DreaminBoutElk

I've only been hunting elk for a couple years,and sometimes I hear them bugling in the later rifle seasons, and sometimes not. Is an elk rut similar to a deer rut in that it'll be affected by weather patterns? Is the late bugling indicative of a late rut or or just rowdy bulls? I been seeing a lot of posts that say the elk aren't bugling much during archery and early rifle seasons. What, if any, does that mean for the hunters of later rifle seasons? I'm hunting NM unit 16A second rifle season.

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BeaverJack

Las' couple of years, the bulls have been talkin' thru the 1st week of October. But this year, they were only luke warm on the first day or rifle season (9/20), an' have now stopped talkin' altogether. I gotta think the rut will happen mostly durin' September, an' will vary accordin' to the great elk spirit's will. A average start an' stop date may be handy, but with drought, an' early blizzards like the one I jus' got thru, you cain't really tell fer sure.

BJ

handloader1

I just hunted 16D, and the elk are probaly not going into a full blown rut at one time. It seems small pockets of elk are rutting. In the month of Sept. they received a great deal of water after a very very dry summer, so the elk are confused they think it is spring not fall. Since there is so much water the elk are staying put. Out of 50 cow tags, and 50 bull tags in 16D I only saw one cow and bull taken. I had a bull tag and hunted very hard for 5 days, all I saw was 2 cows, a calf, and a spike. We did call a bull with in 100 yds., and someone else shot it.

In 16A they also had 50 cow tags, and 50 bull tags; their sucess rate was said to be better, but I don't know for sure. It looks like you are going to have to work very hard to fill your tag. Good luck.

DreaminBoutElk

Handloader, You didn't say, but I'm guessing you hunting with a bow? Were you not seeing many elk at all, or just not within bow stalking range?

handloader1

I was hunting with a centerfire rifle, and we did not see any mature bulls. We saw 2 cows, a calf, and a spike bull. Good luck.

Beans Morocco

It's one of those things I don't think anyone has completely nailed down. We all have our experiences to work off of. Weather, lattitude, annual feed and water conditions...Who knows? I do think that you can be fooled by other hunters if you are hearing bugles in late October (or even later) Some guys will hit the horn even though the rut is long gone. Around these parts this year, we've seen more bulls than we've heard in the last several weeks. It has been pretty quiet. And oddly enough, most of the bigger bulls were hanging solo or in small groups. The only bulls we've seen hanging with cows have been young ones. This is usually how they are distributed after the rut is gone. Kinda puzzling this year.

"Friend of Men, Lover of Women, Purveyor of the Brutal Truth"

DreaminBoutElk

Handloader...I am new to New Mexico elk hunting, but just curious how you were hunting rifle before Oct 5. The regs show the first rifle season starting for a youth hunt only on the 5th. Did you have some kind of special permit or something?

Cliff_N_Di

The elk were bugling like crazy here in utah 2 weeks ago..But with said we've been amongst elk that were bugling in july. Its my understanding that they bugle all year round but most of us dont hear it until Sept/oct.

trmichels

My name is T.R. Michels and I'm on my second year of elk research, on over 700 elk, with almost 200 bulls. I just had an article on elk calling and the rut in Petersen's Bowhunting. I'm also talking to Larry Jones, Judd Cooney and Dwight Schuh on-line, trying to figure out the elk rut. I also guided in Chama, New Mexico on-and-off for 9 years. I'd like to think I've learned a few things as a result of my experiences. Anyhow, here is what I've found.

Bugling in Minnesota and Idaho starts around August 21-27. Peak bugling in many areas occurs during the second week of September, but may peak anytime during September. Dwight Schuh thinks peak bugling/breeding occurs Sept. 20-25 in Idaho. Larry Jones says peak bugling/breeding occurs Sept. 25-Oct. 5 in eastern Oregon. Biologists say Sept. 14-21 in Montana. From guiding in New Mexico I think peak bugling occurs mid-Sept in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
I've found that peak breeding will occur at aproximately the same time each year; that bulls bugle more times per minute at 60 degrees/windchill than at 40 degrees; but when temperature/heat index gets higher than 70-80 degrees they will bugle less. Larry Jones agrees with the high temperature.
I've found that there is an early bugling peak (when the bulls get with the cows and while the cows are in heat), then a lull in bugling for 1-2 weeks until the unbred cows come into estrus again, and then another bugling peak. This may not occur were there are a lot of 1-2 year old cows, because they breed 1-3 weeks later than 3 year or older cows.
Bulls bugle most often when cows are in estrus, because when the cow won't let the bull breed, he bugles to reinforce his dominance. So, when cows, come into estrus the second time, bulls that were subdominants start to hear the dominants bugling, and they bugle more. The bulls also try to out-bugle each other, which causes peaks in bugling. Last year I had bugling all the way into November. I heard 90 bugles in 5 minutes two days age; two weeks ago I heard 265 bugles in 5 minutes.
After listing to over 500 bugles a day for over 60 days, I can tell you that it is almost impossible to make a mistake on an elk bugle. Not all bulls sound alike, some scream, some sound like they are being strangled, some sound like a flute. If you have any questions on elk, feel free to ask here or e-mail me; I'll try to answer. Good hunting, and put somebody put one on the ground for me.

Let's all take time out to think about the pain and sorrow the Sniper back east has caused. I don't like the fact tha they are refering to him as a "hunter." He's something, but not what I consider a hunter.

T.R. Michels




Edited by - trmichels on 10/13/2002 14:32:41