Quiet in CO 54

[Kootenay Hunter]

most ruts are governed by day light hours, not temps, although it can play a bit of a factor.

A study (can't remember the link) tried to correlate the deer rut to moon phases, temps, etc, found out that it always seemed to happen within a day or two on each end, same time every year, regardless of many factors.

Anyways, feel your pain, the primary elk rut in SE BC seems to happen first week of Sept, sometimes into second week.

 

[rtaylor]

Hunted 56 and 561 for a week and never heard or saw a bull elk. I saw 2 cows running while I drove in the first day and not another one after that.

 

[apkleinschmidt]

Had two decent encounters over 4 days in 54 but they're pretty quiet. Haven't heard a single unsolicited bugle. Very little fresh sign and we've been putting in some miles.

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[SPARKY418]

Hunted, I mean hiked 78 for the first 2 weeks and didn’t have much action. Bumped into a few cows in the dark timber. Hot temps and full moon didn’t do us any favors.


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[5MilesBack]

I always wonder if the bulls are actually tight lipped, or the hunter just hasn’t found the Elk.

I wasn't in 54, but I saw elk every day. They were pretty darn quiet this year. And this also raises an observation I had a few years ago as well. I hunted for three weeks this year, on elk every day at some point, and I didn't see even a single fresh pile or droppings the entire season.......not a one. That's pretty much par for me most every season. Plenty of fresh tracks, elk sightings, on large herds, bull down even, and nothing for fresh crap. Kind of odd.

The herd bulls finally started responding and lighting it up this past week on Wednesday, but there just wasn't as many of them or elk in general in my area this year. I'll generally see three dozen+ raghorns, 15-20 herd type bulls, and hundreds of cows over a season in there. Only found two herd bulls in there this year.

 

[Ranger185]

Finally found them on Day 4 and 5. Worked with in the morn and evening times trying to get them to come in. Couldn't close the deal. Made a move in on them at the end of Day 5 but they either went quiet or left. Fun calling, too bad I couldn't close.

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