Hiker of the Woods
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I have a few questions for those with experience hunting and/or scouting bulls in the 340-360 class and 370+ class range. The main reason for this topic is not to ask for locations of 340+ bulls but to gain knowledge, tips, tricks, advice or whatever in hunting large bulls to help out my friend who will be drawing the Wenaha archery branch bull tag this year. Does anyone notice any different behaviors between 340-360 class vs 370+ bulls? What about flat Nation Forest land vs big deep and steep Wilderness areas? Any behavior or locations differences between both groups pre-rut vs rut? Do you hunt 340-360class vs 370+ bulls differently? PM?s are welcome.
Here are some of my thoughts and ways we hunt. Please feel free to throw out any advice if you think it would help in harvesting a 340+ bull. Dream would be to get a 370+ bull.
Big old bulls are unique and you have to adjust your hunting accordingly to hunt them. Besides being older, they're wiser, heavier, more mellow, slower, and much more deliberate in their actions. Herd bulls won't always be the largest antlered bull in the area. The fact that they got 5, 6, 7+ years-old is an indication that they found a safe way to exist and avoid hunters and predators.
Every day should be spent hiking into the locations where we plan to glass or listen to elk without letting them know our presence before daylight. We hunt till dark before hiking back to camp to take advantage of every minute of shooting light.
I have noticed most bright nights with half a moon or more will be from September 1-15th. Most dark nights with 24% or less moon will be from September 18-24th. New moon is September 23rd. Would the moon phase play any role in when you would put in for your vacation time if you could not hunt the entire archery season?
I have always had better luck with elk being active during daylight when there is no or little moon light at night. There would still be good daytime activity if there was thick cloud cover even during a full moon. The problem I see with no or little moon the last week of archery season this year would be that the big bulls would have cows with them that could ruin a stalk or make it extremely hard to call in. On the other hand it would make for a very exciting season with lots of daylight activity and encounters.
My little experience hunting the Wenaha Wilderness is that the elk will use the tops of ridges say the first half of season. This could be because of food, flat terrain, and little to no human pressure. As season goes on they tend to come up in elevation less and start spending more time in the bottom of the canyons/drainages. This could be from food source getting burned out on top, more cover at the bottom, cooler temps at bottom, flat terrain for rut, etc. Has anyone else noticed this? Would you expect to not be able to glass bulls in the wilderness as much come later in season and have to go mainly by sound?
We will most likely glass, listen, and make silent stalks on bulls for the majority of the time. Calling will consist of cow, calf, with occasional spike/small bull bugle with callers 50+ yards behind hunter. Things like making noise like a herd is casually walking around, raking of trees, or walking away from bull while calling may be used in certain situations. Our goal is not to intimidate herd or large bulls with bugles they have never heard before. I believe most bulls have a pretty good idea about who his competition is in the area. Big bulls have individually recognizable voices just like we as human do.
I think a key to successfully put a tag on a 340+ class bull is patience and knowing when not to hunt. This may mean backing out and entering area where bull is from different angle because of wind conditions or cover. It may mean even waiting to the next day for the bull to be in the right stalking location or wind conditions.
One thing that is being considered is only having one caller go with hunter and the other go off to try and locate a large bull in a different area.
Any help or ideas are appreciated.
Here are some of my thoughts and ways we hunt. Please feel free to throw out any advice if you think it would help in harvesting a 340+ bull. Dream would be to get a 370+ bull.
Big old bulls are unique and you have to adjust your hunting accordingly to hunt them. Besides being older, they're wiser, heavier, more mellow, slower, and much more deliberate in their actions. Herd bulls won't always be the largest antlered bull in the area. The fact that they got 5, 6, 7+ years-old is an indication that they found a safe way to exist and avoid hunters and predators.
Every day should be spent hiking into the locations where we plan to glass or listen to elk without letting them know our presence before daylight. We hunt till dark before hiking back to camp to take advantage of every minute of shooting light.
I have noticed most bright nights with half a moon or more will be from September 1-15th. Most dark nights with 24% or less moon will be from September 18-24th. New moon is September 23rd. Would the moon phase play any role in when you would put in for your vacation time if you could not hunt the entire archery season?
I have always had better luck with elk being active during daylight when there is no or little moon light at night. There would still be good daytime activity if there was thick cloud cover even during a full moon. The problem I see with no or little moon the last week of archery season this year would be that the big bulls would have cows with them that could ruin a stalk or make it extremely hard to call in. On the other hand it would make for a very exciting season with lots of daylight activity and encounters.
My little experience hunting the Wenaha Wilderness is that the elk will use the tops of ridges say the first half of season. This could be because of food, flat terrain, and little to no human pressure. As season goes on they tend to come up in elevation less and start spending more time in the bottom of the canyons/drainages. This could be from food source getting burned out on top, more cover at the bottom, cooler temps at bottom, flat terrain for rut, etc. Has anyone else noticed this? Would you expect to not be able to glass bulls in the wilderness as much come later in season and have to go mainly by sound?
We will most likely glass, listen, and make silent stalks on bulls for the majority of the time. Calling will consist of cow, calf, with occasional spike/small bull bugle with callers 50+ yards behind hunter. Things like making noise like a herd is casually walking around, raking of trees, or walking away from bull while calling may be used in certain situations. Our goal is not to intimidate herd or large bulls with bugles they have never heard before. I believe most bulls have a pretty good idea about who his competition is in the area. Big bulls have individually recognizable voices just like we as human do.
I think a key to successfully put a tag on a 340+ class bull is patience and knowing when not to hunt. This may mean backing out and entering area where bull is from different angle because of wind conditions or cover. It may mean even waiting to the next day for the bull to be in the right stalking location or wind conditions.
One thing that is being considered is only having one caller go with hunter and the other go off to try and locate a large bull in a different area.
Any help or ideas are appreciated.
