king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated Magazine Dec/Jan 2008 - Coyote Crazy! - Index

You can use this to your advantage
if you are stealthy enough to get
close to the herd. Realize that a herd
bull’s number one goal is to keep
and breed his cows. This causes
him to be very possessive and also
constantly distracted due to other
bulls pestering him in an attempt
to steal his cows. Understand that
a herd bull’s focus is on jealously
guarding what he’s already got. As
a result, he will naturally stay very
close to his cows. He understands
that anytime he leaves them he
leaves himself open to another bull
cutting in and stealing his cows. My
rule of thumb with a herd bull is
to not expect him to separate more
than 100 yards maximum from his
cows and sometimes less in thicker
vegetation.
If you are able to position
yourself within 75 to 100 yards of a
herd bull you dramatically increase
your odds of success. Why? Because
many times a herd bull will simply
make a mistake while moving around
to keep his cows rounded up or moving
to the outskirts of his herd to bugle at
nearby satellite bulls or to rake a tree.
Although I love to call and have had
great success in calling in many bulls
each year, many times in a situation
where you are able to sneak in close to a
herd your best option is to not call at all.
This allows Mr. Big to make a mistake
and give you a shot opportunity. If you
do call, you’ve still got to be within this
75 to 100-yard “zone” in order for the
bull to either want to come check you
out as a sexy cow or as a threat if you
use bull sounds. If you are too far away
and out of “the zone” when you call
to a herd bull, he will simply bugle at
you but not budge and then eventually
the herd will become uneasy and move
away from you.
Throughout late September and
into October, the scenario will typically
remain the same. The big herd bulls
will still be herded up and aggressively
defending their harems from other bulls.
When cows come into estrus, pure
rutting insanity is the order of the
day. This is what we live for as elk
hunters. Usually when this occurs
there will be several bulls right in
amongst the cows and the bugling
will be out of control. During the
last two years in Arizona the hardest
rutting days that I encountered were
October 1st in 2006 and October
3rd of this year. I’m sure this
was strictly due to cows being in
heat. These hard rutting days will
most often occur anytime starting
about the 18th of September and
continuing into early October. Most
of the cows will come into heat and
be bred during this ten to fi fteen-day
window.
When the elk are rutting
and out of their mind and you fi nd
yourself hunting in a scenario like
this, you can never be too aggressive.
Be stealthy, but aggressively get in
there and infi ltrate the herd. Again,
calling can work at this time, but it
5ELK5 December/January 23
PHOTO: GREG WILSON