Scouting for a late rifle hunt

[horsehunter]

I drew a south cache late tag and was wondering if there is really any way to scout for it at this time of year?

 

[c86man3]

I'm no expert, but I would say the best thing you could do is to just get familiar with the area you will be hunting. Find some higher elevation places with dark cover right next to a little meadow or something. Where the bulls are now will not be where they will be during the late season.

 

[bucklover]

See if you can get a hold of last year's draws. Maybe you can contact some of them.

 

[Zeke]

Ya know horsehunter,
I feel the same way about all my shouting right now for the EARLY bull hunt.
As soon as the rut fires up, even a little, the bulls will be on the move.
It's a good way to get a feel for the antler size and a good way to find the cows but things will ALL change.

Same thing for you. When the weather gets bad and the rut is long over, the bulls will be in a different spot for sure than they are now.
Good advice in the above posts!
Good luck,
Zeke

PS: I've never hunted horses! ha

 

[littlebighorn]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-05-11 AT 06:36PM (MST)[p]Zeke is always "shouting"(scouting), LOL
My advice is similar. My experience is, there is no way to SCOUT right now for the late hunt, because the bulls will likely be miles away from where they are right now.
If it were my tag, I would be contacting previously successful late season hunters and identify where they found late bulls.

 

[horsehunter]

Do you think the bulls would be in the same areas as they are during the spike muzzle loader hunt? Or would they be moving areas due to the coming winter or is going to depend more on the weather?

P.S. Zeke you should try it sometime its lots of fun.

 

[idhoundsman]

We have had some good success on the late hunts three years in a row and this is what we have found. The first year we killed a bull that we got trail cam pictures of in July that was never seen during any of the other hunts only to show back up in November, we killed him less than a half mile from where we got pictures of him. We passed on a bull last year that was real similar, had pictures of him early only to show back up in November but he was broke up pretty good. The bigger bulls that time of year seem to get in small groups in real nasty country and move very little. It takes alot of glassing and time but it seems to me that if you can find them you can figure out a way to get in on them because they don't move around like they do during the rut. Good luck to you.

 

[Hoot]

i had a late tag last year but in another area and had multiple bulls located and it snowed 3 days before the hunt and only one bull stayed. it was even on one of the lower possible spots on the mtn. but it was still fun.
good luck

 

[apollosmith]

I drew the late N. Cache a couple years ago (video at

). Scouting is pretty difficult. You'd be better off orienting yourself with a lot of different parts of the unit. Weather will likely determine where the bulls are.

Ask around and find the spots where the elk tend to congregate before moving out of the high country due to weather.

One pattern I have noticed is that big bulls often tend to go back to lower rutting grounds when the weather turns cold. So, if you're seeing big ones during the rut, you might check that area again in the late hunt if the weather is pushing them down.

Oh, and pray for snow.

 

[oakbrush]

I had the late hunt on the Dutton in 09. If you have the time off from work, get there a week early and scout until you find one that you want and keep an eye one him until the hunt starts. As said before, they will not be roaming around much and should be there for you on opening day if no one bothers them. They also tend to stay out feeding longer because of the cooler temps and trying to build thier bodies back up after the rut.

Good luck,
oakbrush