Elk late rut

[June]

hello - ok now what year did they start the early rifle hunts ? - the whole idea -In my opinion was back then archers were enjoying the best hunting during the rut!! And takin monster bulls - most of the big wigs at g$f weren't into archery - thus they implamented these trophy hunts - I may be wrong but thats how I remember it goin!! Gary

 

I may be mistaken but a couple of years back wasn't there a youth rifle hunt in 27 also? The week right before the Archery hunt started. That really messed things up.. On my hunt last year in 1. They were off and on. But not intense. They really hit it at the end. The rifle Guy's cleaned up. But I still felt very fortunate. Peace

[bonecollector]

I was in 6A west for opening archery weekend. Hardly heard any bugling except for the hunters.

 

From what I heard, some were able to call a couple in, but not close enough to get a shot, when my buddy and I called, there seemed to be no interest.

 

If you kicked them up, they were barely vocal while moving, and if they bedded down, call all you want, they didn't care.

 

After everyone telling me what a kick it is to be hunting during the rut, I didn't experience this on my hunt. Got lucky on day #2, so don't know if things improved up there or not as the hunt went on.

I helped a friend over the weekend in 6a west and they were pretty mute. I left on Sunday and they were still up there till the end of the hunt on thursday they were still mute and hiding in the canyons.

[ultramag]

It would help if everyone left the bugle calls at home. Nothing says, "Here come the hunters", like a few dozen road bugles on opening morning.

so much truth to that its unreal. I cant belive the guys that call non stop you think they would get the clue.

[ultramag]

I could be wrong so correct me. We had the coolest june on record followed by the hottest july and like the 3rd driest monsoon on record, august was extemaly hot and dry. all of this plays a part in the rut. WEATHER is everything in my opinion when it comes to elk rutting..I would like to see a wet moonson followed by a break in the heat come sept. then I think the rut will be good.

The best rut hunt I have seen have been 03-04 and we had a good monsoon and a cool down in sept.

[catclaw]

I don't have the answer but I agree it was tough. I spent 9-8 though 9-23 in unit 27 and it was cold and rainy most of the hunt- we got snow twice! The rut NEVER did pick up; it was worse on Thursday the 24th than it was the week before. I have never had to hunt so hard to find bulls. They were nocturnal in spite of almost NO moon. I watched a 370 class bull breed a cow about midway through the hunt and there were no satellite bulls to be found. Very, very strange hunt. There was plenty of water in 27 and it made no difference. Bulls wallowed at night and shut up during the day. There were bears and turkeys everywhere. We saw two lions to boot.

 

The dates are not changing- the second Friday is going to shift with each calendar but it returns in a cycle. I don't think the rifle/muzzleloader guys are going to fare much better unless the moon phase changes things.

[Redman]

Here is a list of archery elk season start dates poached from another hunting site. Looks like the start date has shifted from the 3rd Friday to the 2nd Friday of September.

 

1995 9-15

1996 9-13

1997 9-12

1998 9-18

1999 9-17

2000 9-15

2001 9-14

2002 9-13

2003 9-12 one of the best ruts

2004 9-17

2005 9-16

2006 9-22

2007 9-14

2008 9-12

2009 9-11

 

 

2010 9-10 is when the hunt will start next year. When the bulls are not bugleing or responding to calls, the Sept hunt is like the Nov archery hunt...

[cbryant11]

Here is a list of archery elk season start dates poached from another hunting site. Looks like the start date has shifted from the 3rd Friday to the 2nd Friday of September.

 

1995 9-15

1996 9-13

1997 9-12

1998 9-18

1999 9-17

2000 9-15

2001 9-14

2002 9-13

2003 9-12 one of the best ruts

2004 9-17

2005 9-16

2006 9-22

2007 9-14

2008 9-12

2009 9-11

 

 

2010 9-10 is when the hunt will start next year. When the bulls are not bugleing or responding to calls, the Sept hunt is like the Nov archery hunt...

 

I still dont think its as bad as a november hunt at least they may bugle once ,,,,,but i have heard them scream there heads off in november so ,,,, you may be right

[coueshunter84]

We were up in 5a... Had the darndest time figureing things out.. Ever bull in the country was talking the whole hunt. We had bugles morning and evening. Every bull had 3-4 cows and seemed content with those numbers. The cows would stray away from the bulls for sometimes upto an hour or more, with the bulls showing no interests at all as to their where abouts. And they wanted nothing at all to do with anything getting close to them. A sattelite ( there were only 3-4 in the area without at least one cow and mostly raghorns and spikes) would bugle and they would run. We would cow call and they would run. We would bugle and they would reply until we hit the 2-300 yard range and then they would turn tail. There were keeping a 2-300 yard bufferzone between themselves and every other elk out there. We tried every trick in the book we could think of, and ended up filling one tag out of 3 with a raghorn 5x5. Stuck in his bed about noon on the 20th. was definately a learning experience. They were watering early in the am before dawn and again after dark. Nothing hitting waterholes during daylight hours. Got to love it.

[June]

I don't have the answer but I agree it was tough. I spent 9-8 though 9-23 in unit 27 and it was cold and rainy most of the hunt- we got snow twice! The rut NEVER did pick up; it was worse on Thursday the 24th than it was the week before. I have never had to hunt so hard to find bulls. They were nocturnal in spite of almost NO moon. I watched a 370 class bull breed a cow about midway through the hunt and there were no satellite bulls to be found. Very, very strange hunt. There was plenty of water in 27 and it made no difference. Bulls wallowed at night and shut up during the day. There were bears and turkeys everywhere. We saw two lions to boot.

 

The dates are not changing- the second Friday is going to shift with each calendar but it returns in a cycle. I don't think the rifle/muzzleloader guys are going to fare much better unless the moon phase changes things.

Ha, Ha,,Ha were your filming the 370? A side note . what's the definition of the rut? Cold/ breeding? I think you are pulling our leg. Peace

[ultramag]

I don't have the answer but I agree it was tough. I spent 9-8 though 9-23 in unit 27 and it was cold and rainy most of the hunt- we got snow twice! The rut NEVER did pick up; it was worse on Thursday the 24th than it was the week before. I have never had to hunt so hard to find bulls. They were nocturnal in spite of almost NO moon. I watched a 370 class bull breed a cow about midway through the hunt and there were no satellite bulls to be found. Very, very strange hunt. There was plenty of water in 27 and it made no difference. Bulls wallowed at night and shut up during the day. There were bears and turkeys everywhere. We saw two lions to boot.

 

The dates are not changing- the second Friday is going to shift with each calendar but it returns in a cycle. I don't think the rifle/muzzleloader guys are going to fare much better unless the moon phase changes things.

snow????

[catclaw]

It snowed twice, once, my buddy had an inch on him while sitting in a tree stand waiting for the 370 from the night before. The wind was bad and he wasn't boogered so we figured to set up on him the next night. No dice! There was an inch on the road at Hannagan Meadows and a little less than that in our camp (9200') It was 36 inside the trailer when I got up on the morning of the 23rd. Strange 2 weeks.

 

When they are rutting hard, they are screaming their heads off, smaller bulls are cutting in, bulls are running after cows to keep them in line. I saw this last year but not a trace of it this year. Sure, they are rutting, but it never became the frantic scramble that makes this hunt so enjoyable! A rifle would have resulted in an early kill in our case, but would not have made the hunt any more enjoyable!

[AZwest16]

Just fyi for those who don't know the game and fish don't look at the calender and pick out which Friday of Sepetember would be the best time to start the hunt. It's based off of a certain week from the beggning of the year. Game and Fish will always start the archery elk hunt on this same week. It just happens that once every 4 or 5 years the hunt reset's to earlier Friday in the month. The reason for this is because there are several other hunts stacked up behind the archery deer and elk hunt that won't allow them to move it back a week.

[joeybari]

I guess the same question should be asked for the next hunt after the bow hunt