Was wondering how the elk hunting is in the 2nd season compared to the first. The draw odds are better for the 2nd season, but not sure how good the hunting would be. I'm not looking for the biggest bull, just want to see some elk, have fun, and maybe have the chance to shoot a 300-320 bull. Thanks in advance for any info.
16A Elk second rifle hunt
- Thread starter jbendy
- Start date
If you can lower your expectations to 220" to 280" i'd say apply unless you feel real lucky. This area still has the hipe but not the bulls it used to have. Don't get me wrong there are a few hammers in there but you would probably have a better chance playing the MEGA MILLIONS Tue. night and buying your bull. I have hunted the 2nd season and for the most part the bulls are done bugling and you would be better with the late hunt because they have had time to calm down some. Good luck if you draw give me a call I would try to help and give you some idea but in my opinion there are better units for this hunt further north where the rut is still happening.
DoeNob
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LAST EDITED ON Jan-03-11 AT 09:52AM (MST)[p]We hunted 2nd rifle in 16D, but camped right on the border of 16A. We hunted with Southwest Outdoors and they had a first season rifle hunter in 16A who tagged out on a smaller bull. They actually had 2, but one guy was in shape and couldn't shoot (5 misses) and the other guy was 70 and not in shape to get to the bigger ones and shot a small bull. 16A supposedly has more elk than 16D but they don't get as big.
We hunted 5 days and I heard 4 bugles the whole time, the 2nd hunt is difficult because they are not bugling at all. I was expecting to see alot more elk than we saw. That said we saw animals every day. If you can find water FAR off the road you might have some success if it is dry, it was dry for us and the tanks we found were getting hammered. We did see one monster (est 370 class) but he was sticking to the top of a mountain in some tight brush, you could see him 1000 yards off, but no way to get in there for a shot. Hunted him 3.5 days straight, last ditch went at him, even got in his bed, never could get inside 600 yards on that bull. In camp one other hunter took a nice 6x7, scoring around 310. My father was on this hunt, we both tagged 5x5's late in the hunt because it was our first elk hunt and we didn't want to eat tag soup.
IMO, if I was going to put in for 2nd rifle again, I'd scout out several tanks several miles from the nearest road and hunt those almost like early archery before they start bugling. I passed on a 280 class 6x6 one hour into opening morning at the tank where i eventually killed my bull. If I had that hunt to do over again, I'd have spent 5 days on that water hole and tried to catch a big one coming to water.
My 2 cents, it all depends on the rut and the weather though, could be an awesome hunt if they are still cranked up when you get in there.
We hunted 5 days and I heard 4 bugles the whole time, the 2nd hunt is difficult because they are not bugling at all. I was expecting to see alot more elk than we saw. That said we saw animals every day. If you can find water FAR off the road you might have some success if it is dry, it was dry for us and the tanks we found were getting hammered. We did see one monster (est 370 class) but he was sticking to the top of a mountain in some tight brush, you could see him 1000 yards off, but no way to get in there for a shot. Hunted him 3.5 days straight, last ditch went at him, even got in his bed, never could get inside 600 yards on that bull. In camp one other hunter took a nice 6x7, scoring around 310. My father was on this hunt, we both tagged 5x5's late in the hunt because it was our first elk hunt and we didn't want to eat tag soup.
IMO, if I was going to put in for 2nd rifle again, I'd scout out several tanks several miles from the nearest road and hunt those almost like early archery before they start bugling. I passed on a 280 class 6x6 one hour into opening morning at the tank where i eventually killed my bull. If I had that hunt to do over again, I'd have spent 5 days on that water hole and tried to catch a big one coming to water.
My 2 cents, it all depends on the rut and the weather though, could be an awesome hunt if they are still cranked up when you get in there.
sportsman01
Active Member
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I helped out a friends dad on the second hunt in 16A this year and was impressed by the numbers we saw. We saw 25-30 bulls, although only 5 or 6 of those were 280-300 class or bigger. I'd say the biggest one we saw was around 315 although I'm no expert in . This particular hunter was hunting a monster but didn't wanna hike much so we were limited on where we could go. We saw elk and bulls each morning and all but one evening I believe. Anyhow, if you're willing to get off the road (and we didn't go far...1/2 at the most) you'll see plenty of elk. And if you're willing to go to the deep nasty, there are toads to be had. 16A is a great place to chase the wapiti! Good luck and good hunting.
sportsman01
Active Member
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- 356
Forgot to mention that opening morning of that hunt they were still screaming. We had a heard of 50-60 animals that we watched with 12-15 (only 3 possible shooters) bulls we were watching and the big 6x6 and both good 5x5's were lettin it rip. After that morning we only heard a few bugles, and most were just one-timers.
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