Elk hunters What is the best time of day?

[bearass]

I was wondering what is you most succesfull time of day is for downing and elk.


Early morning to 11:00am?

11:00am to 3:00pm

3:00pm to Dark

[Kody94]

All of the above. :)

[rocksteady]

Cold & Frosty - First Light

Warm and sunny - Like now - Early in the A.M. or go after them in the dark timber

[Ron.C]

I've only ever hunted the bow seasons and the first few days of gun seasons. I've shot
one elk at 9:30 am on 4 Sept
one elk at 4:05 pm on 5 Sept
one elk at 8:35 pm on 9 Sept

I'd have to say that I've had most elk respond to calls in the morning, "come in silent" , but have more vocal responses in the evening. Not saying this is the way it always works, but it seems to be the norm for me anyway.

[358mag]

when there in your crosshairs ,thats the best time

[J_T]

Find em at night. Be there in the morning.

[budismyhorse]

All of the above. :)


I agree!


however...a buddy of mine who has called in and killed more big bull elk than anyone else I know says that almost every elk he calls in he first heard 2 hours before light.

He is up at 3 and bugling at 4 or 5 until he locates an elk and then sits quiet....usually drives the bull nuts. He tells some great stories about having sweaty palms sitting in the pitch black listening to a bull scream and destroy a tree right in front of him ....though he can't see a dang thing! Most of his elk are killed in the first 30 minutes of daylight.

He figures that as light comes up, your chances of calling a bull in decend drastically until 11 am.

kind of a cool tip....though I've never put it to the test....thats why I hunt sheep.

[skyliner 270]

morning is the best cuz the bulls dont stop screaming

[bearass]

Over the years I have been lucky enough to take 4 bulls
2 in the morning 10th 16th sept
1 in the evening 9th of sept
1 at 12:00 noon 14th of sept

The one I shot on the 14th of sept at noon was pritty neat.It was 2005 We set up camp around the 8th or 9th and were haveing alot of elk action.My Dad managed to get a bull on the the 12th before dark. The next day my brother and a good friend were going to show up from calgary for a two day tag along hunt.By the time they showed up I was ready for a rest. So after the morning hunt we went to camp for breakfast and then decided around 11:00 we should go for a road hunt to see if we could find a whitetail buck to shoot. Being sore from the elk pack two days ago I had decided to put on a pair of shoes (bad idea).So there we are three guys cramed in a toyota pick up looking for whitails.At about noon we spot a cow elk in a clearing about 350 yards off the road,she looks like she just stood up from her bed.So we stop and watch.As time goes buy we spot a few more cows,after about 15 min go buy the cow is getting restless and trots of into the trees,but there are still cows bedded down close to were she was.And we keep watching next thing we know the cow is back in the clearing with a bull on her tail.We count him and he is just legal. Standing there in disbelief my buddy says, so are going to shoot. So I hunker down pull one off, missed. Buddy seen the bullet hit low. Next shot the bull drops and rolls. I can not believe my eyes now I am so excited I can,t contain it. Next thing I know the bull is standing and running away with all his cows. I took some running shots but it was very hard to hit him running threw trees and at this time he was 400 plus. I last seen him go in the thick stuff right next to a dead xmas sized tree so I had a good marker of were I last seen him.We sat and watched as the cows crested over the mountain with no bull behind them. So we started hikeing up to the chritmas tree were I last seen him.It was not hard to find his tracks,but there was not that much blood.So it made tracking very slow,tieing ribbon at every blood spot because it was not that great of a blood trail and we had to back track a few times. after a while I could smell him and started to follow my nose. I ended up finding around 3oclock
after sending us on a wild goose chase all over the mountain side.

It was a great experience for my self.And the cool part was my little brother and my good budy have never been in on a elk kill. It made for a pretty special day.

[hunter1947]

I have got more elk in my years hunting from 3pm till dark http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif...

[mr.280]

I have taken three bull elk and all were down before 11:00 am.

[lunatic]

I would say I have killed about 90% of my bulls when I was sleeping. The other 10% were mainly in the early morning :mrgreen:

[Kody94]

I agree!


however...a buddy of mine who has called in and killed more big bull elk than anyone else I know says that almost every elk he calls in he first heard 2 hours before light.

He is up at 3 and bugling at 4 or 5 until he locates an elk and then sits quiet....usually drives the bull nuts. He tells some great stories about having sweaty palms sitting in the pitch black listening to a bull scream and destroy a tree right in front of him ....though he can't see a dang thing! Most of his elk are killed in the first 30 minutes of daylight.

He figures that as light comes up, your chances of calling a bull in decend drastically until 11 am.

kind of a cool tip....though I've never put it to the test....thats why I hunt sheep.

Is he one of those old school guys that couldn't sleep all the way through to sun-up if his life depended on it, but is back in camp by noon for a big breakfast and a nap? :D

Joking aside...I haven't killed many bull elk myself (two bulls) but have been in on others and have bugled in triple figures for sure by now. I'd say fully 80% of the actual close-encounters (bulls that I was within 50 or 75 meters of) occured between 9:30 and noon.

I have had some good bugling well before first light too. One time I bugled a bull in to about 10 yards while it was still pitch black out....unfortunately (and to my surprise and consternation) that bull turned out to be a bear. :shock:

[Kapow]

Last year I hunted my cow draw in early November (West Kootenays)and all hell would brake loose about and hour before dark . They were bugling and crashing around well into the night. Between my buddy and I we saw/called in about 10 bulls before I finally got to shoot my cow. It was crazy. Hardly any action in the morning. Lots of fun and excitment in the eve. That was my first ever Elk hunt and I was told the rut was in September? WTF?

[elkdom]

the first 2 hours of daylight, the last 2 hours of daylight have always been the most productive for me, with emphasis on the first 30 minutes in the mornings and the last 30 minutes in the evenings, while you can be successful anytime during daylight hours and I have found elk at later times of the day, if I had only 2 hours a day to hunt, it would be early morning and the evening hunt, most mornings I am in the "zone" long before daylight,,, and get out of the bush long after dark.8)

[GoatGuy]

Is he one of those old school guys that couldn't sleep all the way through to sun-up if his life depended on it, but is back in camp by noon for a big breakfast and a nap? :D


I call that old b@st@rditus. I hunt with a few guys who have that problem. On the 3rd pot of coffee even before it's time to get up.:roll:

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I call that old b@st@rditus. I hunt with a few guys who have that problem. On the 3rd pot of coffee even before it's time to get up.:roll:

Goes hand-in-hand with an enlarged prostate.

SSS

[Kody94]

old b@st@rditus (b@st@rditus)

Ha! That's great. I'll get some use out of it for sure.

My Pa is one of those guys that gets up at 3:30 AM but is sound asleep by 8 PM. :) Figgers I'm lazy cuz I get up at 6:00 AM and go to bed at 11:30 PM, even though he pulls off an hour more sleep a night than I do. LOL.

We have a few guys at the office that show up an hour an a half early and put the coffee on, but can't keep their eyes open at a meeting at 10 AM, and are pretty well useless in the office by early-afternoon. Fricken kills me.

Hijack off, with apologies.