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What are your opening day rifle season plans

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What are your opening day rifle season plans

Postby 7mmfan » 09 04, 2020 •  [Post 1]

Now that all the blasted bow hunters are out of here, us rifle guys can finally have a peaceful conversation without the likes of Swede bugging us about the higher intellectual capacity of tree stand hunters.

I've been thinking long and hard about my opening day plans, and still haven't come up with anything set in stone. I know where I want to be, and it's going to require me to spike out to hunt it properly. We'll be in an area that burned back in 2014. Most of it has greened back up well, and there's lots of new pine trees growing. One big basin in particular though is pretty much just burnt timber and brush with grassy south slopes. It's amazing deer habitat and the elk use it frequently. Over the ridge is a couple hundred acres of steep but benchy ground that didn't burn and my guess is the elk are moving back and forth between these areas. My gut tells me to find a high spot where I can glass this basin and the saddles that lead out of it, and be ready to move to intercept.

If nothing is spotted, I'll probably circle a mile or 2 back up the ridge to get the thermals in my favor and spend the midday/afternoon still hunting through the unburnt timber and little hidden meadows within.

Regardless, it will be an epic time as always, spiking out with my dad and Uncle. The stories alone will be worth it.
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Re: What are your opening day rifle season plans

Postby Lefty » 09 04, 2020 •  [Post 2]

I expect Ill be duck or goose hunting.

We decided that were putting in for Montana next year expecting a 2022 tag,.. And Move my camper up for water fowling and elk
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Re: What are your opening day rifle season plans

Postby Indian Summer » 09 05, 2020 •  [Post 3]

By the opener my spike camp will be set. But day 1 will find me hunting lower while elk are still going about business as usual. This year instead of perching on my high vantage point before making a move I’m just going to commit to dropping down a timbered finger and popping out where I can see up a feed slope. They WILL be there. I’ll miss the morning ritual of seeing several herds of elk up and down that slope as well on the other side of the main ridge but I’ve done that enough times to know what goes on. So instead of dogging them from behind this year I’m going to set up to seal the deal right off the bat.

If that doesn’t pan out I’ll immediately go to plan B which is sorta plan A really. High camp. Up there I’ll slow way down. I will be in observation mode that evening. I’ll see exactly where on the avalanche chutes they are hanging out and do some serious thinking about every detail of the hunt for the following day. Up there I don’t force anything. I’ll move like the shadows knowing that it can happen anytime anywhere up there. My goal is to not get busted! The first sign of a human those elk will get is when they hear the Remington roar and hopefully by then it’s all over. Immediately my next thought will be to get the bull off the mountain so things can settle down and I can get my partner up there. His elk is also a big priority for me. But.... hopefully he has had some luck by then and we can think more about what’s for dinner and where to go scout for a mule deer hunt next year. Oh and maybe go fishing.
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Re: What are your opening day rifle season plans

Postby GoGriz1234 » 09 07, 2020 •  [Post 4]

I’m heading to a new unit I have never been to this year. I drive out two weeks ago to scout and the other half of the unit was on fire, so I didn’t get any boots on the ground. We have a few locations ID’ed for the wall tent, but who knows what it will be like when we show up. We will have a day and a half of scouting, so I am hoping to log a lot of miles and try to dial in the plan from there. We plan on spending a lot more time glassing this year, as this unit is a lot more open than the previous attempts. All I know is that the snow that fell on the mountaintops today has me fired up for the season - it’s going to be a long month of waiting.
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Re: What are your opening day rifle season plans

Postby 7mmfan » 09 08, 2020 •  [Post 5]

Indian Summer wrote:By the opener my spike camp will be set. But day 1 will find me hunting lower while elk are still going about business as usual. This year instead of perching on my high vantage point before making a move I’m just going to commit to dropping down a timbered finger and popping out where I can see up a feed slope. They WILL be there. I’ll miss the morning ritual of seeing several herds of elk up and down that slope as well on the other side of the main ridge but I’ve done that enough times to know what goes on. So instead of dogging them from behind this year I’m going to set up to seal the deal right off the bat.

If that doesn’t pan out I’ll immediately go to plan B which is sorta plan A really. High camp. Up there I’ll slow way down. I will be in observation mode that evening. I’ll see exactly where on the avalanche chutes they are hanging out and do some serious thinking about every detail of the hunt for the following day. Up there I don’t force anything. I’ll move like the shadows knowing that it can happen anytime anywhere up there. My goal is to not get busted! The first sign of a human those elk will get is when they hear the Remington roar and hopefully by then it’s all over. Immediately my next thought will be to get the bull off the mountain so things can settle down and I can get my partner up there. His elk is also a big priority for me. But.... hopefully he has had some luck by then and we can think more about what’s for dinner and where to go scout for a mule deer hunt next year. Oh and maybe go fishing.


IS I'm hoping to gain that kind of confidence in a spot in the next couple years. Every time I think I'm getting there I get a curve ball thrown at me. So it goes.

Anyone else changing their normal opening day MO this year?
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Re: What are your opening day rifle season plans

Postby Indian Summer » 09 08, 2020 •  [Post 6]

It’s pretty common for us to kill a bull on the first morning. Usually a good one. We’ll definitely see several. Up high I’ll see bulls for sure. It’s just a matter of getting a shot opportunity without getting busted. Last year on day 2 I hunted low then rode up top to see what was happening. Saw 32 elk including half a dozen bulls way up high on the other side in the chutes. I had to go back to base camp to drop the horses off. The next morning I passed on a big 5 point down low in the morning before hiking back to spike camp. Plan was to cross over the gut and get up high and set up looking at the area where the big party was the night before. But when I got to my glassing spot at 1:30 they were already out whooping it up because a front was moving in. They are very relaxed up in my high spot. If it’s cold they’ll bed down out in the open on grassy benches on finger ridges. Sometimes I’m able to move in and shoot a bull in it’s bed. But that day not only were they out early but because there was weather moving in they had dropped down low to be out of the wind. I ended up shooting a 6 point from my glassing spot on my side of the drainage at 405 yards. While I pulled my tools out and got the back straps out about 12 elk just kept feeding up above me including a 4 by 5. He was the closest at around 90 yards.

When I can’t hunt elk anymore I might sell my own personal hunt plan which will include a complete spike camp wood stove and all already on the mountain! Lol ;) 35 years of elk hunting in one neat little package. Well.... 55 years by then I hope.
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Re: What are your opening day rifle season plans

Postby TennMatt » 09 12, 2020 •  [Post 7]

My plan is to sit at the top of a hillside where there is a transition from south-facing grass/not dense cover to much more dense cover on a flat shelf. I've also identified areas near by where there is running water and a pond high on mountain. I'll work those in the afternoon.

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