10 Rut strategies

greendrakes

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Getting ready to help on a pahvant hunt and have been calling in some elk the last few evenings to stay up on my game. Don't worry I am on our private land where hunting is not allowed (I am not screwing up someone's archery hunt). With experiences over the last few years, I have come up with a few main strategies. Here they are;

1. Never blow a big bull bugle. Stick to smaller bull sounds.
2. If the herd bull has an organized herd then sneak in and surprise him as a smaller bull.
3. Waiting for the elk to come to you rarely works. 75 % of the time you have to at least meet them half way.
4. If there are multiple bulls close to each other, sneak in and get in on the action
5. Call less than you feel you should
6. Cow call much more often than you do bugle. Use the bugle sparingly
7. Noise (snapping branches, raking) apart from calls help the elk to think you are an elk
8. Watch for the silent elk that are coming towards you
9. Move when the bull is calling
10. Every situation is unique and requires a different strategy.

Kind of a mish-mash of random thoughts but does anyone else want to add something?

I
 
Good post. You pretty much summed it up. Especially the advice about no using a bugle. Those big bulls just round up their cows and run them off.

good luck
 
One I wish I would have had clear in my head a couple years ago is move quickly when you hear the bull thrashing a tree. When he is raking, his eyes are closed and all he can hear is his antlers on the tree. I had a bull a couple of years ago hang up about 50 yards away but in thick stuff. I call, he'd bugle back and then start raking up a storm. Finally ran out of daylight. I made up some of the distance while he raked but looking back I should have moved more aggressively while he was raking.
 
Good stuff there.
+1 W4W, instant attack mode when they are raking trees, even if you have to get out in the open to get those last few necessary yards.

I feel one reason I am successful is how aggressive I get when a bull bugles. When I get one to respond, I am off on a sprint and stop every 50-100 yards to keep track of where he is at with no care to sound. They often turn back and close the distance too. One time the bull and I were running so fast that we passed each other at 70 yards. I ended up shooting him a couple minutes later when I realized what happened. :)

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer?
 
Good stuff right there^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. If a newer hunter would impliment these points, he'd be a much better hunter!

It's a great refresher for me. We head out in a week to slam a big bull (fingers crossed).

Zeke
 
A great example of the value of making noise... 2 years ago I went in to retrieve a hind quarter of my son's elk. As I was hack sawing the leg off to lighten the load, another bull came charging in screaming. My hack saw must have sounded like another bull raking his antlers and he was pissed!
That was pretty amazing stuff to me.
Good post and best of luck to those of you headed into the "elk prime time"!
 
Here's one that baffles me every year,

Don't put your camp in the middle of the areas the Elk are using. It just throws them off their pattern. Stick to camping on the main roads and not at the end of that 2 track that you love.
 
Some times it takes a big bugle, but the right big bugle, once mastered you can steal his cows, then more then likely he will come. But yes your spot on. Ive only seen this done by a couple well versed elk hunters and only with diaphram type calls.
 
LAST EDITED ON Sep-08-13 AT 04:13PM (MST)[p]You are missing one of the funnest opportunities of elk hunting if you think you should never use a big bugle. You just have to use it at the right time. Only within 100 yards or less, and when you do get ready cause this is when elk hunting really gets fun!
 
LAST EDITED ON Sep-09-13 AT 01:49PM (MST)[p]Ya but my spotlight power cord won't reach all the way to where I elk hunt so why would I want to call at night? LOL

Zeke

Hey LBH, Im takin' the saw in the back country so I can call elk like that. Cool, funny story.
 
Thanks to greendrakes, the original poster of this thread, and those who added to it. I took those things to heart and was able to take a little six point in MT on the 21st. Your insight and willingness to share it is greatly appreciated and it was very helpful.
This was the second elk I have taken with my bow, but the first in 24 years.
Would someone please post 10 strategies about how to get an elk out of a deep basin 2 1/2 miles back when you are already exhausted, out of shape, and feeling nearly dead? Just kidding. I am VERY grateful to my bros and cousin for the help. I almost had to leave a note next to my expired carcass saying, "I leave my bow to the man who finds it. It kilt the elk that kilt me."
Thanks again,
Soup
P.S. I met him half way, and used a pink (seriously), real high pitched whimpy sounding bugle. I think those are two of the things made the difference.
 
Also every state, area and draw is a something different.

I notice for my area that the first couple weeks of September is not the rut. Its for the bulls to establish dominance. Yeah I see small bulls with cows but the big bulls are smart and let the young ones round up the cows. The cow call does no good for the mature bulls. only bugles work for the big bulls to come in

Middle to end of September I notice bulls rounding up cows. Cow call starts to work for calling.

Very last few days of September to middle of October I notice breeding and still getting any cows as possible. Cow call works awesome and little bugling to only locate the bulls.

Middle of October to end of October breeding is wrapping up and the bulls stay with their cows to make sure nothing else breeds them.

November-ish migration begins as the big snows come.








I know the info I stated doesn't work for other states or other units. But the area I hunt this is what I have learned. LEarning that the cow call didn't work in the first part of September helped me a lot when I started bowhunting.
 

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