What Should You Do - Episode 3.5

[WapitiTalk1]

Place: Montana
Date: 24 September 20XX
Time: 5:30 PM
Weapon: Archery
Area legal animal: Bull only
Terrain: Timbered with light to heavy alder/huckleberry brush.

You're in the "death from above" mode, sitting 20 feet up in a treestand on a transition saddle on a semi flat ridge between two large, steep, deep draws. The saddle is a very good transition area between the two draws that contains a few intersecting trails and a 30 by 30 yard trampled dirt area which provides you with a pretty darn good shooting radius out to a bit over 35 yards. From the bottom of one of the draws comes a small group of elk working their way up the sidehill below you from right to left. There's at least one bull with the group bugling every few minutes alerting all that's he's the man. They appear to be moving on a path that will put them right in your lap; oh goodie! They "do not" come across the saddle you're set up on but continue below you about 60 yards up the side hill of the draw. You determine they are heading up the draw to feed and have no intention of coming near your stand. Do you:

A. Throw out some whiney call calls in an attempt to dislodge the bull and bring him your way?
B. Throw out a challenge bugle in an attempt to dislodge the bull and bring him your way?
C. Climb out of your stand, move quickly up the ridge trail on an intercept course?
D. Decide it just wasn't meant to be with this group of elk and sit tight in your stand?
E. Phone Swede and ask for advice?
F. Other?
G. Wonder if RJ has a real job?

[Lefty]

Im going with G

I had a bull and cows walk past at 90 yards. I tossed out a cow mew as soon as they coundnt see the blind, 120 yards. Nothing , barely a head turn
Jumped out of the blind and tossed out a bugle, they kept walking
I think it was lack of a visual

However it was 98 degrees and 6:30,...

I would try C

For some reason I believe you may have expierienced this situation!!

[Wyo67]

Since the elk would have no idea I was there, I'd check the wind and proceed with Option "C" as the wind/thermals dictate.

If that didn't work, I'd wish I could do Option "E" and definitely wonder about Option "G"...

[Olydog09]

A
then
B
then
C.

[otcWill]

F. Nothing. This is as good as it gets without having already killed him. He's unpressured, doesn't know you're hunting him, and he's gonna bed not far away. When he wakes, he's gonna bring them the exact same way down the hill and I"m gonna be there. IMO you should never push the issue with bedded elk unless its a now or never situation so I'd let em go and hunt them that evening or maybe even wait until the next morning knowing their schedule and route.

[ishy]

I think C. This is new for me as I have had to climb out of a treestand with whitetails around. I never would have thought you could pull it off, but now I'm not so sure. I hunt while on call so I've had my pager go off with deer close and actually made it out of the tree without blowing them out. I think I'd leave the back pack, and make tracks quick mode with just a bow.

[easeup]

Lets assume that you have several more days to hunt them. I don't want to pollute the saddle with my scent so I will elect not to go with C this time. You determine they are heading up the draw to feed and have no intention of coming near your stand.
If this feeding area is close by and there is enough light left to work him, OK lets try it- otherwise lets select another choice.
B is discarded as we think it will only push the bull out as he is happy with his little honeys and wants no problems.
Its too late for A if they have already passed you by. He ain't coming back today.

F it is. nothing. or sit and wait the rest of the evening for another straggler to come up the trail.( hey its possible).
F go back to camp early by way of Egypt so they never knew you were there and get him in the morning.

[Swede]

The picture you draw with your writing is interesting. Some parts are vague to me. How many hours and days have I sat in this stand? Is this my first or second day? The clear part is that the elk are feeding and on the move, but will they come back and cross to the other drainage in the next hour or two? Do the elk normally cross the ridge there to go form their bed to a feeding grounds, and vice versa?
In different situations, I think I have tried most of what you list as possibilities. I have tried the small bugle or cow call at different times. I would not try a whiney bugle here. What would a wimpy bull bugle do? I would only try the small bull bugle if you had a lone bull. I might try a cow call in this situation, if I was sure they were going to by pass me if I didn't do something. It is 5:30 PM, so I could assume we are not likely to see them again this day. If it was early morning I would just sit tight. In the morning I would assume they were going to bed nearby. I would stay there all afternoon and evening believing they would likely come back. I admit I do not know why that saddle is so well used. I am assuming it is the gateway to food and water.
I would definitely not chase them. You are on a heavily used trail intersection at a saddle. More elk could be coming and those elk are probably coming around again. It may not be today, but they will be around. I would advise not getting too excited even on 9/24 assuming we have some more time before the season closure.
Here is what I have experienced in similar situations. I have called in a herd and a single bull. I have waited and killed the elk later. I have waited and killed a different herd bull an hour later. I have waited and got nothing for my effort.

[pd]

RJ, do you really have a job? I am beginning wonder..... But, I love these threads.

It sounds to me like you have a tree stand just in front of an elk highway, maybe even an Interstate. If so, why in the world would you get out of the stand and go chasing after that herd? (I don't know the meaning of Sept/24 in Montana--if this is the last day of the season, then get after them!) By the same reasoning, why try that hard to call them over to you? Sept/24 is just 3 days past autumnal equinox, which should mean sundown at 7:00. Thus, you should have about 2 hours of shooting light left. Chances are the day is still quite warm? In any case, my instinct says "don't panic." Wait for the next herd to come up that side (or, up from the other side).

[Indian Summer]

Montana season doesn't end until October 15th so I have time. Normally I'd choose C because being aggressive is how to make things happen. But it sounds like such a good spot that I don't want my scent anywhere it doesn't have to be. So I will go with D BUT... tomorrow is another day. Stand hunting to me is often a game of fine tuning my location according to what is going on. So the next day I'd go back mid day when the elk were bedded and move my stand down where I would have been able to get a shot the day before. I'd be downhill from the path assuming the thermals weren't being overcome by a prevailing wind.

Then at 5:30 I'd sit there and watch the elk pass by the spot where I had my stand the day before and wonder why the heck I moved!

[elkmtngear]

I would spike squeal if he was that close and on his way out.

I've had several bulls run right to me aggressively using this tactic (killed two, and had encounters with two where they stood just out of range chuckling and stomping)

The two I killed ran right in front of the stand, stomped and blew (knew exactly where the sound came from).

15 yds and 20 yds respectively. I'd do it again in a heartbeat

[Swede]

Jeff, did you have a herd bull leave his herd or come in with his herd to a spike squeal during the rut period? I have had lone bulls come in and spikes with a herd of cows, but I have not had a herd bull bring his cows in to a spike squeal. I had a situation last September very similar to what RJ just imagined here. I stayed quiet and had a shot at a cow, but no opportunity for the bull. My encounter happened on about 9/19.

[WapitiTalk1]

Yep, this is actually one of my spots in ID. It's a high, semi-flat ridge (in a few areas) between two large draws that hold several groups of wapiti each on any given day. I have never set a tree stand on this spot I mention but will do so this year for the first time and sit it every handfull of days when I need a break from running/gunning in other areas. The elk seem to gravitate towards this saddle at night to cross back and forth, feed off to the side of it on both sides, and, rut their butts off. Each time I touched the place over the last few years, there were fresh rubs and ground tore up. More than a handfull of times, I hunted down into the saddle from above and the indiginous wapiti were either on the saddle, or, off to one side or another. It is truly a great spot but drop off either side 75 yards and it's alder hell ...which is why I believe a tree stand may be a good option. Last year, I camped about a mile (as the crow flies) across from this saddle and with the exception of when the rains really came down, there were bulls singing their hearts out from the saddle throughout the night.

Sooo, was just trying to pick your guy's brains on some potential scenarios and possible courses of action while I'm up in the pines on said saddle. I have not done the tree stand thing before so not sure how to address a situation when elk are not complying and rubbing their antlers on my tree as I sit in it but instead, move off to the side fingering their noses at my stand placement As always, thanks for all the chatter on this thread..

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

You picked a stand for a reason. Stick it out. Trust your original decision. Impulsivity tends to be the wrong course of action in the mountains (at least in my experience).
All that is out the window if it is the last day or two of hunting...

[elkmtngear]

Jeff, did you have a herd bull leave his herd or come in with his herd to a spike squeal during the rut period? I have had lone bulls come in and spikes with a herd of cows, but I have not had a herd bull bring his cows in to a spike squeal. I had a situation last September very similar to what RJ just imagined here. I stayed quiet and had a shot at a cow, but no opportunity for the bull. My encounter happened on about 9/19.

Swede,
Where I hunt, a "herd bull" can have a single cow. One of the bulls I killed left his cow, and ran straight to me. I had been watching them for 45 minutes at 100 yds, and when they started to walk away, I hit them with the spike squeal.

The other bull came running in from behind me, but I had a feeling he had cows with him as well.

These bulls both came in agressively looking to "run off" the squealer. Both stomped their feet and blew.

A big old wise herd bull might not react the same, I can't say. The biggest one of the two was a 3.5 year old 5x5. Both were killed after mid-September.

[Swede]

Jeff: Thanks for the clarification. Maybe those bulls with a one cow harem find their herd easier to manage. I was not sure what you were experiencing. One thing I have learned over the years is never to be too surprised when it comes to elk behavior.