Which week for Montana General Elk?

[Rifleman86]

I lucked out and snagged a Montana General Elk combo leftover tag. I’ll be coming from Ohio hunting SW Montana for rifle season. I’ve been planning on trying to get out two days before the opener (Oct 24), scout, hike a ways in and set up camp, and use the opening day pressure to my advantage. My goal is to simply kill an elk this year. I’ve got a total of 10 days actually hunting, not including scouting. I’ve got several areas e scouted so if I have no success seeing animals the first 3 days the plan is go somewhere else.

Question is does this seem like a solid plan, or should I just wait another week or two and let the opening season madness quiet down some? I’ve accepted the fact opening weekend might be a bit of a zoo, but I figure more elk are killed that weekend than any other time, and if I don’t tag out I’ll probably have some solitude later in the week regardless.

Thanks!

Appreciate any and all advice.

 

[Gumbo]

Honestly your plan sounds about the same as every other rifle elk hunter. It can be a great one or a bust. A lot of it will be factors out of your control...weather, where pressure is, where the elk actually are, and where they go. The biggest factors to your success are time (which you have) and working hard. Just keep after it and remain positive. If there don't seem to be elk where you are then move, but remember that moving takes time away from hunting too, and the second you move the elk could end up exactly where you were.

Good luck!

 

[Rifleman86]

Honestly your plan sounds about the same as every other rifle elk hunter. It can be a great one or a bust. A lot of it will be factors out of your control...weather, where pressure is, where the elk actually are, and where they go. The biggest factors to your success are time (which you have) and working hard. Just keep after it and remain positive. If there don't seem to be elk where you are then move, but remember that moving takes time away from hunting too, and the second you move the elk could end up exactly where you were.

Good luck!

Yeah I figured that’s what most people’s plan is... hence my hesitation. That’s why I’m considering giving it a week or two and let things calm down.

That said I think that opening morning might be worth it alone with a day or two of scouting... Elk are in their normal patterns, and there are more of them alive and available than any other time in the season.

We’ll see, I’m used to the craziness of Ohio public land opening mornings, so I imagine 3-4 miles back in MT will seem tame by comparison.

 

[a_noob_hunter]

I have the same tag but am gonna be out for archery. If I don't tag out during archery then I'll go back for rifle. I'm also from Ohio and we are looking at sw Montana for archery but I don't know if I can get out there and scout before and see where the elk are for rifle. If you can find elk when scouting you should have a good odds if they don't move for opening morning

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[goodgrouper]

I like your plan man. it may be similar to a lot of guys on this site but it's completely different than the 95% of hunters that will be pushing elk your way opening week.

 

[Gumbo]

Yeah I figured that’s what most people’s plan is... hence my hesitation. That’s why I’m considering giving it a week or two and let things calm down.

That said I think that opening morning might be worth it alone with a day or two of scouting... Elk are in their normal patterns, and there are more of them alive and available than any other time in the season.

We’ll see, I’m used to the craziness of Ohio public land opening mornings, so I imagine 3-4 miles back in MT will seem tame by comparison.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good strategy and I wouldn't hesitate to be out there opening weekend at all. The important thing is just to be out there and keep after it. Unfortunately a lot of that strategy simply comes down to luck and being in the right place at the right time because it is hard to predict where a balled up wad of cows will end up. For example, I took a friend on his first antelope hunt (first big game hunt actually) on the elk opener a few years ago. We were glassing and watched the shit show in a relatively open mountain range in SW MT from a vista about 3 miles away from the nearest tree. The thinly wooded ridges had hunters everywhere at first light, but shots were rarely heard, even though the range holds a lot of elk. We watched a few small herds get pushed out of the mountains and ball up together (never underestimate the gravitational pull of an elk herd on other elk). They bailed out of the mountains and headed straight out into antelope country where we were. My buddy ended up shooting a cow out in no man's land where there were no hunters. The movement was absolutely unpredictable, it was like watching the ball in a pinball machine) and the hunters on those ridges were totally out of the game for the most part. Last year I took another guy after an elk in the same area. We glassed opening day in the same spot essentially and watched the elk wad up again, and a couple guys on the ridges got lucky and were in the right spot to shoot a couple cows before they bailed over the ridge into Idaho. Essentially success hinged on luck in both those circumstances...but the few who connected were out there, which is the only prerequisite for success.

I have a couple friends who are rifle elk 10%ers and they employ far different tactics, and usually put mature bulls down every year, if not a defintely a cow or two. I'm definitely not a general season rifle hunter, I hunt almost exclusively with archery gear which is a totally different game, so I won't pretend to have rifle hunting figured out. But from what I know I think if you really want higher odds of success you should wait for snow.

And elk won't be in normal patterns on opening day. They know what is coming by the influx of people in the mountains.