Montana late season archery?

[Riplip]

One of the things I love about the MT General tag as a NR is the generous season length. Assuming I draw a tag wont be able to hunt until later in the archery season. Right now it looks like the 1st week of October. Any thoughts and feedback for hunting this late? I know every year is a bit different but are the bulls generally pretty cowed up by this time? Tougher to approach, call? This will in the Central part of the state. Appreciate any thoughts.

 

[JLS]

I've seen Yellowstone Parkesque rutfests during early October in central MT. Don't expect bulls to leave a hot cow.

The best time to go hunting is when you can go hunting. Good luck.

 

[Carnage2011]

I like early October for bow hunting. It seems like most hunters have cashed it in until rifle season, and the elk can still be very vocal and huntable. I think you'd have a great hunt in early October. The weather may be a little colder, but that changes year to year.

 

[kingderek]

I’ve had a ton of fun during that period.

 

[el unit]

Lots of elk action in the SW part of the state at that time.

 

[Coop]

Some of the best rut action I saw last year in central MT was in the beginning of October. Missed a nice 6x6 that was all bent out of shape second week of October, although they were pretty settled down by then.

 

[sneakypete]

I had bulls bugling last year the first week of November!

 

[----]

I'm as far from an expert on elk and archery as there is, but I used to love hunting that first week of October.

Weather was cooler, elk were more visible, and from my experience very vocal. The one issue I had was they tended to be herded up a lot, so getting a herd bull to leave a harem of cows was a challenge.

I have noticed that that week seems to be getting more popular the last couple years. I had an antelope camp set up in SW MT last year from October 6-10, and of the 6 other camps in the drainage 5 were still chasing elk. That was surprising to me.

 

[Coop]

And for me, hunting right before or after some weather seemed to be the key. Not much action during rain/snow but right before and right after was normally on fire.

 

[Southern Elk]

Things seem to be a little less crowded during that time of year. Go for it.

 

[CampRipleyLF]

Not a bad time to be chasing bulls..... Well really their isn't any bad time to chase bulls!

 

[Ridge Ghost]

I had good action last year first week of October. Great time to hear lots of bugles. As others have mentioned above though, they can get bunched up into large herds and it can be hard to get in on the bigger bulls. There are just so many eyes looking around and the bulls won't leave a hot cow for anything.

 

[Riplip]

Thanks for the responses, and yes I agree anytime is a good time to be in the elk woods! As confirmed in some of the posts above, my only concern is being able to target larger her bulls that late.

 

[Pagosa]

When I bow hunted I always had good luck around September 10-13. I usually tried to hunt hard those days, if I wasn’t working. It seem the bulls were still gathering cows and fighting off other bulls, and may have smaller cow/calf groups to deal with. It seems in Montana, Colorado, and Utah by early to mid October the elk are bunched together in very large groups. This past fall I seen one group in SW Montana that had over 10 bulls and probably 75-100 cows, they were bulging, fighting, and everything else. This was the Sunday before the rifle season opener, and by that Friday evening they had moved about 8-10 miles to the north. I think early Oct would be great, but just expect bulls to stick with the cows.

 

[Idhikker]

If you have the chance, I'd suggest following the advice of many others and hunting the Sept 10-15 window. Definitely possible to kill a big bull in the first week of October but I'd expect it to be harder and you might want to vary your tactics knowing that herd bulls often won't leave their cows at that time.

 

[JLS]

If you’re after large herd bulls I’d look at other time periods, if possible. If not, roll with it.

 

[elkocd]

As said above, it's a good time to see and maybe hear elk, but a hard time to kill a big bull. I shoot big bulls every year mid Sept, but last year was my first time archery hunting in Oct. I went to Montana the last week of the season. Lots of elk, but as said they were herded up and there was no chance getting a big bull away. When there are that many elk they tend to be very spread out with the bulls usually in the middle. I would do it again with an unfilled tag, but that would not be my target time of year unless I had a gun in my hand.