Hunt Season Opener or wait a few days for pressure to ease

[matechakeric]

do you prefer to be there for the 1st day of the season and try to be the first on the mountain or do you like to start a few days after (assuming the season isn't only 5 days long) to let a lot of that initial pressure ease off from other hunters?

The unit I am looking at if we draw this year has a start date of Sep 26 (great tail-end of rut timeline) and goes all the way until the end of Oct. The issue is there's a general deer rifle season that goes from Sep 15 to Oct 6.

With both deer and elk general tag holders in the woods, I'm afraid the pressure will be enormous on that opening few days in September. I know that is likely peak rut but I also think if we wait til Oct4-Oct 5 which is a Tuesday-Wednesday (to reduce impact from weekend warriors), a lot of that pressure both from the start of elk rifle and the ending of deer rifle will wane and we still may catch the tail end of the elk rut.

The unit has about 90% public land with about 30% designated wilderness I cannot hunt but the whole unit looks like strong elk habitat. All FS and a ton of drainages and mountain landscapes. More than likely we will be backpack hunting as much of the unit is roadless.

 

[Stocker]

Lots of variables. I guess if it’s a unit that has a lot of tags, only a few areas with elk, and not a lot of public, you better get in and go ahead of the orange army. If it’s a unit that generally has less pressure, then it’s not as important.

 

[matechakeric]

Lots of variables. I guess if it’s a unit that has a lot of tags, only a few areas with elk, and not a lot of public, you better get in and go ahead of the orange army. If it’s a unit that generally has less pressure, then it’s not as important.

The unit I am looking at if we draw this year has a start date of Sep 26 (great tail-end of rut timeline) and goes all the way until the end of Oct. The issue is there's a general deer rifle season that goes from Sep 15 to Oct 6.

With both deer and elk general tag holders in the woods, I'm afraid the pressure will be enormous on that opening few days in September. I know that is likely peak rut but I also think if we wait til Oct4-Oct 5 which is a Tuesday-Wednesday (to reduce impact from weekend warriors), a lot of that pressure both from the start of elk rifle and the ending of deer rifle will wane and we still may catch the tail end of the elk rut.

The unit has about 90% public land with about 30% designated wilderness I cannot hunt but the whole unit looks like strong elk habitat. All FS and a ton of drainages and mountain landscapes. More than likely we will be backpack hunting as much of the unit is roadless.

 

[Stocker]

The unit I am looking at if we draw this year has a start date of Sep 26 (great tail-end of rut timeline) and goes all the way until the end of Oct. The issue is there's a general deer rifle season that goes from Sep 15 to Oct 6.

With both deer and elk general tag holders in the woods, I'm afraid the pressure will be enormous on that opening few days in September. I know that is likely peak rut but I also think if we wait til Oct4-Oct 5 which is a Tuesday-Wednesday (to reduce impact from weekend warriors), a lot of that pressure both from the start of elk rifle and the ending of deer rifle will wane and we still may catch the tail end of the elk rut.

The unit has about 90% public land with about 30% designated wilderness I cannot hunt but the whole unit looks like strong elk habitat. All FS and a ton of drainages and mountain landscapes. More than likely we will be backpack hunting as much of the unit is roadless.

In that situation I wouldn’t be concerned about being out early. The upside is those early hunters will most likely concentrate the elk in the hard to reach places that they dont want to hike into or pack an elk out of. Good luck!

 

[ccc23454]

The unit I am looking at if we draw this year has a start date of Sep 26 (great tail-end of rut timeline) and goes all the way until the end of Oct. The issue is there's a general deer rifle season that goes from Sep 15 to Oct 6.

With both deer and elk general tag holders in the woods, I'm afraid the pressure will be enormous on that opening few days in September. I know that is likely peak rut but I also think if we wait til Oct4-Oct 5 which is a Tuesday-Wednesday (to reduce impact from weekend warriors), a lot of that pressure both from the start of elk rifle and the ending of deer rifle will wane and we still may catch the tail end of the elk rut.

The unit has about 90% public land with about 30% designated wilderness I cannot hunt but the whole unit looks like strong elk habitat. All FS and a ton of drainages and mountain landscapes. More than likely we will be backpack hunting as much of the unit is roadless.

The hoback is a shit show opening week, also know that average bulls are smallest in state. Its a quanity not quality area. Deer hunters aint big issue they are up higher, for good experiance i would reccomend you pic different areas that opens later.

 

[nrpate05]

I assume you are talking about Wyoming. Opening weekend can certainly be pretty nutty. I've hunted bugling bulls in the last week of October in Northwest WY on a general tag, but it was pretty far back on the border of a Wilderness area. I think it was the last weekend of the season so pressure was pretty light.

 

[BillDoe708]

Could be all the hunters "show" you where to hunt by seeing where they hunt.

 

[Hockaday2017]

I think it really depends. I wouldn't have killed my bull this year if I wouldn't have been there opening morning.

 

[thusby]

Always hunt opener if you can, always.

 

[WestrnHunter270]

I like to try to hit it hard the first few days because pressure can completely move them out of the area sometimes.

 

[JLS]

I’d go whenever I could spend the most time.