more predictable but when they shift in the evening they are pretty predictable too. I haven't shot a ton of elk but those that I've shot have been in the late evening. I never have any luck even seeing much at midday. I have seen plenty in the morning and gotten close but have never sealed the deal. Never shot one with a rifle.

 

[yhudson]

I don't want to be skinning and hauling out in the dark. I never hunt past 1pm. So, i'm 100% early kills.

Haha... I agree it's less convenient to quarter and pack an elk out in the dark. But it's also not real convenient to do the same in inclement weather. What happens if you shoot an animal at 10am, and end up tracking it for several hours?

You're losing some prime hunting hours.