Unit 27 late rifle compared to early archery...

[bigorange]

Looking at late rifle hunts this year with some buddies who don't bowhunt...aside from the obvious differences involving rut vs post-rut, lack of bugling, etc how are the hunts different? Are the elk generally in the same areas or have they moved during the late rifle hunt? I know it's a very different hunt, but just wondering if the same areas that I'm familiar with for Sept hunting would hold elk later...

 

Thanks!

[Alpinebullwinkle]

It used to be that if you wanted to hunt something more than spike meat (larger horns) you had to at least get into the more remote areas at the rim and below. Even though the last few years post fire things have changed a bit where a greater percentage of elk are higher (maybe both weather and feed related) you generally need to get remote to hunt the better quality bulls. This means more effort but still can be rewarding. I only heard of one bull +380 being harvested this November/December late gun hunt. What did others hear?

[bigorange]

Thanks. Half our group are new to elk hunting, so we'll be leaning more toward meat and looking for volume of elk vs trophies.

[Elkhunter1]

Bradley you also need to keep in mind the weather differences, you might get into snow!

[kwp]

It depends a lot on the weather. This year, it was warm and the majority of elk were still up high. Road hunters were slaughtering small bulls up in the burn. I'll be interested to see what the success rate was for the late hunt, surely quite high. An early winter will push the elk down to the lower country.

[Snapshot]

The mature bulls usually migrate off the top before the late rifle hunt begins. Of coarse there are exceptions. In 2009 I had a November archery bull permit for unit 27. Even though I did not harvest an elk, I learned alot about the elk movement at that time of year. One day I saw 18 mature bulls in some drainages coming off the rim in some rugged country. The next day they were all gone and on their way to lower country.I could not keep up witht the elk movement, and by the time I got it somewhat figured out....the hunt was over.