September first Vs mid October

[BCraghorn]

Hey guys, new elk hunter here going for archery open first week of September this year. ill be hunting a large grass land type area with rolling hills and clusters of trees surrounded closely by large mountains ( steep rocky alpine ). i was in the unit last fall around mid/late october and these elk were all over the grasslands and appeared to be bedding up on the mountain side. For a september first hunt would you guys prioritize those same mountain sides and maybe expect them to just be higher up or do you think this is an area they come into to rut and are deeper over ridges and into other drainages until later season? grass lands at the toe of this mountain are mostly public but some large chuncks of private with cattle at large all over.

cheers

 

[midwestcowboy]

Welcome to Rokslide.

Lotta factors involved. imo a lot of this depends on weather, whether they are up high in the mountains or grazing in the lowlands.

Good luck this year. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Bowhuntone]

Hunting is like science you make a lot of hypotheses and then try to prove them right or wrong. Elk need food, water, cover, and breeding and depending on what time of year and pressure changes what is most important. Go look and if you aren’t finding animals then move till you do. Also if seeing animals try to take notes on elevation , which way hillside faces, cover, bulls with cows ect and then can use that info to look for similar situations if they get bumped. Good u know keep pushing till you are successful.

 

[Idahunt97]

Like bowhuntone said, it varies year to year, day to day, hour to hour. Having the knowledge from previous year is awesome, use that info to formulate a plan for your first trip in, but read the sign and what the elk are telling you. If they aren’t there, don’t go looking for them there. Find fresh sign and you’ll find elk. Don’t get caught in the “they were here yesteryear” mindset or you’ll end up like the 80 of elk hunters that come out unsuccessful. Put a few miles on the boots and the elk will tell you where they are and are not. Good luck out there!


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[BCraghorn]

awesome thanks for the tips guys, headed out tuesday wednesday to get boots on the ground. If i see no sign ill start going deeper