Rut in MT

muleyman

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Got back from Montana on our archery elk hunt. We saw lots of amimals and my friend from MT killed a bull. We were hunting east of Missoula.

We couldn't get any amimals to respond and nothing was heard. We would just see elk when we would jump them from their beds.

We were there Friday Sept 20-29th.

WHEN THE FRICK WAS THE RUT????or has is not happened or is happening now....:(


Going back for the rifle hunt in Nov for the muley RUT :)

muleyman
 
Congrats to your friend who was lucky enough to get one. I see that we're not the only ones looking for some kind of rut! 90% of the elk we've found have been jumped also, and we've only heard a handful of bugles all season long. We haven't heard a single cow call of any kind yet. The elk in our spot definitely didn't rut early, and they haven't gotten into it yet either. So, with my last bowhunt coming up on Saturday morning, I suppose they'll get going with the rutting on Sunday.
 
I think that the rut was early this year for some reason. Labor day weekend the bulls were going nuts in are area (SW MT.), the next weekend they already had there harem and was tough to get that herd bull away. I played cat and mouse with the elk all season. I only heard two cow chirps all season. The rut is over now. I did hear one bugle last sat. must be a second cycle cow around. Things are over until next Sept. I should of shot the satelite bull that came in to me, oh well........
 
Hunting in NW MT, It was good Labor Day weekend, a bugling freakshow second weekend, still awesome third weekend, then silence. Way up north around Eureka, I still had some hot bulls, but the numbers just aren't there, and you aren't going to get into anything big.
 
The rut happens every year during the same general period of a about 2 weeks. The rut is never early or late, what you are referring to is if the bulls are active or inactive (bugling) during the rut. This is known due to the gestation period, calves are alway born during the same 2 week period every spring so that means the cows are getting bred during the same 2 week period. Each area of the country has it's own exact period but they are all similar.

Mntman
 
I agree, but I think there can be differences from year to year. Example, in 2005 our elk rutted in late August, bulls everywhere sceaming day and night, and it was pretty much over by bow season...there wasn't hardly an elk to be found. And last year it was right on time, they were screaming the 3rd week of Sept. There can also be differences in the timing from one area to the next. A few years ago, the Little Belts elk were pretty much done with the rut and across the highway in the Highwoods, they were just getting started. However, this year the rut just seems to be marginal in a lot of areas.
 
Brud,

You missed the point entirely...he was saying that bull activity is different from actual breeding. Bull activity can vary from year to year; the actual breeding does not. Call which ever one you want the rut.

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I've just pissed in my pants.......and nobody can do anything about it.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-05-07 AT 11:14AM (MST)[p]I think most people refer to the "rut" as being the time when the bulls are actively bugling. Responding to and coming to calls, rounding up cows, etc. etc.... I don't care when they actually breed. Going back to the original post, the question as to whether the rut has happened or not, I think, was the question I was responding to, or trying to. I don't want to split scientific hairs here, I'm just saying that I don't know many guys who has seen a "real" "rut" this year. On a liter note, I do know one guy who called a big bull in from two galaxies away and arrowed him at about 40 yards on the first day when none of the other bulls in the area were interested at all. I think he told me that bull scored near 360. Hopefully the elk in my area are a little more active this weekend.

Just to pose a question, what do you think makes the elk so active in one area, and only 30 miles to the west they don't give a hoot? It seems like hit or miss this year.
 
Hot cows make hot bulls, I think that is just the way it is. I firmly believe that weather patterns that we have been having lately are causing changes in the physiology of animals. It seems everything is shifted forward a month. Getting wetting rains in May instead of June, getting our heat in July and not August. It isn't inconceivable that the cows will come into estrus earlier as well. And yes I am aware of the studies showing cows coming into estrus within the same 24 hour period every year.
Didn't some guy just shoot a bear that was confirmed to be half polar bear and half grizzly? Things can happen.
 
I think the weather has alot to do with it as mentioned above. Seems like if it is around that 25 degree range in the morning in our area (which it was last week of august)thats when things light up. By the third weekend things seemed to of tapered off a little.
 
>Just to pose a question, what
>do you think makes the
>elk so active in one
>area, and only 30 miles
>to the west they don't
>give a hoot? It seems
>like hit or miss this
>year.

I think it's because you aren't in both areas at the same time. I've went into areas that were hot with action one day and absolutely dead the next. Had I not been there the first day, I'd have said nothing was happening...but I knew better. Thus, you could hunt one area on a day with no activity, go to a different area the next and have activity, and assume that nothing was going on in the first area...when really neither herds were active the first day and both were active the second.

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This is my post

I've just pissed in my pants.......and nobody can do anything about it.
 
My brother lives in Missoula and had one good day and lots of quiet ones. On the quiet ones he heard wolves howling in the basins. this shut the elk up immediatly and for a few days. They will still continue to "rut or breed" they just have to adapt to their surroundings. They aren't stupid and learn what dangers are around them (wolves, griz, hunters) They still get busy though just not by making noise.
 
I agree with old man and bozeman. The "Rut" happens roughly the same time every year. Rut refering to the breeding time which has been proven by biologists. There are many factors that influence the rutting "activity" of the elk. Weather and the lunar cycle are the two biggest in my opinion.
ismith

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