Montana September rifle hunt (HD 150)

[diamond hitch]

I concur with Ben Long. Elk move by their mouths and their coats. If it has been a hot dry summer then they will be focused in northside wetlands and bottoms with tender grass and cool shade. If you have had a lot of rain that opens up the options foodwise. In my country they feed in the bottoms at night and work up the ridges to bed. Some of that is influenced by how much moonlight. I rarely hunt the tops of the ridges or the river bottoms. Both tend to draw more hunters than elk. Just my experience!

 

[Flyfish4ever]

thank you all for the information. I scheduled a call with the area biologist for next week. she was very happy to hear that this is my first elk hunt and that i am a young guy who didnt grow up hunting she said she is excited to "share more than i normally do" when it comes to areas to focus

 

[Roughwater]

Sounds like you have it covered pretty well. Hope you will let us know how it went? It sounds like a great hunting story in the making.

 

[Flyfish4ever]

Sounds like you have it covered pretty well. Hope you will let us know how it went? It sounds like a great hunting story in the making.

I absolutely will. I plan on keeping a journal of my trips all summer through the hunt. something for my kids to read one day when they forget how badass dad used to be.

 

[Flyfish4ever]

as an update to all: i made it home a couple of days ago... the trend for this season has simply been "Smokey" and it was no different in the wilderness. 2 days before the rifle opener, i had an interaction with a bull in the 370-390 age class. he had 7 cows and 4 calves with him, and i was unable to close the distance within shooting light. sidenote: bugles are a LOT louder in person than what you see on tv. i thought that bull was within 200 yards from the time i heard him, when he was actually almost a full mile away through thick timber and brush.

I did get my bull, a small 6x6 and i could not be happier for my first elk hunt to be both successful and fruitful, but to me, the success was when i had the interaction with the bigger bull.

 

[Flyfish4ever]

as an update to all: i made it home a couple of days ago... the trend for this season has simply been "Smokey" and it was no different in the wilderness. 2 days before the rifle opener, i had an interaction with a bull in the 370-390 age class. he had 7 cows and 4 calves with him, and i was unable to close the distance within shooting light. sidenote: bugles are a LOT louder in person than what you see on tv. i thought that bull was within 200 yards from the time i heard him, when he was actually almost a full mile away through thick timber and brush.

I did get my bull, a small 6x6 and i could not be happier for my first elk hunt to be both successful and fruitful, but to me, the success was when i had the interaction with the bigger bull.

Here’s the bull. I am quickly becoming the king of self timer photographs

 

[MTLabrador]

Great bull and great country. Congrats!

 

[Flyfish4ever]

Great bull and great country. Congrats!

thank you!

 

[OverlordBear]

Awesome hunt congrats on a great looking bull, and good job asking advice while supplying insight into the work and research you have already done. I am sure this makes people more willing to provide their wisdom!!

 

[IEATELK]

Hey man great job... followed this thread and good on you for getting it done and finishing the thread! Congrats man.

 

[MTGomer]

That’s a great bull and probably a lot tastier than a 370-390 year old bull would be!

 

[In2Hntn]

Congrats, very well done!

 

[Pagosa]

Congratulations on a fine bull! You should call up the Bio that you spoke too and tell her thanks and call her boss and tell em about the quality work this biologist is doing. Enjoy some fine eating and a well earned trophy

 

[mdeerjunkie]

Congratulations! Awesome!

 

[Sytes]

Great to see a valued exchange of work for vested guided assistance and a great harvest! Super grats! Great job(s) to see it through!

 

[TheJason]

Nice work. Looks like you went fairly high up to get him?

 

[Flyfish4ever]

Nice work. Looks like you went fairly high up to get him?

Yep he was at about 8100’. The big bull I saw during archery was working his way toward the low meadows in the valley with some cows. After that next morning, I didn’t hear a bugle or a cow at all for the remainder of the hunt until the morning after I harvested mine.

seems like these wolves (i can only assume) are creating a silent breed of elk.

 

[Flyfish4ever]

That’s a great bull and probably a lot tastier than a 370-390 year old bull would be!

I was surprised he was rutting at that age, I wonder if these elk have found some sort of natural viagra we don’t know about yet

 

[TheJason]

seems like these wolves (i can only assume) are creating a silent breed of elk.

Elk don't bugle if they aren't there. I've heard plenty of elk bugling in wolf central to have a very strong anecdotal bias against that hypothesis.

 

[Flyfish4ever]

Elk don't bugle if they aren't there. I've heard plenty of elk bugling in wolf central to have a very strong anecdotal bias against that hypothesis.

Maybe it’s something else that could’ve been playing a role, it went from 3 days of crazy bugling during archery to dead silence overnight. We were smelling elk almost daily but seeing them and hearing them was different.