Archery hunting during ML season.

[bald9eagle]

What does one need to know? Do elk get pushed further up by the ML hunters? Any tips to hunting during ML season would be appreciated.

[Indian Summer]

I'll be interested to hear some feedback. I've never hunted in a state where they have a muzzle loader season.

[saddlesore]

Here in Colorado.I don't think there is much consequence.The number of ML tags and how the are spread out over all the GMU"s is such that you see very few at any one time or location.

I see way more archery hunters than ML hunters where I hunt.Typically I see 2-3 ML hunters at the trailer head and 8-10 archery hunters.

[adamds22]

I hunted Archery in 18 this year during ML opener and I saw more people that weekend than I have ever seen hunting in the woods, likely because 18 is so close to Denver, easy weekend trip.

[Trophyhill]

I am considering applying for a Muzzy hunt this year and bowhunting after what I experienced this past season when I went with my buddy Harold and his friend a couple weeks after my archery hunt. Story to come later........with pics.

[Trophyhill]

OK so I had only a week to reflect on my bow hunt when my buddy Harold started in on me. His friend, Robert Chavez had a muzzy hunt coming up in a week. I've been tutoring Harlold the last couple years on some calling techniques. When I'm in the elkwoods with him his confidence level in his calling goes way up. No I'm not the worlds greatest caller but I do ok when the chips are down. This year was no exception and neither was Robert's hunt. However it took some coaxing to get me to go with him. I had a lot to do around the house and I had just finished 2 weeks in the elkwoods. After some prodding from Harold I decided that there is only 1 way to become a better elk hunter. And that is with more experience whether it was my hunt or someone else's, so it didn't take long for me to relent.

And since my hunting gear was not really unpacked yet other than going from my truck to my closet, I was pretty much ready to go and I said, and I quote from my favorite western of all time, "let's do it lunger". This would not be a backcountry hunt thank God since I was still reeling from my hunt. Harold took his 36' bumper pull complete with slideouts and all the creature comforts one could ask for. And I knew I would only be there for the weekend since I had to be at work Monday. I met them at camp in a unit in South Central NM Friday night. The same unit where I drew my first elk tag in 2008 so I knew the unit and the high number of elk in this unit.

Saturday morning 4am:
Me, Harold, his brother Jimmy, Robert and his son are out of bed and make breakfast. A far cry from my hunt where I was eating dehydrated MH meals every day. We made bacon, egg, hashbrown & green chili burritos complete with milk and OJ. After breakfast we all piled in Jimmy's supercrew and were off. All 5 of us. I have to admit I wasn't too keen on the idea of 5 guys stomping thru the elkwoods with only 1 guy hunting but it wasn't my hunt so what the heck. So we get to the first area of choice, option #1 and are out of the truck and walking in. As the darkness started giving way to light, we found ourselves on the side of a ridge above a drainage. God I love the smell of fresh pine in the elkwoods with the faint smell of elk urine emanating from the trail. So we all sat down and let the woods settle down for a few moments from the walk in. Jimmy and Robert's son were just along for the ride. Harold and I would handle the calling. Harold started out with a couple estrus whines with his Fightin Cow and I followed up with a bugle and a couple chuckles. Booya! 4 or 5 bulls started talking to us immediately from different locations in the drainage but 1 in particular got our attention. He had that deep nasly sound that in my experience only herd bulls produce. After some more cow sounds by both Harold and I, this bull was coming. Opening morning and already we are playing a game we love to play. Robert is not a caller and he was all smiles when Harold and I got these elk fired up so quickly. That smile made it worth my while to be on this hunt with him. So we have this elk coming our way with other distant bulls talking in the background and suddenly he goes quiet. We had the wind, cover and terrain and his last bugle was still a few hundred yards off. I figured he was gonna use the silent approach but then realized "wait a minute, that's what satellites do early season. he sounded too old to be a pesky raggy". So as I have learned and taught Harold, we need to move toward that bull and get aggressive. It wasn't my hunt and the worst that could happen is we blow him out and go find another bull. As we move in that direction, Jimmy and Robert's son stay put.

It wasn't long before we found out what happened. Someone else was down in the bottom of that drainage letting their dog run loose. Your state is not the only one where treehuggers will get in the woods during hunting seasons and do what they can to muck things up. That damn dog started barking and every elk in that basin went silent.
We got back to the truck and headed for another basin and along the way saw a couple Suburu Outbacks with Obama stickers and world piece stickers plastered on the backs of them parked about a half mile from where we had parked.

8:30am option #2:
So we head to another basin where Harold's cousin killed an elk the previous year. We stopped the truck and Harold and I got out. I broke out my new chuckler and placed my Phelps Dragon Slayer firmly on the roof of my mouth and let out one of the sweetest sounding, 1 pitch locate bugles I have ever done and bam! 3 or 4 more bulls answer right away. Robert was outta the truck quickly and he and Harold started into the elkwoods from the logging road before I could get my pack on lol. Believe me, it didn't take long to get my pack on and catch up with them. This time Jimmy and Robert's boy stayed in the truck.

So we have Robert in front of us and Harold and I are using my tried and true cow calling our way towards the closest bugle. We were only maybe 500 yards from the truck when all hell broke loose. We found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a herd of cows, spikes and the herd bull. It was crazy, elk all around us talking up a storm and Harold and I tag team calling to the bull. The cover consisted of very dark timber so we were very well concealed to "most" of the herd. This bull couldn't of been more than 30 yards from me at one point but I could not see him. Harold and Robert got a good look at him though. I saw Robert pick up his 50 cal and try to aim several times only to lower his weapon. It didn't take long before the lead cow barked and sound of thundering hooves from about 40 elk were crashing thru the woods and all three of us damn near getting run over. It was exciting to say the very least. The good thing is we still had 3 or 4 other bulls screaming in the near distance. We all 3 huddled with excitement on what just went down and what we had all just saw. And we still had these other bulls screaming so we came up with another game plan.

So we knew we had to move cautiously but with purpose due to the thick tangled dark timber so as not to be seen. The plan was simple. Keep Robert in front of us and cow call our way in. No need to bugle. These bulls want to breed so let's give them what they want. As long as they are talking, no need to change tactics. So here we go again. Cow calling our way towards another raspy sounding bull. But he kept moving away. I had seen this play out during my hunt only a couple weeks previous. This bull undoubtedly had cows and was being harassed by satellites. We probably got to about 100 yards from him but never did see him. Harold and I were doing a great job of maneuvering to keep Robert between us and the bull. Harold and I were about 40 yrds apart with Harold being about 30 yards from the shooter. Then the bull went silent. However, we were positioned on a knob. I was on the edge of the knob. I gave a loud estrus whine with my Long Ranger and a bull lit up from below me and was coming. I quickly motioned to those 2 and again positioned the shooter between the bull and Harold and I. Harold and I took turns making excited type cow sounds. He switched to one of the most ridiculous looking calls I have ever seen. I believe it was a Bone Collector cow call that looked like a dogs squeeze toy that makes a high pitch sound when he bites down. Actually this Bone Collector call made great cow sounds. Anyway, this bull keeps circling the knob we are on. Harold and I were constantly shifting our positions. We had basically formed a moving triangle adjusting as the bull moved around the knob.

This turned into a game of persistence on our part. This went on for about 45 fricken minutes. The bull just wasn't sure he wanted to commit. We kept calling. And then nothing. He had shut up and went silent! I still had a trick up my sleeve. During this time I was using my Carltons Long Ranger. Have I told you guys how much I love this call? It's loud and pleading when I want it to be. So digging into my memory banks of success, I pulled up my new Elknut Chuckler and made 3 loud estrus whines thru the tube with my Long Ranger That's all it took! The bull that did not want to commit? Committed! He came running in and Robert drilled him at 35 yards! Perfect shot! The nice 5x5 had played our game. We went over to the dead bull who had went maybe 25 yards and piled up and the look on Robert's face was priceless! This was his first bull! Harold and I have deer hunted together for many years. When we hunt together, something is going to die. When we hunt together the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. He and his brother Jimmy are the only 2 men I hunt with that have this special hunting relationship and it paid off in a great way for Robert. Robert has the potential to be on that same page. He did a great job and it paid off for him.

Robert and his 2015 CO Muzzy bull

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Robert and me

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Robert and Harold

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Robert and his son

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The pack out

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My hunting pals

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[Trophyhill]

Thanks for posting those pics for me RJ. Actually the pic that says Robert and Me is Robert and Harold and the one that says Robert and Harold is Robert and me and the hunt was in South Central NM in Wapitibob's fav unit

[Trophyhill]

What does one need to know? Do elk get pushed further up by the ML hunters? Any tips to hunting during ML season would be appreciated.

bald9eagle, The point of my post was to show that elk were screaming during that second week of October during muzzy season. We called that bull into bow range and would have been just as dead had the hunters weapon of choice been a bow. We were also within bow range of a number of elk that morning and you are allowed here in NM to hunt with a bow during muzzy season.

[2MANY]

IMHO if you get far enough in then you can escape people in whatever season.

[Trophyhill]

IMHO if you get far enough in then you can escape people in whatever season.

Agreed

[pd]

TrophyHIll, your snippet about the "world peace" bumper sticker dog-running interference causing bums must have really made you "unhappy." I feel your pain.

Back to the topic, this is an important issue here in WA state. Our early bow season will run Sept/10 through Sept/22 this year, and the muzzleloader season will run Oct/1 through Oct/7 (this is for western Washington, eastern is different). The point is the rut (around the 20th to the 30th of September) is towards the tail end of bow season, just before muzzleloader season. We have this great idea in Washington, whereby you can purchase a special all-weapon tag (the "multi-season" tag)---if you get drawn for it---which allows you to hunt all 3 weapon types, and all of the seasons. Thus, you could hunt both the bow and muzzleloader season. Alternatively, you could just buy the muzzleloader tag and hunt with a bow (this is permitted). One of my hunting buddies is a muzzleloader, and he tells me the number of hunters using that weapon is sky-rocketing. Sooooo, to answer your question: In my personal opinion, a bow hunter, during the muzzleloader season, can still do well, because the rut is still mostly on at that time. But the number of muzzleloading hunters is quite high, so you have to go steep and deep. Also, this is more than 3 weeks after the bow season opener, so the elk are by now used to Hoochie Mama army platoons. It is harder. You have to work harder.

[bald9eagle]

I guess I was just curious if the ML hunters changed how you archery hunted. Would you be more or less aggressive calling knowing ML hunters are out? Do you sit more, spot and stalk more, or call more?

[saddlesore]

I am curious as to why you think ML hunters are any different from archery hunters. There are far more archery hunters than ML hunters. The elk don't know the difference.