What time do you come off the mountain durning archery elk hunting?

[Colby3]

We are discussing staying on the mountain till end of shooting light. Our concern is being a NR and never set foot in the area we are archery Elk hunting is safety. We have packed a elk out in the dark and it wasn't fun not being on a trail. Our plan is to get to a spot within a hour of a trail lower on the mountain for the evening hunt. More of a ambush set up. We will be in central Colorado this year 11,000 feet max, camp at 9200. We have always been back at camp while it was still light enough to see and feel we are missing out on prime hunting.

 

[BigAntlerGetter]

My favorite archery time to hunt is the mid day hunt, i use the evening to get to a point near camp typically but to glass around to make plans for my morning hunt. If that’s not possible then I will hunt the evening but it never seems as productive to me, although I have harvested in the evening every time I did or had opportunity the elk were headed down mountain anyways which gave me a chance to be closer to camp. I hate trying to process and pack out an animal at night unless there is a full moon, but it does happen.


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[pumaa7]

Doing yourself a disservice by not hunting all the prime hours. Make sure you have a backup headlamp and hunt until there is no more shooting light

 

[hiker270]

Most days I stay on the mountain till dark during elk season. I feel the last hour of daylight will be the most productive. Have managed to kill 2 bulls with just a few minutes of shooting time left. My hunting pardner and I went to work and had the meat in meat bags and hung in trees in not much more than and hour. We are both experienced butchers. Packed the meat out the following morning.

 

[MallardSX2]

I rarely see my camp in daylight hours if that means anything. lol

 

[Jbehredt]

If it’s been a quiet day I have to force myself not to “hunt“ back to camp before dark. If we’re optimistic going into the evening hunt I’ll stumble back to camp by headlamp. Even though I know for a fact there’s something trying to eat me in every shadow!

 

[Paul_E_Hunter]

I'm a NR hunting in CO, I hunt until dark. It might be a little uncomfortable but so is climbing all those hills/mountains/etc. I thoroughly enjoy being able to wander many acres of NF land.

 

[5MilesBack]

I love evening elk hunts. I hunt until dark.

 

[Ten Bears]

you’ve done all this planning, effort, time, money, and work to get this far.

hunt every second you can, especially the part you know they’ll be moving around.

it’s just darkness…

 

[mpb21]

Hunt dark to dark if ya can, September goes by too quickly to waste time. Carry a sleeping bag, sleeping pad and tarp if you find yourself unable to get out safely so you can just sleep on the mountain where you are.

 

[Blackdog317]

We hunt till dark. A good headlamp (and a backup in the pack) is a must. OnX is also very helpful.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

Unless your camp is close to where you know there are elk, camp is the last place I would be during shooting light.

We kill a pretty a pretty good chunk of our bulls in the last hour of light. I can’t even remember how many close calls we have had in the evening where we just didn’t get the bull killed for one reason or another. I have also passed shots on several bulls due to not enuff light left.

It’s a pretty good time to be out hunting.

 

[LongWayAround]

Call me soft but I'm glassing from somewhere that's hopefully an easy hike back to camp. I don't love hiking out in the dark and I want to have dinner and get some sleep.

My game plan is typically to be out of camp well before daylight and hopefully make a move on something. I'll hunt all day unless I'm changing locations at midday. In the evening, I'm trying to come up with a plan for tomorrow.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

I don’t see being a resident or non resident factoring into the equation in anyway.

On archery hunts with bugling bulls I am always getting into new places I have never been.

Some of the coolest places I have found are from following a bugling bull into some s*#t hole I haven’t been in before.

Get a really good headlamp, download hunt onx to your phone, download the hunt maps of your area on hunt onx so you can use the offline mode.

You can use the satellite imagery to plan your off trail hikes in the dark through better areas.

I always like to figure killing them is the hardest part.

If you feel it is too dangerous for you to hike out to the trail in the dark, don’t pack a load of meat out the night you kill it. Get all the meat hung in the trees or off a meat pile, and be there at first light to start shuttling the meat down to the trail.

 

[WyoBowhunter21]

If I am in non-grizz country I usually get to camp around 9/10 pm. Depending on how far I am on the mountain. In grizz country, I don't leave before daylight and I come out before dark. I don't hunt much in grizz country currently. I will be if we move to Cody though.

 

[Dos Perros]

Archery season is a real grind with the days being so long. One reason I prefer to hunt later in the month. For example, just using Billings MT, Sept 1 is 14 hours 20 minutes long, while Sept 30 is 12 hours 46 minutes long. So late September you get an extra 1.5 hours of sleep....but I digress.

I have found early September bulls by being in the zone till last shooting light. Sometimes they pipe off with just a few minutes of light left, and then you can get on them in the morning. For that reason, you just have to be in the zone as long as you can, even if that means a long hike in the dark. Obviously take any safety precautions you need to....avoid cliffy traverses, rougher creek crossings, stuff like that, but if you're not out there till last light you're missing bulls.

 

[87TT]

Being retired and living in my zone that I hunt, I can hunt the whole month so depending on the elk, I may be out to the rig at dark or not. But I can guarantee that if I didn’t, I would never be back before dark. When I camp out to hunt I’m never back before dark. Meals are premade, heat eat and go to bed. Up before light and in the woods.
Oh, and I shot my first bull with minutes or less until dark.

 

[wyogoat]

I’ve shot (or should have shot) a lot of bulls at midday. 1:30 is a pretty good time to be in the woods so my thought is you don’t come out until dark. My opportunities greatly increased when I started staying out all day about 12 years ago. Take a book. It helps.

 

[CobraChicken]

Hunt till dark. I will not be skipping out on shooting hours.

I hunt with camp on the back though so it makes it easier imo. One less thing to worry about finding camp.

 

[D.p.ballard]

Hunt till dark, think of all you have invested into the trip: training, gear, time away from family and work. But that being said if you do not have the skill or confidence to safety make it back to camp then you have to call it, safety first.

When it comes to being ready for anything the mountain throws at you remember one is none and two is two.


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