When would you go?

[TWC]

If you had 2 weeks to hunt the Montana general season elk in SW Montana. Would you hunt the first part of the season or the latter?

Being from the UK, any preseason scouting wont be possible, so we will be turning up blind to our scouted areas. I realise there are a lot of variables such as snow fall but seeing as we wont be able to be flexible last on dates, which would you go for?

Cheers, Tom

 

[SuperX]

Earlier the better

 

[Magnum Sherpa]

I would arrive a few days before the season opens to get a feel for the area. Then whack one on the opener. Best of luck!

 

[Doublecluck]

I would worry less about when your coming and more about where you will go based on whatever the conditions are when you get here. We hunted elk from 8000 down to 4500 and right back up to 8000 at the end of the season. I use to hold the belief that late season was best because snowfall pushed some of those groups of bulls to more accessible areas but that just hasn’t been the case the last few years. I would come in the first 2 weeks of the season if the weather trends of the past couple years seem to continue.

 

[TWC]

Thanks, all. Early it is!

 

[TWC]

I would worry less about when your coming and more about where you will go based on whatever the conditions are when you get here. We hunted elk from 8000 down to 4500 and right back up to 8000 at the end of the season. I use to hold the belief that late season was best because snowfall pushed some of those groups of bulls to more accessible areas but that just hasn’t been the case the last few years. I would come in the first 2 weeks of the season if the weather trends of the past couple years seem to continue.

Good advice, thanks! I have about 8 areas scouted. I think maybe one of them is bellow 8,000 feet. I have certainly applied the logic of elk will be where hunters don’t want to go in looking for spots.

 

[devon deer]

Good advice, thanks! I have about 8 areas scouted. I think maybe one of them is bellow 8,000 feet. I have certainly applied the logic of elk will be where hunters don’t want to go in looking for spots.

Don't forget, for us English hunters it takes a couple of days to get used to hunting at those elevations.
Best of luck
Cheers
Richard

 

[OntarioHunter]

The opener was a wash for almost everyone near Dillon. The elk simply disappeared. A few guys from the party I was with went down at the end of season and had no trouble filling tags with calf and cows. First five days my brother and I hunted all over the place high and low with me walking my legs off and hardly saw a track in the snow. Hundreds of people hunting and hardly anyone was finding elk. Very odd. Usually they are everywhere.

 

[devon deer]

The opener was a wash for almost everyone near Dillon. The elk simply disappeared. A few guys from the party I was with went down at the end of season and had no trouble filling tags with calf and cows. First five days my brother and I hunted all over the place high and low with me walking my legs off and hardly saw a track in the snow. Hundreds of people hunting and hardly anyone was finding elk. Very odd. Usually they are everywhere.

North, South, East or West of Dillon?
That's very interesting as I have seen Elk there on opener in previous years, as you say odd.
Did you 'get back in there' or scout from the roads?
Cheers
Richard

 

[OntarioHunter]

North, South, East or West of Dillon?
That's very interesting as I have seen Elk there on opener in previous years, as you say odd.
Did you 'get back in there' or scout from the roads?
Cheers
Richard

South. All over. Scouted from the roads at daybreak because we can see more faster. Then during the day I put my legs to work looking for tracks in the snow. Put a helluva lot a miles on my boots high and low. Saw very little sign. Quite a few mule deer but nothing worth getting excited about. I saw tracks from one wolf pack of four or five up high the second day. With all the cattle available down low I can't imagine they are putting that big a dent in the elk. These were after muleys.

 

[DeathCar81]

I would go earlier in the year if possible the later the season the more snow but the more people that will have been on the hunting ground of where ever you decide