Wyoming Hunters

[whitingja]

Is the rut on yet in your hunting areas in Wyoming? I went out opening weekend in the Encampment area and heard a good amount of bugling. Went last weekend and heard nothing...it was raining alot. What are you guys finding? Are the bulls hearded up with cows in your area? Bugling? I am heading out on the 25th, and just hoping I am not going to miss the bugling and rut activities. Thanks.

[Indian Summer]

Jason... sorry, I just now noticed your thread.

No worries! I know a guy that killed a dandy near Medicine Bow last week and said they were just getting started. Not too far from you. I love the Encampent area. The guys I know hunting the west side near Jackson are having great bugling action right now. For what it's worth... my Montana guys are saying the exact same thing too.

Conversely... the early guys in Wyoming said things weren't so hot for them. I think you'll have good timing. Leaving in 2 days huh.... good luck and let us know how you do.

[whitingja]

Thanks Indian summer. Was starting to think my fellow Wyoming hunters didn't want to offer any info. Good to hear things might be heating up. Seems things are late this year. Thanks again.

[elk-n-walleye]

Thanks Indian summer. Was starting to think my fellow Wyoming hunters didn't want to offer any info. Good to hear things might be heating up. Seems things are late this year. Thanks again.

I just spent a 9 days in the big horns and as far as I could tell there wasn't any rutting activity yet. Very little bugling. Only 3 mornings infact. I spoke to a local guy that said last year the rut was late too. End of Sept early Oct between bow and rifle season.

Good luck!

[JGH]

Hunted near Encampment Sept 1 ... heard 10-15 bugles in 2 days ... last week they were on fire, though.

[elk-n-walleye]

I just spent a 9 days in the big horns and as far as I could tell there wasn't any rutting activity yet. Very little bugling. Only 3 mornings infact. I spoke to a local guy that said last year the rut was late too. End of Sept early Oct between bow and rifle season.

Good luck!

I wish I could have stayed another week to test that info but I'm back at my home away from home in AZ waiting til next year.

[13bonatter69]

My partner and I just returned from the Dubois area. IT WAS REAL SLOW! We saw some NICE bulls going for pick-up rides, but only crossed paths with one GOOD bull on our trip. Unfortunately being newbies, we messed that situation up pretty quickly! lol All in all, it was a great hunt and we harvested both of our animals, so nobody will be eating tag soup this winter. However, everyone we ran into that has hunted that area before was commenting on how little bugling there was this year!

[Indian Summer]

Billy... tell us more about your elk hunt!

[13bonatter69]

Billy... tell us more about your elk hunt!

Remember my friend, You asked for this.....lol

Ok well this is my third year elk hunting, but first year on my own. The first two years I went with a couple older guys that were really old school, so I could never really do things my "own way". So I made up my mind last year that I was going to start hunting alone, and I was going to return to the Dubois area since I kinda new the area. Luckily for me the other two guys had made up their minds that they were not going back there since the wolves and grizzlies have "TAKEN OVER" in their opinions. They had hunted the area, for over twenty years and said that the area has just went too far down hill to return.
Myself, I think the area is ok as long as you don't mind grizzlies. The first two years that I had went there I saw grizzlies every couple day, but luckily on this trip my hunting partner and I only saw one, and if we hadn't done something so silly we wouldn't have seen him.
So as the hunt started I arrived the first night, and just drove around locating bulls around midnight or so, and located several. They were responding to location bugles pretty well that first night, and I had time till my hunting partner arrived, so I thought are chances of tagging out would be greater if I spent the first couple days locating bulls and small herds instead of concentrating solely on just filling my tag.
By the time that my hunting partner arrived, the rain had set in hard, and had been raining for several day, nonstop. I was thinking this would be a great thing as the area is usually so dry that it sounds like you are walking on a bed of corn flakes. However, all the rain seemed to REALLY shut the animals down. My Buddy and I was beginning to get pretty worried, as the bulls were not acting normal for the area at all! I have been there two other years at the 15th of September and the bulls have been bugling their heads off. This year, COMPLETE SILENCE!!! We had made some friends with some other hunters camping in the area, and they were reporting the same thing.
So fast forward a couple days and the rain is stopped, but still no ELK TALK! My buddy and I made an agreement to shoot the first Elk we saw, as we had no interest in tag soup. The first evening after the sun appeared, we slipped in on an area that I know Elk usually bed. We set up and started calling right outside of the dark timber in a small clearing. We waited for about fifteen minutes, (which we both now know isn't long enough) and began creeping forward towards the bedding area. We only make it about seventy five yards, when we bust up some cows that were on their way in. We quickly set back up and let the woods die down a little before starting in with another lost calling sequence. About fifteen minutes later a young cow comes strolling in looking for the rest of the herd. That was the silliest thing she ever did! Unfortunately she will not be able to learn anything from it. She strolled up to about thirteen yards, and I shot her in self defense. She went about fifteen to twenty yards and decided to call it a day.
My partner had a rough time going back after her that night, as we didn't get back in there to her till almost midnight, and we knew for sure a grizzly would have already claimed her. Luckily, that was not the case, and we got her packed out that night. We did go back about four days later thinking that what we left of her would be completely devoured...WRONG!!! A big boar grizzly had taken the remains and dragged them about fifteen feet and covered them with pine needles and what not. He wanted nothing to do with us when we arrived, THANK GOD, so we quickly recovered my arrow and left the seen of the crime.
A few more days pass, and the animals are still not talking, so we are getting a little more than worried, but my Buddy hears a Bull one morning and puts him to bed. We go back there that evening about three and start a sequence, NOTHING. We wait and advance about two hundred yards farther in and try a location bugle. BINGO....Bugle about two hundred yards away. My partner and I run at him and get about fifty yards closer before he bugles again and this time he is right on top of us. SO as we are running around like a couple children at recess, the bull closes the distance and sees us setting up! He blows out of the clearing, so we move down wind about fifty yards and my partner sets up while I move about one hundred yards farther past him. I start sequence with an excited cow and a bugle along with scraping a tree with a large branch and cracking sticks and all kinds of ruckus. This REALLY pissed him off and worked quite well as he circled down wind and was coming back in, but he saw my partner at the same time that my partner saw him, so GAME OVER! That was the biggest bull I have had work yet, and was very exciting to say the least!
Couple more days went by with nothing answering our cow calls, and the only thing answering our bugles was wolves! Then we decided to switch areas and move to a place we knew nothing about, but just looked crazy good. We went about noon and tried a bugle from up high just for for thr heck of it and got a return bugle. By three thirty we were heading down the mountain after him. We set up a calling sequence with what we thought was about two hundred yards between us. We called and waited for thirty minutes......NOTHING. We were scared to bugle, but figured we had nothing to loose. We bugled......nothing. WTH, we know he is here we thought. SO we advanced about two hundred yards and set up another sequence.......nothing. OK, lets do it again we thought. We get up and start moving towards the direction we feel the bull was earlier and about a hundred yards down the trail we see a spike bull heading our way. My buddy put an arrow in him at thirty eight yards and we are tagged out!!
On a side note my buddy decided two put another arrow in his bull to end things a little quicker, and that was the craziest thing I have ever seen! The bull was on the ground with his head kinda up and down, as he was facing us. He shot it head on with a frontal shot that afterwards I swear it looked like he had been killed by a chain saw. He is shooting 125 grain ramcats, and DANG, what a hole! I love my exodus, but those ramcats have me questioning which is the better broadhead.
Hope this isn't too long, but it pretty well plays out our first season together. We both have all of Paul's material and pretty much study it daily. we hope in a couple years to be shooting nothing but decent bulls, but this year was baby steps for us. We do feel very fortunate to both have gotten our animals in a less than good unit, and with it being a freak year with no bugling. I will submit pics later......Thanks for everyone on this site for all the info, it has and will continue to help my partner and I in our future endeavors!!